The Parents Visit, pt. 1

Lili Tuggle-Weir
Mar 7, 2015
3 min read

Hello all!

We are excited to have a large announcement for you all, Andrew's parents visiting Scotland for the next week. This is their first time crossing the Atlantic and we have not seen them since last July. Scotland can be a bit daunting for a first time vistor, but they both wanted to see the views Edinburgh has to offer themselves, they were not convinced Andrew and Lili haven't photoshopped them. That and they really needed to get away from the feet of snow that has fallen on Rhode Island in the past month. For a proper reception a quick visit to the local florist was required. The national flower of Scotland is the thistle, add to that some spring colors and a proper welcome arrangement is created.

Sadly their first full day didn't start out the best. The temperature is a mild 50, but the notorious Scottish wind was in full force, and early morning drizzle made a quick change of plans from walking around Old Town all day.

We instead decided to start out with some education, off to the National Museum of Scotland!

The first floor consist of historical Scotland and the room of death, aka the animal room. Of course the first artifact is a statue of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, so here you go, a photo of St. Andrews.

The history of Scotland is an interesting display, with everything from the different coins used through the years, to weapons, goblets, and of course, a cast of Mary Queen of Scot's tomb that currently sits in Westminster.

Next it was onto the room of animals, starting out with a massive ancient deer skeleton! This room contains everything from birds, tigers, gigantic crabs, even all the way up to a T. Rex!

Lunch was soon approaching so after wandering the first floor, we noticed it had stopped raining so back out into the blustery day it was. Heading out towards Old Town via Candlemakers Row, we decided to stop and get lunch at the Greyfriars Pub.

For those who don't know, the Greyfriars Bobby is a Westie that spent two years with a local police man, following him around all night and helping him with his duties. Sadly, the officer passed away suddenly, and was buried in the Greyfriars Church cemetary. Not willing to shirk his duties, his loyal westie managed to sneak into the cemetary, and for 14 years sat by his masters grave. He was so well loved that he was fed, and a dog house constructed for him, and when he passed he was buried just inside the gates to be as close as possible to his best friend. The food was very good, and included tasty delghts such as venison pie.

After lunch, it was time to wonder around Old Town. Starting at Grassmarket, we wander through local shops, everyone in awe of the architecture and layout of the oldest part of the city. With Andrew's dad constantly mentioning the castle, we decided it was time to give him what he wanted and walked around to Princes Street Gardens.

The castle took everyone's breath away, photos do not do the scale of this massive piece of architecture justice. Andrew's mom was just happy to see green everywhere, the rain is Scotland keeps the grass and most plants happily bright. Walking through the gardens we kept glancing up at the castle, and Andrew and Lili were reminded how special the place they have chose to live this year is.

It was time for everyone to get out of the wind, so we headed back home. The parents decided to go back to the hotel and put their feet up, while Andrew and Lili had to go home and take an energetic beagle out for a walk. Neither were happy about being back out in the wind, but it beats having a beagle destroy a flat because she is inside all day.