Hey everyone!
Yesterday was a fun day. We went up to the highlands to see Blair Castle, Pitlochry, and the Dewar Whisky Distillery. The drive up was pretty exciting, we finally saw cows (the Highland Coo' - as they like to call it)! They were really cute and furry. Cows, lots and lots of sheep, and this weird bird that I think was a phesant (peasant? pheasant? Whichever). Oh, and chickens. We saw chickens by the side of the road, just walking around as we pulled into Blair Castle, that was pretty funny.
Blair Castle was different from all the other castles we've seen, in that it wasn't this stone place, it was more like a giant mansion, and it was quite pretty. They had it set up like normal, but there were also a number of general display rooms (because they like to keep EVERYTHING they come across - as one of the guards told us). One of the display rooms was 'The China Room' which was just this massive room of china dinnerware and doilies. And another room had all this random stuff in it, including locks of hair kept in display cases (it made me think of Angela's hair doll). So, Blair Castle was fun and interesting - and afterwards, we got to have tea and biscuits (shortbread cookies - yum). However, I think that I am now officially tired of seeing castles (who would've thought?).
After the castle, we went to Pitlochry, which is this little, touristy, Highland town. It was really cute, and I think that I am going to have to go back at some point. We went to a few of the shops and had lunch in this little cafe/restaurant/bar type place that made kick-ass sandwiches. We only stayed there for about an hour though, before moving on to the Whisky Distillery.
The Whisky Distillery was called, "Dewar's World of Whisky," which I thought was pretty funny. They gave us a tour of the distillery, where we learned all about how to make whisky. The fermentation room was crazy, it was like an instant buzz as soon as you walked in. And then, we watched a video where we learned all about the 12 year aging process of the whisky involving the "heavenly match of wood and whisky" (direct quote from the video, by the way. There was also a really funny line about how the angels have their share when some of the whisky evaporates). We also learned that the cows here are VERY happy - they get the leftover discarded stuff that isn't used in the final product. Happy cows and drunken angels... After the tour, there was an audio/visual thing that told all about John Dewar and his legacy and the history of the distillery, and there was a television that played every single advert created for Dewar Whisky. Most of them made no sense, and some were pretty funny. There was a Sean Connery one that was pretty funny. Finally, there was a smell/taste center, where you got to smell things in bottles (I have no idea what for) and sample either malt or blended whisky. Both were absolutely vile, but the malt was worse. Obviously, I am not a whisky person. The drive home was not too much fun, needless to say.
That was my day of sight-seeing yesterday. I enjoyed it, however the downside was having to wake up at the butt crack of dawn (6:30..on a Saturday, ugh), to catch the train to Edinburgh. Next weekend, we're going to try and go to the Scotland vs. Italy rugby game (part of the Seven Nations, which is a big deal..). Oh, also, as someone pointed out to me, I forgot to include, in my mailing address, that you have to put Scotland, UK. So, if you send me mail, you may want to add that, just to ensure that I get it. Well, so ends that. More later!
Shontae
No comments:
Post a Comment