Scotland: Cultural Differences Part 3 (Or Seven Things What Will Shock my Seven-Year Old When We Return to America)

First, they don't call the whole continent "America." Over here, the U.S. Canada, Mexico, it all seems to be combined into "America." when her friends ask "Where are you from?" Audrey says "America," but soon she'll have to be more specific.

Second, there are no school uniforms, and as a result, U.S. kids care a lot more about their clothes. Don't get me wrong, kids in Scotland do care about their clothes, especially (for seven year olds) tracksuits and party dresses, but they really only have 2 days to indulge that interest. The other five days are back to the pinafore, or skirt, or (very occasionally for girls) trousers.  The related item to this is that (shh, don't tell my Scottish friends) only old ladies iron in the United States. Everyone irons here. It's like a national pastime. We've speculated that it's related to the dearth of clothes dryers.

Practicing with her uniformed "Dance Team" in the schoolyard

Third, there is no blackcurrant juice. Only grape. I am not sure how blackcurrent managed to take hold in the UK but it is everywhere. You can have blackcurrent, orange, or apple. Those are your choices. 

Okay this is actually a novelty Ribena radio, but it was the best blackcurrent picture I could find!

Fourth, you don't have to walk nearly as much, and only if you choose your home very strategically will you be able to walk to school (especially in Tucson). On the plus side, you won't be walking up two steep hills in the rain and "fresh breeze" to school every day. 

Fifth, some holidays that are minimally celebrated here in the U.K. are a BIG deal in the U.S. I have already been prepping her for Halloween. Of course the rise of Halloween (and Dia de los Muertos in Tucson) means that something else has to go - the "Bonfire Night" fireworks (and yes, bonfire) celebrating Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up Parliament (generally, in Scotland, or, celebrating that he failed, depending upon your location in the UK and your politics) won't be a fixture anymore on November 5, nor will there be Christmas Light Night in mid-November. 

Bonfire Night fireworks

Sixth, it's called a bathroom or a restroom, not a toilet. And a faucet, not a tap.  And a hundred other language differences.

Seventh, no one can sing the lyrics from One Direction's latest album.  At least, I hope they can't. For everyone's sake.

To the Edinburgh Fringe with Friends

Flyers from the Fringe, and busy Royal Mile headed away from the castle

Edinburgh, the nearest large city to Dundee, is famous for a number of things. Edinburgh Castle, for example, one of Scotland's most popular tourist attractions, and one heck of a Hogmany celebration (so I've heard; having small children tends to put a damper on going out in the middle of the night).  But Edinburgh is also home to no less than 12 festivals (for details, check out the Festival City website) most of which take place during late July and most of August, drawing tourists from far and wide.

Perhaps the best known festival is the Edinburgh Fringe, "the world's largest arts festival."  If you have an act and can find a venue willing to host you, you can perform at the Fringe.  There are, according to the official programme, 460 venues, which could be anything from a bit of the sidewalk (we were at Venue 252 - Outside the Tron - Hunter Square) to a full performance space. Up and down the Royal Mile, passer-by were assailed by advertisements for shows - from officially sanctioned "previews" of shows up on small stages (we saw a few numbers from Chekhov with Cherries, a musical take on the plays of Anton Chekhov - I wanted to go see the full show but it definintely wasn't appropriate for children) to hundreds of people in costumes (walking ten feet down the Royal Mile, I saw the entire high school cast of a production of the Canterbury Tales, then several aliens handing out flyers and posing for pictures).

Friends in Dundee told us that going to the Fringe was an experience, and that we should be prepared for large crowds, and bring our own food because there would be impossible lines just to buy a sandwich.  So when we decided to go with our visiting friends the Brodskys, we chose to go on a Monday (hopefully a bit less crowded than the weekend) and also a day where the weather was iffy (not too hard to find in Scotland). So we set out:

Posing at the Dundee train station

Our train was busy, but we had seats and arrived to Edinburgh without incident.  It was sunny (for the moment) so we took advantage of the weather and had a picnic in Princes Street Gardens before tackling the Fringe.

One person happy to pose for a picture

We had planned to head to Cowgate (one street up from the Royal Mile) where there was a "Free Fringe" venue offering several free children's events.  But by the time we finished lunch and walked up to the Royal Mile, it was pouring rain, dampening our enthusiasm for pushing on to Cowgate. We decided to split up, sending one of our party to Edinburgh Castle, the dads and most of the kids to the Camera Obscura & World of Illusion museum to dodge the rain, and me and the wee one off to explore the Royal Mile.

