Chapter 18

Today I took my first trip out of Edinburgh. It was a trip organized by the Chaplaincy and 50 students from the campus participated. They organize trips throughout the year, but this is the first one I was able to attend and it was very nice. I paid 17 pounds ($22 US) and that included the bus ride and tours.

The first stop on the trip was Pittenweem Scotland, which is a small fishing village about 1:30hr from Edinburgh. This is the #1 fishing port in the Northern part of Scotland and it has now become a tourist town because of its rich history. The town sits right on the coast of the ocean and it’s a really small town. Very small shops and restaurants make up the town. I haven’t seen a true butcher in a while and I went into a butcher shop and took pictures as you shall see. Along the coast are the original houses which the fisherman lived in years ago, but they have been restored and were sold to individuals in the town.  It was a nice town, but you could tell on the natives knew we were visitors. They were very friendly and stopped to give us additional history of the city.

We also visited The Scottish Fisheries Museum. This was not your average museum, because it’s actually constructed in a series of homes converted into a museum and it was very low tech. These homes were purchased over time and were added over a period of years. They said they didn’t want us to take pictures, but I only live once and I disobeyed that rule because I wanted to have memories. We also ate at a famous fish restaurant, but I will be honest I have had better fish in the US. This place wouldn’t be on Man Vs Food on the Travel Channel.  

After we left Pittenweem we headed to St. Andrews the oldest city in Scotland. This is the home of golf and yes I plan on playing a round there before I leave. While in St. Andrews we visited the castle and the remains of the Cathedral. St. Andrews is a very small town as well, but it’s a college town with St. Andrews University and St. Mary’s to name a few. We were able to tour the city and we walked around to lot of shops and talked with natives. I must admit the best part of the trip was stopping at Starbucks (LOL)!

It was great to get off campus and see Scotland. I enjoyed it and look forward to other trips.