A Weekend Away

While I may never be able to top blogging about having tea with the Queen, we're still having other, somewhat smaller, adventures here in Scotland that I think are worth sharing. Like last weekend. Derek suggested getting away on his long weekend (Glasgow celebrated a holiday on the Monday), so we decided on two day trips: Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Linlithgow.

Berwick-Upon-Tweed is a small town about 45 minutes south-east on the train on the border between England and Scotland. For centuries the two countries battled for control of the town, as it lies on a strategic point with the North Sea to the east and the River Tweed to the south. England has had possession of the town since the 1600s, when its Elizabethan ramparts were built surrounding much of the town. These high, thick walls were built to withstand cannon fire, and while they were never used in such a way, they provide a great way to walk around the town and see the sights. They were our first stop.

After circling much of the town and coming across some of the original medieval walls, we walked down to the beach and out to the old lighthouse. A number of people were digging in the sand with pitchforks and buckets as the tide was low. I think they were digging for clams, but we're not sure. We picnicked looking out over the harbour during a break in the misty rain.

In the afternoon we walked along the River Tweed in search of Berwick's picturesque mid-19th century railroad bridge. It was pretty amazing -- certainly an amazing feat of engineering for the time, and it's still used by the railway to this day, so it's held up well over the years. Past the bridge was the bottom of a set of stone breakneck stairs that went up the side of the cliff to the old site of the castle. The castle was all but demolished in the Victorian era to put in the train station. I guess the Victorians didn't have the kind of appreciation for history and historic sites that most of us do today. It's quite sad really. From the station you can see an existing castle wall, and on the platform is a sign telling visitors that there once stood the castle's Great Hall in which Robert the Bruce was denied the Scottish Crown in 1292. But the hall is gone.

On Sunday we went on a much shorter trip to Linlithgow. Linlithgow is the next stop on the train from where we live, about 15 minutes west of us. Derek passes through it on his way to Glasgow every time he heads to school, and from the station you can see St. Michael Parish Church with it's distinctive metal sculpture on top, and Linlithgow Palace behind it.

Linlithgow Palace is the site of Mary, Queen of Scots' birth and her son James', who becomes James I and VI, uniting Scotland and England in the Union of the Crowns in 1603. The palace is in ruins but most of the stone walls, floors, towers and staircases remain intact. There was so much to explore and discover! So many large rooms and halls, small rooms in the basement, the kitchens with their large fireplaces, beautiful stone windows, all surrounding a large stone courtyard with a beautiful fountain in the middle.

On top of the one corner tower was a small platform to walk around, in order to view the grounds and a high up tower room. It was pretty windy up there! But there were some great views of the royal park surrounding the palace and the small lock below the grassy grounds. We had the added bonus of visiting the palace on the morning that Mary Queen of Scots happened to be visiting, accompanied by the husband of one of her four Marys, her main ladies in waiting. We were able to chat with her for a short time, finding out why she's called 'Mary, Queen of Scots' (because she officially ruled with the consent of the people, rather than as their dictator), and how much time she would have spent in the palace (they moved around quite a bit once each place got dirty and/or all the food was eaten, but she liked Linlithgow Palace because her horses could be housed in the building and it's in town so the rest of the court didn't have to stay with her).

After thoroughly checking out the many floors, rooms, hallways and towers, we went outside and had a picnic at a table in the palace's grounds overlooking the loch. After lunch we went for an hour long walk along the loch, seeing lots of little duckings and even a nest of tiny furry swans with their parents. The so-called 'Heritage Walk' looked like a bit of a let-down (not as history-filled as a walk through Edinburgh tends to be), so we walked along the main street, back up the train station and headed home in time for dinner.

It was a great weekend. We walked and walked and walked, and saw lots of nature and country-side, as well as a lot of water. Two excellent day-trips a short train-ride away. What a great idea!