Checking out the outdoor mirror at the Camera Obscura museum

It being Scotland, as soon as we parted ways and most everyone disappeared inside the museum, the sky cleared and it was a bright, sunny day.  I took this picture from the stage area of the Royal Edinburgh Millitary Tattoo to prove it:

Millitary Tattoo seating in front of Edinburgh Castle

Then I walked down the Royal Mile toward St. Giles cathedral, along with many hundreds of others with the same idea as me: let's see what we can see of this festival for free.

Swarms of people near the cathedral

I ultimately ended up in the shadow of the cathedral, watching a pretty decent blugrass band (Monticule) play on a tiny stage.  They had an audience of perhaps 25 people tapping their toes and buying their mini-CD. 

Monticule concert; C sad face because I had just told her I had no water

After their set, we retired to the National Library of Scotland for water and a blueberry muffin - I always appreciate the public places in cities, like galleries and libraries, but with the craziness of the Fringe I appreciated them even more - the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland met our bathroom and cafe needs throughout the day.

After meeting back up again, and enduring another rain shower, we finally made it to the Cowgate venue, only to find that all the kids shows were done, and the only available free shows were not suitable for kids. So we sat down and ate some popcorn, as you do.

We then moved on to the abovementioned "Outside of Tron" venue to watch three street shows in a row, all of which involved unicycles or other high perches, flaming torches, and razor-sharp knives.  Only one of the shows, however, involved a kilt and gold lamè underpants, and before you ask, no, I didn't get a picture.

Brodskys watching one of the unicycle-torch-knife street shows

Finally it was time to head home.  By this time the weather had turned beautiful, with no sign of the squalling rain of earlier in the day.

View from the train station entrance: Ferris wheel and Scott Monument

 Even the train station featured a bit of Fringe activity- an art installation to see us off.

Train station art

Despite the rain, we had a lovely day at the Fringe Festival. We decided that to truly experience it, you would need to spend approximately 24 hours moving from show to show (and indeed, with shows scheduled at all hours, you could spend 24 consecutive hours at the Fringe).  But instead we hopped back on the train and took ourselves and the kids back home, ticking "Go to the Fringe with Friends" off our (quasi) imaginary Scotland to-do list. 

Part 2: Five More Views of the Isle of Skye

In Part 1 of the Isle of Skye blog, I showed the vastness of Skye (driving around), picturesque Uig, our wigwam, the Quiraing hike and the Fairy Glen.

In Part 2, I'll start with:
6. Portree. 
Although it is the largest city (by some margin) in Northern Skye, and we drove through it several times, I don't really have pictures of it because we were always passing through, or waiting to park (not exactly a picture-taking opportunity!) or grabbing a quick bite (often of ice cream, not because it was so warm outside, but because it made a good bribe for the kids).  As you drive in from the south, there are a string of bed and breakfasts along the main road, sandwiched between the road and the harbor, that had stunning views.  When we stopped to get gas on our way out of Skye, I snaped this picture of a bit of the harbor, but if we end up back in Skye, I would love to stay in one of those B&Bs and wake up to Portree harbor every morning.

Portree harbor, Skye

7. The Fairy Pools  
On our second day with our friends the Loves, we decicded to make the drive down to the Fairy Pools. It had been recommended as one of the best things to see on Skye, and it did not disappoint.  We easily found the parking and then made our way down the (fairly steep, but still doable for all but the littlest girl) path to the pools.  The first set of pools was impressive enough, and some of our party went wading (some on purpose, and some accidentally). After drying off a bit we decided to walk on "just 10 minutes more" and were rewarded by even more lovely pools and waterfalls.  We turned around and managed to time it just right; the rain started up in earnest just as we got back in the car.

Walking down the path to the Fairy Pools

The first pool (notice how clear the water is!)

This water is too cold for wading!

A pool further up the trail.

Making footprints is fun!

The last pool we got to, with a mini-mountain view.

Crossing and re-crossing the creek on the way back.

8. The Ill-fated hike
On our last day on Skye, we weren't sure what to do. We'd packed a lot into the first two days, but still didn't want to miss out on what Skye had to offer.  Audrey voted to go back to the Fairy Glen, but we ended up striking out on a small hike instead, on our way to Dunvegan Castle.  Unfortunately for us, our hiking prowess is very low. And we missed the trail.  We ended up following a road onto someone's land and crunching through moss, heather, and who knows what other kinds of flora to get to the top of the hill to overlook an inlet and something labeled "natural arch" on the map.

