Biodiesel Boats and Ravishing Ruins

We had another adventurous weekend. We started it by going to the Edinburgh Farmers Market on Saturday morning. We were a little bummed about the market. There were only two stalls with veggies! The rest were basically all meat stalls, with the odd bakery. I guess that's your British stereotype playing out as the honest truth now isn't it. So, we bought a loaf of French bread from a French lady. Simon said that he could bake better bread though.... "so why doesn't he" is my response to that! Then we bought some smoked Scottish salmon.... yummy! And get this.... a half rabbit and some "mixed game" meaning rabbit, wild bore, pheasant, meadow dove and venison!!! So tonight we're making a mixed game pot pie. It should be yummy. But we just have to chew carefully as the package said "may contain shot!" Let's hope I don't need to run to the dentist tomorrow. I fear British dentists... for any of you who have seen that Simpson's episode with the Great Book of English Teeth!!!

After our market trip, we drove out to the north of town to check out Earthrace, the biodiesel racing boat. I had seen the posters of this boat from working with alternative fuels in Tennessee, so when I found out that it would be docked in Edinburgh this weekend, we had to check it out. Marius seemed to enjoy his first boat trip. We were talking to the captain about their biodiesel supply across the globe and apparently the UK was one of the worst places. They could only bet B5 (5% biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel) so they didn't even bother filling up with it. So, unfortunately they had to use regular old diesel fuel. When I eventually go back to work, I'm going to have to try and see if I can help that out... B5 only! I had my heart set on buying a diesel car so that I could use B100 or at least B20 in the wintertime.
Sunday we took a trip out to see Melrose Abbey and also took a little hike along the way in the Valley Tweed (yes as in the place that the fabric came from). The valley was absolutely stunning, but I was driving so I couldn't do a whole lot of looking from the car. I'm getting quite proficient at driving in the UK now. Simon only had a few moments where he had to scream because he thought I was too far over on the left side of the road!!! Melrose Abbey was yet another spectacular trip. The beauty of these old ruins is so amazing. This place is where Robert the Bruce's heart is buried. Remember his body is in Dunfermline, where we went last weekend... both places are pretty darn pretty if you ask me. I guess he wouldn't mind being dissected and buried in different places as long as they're nice looking abbeys! The weather wasn't too great and it started raining at one point. Afterwards we had some ice cream and I gave Marius his first lick of the cold treat. He hasn't got the whole licking thing down though. He kept opening his mouth and just pushing his face into my cone!
Oh and here's a tooth shot! A bit blurry, but you try getting a close up of a wiggly baby, it's not easy!!

Online Dating

So, I've had two dates this week with people I met online.... Errr that is two play dates with mommies! It was sort of like getting back in the whole dating thing again. You know worrying about how I would get along with the mothers and worrying about keeping up my end of the conversation, which I am terrible at anyhow. I joined this netmums.com thing where other UK moms (mums as they say here) can go online and get info or find out about things in their area. I've been pretty shy about meeting people, but the best advice I've gotten is to just be very proactive about seeking out new friends. So, I posted an "add" if you will on the "meet a mum" message board. I got 4 responses and have set up dates. Just like online dating. Don't worry mom, we meet in public places. I went for a walk yesterday with a mom and our baby boys and had lunch today with another mom and baby boy. I'm not sure if I met any bosom friends, but I felt pretty comfortable with one of the mothers, so I'll have to ask her out on another date next week. Or should I wait 2 weeks so I don't seem desperate? I feel like I'm in the movie Swingers! What's the protocol? Oh well, we'll see how this goes. I'll just try not to leave any long-winded voicemails!
On a different note, sorry about the disappearance of all of my slideshows.... It's a problem with my web photo company and they're working on the problem. Hopefully they'll get it back up and running soon. So here's a cute photo of the buddy in the interim.

Why can't the US do this?

I just love Europe!!!! The capital of Scotland is considering banning plastic bags from the city! Yes, that means when you go to the grocery store you'd better bring a backpack, or reusable bags to haul your stuff in. It may seem hard if you've never done it before. But it's not really rocket science now is it. You just need to be a little prepared when you walk into a store. If you can remember your wallet, you can remember a bag. "I just love Europe!!!! The capital of Scotland is considering banning plastic bags from the city! Yes, that means when you go to the grocery store you'd better bring a backpack, or reusable bags to haul your stuff in. It may seem hard if you've never done it before. But it's not really rocket science now is it. You just need to be a little prepared when you walk into a store. If you can remember your wallet, you can remember a bag.
That being said, I don't really foresee Edinburgh passing this. I mean, sure it's Europe, but the council is elected, so that means they'll forgo what's really best for the people to placate to the least common denominators.... which unfortunately Edinburgh still has a lot of.

