After a busy few months, Alette and I finally returned to exploring the city and beyond on Sunday afternoon. It was also a big day for Japhur, including his first-ever bus ride, and first visit to an Edinburgh pub.
Just before noon, the three of us hopped on the Number 36 bus and headed towards Holyrood Park. It was about a 20-minute ride to our destination, and Japhur whinged most of the way. Luckily, buses are relatively noisy (especially when driving over cobblestone), so we could basically ignore him. We're hoping that he'll associate the bus ride with a trip to a fun location, and at least whine with excitement only next time.
Faithful readers will no doubt remember our original trip to Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park. On Sunday, we followed a different path from our trusty walking guide that took us through the park to Duddingston Village. Once in the village, we spied a sign for The Sheep Heid Inn indicating that dogs were welcome in the garden area. There was no food available, other than crisps, but we stayed for a drink. While Alette had a juice, I enjoyed a pint of Black Sheep Best Bitter. While the signage indicated the beer was a cask ale, they didn't serve it with a traditional handpump. Upon returning home, I re-read some material on real ale - either they were really serving keg beer (and not cask ale), or using a 'traditional air pressure fount' to serve the cask ale. I'll have to confirm on our next visit.
The walk back through the park was along Radical Road, just below Arthur's Seat. The steep descent offered some great views of the city, though was a tad nerve-wracking for those of us with a fear of heights (both Japhur and I appear to be immune).
Monday, 30 March 2009
Sunday, 29 March 2009
A Tale of Two Pubs
On Saturday night, Alette and I went out in search of musical entertainment and drink. There's a lot of pubs in Edinburgh and we'd really only visited our neighbourhood pubs thus far. So, where does one start?
Having recently joined the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), I looked up their recommended pubs. One of those noted by CAMRA are the Wetherspoon pubs that are located throughout the UK (as part of our CAMRA membership, we even have some real ale coupons for Wetherspoon pubs). The closest one to us, The Standing Order (or for a more informative link), was only about a 20 minute walk away. Admittedly, there were both good and bad signs from my research into this establishment. On the good side, they claim a large selection of ales, and had real cider. And they apparently have the best pub toilets in the UK (where I assumed that 'best' would include cleanliness). On the down side, the pub is in a very touristy area, and it is apparently quite busy. We discovered this first-hand on Saturday when we came upon a long line of very young clientele waiting to get in. And since they didn't appear to have live music anyway, we opted to avoid waiting in line and headed for our next pub.
I'd come across The Royal Oak previously when I was looking for things to do in Edinburgh. And since we were looking for live music, I investigated it further before we headed out on Saturday. The Royal Oak is a wee pub but has a lot of character, perhaps with a little bit of The Laff in it. The main floor of the bar, where we spent our time, only fits about 25 people. We were entertained by Alan Hunter and his guitar, which consisted of a number of traditional folk songs with random interludes of swearing at the audience, and quick smoke breaks outside. It was actually a lot of fun. The lower floor of the bar can serve about 20 people, and is more oriented towards traditional folk music performances. We peeked in on Saturday and saw a small group of people singing some traditional tunes. We'd likely return to visit this part of the bar in the future.
Having recently joined the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), I looked up their recommended pubs. One of those noted by CAMRA are the Wetherspoon pubs that are located throughout the UK (as part of our CAMRA membership, we even have some real ale coupons for Wetherspoon pubs). The closest one to us, The Standing Order (or for a more informative link), was only about a 20 minute walk away. Admittedly, there were both good and bad signs from my research into this establishment. On the good side, they claim a large selection of ales, and had real cider. And they apparently have the best pub toilets in the UK (where I assumed that 'best' would include cleanliness). On the down side, the pub is in a very touristy area, and it is apparently quite busy. We discovered this first-hand on Saturday when we came upon a long line of very young clientele waiting to get in. And since they didn't appear to have live music anyway, we opted to avoid waiting in line and headed for our next pub.