It turned out to be a nice view, but we did have an uncertain moment when the homeowners came to the front door of their house to peer out at us crashing through the underbrush on their land. I can only imagine their conversation, but they must have decided we were harmless, as they went back inside.

View at the end of the ill-fated hike

And this was the high ground...still up to our knees in damp grass, bushes, etc.

9. Dunvegan Castle
After the ill-fated hike, we were ready for something more...structured. So we went on to Dunvegan Castle.  We balked a bit at the family price (not a Historic Scotland property, sadly, but privately run) but it was totally worth it.  The three gardens were lovely, as was the house. On the way down to the shop, old photos of  Skye in the 1880s lined the walls, showing ordinary life in the crofts and fishing industry. (For a print of Dunvegan castle made somewhat earlier than the 1880s, look at this one in the collection of the Tate Britain).  And of course the girls got to buy stuffed Highland cows with their holiday money, so they were happy.

Dunvegan Castle

Waterfall in the Water Garden

Audrey's photo of a water lily in the Walled Garden

Old delivery crate with castle address, in the garden museum

10. Getting there and back again
Driving to Skye from Dundee was a long way  - Google maps says 5.5 hours, but Google maps does not have two small children, gorgeous scenery, or (not pictured) slow Camper Vans and even (yes) tractors to deal with on small one-lane-each-way-if-you're-lucky roads. So we made the most of our seven-hour crossing of Scotland. We stopped (every 20 miles on the way out, according to Paul), got some air, took pictures, and saw the lovely Eileen Donan castle on the way back. 

The Skye bridge, as we approached it from Kyle of Localsh

Eileen Donan castle

Scenic overlook: the Highlands

Skye was definitely stunning. A little chilly (as this whole summer has been across Scotland). I fail to understand how people can call it "Summer" if the temperature never exceeds 60 degrees fahrenheit. But the (inevitable) rain cooperated, pouring down only when we were already in the car or tucked into our wigwam for the night.  And when the sun came out, even in brief bursts, it was magical.  But that's Scotland for you.

Part 1: Five Views of the Isle of Skye

 My problem is that I take too many pictures. It's almost paralyzing: I visited the Isle of Skye last week with my family and friends, and ended up with over 400 pictures. After culling out the ones that were awful, blurry, or where I didn't even remember where I took the picture, I still had more than 300 (with some contributions from Paul as well, one of the best is above). I want to share them all with you, but I fear even the most patient and interested of blog readers will not endure 300 photos. I'd probably crash Picasa and Blogger, too. So I do what I do when I have too much research data: I categorize. For our trip to the Isle of Skye, I ended up with ten categories for which I will pick the best two or three photos in each category to exemplify our trip. In this post, I show the first five categories. Wish me luck.

1. Driving Around
As its name suggests, Skye is an island. However we did not realize how massive an island it is until we got there.  Just to see various sights (and we didn't even traverse from one end of the island to the other) we put over 200 miles on the car in just over three days.

Paul and Gavin consult the map on the north end of Skye

Claire mugs for the camera on a beach near Staffin

Kilt Rock waterfall on the north end of Skye

 2. Uig and Borve
To get to the place where we stayed (the wigwam, next) you had to drive almost to to the top of the Isle of Skye. This meant driving to Portree, the largest northern city, and then continuing to drive on to Uig, a small town whose claim to fame is that the ferry departs there to go to the Outer Hebridean islands of Lewis and Harris. Next to Uig is Borve, whose claim to fame is standing stones, but Paul was less than impressed.

Uig harbor

Standing stones of Borve

3. Our wigwam
Those of you who know me will know that camping and I do not go together. I am much more of a "glamping" type. Previously in Scotland (at Gairloch) we stayed in a wigwam (think:yurt), but this time, we stayed in the "En suite wigwam" - meaning that in addition to a platform bed, a heater, and a kettle, this wigwam had a toilet, a shower, and a mini-kitchen. The lap of wigwam luxury. The view was great as well!

