999 Left To Go!

Happy New Year's from Edinburgh

After days of trying to decide what to do for our first New Years in the UK, we finally decided to catch a train and travel to Edinburgh Scotland. The city hosts a famous five day event called Hogmanany that is one of the best New Year’s Eve parties in the world. It is actually listed in the book 1000 Things You Must Do Before You Die. Only 999 to go! We had briefly talked about going up there, but since we didn’t plan it early, we figured it was a lost cause. We didn’t think there was any way we would find a hotel room or get tickets. We were figuring we would go to London and find something to do or join a pub crawl in the town of Bury St. Edmunds. But to my surprise, when I returned from my dentist appointment on the 30th Andrea was online looking at the price of train tickets and hotel rooms. Apparently we could get to Edinburgh for a reasonable price and there were still a few hotel rooms available. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity so we booked it, packed our bags, and went to bed, excited for our trip in Europe.

On the Train to Edinburgh

We woke up early the next morning, got ready, and were out the door by 6:00 am. We had to drive to the train station in Ely for our 7:00 am departure. We had discussed parking our car by our new house and walking down to the train station, but decided that extra sleep was worth the 11 pounds it costs to park for three days. To our surprise the parking was cash only and I did not have 11 pounds in coins to pay so we had to scramble. After I spent some time on the phone trying to pay by credit card, Andrea had a brilliant idea to go inside and ask for change. We learned a lesson; you can pay for parking at the ticket window and not have to worry that you will miss your train because you don’t have enough coins. I think we will park for free in our driveway and walk down in the future! Apparently the departure time on the internet was wrong, because I went to ask a question at the ticket window and the lady said you better go, your train is leaving. I thought we still had 10 minutes, but our real departure time was 6:51 am. We hustled and as soon as we sat in our seats, the train stated moving. It was dark when we left Ely but the sun soon started to come up. What a beautiful trip. The route basically hugged the eastern shore of England and Scotland. It snowed and rained for most of the trip, but it made for some really beautiful scenery. I enjoyed traveling by train. I could get up and move around as much as I wanted, as well as stand for long periods of time. The trip took about 4 ½ hours, better than the 8 ½ it took our friends by bus.

Cool City we Passed on the Train

We were on a mission as soon as we arrived in Edinburgh. We had to get tickets for the street party before they sold out. We had talked to friends that had been the year before and they told us they had to wait over three hours to get their tickets. We also talked to a ticket agent before we left and they said they anticipated selling out, they just didn’t know when. Luckily there was a tourist information booth right off the train ramp. They told us of a location that they talked to and they knew they had plenty of tickets left, so we hustled over there and bought ours. Next we had to find our hotel. We didn’t bring our GPS with us and all we had was a small map. We walked right to it. Edinburgh is a very easy town for walking. We stayed at a very small hotel that only had 45 rooms. The reviews online said the rooms were very nice and comfortable but don’t expect much else. They were right! Besides a small desk for checking in there really wasn’t much else for common areas. I guess this is what we can probably expect from most European hotels. At least we didn’t have to share a bathroom and it was very close to all the festivities! We roamed around the city for a while, ate lunch at an amazing Mexican restaurant, and did a little shopping. The Mexican place surprised us. We had only heard bad things about Mexican restaurants in the UK and this one did not live up to that reputation. I had by far the best chicken quesadilla I’ve ever had. Everything was delicious. We finally ventured back to our hotel to get ready for our night out. We sat down on the bed, no other furniture to sit on except one small chair, and instantly fell asleep. I guess we were tired out from all our travels. We woke up about two hours later and decided it was time to go outside and brave the cold. The forecast was for -5 degrees Celsius (23 Fahrenheit).

Andrea and I Out in the Cold

We wandered around the city a little more, taking in all the sights of the Christmas festival going on as well as taking a lot of pictures. Dinner was still something we hadn’t decided on, so we were looking for a good place to eat. We eventually decided to eat at a Pub called the Amber Rose. The dinner was excellent, the atmosphere was really fun, and I found two more beers that I really enjoyed. My favorite was a local IPA off cask. I can’t remember what brewery it was from, but it was good. We had a few more drinks and then ventured down into the masses for Hogmanany! We were very excited and happy to see that there were thousands of people in the street. We joked that we might be able to find some of our friends in the craziness down there, fully knowing that we would probably never see them. Not more than 100 yards into the area Andrea spotted our friend Micah. We were happy to find them and we hung out with Micah and his wife as well as two other couples from my squadron.

Night Time View of the Castle

Hogmanany was absolutely crazy! There was an estimated 80,000 people in the streets, drinking beer, and having a great time. There were three main stages that had music playing, as well as a couple more in more secluded areas you had to buy tickets to see. We found a place on the main street, with views of two stages as well has an unobstructed view of the castle. Apparently nobody else noticed it was very cold because there were people in costumes, dresses, and a lot of kilts. And if you know anything about kilts, they do not wear underwear……….cold! We had a really good time hanging around, people watching, enjoying the music, and waiting for the countdown to begin. Finally it happened, the clocks clicked down to zero and the fireworks started. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a fireworks display like this. Imagine the best finale you have seen. Take that and make it last about five minutes and this was the display. The cool thing was that it was launched from the castle and grounds around it. It probably spread across an area ¼ mile long. It was massive. It didn’t last very long, but it was very cool to see and we didn’t leave disappointed. Everybody started to disperse and go to their various pubs and clubs for the rest of the night. Andrea and I decided we were ready to be warm and go to bed. We walked the three blocks to our hotel and were in for the night.

View of the 80,000 People

It was spooky going out the next morning. We were possibly the only people in the streets. The streets were still closed from the night before and trash was everywhere. Apparently flower pots make great trash cans. We decided that we were going to spend the day doing the tourist thing, seeing the castle, and taking in the rest of the sights. The castle was really cool. Andrea had already done the tour back in 2001 so we decided to walk around it ourselves. It was really cool to read about the history of the castle, Scotland, and their struggle to gain independence and identity from Britain. There was also a really neat museum about the Scottish armed forces, including an exhibit from a photographer that just returned from Afghanistan.

Andrea and I at the Castle

The rest of our trip was spent browsing around all the shops and stores, and tasting more of the food and beers from the area. The last night there we met up with some more people from my squadron and had a few pints. I’m really glad we did this. It gave us an opportunity to meet a lot of new people and have fun. We found two more couples that live really close to us in Ely. The last day we were on a mission to find Andrea a pair of wellies (rain boots). Unfortunately we were looking at a bad time of year because most stores were sold out of her size. I did find a cool tea pot that I needed to brew the loose tea Andrea got me for Christmas. I had some this morning, it was delicious! The last thing we did was to have lunch at the Hard Rock Café. One of the best burgers I’ve ever had. It was made with buffalo sauce, blue cheese, and an onion ring. I got my customary shot glass to add to my collection and we headed off for the train station.

View of Downtown Edinburgh

We lucked out for our trip home. We did not have reserved seats because we booked our tickets late so we had to wait and find a seat. The train was packed! Apparently all 80,000 people wanted to get on our train. Every seat was full as well as every space somebody could stand, there was a person or luggage in it. Luckily we were one of the few people that were able to find a seat. It was a packed ride home but we made it. We haven’t decided on what our next trip will be but we really want to visit Prague soon or we might save up to go on a Mediterranean cruise. First we have to get moved into our house and get settled a little bit. After all, we have to get our guestroom ready for you all to come and visit!