We’re off to Oman soon, as I’m
sure most of our regular readers already know. It’s going to be a quick transition. We’re expected on the ground for August
4th, right in the middle of Ramadan and the hot Omani summer. We’ve started to get a few things done
to prepare for the move, but are far from finished.
One
of the things that worries us most is that with a quick move we won’t be able
to say goodbye to family and friends.
While we acknowledge that we are not going to Mars, just to Oman, we
also know that it will be much more difficult to see the important people in
our lives, both because of the time difference and the vagaries of living in
the Middle East. So we were quite
glad when Roger and Cathy showed up for one last visit last week.
After
letting them get acclimated for half a day we bundled them into a train and
down the Scottish coast for a trip to Edinburgh. Cathy took pictures for the full three hour trip, but who
can blame her with the amazing scenery you get between Aberdeen and the
capital. After disembarking at
Haymarket we walked a few blocks to our place for the weekend – The Chester
Residences. Fiona had booked us a
two bedroom suite and it turned out to be an absolute cracker! I think it was far and away the best
hotel we had ever stayed in during our time in Scotland, and we have had the
privilege of quite a few weekends away.
What makes the Chester Residences so great is not just that the
apartments are fabulous – well furnished and incredibly comfortable – or the
location – smack dab in the heart of all you want to see in Edinburgh – but the
staff. They were amazing. They seemed to respond to needs and
wants before you could vocalize them.
They were incredibly friendly and would stay and chat about whatever you
wanted. They knew about the city
and made great recommendations, including a Tiki Bar for lunch on Monday that
had fabulous pork sandwiches.
When we arrived our room was not
entirely ready and the ushered us into the lounge for a drink. We had a couple of cocktails while we
waited and watched two local football teams – Hibernian and Hearts – duel it
out on the big screen for the Scottish Cup. It was interesting because everyone seemed to have a rooting
interest in the game. In the end
Hearts won in convincing fashion which seemed to leave most people happy. Football finals would play another part
in our weekend, with the Champions League finals between Chelsea and Bayern
Munich on Saturday night. We came
back from our dinner out and again found ourselves in the lounge watching
football. It was an exciting game,
decided on penalties, but different from the Hibs-Hearts match in that most
people, except with those that had been to the bookies before, didn’t really
care who won.
Lest
you think we spent all our time watching sport, I’ll fill you in on the details
of the rest of our trip. In honour
of our 10 year anniversary the day before, I had booked us in to one of
Edinburgh’s finest restaurants – the Witchery. Loyal blog readers will know we spent an afternoon in the
Witchery before, filling ourselves with soup after a cold, miserable day
visiting the castle. No such need
this time around. The weather was more
than brilliant all weekend, in fact, probably a better stretch of weather than
any we had during our 4 year stay.
We had brilliant sunshine and cloudless skies for our entire stay.
The
restaurant was a hit, with its funky décor and fabulous menu. We had a great evening, and for an
additional touch of home the maitre d’ was an Edmontonian who had been living
in Scotland for the last few years.
We got completely caught up on our Edmonton Oilers gossip.
The
next day we went to Edinburgh Castle.
They were setting up the stands for the Royal Tattoo which will take
place in August. We’re a little
bit sad that we never got to take in this piece of Scottish culture. We both love a good pipe and drum band,
and this is the ultimate venue for that.
We
spent the morning and early afternoon exploring the castle, stopping only for
brief but tasty lunch inside one of the tearooms. We marveled again at the beauty of the War Memorial, and
enjoyed talking to Queen Margaret in the great hall, although I, likely
encouraged by the thought I was talking to (pretend) royalty, exposed my
ignorance of Scottish history a little too much. I had the names of the kings right, but simply had to have
my timelines corrected by about three hundred years. With all the hustle and bustle of the growing hordes of
tourists, we took great pleasure in seeing a fox curled up in a sunny patch of
grass below St. Margaret’s Chapel.
Sleeping peacefully in an area roped off from people, it clearly had
found the best way to deal with the excess of sunshine.
We
ended our trip with an afternoon tea at the swanky Balmoral hotel. It was a proper high tea, with several
dozen flavours available, champagne, scones and cucumber sandwiches. I’d never done anything like that
before and it was an experience I would definitely recommend.
Early
the next morning I tramped around Edinburgh to get a few stamps and signatures
from the Canadian Consul before heading back to work in Aberdeen. Roger, Cathy and Fiona stayed in town,
doing some more shopping and the girls also got pedicures. They came home on the evening train.
The
rest of the week seemed to fly by.
Fiona and Roger went golfing, Roger and Cathy climbed Benachie and they
all went to the Strathisla distillery for
a tour and wee dram. We
even managed to squeeze in one last visit to the Marcliffe for dinner, although
it seemed we were all feeling the effects of a busy week. We both spent the last evening packing,
Roger and Cathy for their return to Canada and Fiona and I for our three week
trip through Italy – our last big hurrah before the move to Oman.
We’ll
be blogging the trip as per usual, but at the end of it we’ll be calling it
quits on The Scottish Trip. Never
fear, loyal readers, we’ll pick up the threads again and start keeping you up
to date using a new blog: Gone to Oman.
Sorry for the lack of a catchy title, The Three Muscateers and Horse
with No Name were both taken.
Catch us later on: gonetooman.blogspot.com.
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