Sion meets Scotland

We already determined that Sion's time in Scotland was too short, but we tried our best to visit all the highlights this beautiful country has to offer. We got back from London around 8 pm on Sunday night and started our Scotland adventure with some yummy Indian food from Jewel in the Crown, while Gerald got McDonald's...hehe.

After a good nights sleep, we woke up the next morning and headed out towards Speyside for some whisky tasting. Sion has never done an afternoon/high tea before so on the way to the Malt Trail, we stopped at Kildrummy Castle Hotel to give her her first experience. What a wonderful location that was for a first timer. We arrived at the hotel a little before 12 and were the only ones on the property, besides the receptionist, owner, and butler/waiter guy. Claude, the owner, recently joined the AWA, so I made it a point to introduce myself and welcome her to the club. She offered to give us a tour of the property and then sat us down in the beautiful drawing room for our afternoon tea. The butler/waiter guy even started the fire for us; what a cozy setting. The surroundings of the place was so nice; we got views of Kildrummy Castle and beyond; on the property there were loads of pheasants, birds, bunnies, and a RED squirrel! For those of you that don't know, the number of red squirrels have decreased in recent years due to the introduction of grey squirrels (from America) into the area. Because of this, there are actually traps to capture grey squirrels and take them elsewhere (or kill them, idk?). So I was super excited to finally see the infamous red squirrel; way cuter than grey squirrels.

After we finished our afternoon tea, we headed out to Glenfiddich for a tour, but was told that we
would have to wait close to two hours because there were a couple of big foreign tours scheduled. Of course, "ain't nobody got time for that," so we headed out to Macallan instead, which I'm glad we did. There was only 4 of us on the tour, so it was really intimate and Sion really learned a lot. Also, because they don't allow you to take pictures, you actually pay attention more...haha. I especially enjoyed the lesson on the trees used to make the barrels. We attempted to stop by the Speyside Cooperage to see if they sell whisky barrels so we can bring one back to the States when we return (per Gerald's request), but they were closed. By this time, we were pretty pooped so decided to take the A96 back into Aberdeen instead of the country roads ( I think Sion was also car sick from my driving, kidding). As we were driving, my speedometer went nuts and went to 120mph when I was really only going 60mph; at zero, it was at 60mph. Thank goodness for the Garmin or else I would have came home with a few speeding tickets. We got that fixed this past weekend and it costs us £200. To make matters worse, they don't even know the cause of it and said it might happen again! Pray, that if you live in the UK, you drive a reliable car or else you will be broke! Anyways, we got home and went to Soul for some food and casino time.

The next day, Sion and I headed out to St Andrews. I had to let Sion try haggis, so fed her some haggis breakfast taco before heading out. Gerald and I pretty much have our typical tourist day in St Andrews,  so it's pretty brainless trying to figure out what to do nowadays. We started off with drinks at the Old Course Hotel with a view over the golf course. Sion enjoys golf and got super giddy when we stopped at the Swilcan Bridge for a photo op. Afterwards, she dropped some pounds (££) at the Pro Shop and even at the Cashmere shop! You can't come to Scotland without taking home a few souvenirs. We walked towards the square for lunch at Nahm Jim's (great sushi and thai food), and then wandered off to the Cathedral and Castle. We walked the entire town of St Andrews and needed to reward ourselves with some ice cream. I usually go to B. Janetta's but decided to be different this time and check out Luvian's Ice Cream Parlour. I was not disappointed! They have less flavors than B. Janetta's but the ice cream was creamier and more delicious. I think I found a new favorite. That was our day in St Andrews; now the 2 hours drive back to the 'Deen. It was leftovers and a movie for the evening. If you haven't seen This is 40, you should..it's funny!

On Sion's last day in town, I had to leave her and attend an AWA Board Meeting. She got her packing done and by the time I got home, it was lunch time and she still hadn't got her Fish & Chips! She also hasn't seen Dunnottar Castle,so we, of course, had to go. We had another amazing weather day so took full advantage by walking all around the castle grounds. On the way back to the 'Deen, we stopped by The Bay for their #1 Fish & Chips; we even tried the curry sauce for the chips, nay bad =P To wash it all down, we finished off with a small cup of ice cream from Aunty Betty's and called it a day. The plan was to go out for dinner and drinks when we got in, but because we had such a late lunch, we skipped dinner and went to a concert instead. I've never heard of the band Chvrches, but our friends, Liz & Greg, were going and invited us to join them. I spotify'd their songs and decided that I liked them, so off we went. They are a band from Glasgow and was featured as a hot new band to watch in 2013 at SXSW, so I figured we might as well catch them before they got big. Their album doesn't come out until the fall, so in the meantime, you can listen to a couple of their songs on Spotify. Sion really enjoyed herself and I think it was the perfect ending to her Scotland adventure. I mean, that was my first time seeing a band in the 'Deen! Everyone has their firsts...

I hope Scotland showed Sion why we love it so much and will get more of our friends to come visit before we leave. For right now, though, I shall take a break before our next Scotland adventure in a few days. So excited! Here are all the places we plan on stopping by...It'll just be me and G, so we should get some much deserved QT in.