Tea with Her Majesty the Queen

Yesterday was a day that I'm sure I'll remember for the rest of my life. Derek and I attended the Royal Garden Party in the Holyrood Palace Gardens, Edinburgh. This event was attended by Her Majesty the Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip), and The Princess Royal (Princess Anne). We think there had to be over 1000 guests in the gardens, all dressed up according to the guidelines that were sent with the invitations: for women, a day dress with hat, uniform or trouser suit; for men, morning coat, lounge suit or uniform. No medals. It was quite the sight to see so many fancily-dressed individuals. We were amongst the youngest guests (no one under 18 was allowed).

The official timeline for the day:
3:00pm Gates Open
3:30pm Tea is served in the Main Tea Tent until 5:00pm
4:00pm The National Anthem announcec the arrival of Her Majesty The Queen and Members of the Royal Family. A small number of individual presentations will be pre-arranged with those who are to be presented in the Garden near the Iron Steps. The Royal Company of Archers will then form lanes for The Queen and Members of the Royal Family to move through the guests.
4:30pm Tea is served in the Royal Tea Tent
5:10pm The Queen and Members of the Royal Family take tea in the Royal Tea Tent
5:50pm The Queen and Members of the Royal Family depart
6:00pm The National Anthem

The schedule was followed quite closely, but still didn't really give us an idea of what the party would be like. We arrived around 2:50 to find ourselves in a queue of a couple hundred guests, and while in line I spotted 3 other women with the same hat that I had on. At least no one else was wearing my beautiful poppy-covered dress with a pink short-sleeved cropped cardigan over top. But the hat was quite distinctive with its open-weave, and I kept spotting it throughout the afternoon on a total of 7 other women.

When we got inside the gate, having passed security with our invitations and photo ID, we walked along the north end of the gardens, and then went to find ourselves a place to stand along the edge of one of the royal's pathways. The Queen and Prince Philip would come out of the Palace at the top of these iron steps, and then take different routes through the crowds, being introduce to half a dozen pre-selected couples as they went. At first we tried to find a spot along the Queen's path, but an elderly women slipped in front of us while talking to a guard and then remained standing in front of me after he left, and Derek had a woman step in front of him, so we decided that we'd go over to line up along the edge of the Prince's path, where there was next to no one on our side.

As the time drew near everyone was turned towards the staircase. And then she appeared, and I swear the crowd took a collective gasp. Then came the applause as she walked down to the landing halfway down the stairs, when God Save the Queen (the national anthem) was played. No one sang, which surprised me. Maybe Scots generally don't sing it. And then there was more applause as she descended down and disappeared into the aisles that were lined with people. She's quite petite, so we completely lost sight of her until she was in the larger circle at the far end, where she would eventually meet up with the Prince and take tea in the Royal Tea Tent.

We did end up being in the front of the crowd as Prince Philip walked along his route, but because he was taking so much longer chatting with the couples than the Queen had, they stopped picking couples just before they got to our section in order to hurry up his progress, and thus while we think we had a very good chance at being the last couple chosen in our aisle (we'd both caught the woman who made the selections' eye, and my outfit was the most striking and colourful in our section), we missed out because he's such a talker :) We got to see him from a distance of 3 metres at most, and for a good five minutes as he talked to a pair from the far side of the aisle. It was amazing to see him in real life. He looked good too! Slim, smiling a lot, and quite steady too, carrying a long black umbrella but never relying on it as a cane, more for a distinguished look I think and some subtle steadying/something to lean back on slightly as he stood and chatted. Just a bit taller than me, and I was in 2 inch wedges. He wore dark black and grey pin-striped trousers and a black jacket with a long tails, plus a grey top hat that he carried more often than he wore it. Two of the men accompanying him wore identical outfits.

The Queen wore a lovely A-line jacket that fell to just below her knees. The jacket was pale turquoise with 5 silver buttons down the front. She wore white gloves, a hat in the same pale turquoise but with a beautiful navy or black brim and flower of feathers, and carried a simple shiny black rectangular handbag. She must have taken off her gloves when having tea, because when she reemerged from the crowd in the Royal Tea Tent I saw her putting her gloves back on. She looked great, healthy, moving comfortably down the stairs and across the grass. Princess Anne wore a striking bright blue shiny knee-length dress with a matching short jacket. Everyone was struck by how skinny she is. Well, more slim. Definitely healthy and smiling.