Our home away from home in Skye

View from the front of the Whitewave property

4. The Quiraing Hike
Before leaving for Skye, I did a little research on likely activities, and found the Quiraing. After printing out the information about it, including a small topographical map, I wrote on the printout, "2 km walk starting from a parking lot in the middle of nowhere." It actually didn't turn out to be that bad - we found the parking lot fairly easily, and there were plenty of other hikers to follow up the hill.  There were multiple ways to approach the rock formations - we stuck with the fairly easy bit (except for that really steep part where there was almost a mutiny among the under-8's) up to the Prison, with a view of the Needle, skipping the Table entirely.

Paul, Claire, and the Loves, with the Prison in the background

The wonderful Loves at the top of the hill, with the Needle in the background

View out to the sea from the Prison

 5. The Fairy Glen, Uig
This was the closest attraction to where we were staying and it was definitely Audrey's favorite place on the island.  Initially, she was sad that she didn't actually see fairies here, until we explained to her that seeing fairies was mostly an act of imagination.  Then she got into it and started to tell us about the fairies she had seen here and elsewhere. We made two visits to the Fairy Glen, once with the Loves and once more when sunshine threatened to break through on our last evening in Skye.

We started out by the lochlet, then climbed a hill

Through some picturesque and fairy-ish trees

To take the path up to the highest point

Where you could look down to fairy circles, with gifts left for the fairies in the center

And a beautiful view of the lochlet and hills below

I hope I've piqued your interest in the beautiful Isle of Skye - still to come, Portree, the Fairy Pools, the ill-fated hike, Dunvegan Castle, and getting there and back again!

Scotland: Cultural Differences Part 2 (Food)

Back to one of my favorite Scottish topics again, aside from language and accents - the food. I wish I could say that I loved to talk about the food because it's great here. But, it is the U.K., and unfortunately, there is a grain of truth behind why the U.K. is stereotyped as having awful food. Having been here nearly two years and eaten plenty of U.K. food, it's not that it's bad...it's just that choice may be limited (pub food, fish & chips, or Indian) and what you get may be fairly bland (aside, perhaps, from the Indian food).  In this blog I'll talk briefly about three aspects of Scotland (and the wider U.K.'s) unique food culture: ice cream, juice, and lunch.

Dueling ice cream trucks at Linlithgow Palace

First, ice cream. There are two things that Brits call ice cream - if you look closely in the picture above, taken at Linlithgow Palace on a special day of Jousting, you'll see two ice cream trucks. The one on the left is serving what I call "fake ice cream" - it's the consistency of soft serve ice cream, only more like what would happen if you mixed whipped cream and ice cream together. It comes (generally) in a cone, decorated with a Cadbury Flake, which is a stick of chocolate that falls apart when you look at it cross-eyed.  The one on the right was serving regular ice cream, but generally just vanilla. Sometimes chocolate or strawberry, or occasionally more exotic flavors would be served from an ice cream truck. But even at the grocery store, a preference (or bias toward?) vanilla is evident as it is much cheaper to buy vanilla ice cream - even chocolate and strawberry command a premium price compared to (the more British?) vanilla.  It is possible to get very good ice cream in multiple flavors, but you have to go to the good ice cream shops - our favorites are Jannetta's Gelateria in St. Andrews, Visocchi's Gelateria in Broughty Ferry, and Stewart Tower Dairy, halfway between Dundee and Dunkeld.

Audrey in the window of Jannetta's GelateriaJuice

Juice is an interesting aside - in the U.S., it seems like apple juice and grape juice are king for kids. Maybe orange juice, and of course what I think of as fake juice - things like Hi-C or some "fruit punch" amalgamation. Here in Scotland, however, kids have three juice choices. Apple juice is often available. But mainly what kids drink is blackcurrent juice (often as a syrup which is watered down) and orange squash, which is a bit like orange juice but not as tasty (more like Sunny Delight than real orange juice). It also may be watered down like the blackcurrent. When our kids first got here, they found blackcurrent a strange flavor. But now they've totally acclimated and will find it strange that no one in the U.S. drinks it.

From a bakery in York: note egg & prawn sandwich

Finally, lunch. Unlike dinner (or "tea" in Scotland), which seems to have been influenced by world cuisine a bit more, lunch remains quite British.  From a sandwich you pick up in the supermarket to one you order at a sit-down restaurant or grab from a takeaway sandwich shop, you'll likely be picking from a selection of sandwiches that doesn't bear much resemblence to a U.S. selection.