We have teeth!!!!!

I saw two little flecks of white enamel yesterday peaking through Marius's gums. Yes, two little teeth are cutting through. The poor guy has been in a little discomfort though, but it hasn't been too bad for him (I think and hope!). After about 80 blurry photos and my camera lens smeared with baby drool, I gave up on trying to capture the moment to post for you all. But here are some photos anyhow!

God Bless Andrew Carnegie

Today we went to Dunfermline, the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie. Good ole' AC. There are ruins of an abbey and palace here in addition to a lovely park and more modern abbey. More modern as in it was completed in 1821 as opposed to the old abbey whose ruins date back to the 1100's. Apparently workers found the body of Robert the Bruce during the new abbey’s construction. The architect was so excited about the find, he overzealously decided to put “King Robert the Bruce” up on the top of the abbey. It looked a little too Vegas for my taste. I half expected neon lights to flicker up there! But the rest of the abbey is spectacular. The old palace and abbey ruins next door is equally impressive with the old stone staircases and window frames. The whole place overlooks a nice river that runs through the town. Adjacent to abbeys is a huge park, Pittencrieff park. Andrew Carnegie bought the whole estate with a mansion on the property and made it open to the public. Apparently as a child he was not allowed on the property due to his grandfather leading a band of men to tear down a wall on the property in attempts to make the Lord of the estate allow the town dwellers access into the abbey and part of the grounds of the estate. What sweet revenge it must have been to buy the whole place and donate it to the town! It is truly a gorgeous park, with a nice greenhouse, winding wooded walkways, lavish lawns and gardens (check out our pictures of thistles, the official emblem of Scotland). As luck would have it, today was an enviro/flower show in the park, so there was a huge tent with lots of cool stuff inside. This was quite nice since it was raining and a little cold. But as many people say here.... There's no bad weather, only inadequate clothing! But anyhow, the park mansion is now a museum free to the public. We really loved this park and are considering looking at Dunfermline when we start our house hunting here. It only a 30 minute train ride to Edinburgh across one of the most famous bridges in the UK, the Forth Rail Bridge.

Yet another castle

Well, we finally went to Edinburgh castle. I have to say it was slightly less impressive than I had thought it would be. I mean, it is a spectacular setting and the size is quite impressive. But, I guess I just thought it would be more restored to it's original slender inside the place. The main thing I was interested in seeing up there were the crown jewels. The official crown, sceptre and sword of Scotland are housed there. Being the jewel nut I am, I was anxious to see and read about the crown and its stats. The tiny room where the jewels are housed doesn’t let you really get a close up view, and there is no plaque telling you the materials in the things nor is there any information about when they were made and where. I was looking for something telling me that the crown has 58 freshwater pearls, 29 carats of diamonds, 33 carats of rubies and so on…. The sceptre has a huge clear stone on the end of it, but nowhere did I find info telling me if it was glass, quartz, or an amazing 77 carat white sapphire! I looked online and found out it’s only quartz crystal…. But pretty cool nonetheless. But it should have been on the freaking display in the jewel room! Anyhow, it was a nice walk up there and the views of the city are truly spectacular. Simon and I got memberships to historic Scotland so we get into a lot of the castles and abbeys for free. So, we’ll probably be back when guests come into town.
I’m starting to feel better this week, but I had a little relapse on Thursday. Marius got his second vaccination for meningitis then too. He’s OK, but the injection site is still red and a little swollen. Not that he seems to mind at all.
We’re not sure what we’ll do tomorrow, but since there’s no construction on the Forth Road Bridge, we may head into county Fife for the day. I’ll try to remember the camera and post some photos.