I'd come across The Royal Oak previously when I was looking for things to do in Edinburgh. And since we were looking for live music, I investigated it further before we headed out on Saturday. The Royal Oak is a wee pub but has a lot of character, perhaps with a little bit of The Laff in it. The main floor of the bar, where we spent our time, only fits about 25 people. We were entertained by Alan Hunter and his guitar, which consisted of a number of traditional folk songs with random interludes of swearing at the audience, and quick smoke breaks outside. It was actually a lot of fun. The lower floor of the bar can serve about 20 people, and is more oriented towards traditional folk music performances. We peeked in on Saturday and saw a small group of people singing some traditional tunes. We'd likely return to visit this part of the bar in the future.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Google Street View - Edinburgh
It appears that Google Street View has completed its survey of Edinburgh. I'm not exactly sure when this happened, but I found out about it today. So, for those that would like an interactive, first-hand look at where we're living, I'm providing some links to get you started. It
View down the road from our flat.
Mike's home at the University.
View of entrance to our first flat.
Cathedral near our house.
Edinburgh Castle, and Edinburgh Castle.
If you haven't used Street View before, it's a lot of fun.
View down the road from our flat.
Mike's home at the University.
View of entrance to our first flat.
Cathedral near our house.
Edinburgh Castle, and Edinburgh Castle.
If you haven't used Street View before, it's a lot of fun.
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Innis & Gunn
Several faithful readers have recently voiced their displeasure at the lack of beer-related blog updates. Our prime purpose in Scotland is to report back on the diversity and quality of British beer, they say. While I won't enter a debate regarding such bold assertions, I would agree that we should be posting more on British beer. In a change from visiting local pubs, Alette, Japhur and I ventured to our local "Wine Store" on Saturday to peruse their barley wares.
Yesterday, I sampled a delightful beer from Innis & Gunn. They have a beer aged in oak barrels; somewhat of a marriage of beer brewing and whisky distilling. It had been recommended to me previously by my father-in-law but this was my first opportunity to sample it. It is indeed a fine, tasty beer and is apparently brewed in Edinburgh, though also available in Ottawa for the curious and thirsty reader.
However, it is not entirely clear where it is brewed in Edinburgh, or by whom. A Wikipedia search for Innis & Gunn redirects to Caledonian Brewery (which lists the Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer as one of its 'Active Beers'). But according to the Belhaven Brewery entry on Wikipedia, "Innis & Gunn [...] is brewed and bottled under contract by Belhaven for Innis and Gunn." After some further research, it turns out that this confusion is purposeful on behalf of the creators of Innis & Gunn; a father and son(s) team that interestingly helped to save the brewery that eventually became Caledonian. It is likely that Belhaven are the brewmasters of this fine beer though this intended secrecy does not bode well for my getting a tour that would include samples of Innis & Gunn. But I'll give it a go anyway. Stay tuned.
Yesterday, I sampled a delightful beer from Innis & Gunn. They have a beer aged in oak barrels; somewhat of a marriage of beer brewing and whisky distilling. It had been recommended to me previously by my father-in-law but this was my first opportunity to sample it. It is indeed a fine, tasty beer and is apparently brewed in Edinburgh, though also available in Ottawa for the curious and thirsty reader.
However, it is not entirely clear where it is brewed in Edinburgh, or by whom. A Wikipedia search for Innis & Gunn redirects to Caledonian Brewery (which lists the Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer as one of its 'Active Beers'). But according to the Belhaven Brewery entry on Wikipedia, "Innis & Gunn [...] is brewed and bottled under contract by Belhaven for Innis and Gunn." After some further research, it turns out that this confusion is purposeful on behalf of the creators of Innis & Gunn; a father and son(s) team that interestingly helped to save the brewery that eventually became Caledonian. It is likely that Belhaven are the brewmasters of this fine beer though this intended secrecy does not bode well for my getting a tour that would include samples of Innis & Gunn. But I'll give it a go anyway. Stay tuned.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Disco Inferno
Last weekend, Alette and I took a 3-hour class on Disco dancing. Before you stop reading, it was actually quite fun, and definitely some good exercise. The class was at Dance Base, located mere minutes from our first flat (of which we blogged earlier), and about a 20-minute walk from our current residence. Alette has been taking several classes at Dance Base, including the previously mentioned Bollywood Dancing, and is currently taking a classed called Destination Jazz which covers the Disco era as well. So she was well prepared for our adventure.The class was well attended (about 30 people, including almost 10 men) and well organized. We learned a number of smaller techniques which the instructor brought together in the end for a grand finale. Sorry Chris, no pictures (the attached photo is of our instructor in full Disco-mode). The last time we went on an official "Disco dancing adventure" was with our friends Rob, Paula and Chris at Barrymore's. Has this class prepared us for future adventures? We'll just have to wait and see.
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