Oh, Scotland {Part 2}

In case you missed Part 1 about our trip to Edinburgh, Scotland for New Years be sure to check out the post here.  You will know after reading Part 1 that I became quickly infatuated with Edinburgh; it was a rather immediate love affair to say the least. For anyone who has visited Edinburgh it is clear where this infatuation stems from, because really what is there not to love? After we left Edinburgh and landed in Hamburg, I thought maybe this infatuation was all due to the fact that it was the start of our big adventure, and that no matter what we did or where we went it would all be overly spectacular. In a way this is true. I was ready for an incredible journey with Jeremy to start and no matter where we went and what we did, I knew my heart would be full of adventure, and pumping with excitement.  At the same time, I think this was partly due to the fact that we had very little expectations for the trip. We were so busy up until we actually sat down on our first flight from San Francisco to London, that we hadn’t actually thought about the move and the New Years trip outside of logistics. Meaning, we figured out where we were going and staying, what items we were shipping and packing, what personal information we needed to take with, etc.  This also meant that we didn’t set too many expectations for our trip, and in fact we did little to zero tourist planning! Ultimately, because we didn’t have any real expectations for our trip (besides to relax!) we weren’t letdown in anyway.  I wouldn’t always recommend going about a vacation this way, especially when you are on a time constraint, but for this particular situation it allowed us to really relax without any added pressure.

As I mentioned in Part 1 we spent a good amount of time exploring old town Edinburgh. There was just so much to see and, thankfully, it was all a short walk from our flat in the Grassmarket area. 

During the day on New Years Eve, we spent a good portion of time touring through the Edinburgh castle.  The castle is a famed focal point for tourists and residents alike.  There is rich history imbedded in its stone walls, that provides a full backdrop to Edinburgh’s  royal history.

The Royal Mile, which connects the Royal Palace of Holyrood House and the Edinburgh castle, is where many main attractions were found. The Holyrood House is where Queen Elizabeth (and royalty before her) stay during their visit to Scotland, thus making the “Royal Mile” truly a royal affair! It was neat to walk and feel as though much of it hadn’t changed.

On New Years Eve we participated in the Hogmanay festivities which included concerts in the Princes Street Gardens and a street party in Edinburgh’s city centre that culminated  in the midnight fireworks show. We started out the night at a local pub meeting people from Spain, Germany, and even Colorado! We then proceeded to the city centre in preparation of the fireworks show. To say that there were a LOT of people filling the streets would be a severe understatement. Moving through the the crowd, we were able to move maybe 3 feet each minute as we literally pushed our way through. There were even various groups of strangers banding together, linking arms to essentially move through the crowds quicker! I have never truly felt claustrophobic before, but this was definitely the closest I have come…and I could not stop giggling. Does anyone else giggle when the get scared, nervous or..claustrophobic? I sure do. It’s always been my bodies go-to coping mechanism. I can’t be the only one right? In any case, after twenty straight minutes of being human sardines Jeremy and I were ready for some air space. Not to mention I was also holding a full bladder and could NOT get to a bathroom fast enough. Big crowds + needing to relieve oneself REALLY do not mix…and giggling, can’t forget the giggling. We miraculously made our way to the back of the crowds and found rows of glorious port-a-potties (choice word, I know, but since I was 2.5 seconds away from peeing my pants, on New Years Eve, they were absolutely glorious).

After we could finally breath again and the giggling subsided, we awaited midnight and the fireworks show.