After the Prince had passed by and the group of Royal Archers marching behind him were now standing in front of us blocking our view of anything, we decided to go get some tea. Of course, neither of us generally drinks tea, but they was also juice and what tasted to me like a cold cappuccino. The servers wore white shirts and black pants. In the royal tea tent they wore bright red jackets and carried silver trays of food and drinks to the guests. I had two small finger-like pastries with pink icing and a piece of candied lemon peel on top and filled with a raspberry cream filling, and a shortbread cookie. Derek had a couple cucumber sandwiches on white (no crusts of course). Just as we had reached the table to get our tea they closed it! They told us that they'd ran out, so we had to merge with the next line over and explain why we were now taking their spots. Not great planning there. At the end of the day they had individual ice creams for a nice treat -- I had lemon curd (excellent!) and Derek had vanilla. There were wooden tables and chairs in some areas, table tops under the tents to stand around and rest your drinks (very convenient).

I should mention that the weather was as perfect as it gets -- partially sunny, a bit of wind to keep everyone cool, and not a drop of rain (unlike today and the rest of the week, with heavy rain predicted for every day). We really lucked out. It would have been a shame to have to hide my dress under a jacket and my hat under an umbrella, and when its to rainy they cancel the event, which would have been devastating. I'm glad I had my cardigan on, though. Some of the women in smaller dresses (strapless, mini-skirted dresses especially) were shivering.

There were some pretty interesting outfits around, from summery flowered ones like my own, to solid black or neutral dresses with jackets, to outfits with matching hats that had probably been bought for a wedding. One woman that we were behind in the tea queue had the most beautiful magenta and lilac hat on, with a contrasting brim that looked as those it had those two colours splattered across it in a subtle way, and some lovely feathers woven into the flower. There were some memorably bad ones, like an overweight woman in her later 60s wearing a slinky silky dark blue and green knee-length dress with turquoise wrap and sea-foam green support hose, or the woman we got stuck walking behind on our way home in a black silk dress that fit too tightly and with its bright yellow polka dots we couldn't help but think of a bumble bee.

Anyway, after enjoying our tea we walked over to where a few guests were gathering along the edges of the boundary created by the Royal Archers (who did carry their arrows around) facing the Royal Tea Ten, a small, mostly walled-in tent for special guests but with clear plastic walls along the front to watch for the Queen. It wasn't until then that I found out Princess Anne was there, too. Everyone got excited when the Queen emerged from deeper within the tent. She put on her gloves, chatted with a couple others, and often stood near the entrance, obviously ready to head off. At one point she was standing facing the entrance (and all of us) next to Prince Philip, whom I hadn't seen actually interact with her at any point since walking down the stairs. While he was chatting to someone else, she looked up at him and either poked or brushed his shoulder quickly four times. I thought this was really cool, and cute, like a real moment had just occurred between them.

As they left the tent everyone applauded again, and the applause broke out again a few moments later as Princess Anne left with her companions. You could tell she was pleasantly surprised by the applause, as she suddenly smiled and looked like she was saying to her companion "For me?" or something along those lines.

Derek and I wandered around the grounds a bit more, through the ruins of the old Abbey, along what we thought were hills but we actually cleverly-concealed palace walls. The Abbey was beautiful with lots of stone and walls (and even the frame of the massive stained glass windows) still standing, and old simple tomb and many tombstones and marker left to fight the elements as there's no longer a roof. Derek looked in one of the Palace's windows to see a break room, complete with pop machines and a worker lying on a couch. We saw the snipers up on the roof packing up for the day (I'd never noticed them before that moment, and suddenly there were three up there). In fact, security had been very low-key throughout the event. Lots of police at the entrances and around the outside of the gates and gardens, but generally just the not-at-all-intimidating archers around the grounds. I mean, to just be considered for an invitation I'd had to send in a photocopy of my passport, so there was some pretty heavy screening to get to that point.

