St Andrews Day

Our friend, Regan, is currently working on a short term assignment in London and decided to come visit us this past weekend. He's an avid golfer so we had to make a trip out to the birthplace of golf during his visit. Friday morning, we woke up dark and early to get ready for our visit to St Andrews and as we were about to leave the house, I checked FB and saw one of my friends posted something about St Andrews Day. Turns out that November 30 is the feast of St Andrew and it just so happened that we were heading that way; how special for Regan.

We got there around 10:30 and decided to start the day off with a bellini at the Road Hole Bar at the Old Course Hotel. We were then told that The Royal & Ancient Golf Club would be open to visitors for the day so we walked right over to get a glimpse inside the famous clubhouse. The R&A is a male only club and it's only open to the public on St Andrews Day, so we consider ourselves lucky! This is where British golf elites lunch and sip gin and tonics, while looking out onto the 1st tee and 18th green. During our past trips to St. Andrews, we've had a couple peeks inside and I've seen people do just that! So, anyhow, we went inside, talked to some of the members, sat on the comfy leather chairs and even saw the original Claret Jug! FYI - The winner of the Claret Jug gets a 75% replica when they win The British Open, but the original is housed in The R&A at all times. Even though it's a men's club, it actually had some pretty nice feminine touches to it, like the beautiful porcelain ceiling and huge chandelier. There was also a picture of the Queen in the middle of the lounge; apparently pictures of females are allowed but not females themselves.  I guess the Queen is a special exception. After about 45 minutes of admiring the place, we were getting hungry and headed to our favorite Ameri-Scottish bar, the Dunvegan's, for lunch.









After lunch, we walked to the Castle and Cathedral. It was 3:00 pm and the sun was starting to set, so we didn't have too much time to wander around town. We got to go to the main square, poke our heads into the University grounds, and then stopped at the infamous Northpoint Cafe for a light snack. Kate and Wills frequented Northpoint during their time at the University, so we had to see what the fuss was all about; I actually wasn't very impressed. They made milkshakes with no ice cream, ice tea with syrup, and my chai tea latte tasted more like hot milk than anything else. We did enjoy a nice brownie a la mode and a rhubarb crumble. Now that we were all sugared up, it was time to drive back to the 'Deen. We had a tee-rific time celebrating St Andrews Day in St Andrews =)