Grocery Store Differences

Thank goodness we live a block away from a Tesco Express - it's a sort of mini super market, if you will. It has most of the basics and then some, but just no vast array of product selections like the big ones. This is great, because it means we can just walk there daily or every other day to restock on eggs, milk, TP, onions etc... But every now and then we need to do a major shopping trip, so we drive to the real super market down the road.
When Simon and I first went in there, we were a little taken aback, because everything was laid out way differently from what we were used to in the US. Presentation is certainly lacking in UK grocery stores. And no fancy produce rain showers either. It's just all laid out in crates on the floor and you pick through the stuff daily. At the end of the day, the store looks half picked over, and it really is. It's funny to see meat flying off the shelves and sold out in the evening. They put non sold out things on the ends in "priced to sell" sections. That's where we shop because, like just about everything here, food is twice as expensive as I think it ought to be in dollars. Although drugs are certainly way cheaper. I just bought the equivalent of Tylenol for about 2 cents per pill! A little box of 16 pills was just 16 pence (about 25 US cents).
Oh, but I really love how people here don't burn through plactic bags like they do in the states. Here, most people have reusable bags, and the teller will ask you if you need bags in sort of a guilt inducing manner. It's totally normal to see young people, old guys in suits, mothers with babies, and anyone else just walk to their local market with a backpack and load up their groceries, meat included, in the bag. There are certainly no huge plastic bag lazy susans like in Walmart where they practically put each item in it's own little plastic tomb which will sit in a landfill for all eternity.
On the whole I can't really complain too much (although I do!) on the selection of food. I just need to get a little more used to how people eat over here. I can't expect the great produce that I was used to in the US, and California in particular..... Oh, how I would love to see lots of yummy avocados reasonably priced and strawberries from Watsonville or Oxnard. A Mexican food aisle would make me a happy camper too. But, we do have come interesting food that you can't get in the US, so I'm trying to test it all out one by one. I bought Oxtail soup in a can yesterday and custard powder too. I decided to pass on the spotted dick though... Yikes, sounds like a VD waiting to happen! But I'll let you know how the soup and custard taste!
No other news on my front. I've been sick this week, so I didn't go to my baby yoga or mommies group, as being sick and going where there are little babies isn't a very nice thing to do. So, no social interactions for me this week - unless you count the grocery store check out person!

More Castles and Beaches

The family went to Stirling yesterday to check out the castle there. It's a mini-Edinburgh Castle, in that it is likewise built on a basalt outcrop in the middle of the city and an important location. I guess kings and queens lived in this one too. There are tons of other castles every 10 miles or so apart around here, but they mostly just housed lesser folk, you know Earls and Dukes, riffraff really. The old town of Sterling is really quaint and nicely preserved. It's only about 50 miles away, so we will definitely go back to check out the city a bit more. After walking around the castle, we thought about visiting the nearby Wallace Monument (a.k.a Braveheart) but we were getting tired. The last battle scene depicted in the movie took place on the hill just outside Sterling, hence the monument.

Today we decided to take a trip east to the beach. We went to John Muir Country Park outside of the city of Dunbar. John Muir was actually born in Dunbar, Scotland, so there are lots of parks and things named after him here. The beach was cold in my opinion. I had forgotten Marius's hat, shoes, and sweater so I was reluctant to even walk around. Simon game me his fleece to wrap around myself and the boy so then we walked to the beach. Along the way I saw a little girl walking barefoot in a dress coming back from the beach, then we saw two little boys going into the ocean in their undies! So, apparently my opinion of cold does not quite mean the same thing to the people here.... I tried to tell Simon that "my people" weren't supposed to live in cold places like this, but then he reminded me that half of "my people" came from northern Europe. I guess perhaps I just need some more practice with the cold so my blood will thicken up a bit. Anyhow, the beach was really nice to see, even if it was gray, cold and windy.
Oh, and did I mention that I DROVE!!! It was my first real outing behind the wheel (on the wrong side of the car) and we are still living to tell the tale. It really wasn't that bad. I think I am getting much more confident about it. The only parts that are hard are the roundabouts, which are everywhere. I drove through the Music Circle roundabout twice everyday in Nashville, so I am a bit more used to them than the average American, but here it's a little more crazy. Plus people actually know how to drive on them, so they double up and it's harder to get out of the inner lane. But I haven't yet pulled a Chevy Chase, Vacation move and kept circling endlessly! The other hard part about driving here, is just the fact that our little car doesn't have power steering. So, manoeuvring in tight curves or parking is hard if I'm not moving quickly. Thank God the clutch and gas are in the same position. Changing gears is surprisingly not as hard as I had thought it would be with my left hand. Although I always put the car in 1st gear when I'm trying to up shift into third... And the reverse was impossible to figure out until Simon told me the trick. We have to push up the gear shifter then move it into Reverse, which is located where first gear normally is. A little weird, but not too bad once you get the hang of it.
I really can't complain about the car, since it was free! A fellow professor here left for the year to go on sabbatical in Colorado, so he let us use the car while he's gone. It's been a godsend because cars here are twice as expensive as the US. That's right. If I wanted to buy a brand new Toyota Civic, it would cost me in pounds as much as a brand new Lexus would cost me in US dollars back home.... Crazy! And the funny thing is there are no beater cars on the roads here. You'd think that people would salvage super old clunkers and keep them running, but they don't. Our little 1998 Vauxhall Corsa is just about the oldest thing I've ever seen on the road here! Apparently it has something to do with strict air quality checks or something like that.