The music throughout the afternoon was provided by two military bands who played an odd selection of music, including classical numbers, Gershwin, what sounded like the score of a 50s Western, and the same Michael Jackson medley we'd heard a military band play in front of Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guards a year ago in the week following Jackson's death.

Talk about once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Actually, unless you're receiving a special honour or are requested to attend, I believe that you can only ever attend one Royal Garden Party, so this was our moment, and it was just amazing. We walked halfway home, enjoying walking up the Royal Mile all dressed up and me in my beautiful hat, occasionally coming across fellow guests on their way home or out to dinner. It felt sad to put on normal clothes when I got home, as it'd been so nice being dressed up. But what a day to remember!

Spending Canada Day in Edinburgh

As you might recall, last summer we spent the Canada Day in London at the big Canada Day London 2009 celebration in Trafalgar Square. It was fun, but without fireworks, doughnuts or any recognizable acts it was a tad disappointing, although very cool to be surrounded by so many Canadians and Canadian wannabes. This year I thought that it would be a fun idea to combine celebrating Canada Day with showing everyone our new flat, so we held a Canada Day Flat-Warming Party on the evening of July 1st.

To prepare I cleaned the place from top to bottom, with help in the kitchen from Derek as I suddenly ran out of time and realized that I still had to get ready myself. I vacuumed, scrubbed, washed and dusted all over the place. I tidied up and made good use of the Ikea storage boxes I bought a year ago, and filled the spare room's closet. That's the one thing about a flat-warming -- everyone is going to be looking everywhere, so I can't just pile stuff up in the bedroom and shut the door... I finally gave the inside of the windows a good wash, as they were dirty when we moved in, and there's just something about greasy forehead marks on a window that gets to me, especially if they're not from us. Derek had done the outside a few days earlier, so the flat was looking particularly bright for the night.

For food I made my mum's now-famous five layer nacho dip and my peanut butter magic squares, complete with Reese's Peanut Butter chips imported from the Walmart near St. Jacobs. I can't buy peanut butter chips here, you see, and the squares are just not the same without them. We had at least half a dozen bags of tortilla chips, and I put out a plate of store-bought cookies. I was still afraid that there wasn't enough food for the 11 or so guests coming, but it turned out to be perfect. In fact, pretty much no one had any of the cookies -- guess my cooking filled them up!

In total we spent the evening with 5 Canadians, 3 Scots, 2 Americans, and 1 guest each from Germany, Japan and the Philippines. Lots of people wore red and/or white, and my one friend borrowed a Canada Olympics T-shirt of mine to be an honorary Canadian for the night. I don't think we could have fit anyone else in the living room and all be comfortable. As it was Derek was pretty much sitting in doorway (rather useful when we needed to get more drinks for the guests). It was a good number, as more than one conversation could easily go on without it getting too loud.

My party soundtrack was comprised of over 40 Canadian artists, from Joni Mitchell to Nickleback, from Matthew Good to the Guess Who, somewhat obscure one-hit wonders like Tal Bachman and Sky, and bands we hadn't realised were Canadian such as Men Without Hats. One of our Canadian friends who is really into music seemed to enjoy trying to remember the more-forgettable bands and singing along to some of the mid-90s songs from our high school years. Its kind of fun showing off Canada's music accomplishments to friends from other countries who probably assume the big-name bands are American. And kudos to Spotify for greatly increasing their range of international artists, although I still couldn't access some of the bigger-name bands' full catalogue from within the UK.

We had a great night, and I think our guests left full and happy with how the evening had progressed. I was again thankful for the warm, dry summer we've been having so far in Edinburgh. Last year at our flat-warming it was pouring so hard that I had to pull out the drying racks because our guests needed more places to hang their soaking wet jackets and socks. Really, I did. We even got out a blanket for one who was stuck sitting in cold wet jeans for the night (we did offer a pair to change into, but he declined). So a great night overall, lots of good food and conversation, and so many compliments about the flat that I am even more sure that this is just the right place for us :)