under the table and dreaming: day six - a red bus, art deco lunch, scottish tea, a bottle of chablis and a deep fried haggis

Thursday, 16 July 2015

day six - a red bus, art deco lunch, scottish tea, a bottle of chablis and a deep fried haggis

We headed to the city yesterday and did the hop-on-hop-off bus tour around the city. Sad that we did not have time to get off and explore but the tour have us a good idea of the character of the city and the live tour guide (not as opposed to dead but opposed to head phones) was excellent. Amazing archtecture and the most beautiful buildings. Most of the city was established and built hundreds of years before South Africa was even discovered. A sense of history is all around you.

Ruairidh (as opposed to Rory) our host took us to his favourite spot in town for lunch. A wonderful Art Deco pub fashioned on the Queen Mary and unchanged since 1935. It reminded me of the Empire State building with its embossed walls, old clocks and booths to sit in. We had a pint and the most delicious sandwich before jumping on the bus and heading back to visit Victoria for tea.

Shortbread and different Scottish sweet delicacies, a cup of tea and tour of the flat. Michael was also lucky to be able to keep his eye on what was happening at St. Andrews. Thanks Victoria. I am so pleased that I now know where you work and where you live.

Some drinks with another family member, Kathleen, at her most beautiful new flat and then home to the Rutherfords for supper. We were having traditional takeaway fish and chips and I was delighted to see a deep fried haggis on the menu. Ideal for my last night in Scotland.

We are off later this morning to the bus station and are heading for Leeds. We are jumping the bus in Skipton and are looking forward to spending time with Jennifer (Michael's sister) and Andrea.

The Duke of Wellington (with a traffic cone on his head). Authorities have tried everything to stop these cones being placed on this head (the horse sometimes has a cone as well) but the cone is always replaced and protests were held when they wanted to higher the statue.

Flowers everywhere (I have hundreds of pictures of the flower boxes)

For Mom! Gareth and Tom. Sorry the bus was whizzing past but these are the bowls greens where the Commonwealth games was played. Must be about 12 rinks.