Our plan for New Years day was to travel out of the city to the Highlands, St. Andrews, and maybe even a stop at Lochness. Unfortunately, not too long after midnight struck on New Years Eve, Jeremy didn’t feel well at all. He had an obvious fever and was fading fast. He woke up New Years Day not feeling much better so we decided to just relax and get better. This is where we were both even more thankful that we were staying in a fully furnished Airbnb flat…complete with a DVD player and good movies. : )

The next day Thursday, January 2nd, Jeremy had broken his fever and felt much better. He was still under the weather but he felt well enough that we ventured out. It was our last full day in Edinburgh and we spent it mostly walking around Old Town and going into the shops and little cafes that we spotted on previous outings. It was a great ending to our time in Edinburgh! Early on Friday morning we boarded a plane out of Scotland, and headed to our new home, Hamburg Germany!  There is still plenty more that we didn’t see in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland in our trip. It is certainly a destination we hope to visit again soon.

Have you ever been to Edinburgh or experienced Hogmanay? Do tell! Or maybe you have started your own big adventure living abroad?  I would love to hear what that was like for you, please share below. : )

*****

Things are getting more and more settled here. We have moved into our awesome flat and are currently in the process of finding furniture to fill it.  However, we still don’t have internet set up which is why its been longer than I hoped to post! Thankfully there are many Starbucks here to mooch off.  But be sure to check back for more Hamburg posts and a new blog series that chronicles our “nesting” process.

P.S. All the snow I talked about here has melted! Still fairly cold here, but the sun is shining.

XO

Oh, Scotland. {Part 1}

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…” (Elizabeth B. Browning)

When Jeremy and I began planning for Germany, we thought a great way to kick off our adventure would be a small vacation beforehand. A heads up to anyone that moves abroad…it involves a lot of planning and preparation!! (Duh, right?) There is not only tons of prep and planning beforehand but just as much, if not more, after you arrive to your new destination…I’ll save that for another post 😉 We knew that once we actually got to Germany there would be a whole host of these additional requirements to do right away, so we both agreed that a little vacation break between the two moves would be beneficial. It was the BEST decision. Seriously. This break allowed us to get ourselves back to neutral and to ease into our move oversees.

We were moving in early January, so we decided to look into options for going a little early to make a pit stop and celebrate New Years abroad. We quickly came up with a short list of possible places in Europe that all held a big New Years Eve celebration. This list included: London, Paris and Edinburgh, Scotland. We ultimately settled on Scotland because it seemed the most unique option of the three and a place we might not get to visit as much as the others. And boy, am I SO glad we chose Scotland!

Our sweet neighbors in Carlsbad highly recommended using Airbnb when traveling, and we wanted to give it a try. We booked an amazing flat in the Grassmarket area of old town Edinburgh, right off the Royal Mile. We could not have been more pleased with our accommodation. It was in the perfect location (with views of the Edinburgh Castle!) to see all the main attractions as well as the locations for the New Years celebrations.  We stayed in a lovely one bedroom flat, complete with a full kitchen, for cheaper than the price of a hotel room!  Hard to beat. Below is (unfortunately) the only picture we took of our place, but it gives a good feel of the entire apartment…so cozy!

Below is our view of the Edinburgh castle right outside our door…I really could not rave about this place more. It was perfect!

The first couple of days that we arrived were spent touring around, sticking mostly to the Edinburgh Castle and the connecting Royal Mile that were chalk full of amazing sights.

This picture below makes me laugh…the two next to us are creating the same picture… in the same outfit… with the same pose.

Scotland’s New Year’s Celebration called Hogmanay was both equally tremendous and astonishing. The festival lasted a total of three days. It first began on December 30th with a longstanding tradition called the Torchlight Processional. Roughly 30,000 people lined the Royal Mile in old town Ediburgh with torches in hand, walking towards the “Son et Lumiére” Finale held on Calton Hill which overlooks much of Edinburgh. The firework show at Calton Hill was incredible and one of the best I have probably every seen first hand. This was largely due to the combination of 1. We were in freaking Scotland! 2. We were on a high hill overlooking the night skyline with thousands of people holding torchlights and 3. We were so close to the actual fireworks display.  These videos are a fairly good representation of the event.

Check back soon to see more pictures and to hear about our actual New Years adventure and remaining time in Edinburgh, Scotland.

XO