Thursday, August 16, 2007

Scotland: Bad Karoke, Bagpipes, and Beer Tents

After my stay in Ireland, I went to Scotland (Glasgow & Edinburgh) with three of my Chicago friends (Anne, Katie, and Kelly). Both cities were beautifully old yet surprisingly modern in their night lives albeit many bad Karoke bars. We spent a lot of time laughing at locals who apparently think that Lionel Richie's "Three Times a Lady" is still cool (was it ever?). Both cities had international festivals going on while we were there: A bagpipe fest in Glasgow and the famous Fringe fest in Edinburgh. The Fringe fest is like SXSW for theater and comedy, but the coolest part was an outdoor beer tent called the Speigeltent which is pretty much SummerFest in Milwaukee without the live music. We also had an amazing dinner at the Atrium in Edinburgh where we ate Coq au Vin and drank a bottle of Cakebread Cab. We had a bit of a B&B debacle--See picture below--in which we ended up sleeping in a kitchen for a night (good thing we got the night free, after fighting with the owner). We can laugh now. We also discovered the "macaroni pie"--a late-night wonder of Scotland, but only if you know the right alley-way bakery to sell it to you at 3 AM. By far the highlight: Having a Scotish Bagpiper/Folk Singer sing "The Gambler" for us at a local pub in the GrassMarket in Edinburgh. If only he could have played "Pour Some Sugar On Me," we may have remained there forever--no need to go to Lange's anymore. He called us the girls from "West Virginia" after we belted out John Denver's "Country Road" while the rest of the bar was silent. Oh, and I have video of most of this.


Our musician friend who sang " The Gambler"
In the Speigeltent.

Glasgow
In Glasgow


University of Glasgow





Edinburgh Castle View of Edinburgh city from Castle
Anne, Kelly, Katie, and me
Laughing at Bad Karoke
Eating "macaroni pie" late night in our B&B, which was a bunk bed in a kitchen--long story!


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