For this blog, I wanted to take a picture of the lunch case at one of my favorite takeaway sandwich shops in Dundee. It's official name is "Super Snacks" but my boss just calls it "The Yummy Roll Shop."  It is always packed at lunchtime, with a line (queue) out the door.  They make two homemade soups per day, and cook burgers and paninis as well as make snadwiches to order with many of the fillings I'll describe below. They also sell crisps, sweeties (candy bars), drinks of various kinds, and homemade cakes (also described below). The food is good, it's cheap (a large soup for < 2 pounds, a sandwich for < 3 pounds) and it's (relatively) fast. But back to the picture...because it's so crowded, and it's all locals, I though I'd stick out like a sore thumb by taking a picture of the glass case where they keep the sandwich fillings. Dundee being the small town it is, with my luck someone I know would be in line at Super Snacks and make fun of me for taking a picture.Or I'd ask the staff if I could take a picture and then be faced with their incredulous stares (Why would ye want to tak a picture of sandwich fillings and salad, lassie?)

So, no picture. But it is one of the first places I ate in Dundee, and I remember going there with my boss and asking her to tell me what the sandwich fillings were so I'd have some clue of what to order.

Here's a primer, if you ever find yourself face to face with a Scottish (British) lunch counter:

• Stuff an American might recognize, called differently:  
• Egg mayonaise, and tuna mayonaise. As you might imagine, egg salad and tuna salad. They will ask you if you want butter on your roll. I am not sure why you would, on an egg salad sandwich, but I usually say "yes" just to seem normal. They also ask if you want "salad" - this can mean anything from a lettuce leaf to coleslaw. you just tell them which kinds of "salad" you want - lettuce? tomato? Sort of like decking out your sandwich at Subway. 
• Stuff an American probably won't recognize:    
• Coronation chicken and "Mexican" chicken. Coronation chicken is sort of like a curried chicken salad. Pretty good. I'll admit that having lived in the Southwest U.S., I am not brave enough to try what they claim is "Mexican" chicken for fear of disapppointment. 
• A cheddar ploughman's sandwich. Basically, a cheese sandwich with onion relish. Pretty good. I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. 
• Tuna and sweetcorn, Prawn mayonaise, and Cheese salad. Okay, yuck. Why would you want to put corn in a perfectly good tuna sandwich? And prawns - okay, shrimp in a pasta or shrimp scampi, great - but with mayonaise as a sandwich filling? And as for Cheese salad...it looks like shredded cheddar cheese held together with mayonaise. Maybe a little onion. Enough said. 
• A few other options: In addition to Paninis (grilled sandwiches on baguettes) you can also get Toasties here, which are what they sound like - a sandwich that gets popped in the toaster. Ham and cheese toasties are the classic type, but there is one restaurant that serves a Haggis Toastie (I think it's the Tartan Cafe if you're ever in Dundee and want to sample it) which is, as you might imagine, haggis and cheese, toasted. What could be more Scottish? 

•  Finally, the cakes: sort of misnomer as most of them don't have any "cake" in them - they are more like "bars"and are sometimes called "tray bakes" - typical kinds include:
• Millionaire shortbread - shortbread topped with caramel and chocolate. Really good. The best ones can be quite rich so a little piece goes a long way
• Caramel Slice - like millionare shortbread without the chocolate :-(
• Mars Crispie Cake - It looks like a chocolate rice krispie treat, but it's a bit more caramel-y. More of a "kid" thing.
• Malteaser Slice - Crushed digestive biscuits covered in chocolate with malted milk balls sprinked on.
• Chocolate Tiffin - a mixture of Rich Tea biscuits, chocolate, and raisins held together with butter and golden syrup. More of a "kid" thing, but yum. 
• Rocky Road - similar to Malteaser Slice only with nuts and marshmallows instead of malted milk balls.
• Brownie (or occasionally, Blondie) - I am always tempted by these, but they are just not as good (in general) as brownies in the U.S. 
• And of course all things Victoria Sponge - a white/vanilla cake with a layer of cream and rasberry or strawberry jam in the center. I have seen this as a full cake and as a cupcake...it's kind of a classic flavor combination that you might expect alongside the caramel slice and millionare shortbread.

So a few words to the wise in Scotland: Order the real vanilla ice cream, not the fake ice cream (better yet, visit one of the gelaterias or dairies near Dundee!) Don't be put off by blackcurrent juice; it's not so bad once you get used to it. And watch what you order at the lunch counter, making sure to save some room for a "cake" (tray bake) especially if it's homemade!