It's been a good few weeks now since our trip, so let's hope I still remember what we did in St Andrews. To celebrate Gerald's 30th birthday, we decided to visit the Home of Golf. St Andrews is about a 2 hour drive from Aberdeen and I'm surprised we haven't visited it before now. Maybe Gerald was secretly waiting to go there for his 30th, I wouldn't be surprised...haha.
We left Aberdeen after work on a Thursday evening and spent a couple of nights in St Andrews and then drove to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival and Military Tattoo. It was a nice little road trip.
Our time in St Andrews was pretty much golf related. Upon arriving we checked into the Fairmont Hotel and went out for dinner. The local blog suggested a Thai/Japanese restaurant called Nahm Jim so we went there. I've never had Thai/Japanese cuisine in one sitting so thought it would be interesting and it really was; sushi, curry, and pad thai? Overall, it was good and pretty cheap so 2 thumbs up in our book. Any sushi these days is good for me, since I don't get it that often.
The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 am and were the first ones on the course at Kittocks. Since I wasn't playing golf, and didn't want to have a spa day, I decided to be Gerald's caddy for the day. It would also be a nice way for me to see the course, so we walked 18 holes. Let me tell you, caddying is no joke and I had a trolley. On top of being a caddy, I was also Gerald's photographer. Most times I was too busy taking pictures and he'd already be half way down the fairway, oops. Despite the mowers who were in our way for the first 9, it was a nice day. I'm not sure if Gerald though his game was up to Par, but I guess he can't complain.
After golf, we headed into town for lunch and a visit to the Old Course. We had a nice 2 course meal at The Doll House and spent the rest of the day browsing through shops and watching people tee off on the 1st hole of the Old Course. Everywhere we went around St Andrews, we heard Americans; for a minute I thought I was in the States. It was a nice change.
We ended the evening with dinner at Bocci, a restaurant with a view of the 18th hole of the Old Course. We saw a very pretty sunset and had a good meal. I was a little disappointed with my parmesan truffle fries, because it was thick cut potato instead of shoe string, but still tasty.
The next day, we did a little bit more sight seeing around town and had lunch at Dunvegan Hotel, which is owned by an American-Scottish couple. The husband use to be in the oil industry and ended up marrying a Scottish woman. They bought the hotel about 10 years ago and serve up good eats! I wouldn't mind driving down for their chilli, even though it was crazy hot! The husband is from Texas, but from the wrong school but we won't hold that against him because they do great food.
Saturday evening we had tickets to the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh so drove out there after lunch. The Tattoo is a showcase of Military bands around the world. We saw performances from The Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and of course, the UK. It poured down rain the first 20 minutes but other than that, the show was great.
Well, that pretty much concludes our road trip and Gerald's 30th Bday celebration. Turning 30 wasn't so bad for Mr. Pena =)
We left Aberdeen after work on a Thursday evening and spent a couple of nights in St Andrews and then drove to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival and Military Tattoo. It was a nice little road trip.
Our time in St Andrews was pretty much golf related. Upon arriving we checked into the Fairmont Hotel and went out for dinner. The local blog suggested a Thai/Japanese restaurant called Nahm Jim so we went there. I've never had Thai/Japanese cuisine in one sitting so thought it would be interesting and it really was; sushi, curry, and pad thai? Overall, it was good and pretty cheap so 2 thumbs up in our book. Any sushi these days is good for me, since I don't get it that often.
The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 am and were the first ones on the course at Kittocks. Since I wasn't playing golf, and didn't want to have a spa day, I decided to be Gerald's caddy for the day. It would also be a nice way for me to see the course, so we walked 18 holes. Let me tell you, caddying is no joke and I had a trolley. On top of being a caddy, I was also Gerald's photographer. Most times I was too busy taking pictures and he'd already be half way down the fairway, oops. Despite the mowers who were in our way for the first 9, it was a nice day. I'm not sure if Gerald though his game was up to Par, but I guess he can't complain.
After golf, we headed into town for lunch and a visit to the Old Course. We had a nice 2 course meal at The Doll House and spent the rest of the day browsing through shops and watching people tee off on the 1st hole of the Old Course. Everywhere we went around St Andrews, we heard Americans; for a minute I thought I was in the States. It was a nice change.
We ended the evening with dinner at Bocci, a restaurant with a view of the 18th hole of the Old Course. We saw a very pretty sunset and had a good meal. I was a little disappointed with my parmesan truffle fries, because it was thick cut potato instead of shoe string, but still tasty.
Saturday evening we had tickets to the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh so drove out there after lunch. The Tattoo is a showcase of Military bands around the world. We saw performances from The Netherlands, Brazil, Germany and of course, the UK. It poured down rain the first 20 minutes but other than that, the show was great.