Marius the Adventurer

It's hard to believe that yesterday was Marius's 7 month birthday. Wow, it seems like just yesterday I was going into Vanderbilt for his delivery.... To celebrate his big day, we went to go look at a day care that's near our house. It seemed really nice, I liked the day care manager, and they have openings for a baby now. The only thing was that my eyes welled up right as she asked me when I was thinking of enrolling Marius. I told the manager that I'm sure he'd do fine in the day care, but that I wasn't sure when exactly I'd be ready to find a job and enrol him. I said in the next 6 months. We'll see. It's not so easy to find a part time professional job though. If you can work it out with an existing employer, that's great. But it seems like people aren't stoked to hire a new person part time, unless they're just trying to fill in for another part timer who they already employee. So, for now my job is to take care of the boy and expose him to as much fun stuff as I can. Not that I expect him to remember any of this stuff, but it'll make me feel better.
So, Marius took a little trip after his Auntie Faith led the way. Too cute!!!

Culture Vulturing

Oh my gosh! I can't believe it took me so long to go to the Museum of Scotland. I went with Marius yesterday before Simon got home, then I went again today with the whole family. The building itself is worth going to see just by itself (kind of like the new Getty Museum is) and once inside it links up with the Royal Museum next door to make one really big mega museum. But unlike the Getty, where the art inside is not as cool as the art outside - my personal opinion, since I only really like Van Gogh's Irises and the Roman stuff. I had forgotten that the British stole all the Egyptian artefacts way back in the day.... So there is a rather nice collection of Egyptian stuff. In fact it's better than the travelling shows I saw at the LACMA and the Frist, both of which I paid about $15 for. Oh, and did I mention that this museum is free!!!! All of the museums here are! I love countries with free museums.... I think the US is the only one that really charged for every single museum for its citizens. At least in Mexico they let the students in for free and charged the tourists. Anyhow, I digress. The museum!
When I took Marius yesterday, we first had a look at the koi in a fountain/pond in the centre of the Royal Museum. But on the way we walked through the lower level of the Museum of Scotland and got to see Dolly. No, not Dolly Pardon, although she was the reason for Dolly's name - the cloned lamb! They've got it stuffed (she died a few years ago) and in a glass case with lots on interactive screens for kids to learn about DNA and gene/bio stuff. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh were the ones who cloned her, so that's why she's there. Well, after that we walked to the pond. I didn't think he was going to be conscious of them, but he was just staring at them and staring at them for the longest time. I liked them too, so I'm glad I found something we can both spend some time at.
There was a Picasso exhibit that we had to pay for, so I thought, what the heck. I've got to show Marius the great painters don't I? So, for £6 (about $12) we went in. It had about 3 really nice paintings, and then lots of pottery, which I never knew he was into. Apparently he wasn't much of a potter and mostly did the design and painting/glazing and let skilled potters do the throwing. Not particularly impressive. But since I would have easily paid for the rest of the museum, I didn't mind paying to see this stuff.
Then we went up to the Egyptian stuff. Marius was getting a little tired and fussy, so I had to keep walking. But I figured I'd be back, so we kept on. Along the way we walked around the natural history part of the place with lots of stuffed birds, foxes, and other animals. Marius found this part a little more interesting, and stopped fussing long enough for him to fall asleep. Then I walked through a lovely glass collection. I saw some Steuben (my favourite glass, since we got an antique bowl as a wedding present - thanks Brenda!!!) and Tiffany pieces that were really nice.
I started getting tired so I headed back home with the sleepy buddy. Simon came home pretty soon thereafter, so it was a pretty good day. Simon was sick the whole trip and is still kind of haggard from the whole thing. He's not the best sick person so I've been trying to baby him a bit, you know making him homemade soup and not nagging him like I always do!! Hopefully he'll be back to his normal self soon.
Today we went back and had a look at some amazing Middle Eastern tapestries. We ate lunch in a lovely café next to the fish, got to see this huge clock with lots of carved figurines and gears go off, toured around the early Scottish history part of the museum and saw lots of Andy Goldsworthy installation pieces which were mostly backdrops for the exhibit, but they were the main reason for us going through it. Great stuff.
Well, that was my weekend.