Back on July 4th, America celebrated it's 234th birthday. While this may sound like 100 life times for some people, 234 years is just a small bump on the time line of civilization. This always becomes clear when you travel outside of our fine country. We're wrapping up our weekend in Edinburgh and the impression that I will take with me is the "oldness" of everything in this beautiful country.
Scotland is old. Like OLD, old. There's a part of Edinburgh called New Town which was built in 1765. Even that which is "new" is actually quite old. Walking around Edinburgh you pass by statues from the 17th and 18th century as well as architecture from as far back as the 1500's.
Yesterday we went out to St. Andrews and the aptly named Old Course for the Open. It was pretty amazing to walk around a course where people have been playing golf for almost 500 years. We could tell that the Scots had a sense of that history as well. We had been to Bethpage last year, home of perhaps the rowdiest golf fans of all time. The Old Course was most definitely not like the Black Course. Shouts and screams were replaced by polite claps. They appreciated the game and although I was itching to scream out to Phil Mickelson,we appreciated them.
The tradition and the age spread to the kitchen as well. I had heard of haggis before and like most, I swore that I would never try it. For those that don't know, haggis is a made up of sheep's "pluck" (heart, liver and lungs) mixed with onion, oatmeal and spices and cooked in a sheep's stomach. Haggis is as Scottish as The Proclaimers golf and scotch. It dates back to the 1500's and was a staple of cattle drivers in the Highlands. In the midst of experiencing all of these ancient things, I decided that I couldn't leave Scotland without trying it. Haggis is old, it's traditional and it's actually pretty good.
Not to pontificate about America, but one of our faults as a people is a lack of appreciation for old things. We're always looking for the hottest new car, cell phone or television without stopping to appreciate the things that came before us. Edinburgh has helped to appreciate the old.
Other random musings of Scotland
-There are more Italian restaurants here than anywhere I've ever been. I'm saying that per capita, Edinburgh has more Italian restaurants than NYC. Possibly because of the aforementioned haggis
-There's a ton of statues in the city, including one of Abraham Lincoln. It's in a cemetery and is built to honor the Scots who fought in the Civil War. Pretty cool.
-I always heard about the room temperature beer but I had never had it until yesterday. No need to try it again because it was gross.
-Scottish accents rule.
We're up early tomorrow for a flight back to Ireland. Can't wait.
