East Nuek

On Sunday, we left St. Andrew's and drove into Tentsmuir Forest and along the coast through the fishing villages of East Nuek. It was a great day for a drive and we were pleasantly surprised by the sights of the region. It also gave me a chance to practice my picture-taking-in-a-moving-vehicle-skills (see below):

Sheep grazing in a meadow

Before we left St. Andrew's, we saw this rainbow

Tentsmuir Forest is one of those off-the-beaten path places. It was truly amazing.

After you drive into the forest you then walk through some sand dunes and wild grasses...

Interspersed through the dunes and wild grasses were large pockets of water. We aren't quite sure how they got there, as it seems too far back for the regular tide and too large to be filled only by rain. However they were formed, they added something to the ruggedness of the terrain, and provided some interesting obstacles to getting to the beach.




After you make the short journey through the dunes, you find yourself at this perfectly untouched beach. Evidently there is a place along the beach were seals are often found sunbathing. We, unfortunately, did not see that. A good reason to go back, I think!


Joe and I love stopping at old churches, and saw this beautiful old church along the way from Tentsmuir to East Nuek. The St. Athernase Church is still in use and parts were built in the 12th century. We stopped and a lovely woman from the congregation gave us a short tour. She was obviously very proud of the church's long history (though, she didn't think it was very beautiful!).


East Nuek is known for numerous small fishing villages that dot the coast. They is literally a village every few miles. The first one we stopped at was Crail. Unfortunately, their harbor was empty and there was not much to see. So, we made our way down to the next town, Anstruther. Here we saw more of what we imagined a fishing village to look like:



We also stopped for lunch at this famous fish and chips bar. Apparently it has won numerous awards as the best place for Fish and Chips in the entire UK. It was also a favorite place of Prince William's while he was in school at St. Andrew's. And, Joe saw some pictures of Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks, and Robert Duvall enjoying a meal here as well.
Pittenweem was our favorite fishing village. It is the most active fishing village in the East Nuek today, and I would have loved to have visited on a day when the market was open. Pittenweem also has a few historical attractions, like St. Fillan's Cave, an old Priory, and an old church.

Our last stop before heading home was Elie. Here we were struck by the beautiful beaches where several families were out flying kites on a very windy day!



We got home Sunday evening having enjoyed a lovely weekend. It was a great trip and we took a lot more pictures. If you'd like to see the whole set, click here for our flickr album.

St. Andrews

This past weekend, Joe and I decided to take a short weekend trip to St. Andrew's. We thought it might do us some good to get out of town and see some more of this beautiful country. It was fantastic! We rented a car and drove up to St. Andrew's on Saturday morning. St. Andrew's is only about 40 miles away, but it took us a good hour or so to get there. Joe was amazing--he is always our driver when we go on vacations and has driven in some interesting, and difficult, situations. This was no different--the car was manual, with the steering wheel on the American-passenger side, and he had to drive on the opposite side of the road from America. There were a couple of scary moments, but he seemed to get the hang out it quickly and did a great job!

Anyway, it was rainy and windy for a majority of the weekend, but we made the most of it and enjoyed the sights and some good food.

We visited the ruins of the St. Andrew's Castle. I am sad that there are just ruins now, it must have been an amazing place at one point. It sits on a cliff, right over the sea.


We also walked through the ruins of the St. Andrew's Cathedral. This too must have been one amazing place at one time. The ruins themselves were incredible and it seems that the Cathedral covered quite a bit of territory. It was left to ruin after the Reformation, when Protestantism became the religion of the region and Catholicism was no longer so prominent. There is an a cemetery at the Cathedral as well, with markers from as far back as the early 1800s (that we could read, there were dozens that were unreadable).




Old Tom Morris, and his son (Young Tom Morris), are also buried at the Cathedral.

The University of St. Andrew's Library

St. Andrew's is located on the North Sea. It was overcast while we were visiting, but the views of the sea and the beach were quite breathtaking.



As you likely know, St. Andrew's is the home of golf. It is also home to one of the oldest and most famous golf course, Old Course. I wasn't expecting anything that amazing, but I have to admit, it was quite beautiful.

A view across Old Course to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club

Since it was raining a lot, we also stopped by a few museums. This is the St. Andrew's Museum.
Stayed tuned...day 2 will be posted tomorrow!

Homesick

Lest anyone think that we are always deliriously happy, living a European dream or, worse yet, that I've succumbed to the present-a-perfect-picture-of-my-super-perfect-life (that-no-one-can-possibly-believe) blogger syndrome, let me assure you that we do, in fact, miss home.

Our homesickness isn't so much of that deep, angst-ridden, wishing we were there instead of here, but rather a sort of dull pang of longing for the familiarity and ease of our lives back home. Truthfully, I think we would be feeling this, on some level, no matter where we had moved.

Now, before you get all worried and think about sending me plane tickets, tissues and/or Prozac, let me assure you: we are fine. We are happy here and are enjoying this new adventure in our lives But it's a pretty major change. Maybe even more major than I often let myself admit. And, it would be pretty disingenuous of me to try to convince you otherwise.

So here's me being "real:" sometimes, I just miss home.

And, here is my (not exhaustive) list of things I am missing (in no particular order):

• Driving (it's seriously been nearly 2 months since I've driven a car!)
  
• Only having to haul groceries up 3 flights of stairs (versus 1.5 miles from the store)
• Being able to call people without having to figure out the time difference
• Being able to call people when they are available without having to stay up until 11:00pm to make the call
• Breakfast with Audrey
• Thursday mornings with Maria
• Friends who know you well
  
• Being around to help out friends when they have hard stuff going on (MG, I really, really just want to come babysit your kids!)
  
• Internet at home (working on this one)
• Knowing how to get places
• Knowing what places there are to get to
• Talking to my sisters often (that time difference is hard to work around, especially when people work during the day and want to sleep at night).
  
• DeMun
• Forest Park
• Kaldi's
• Being blissfully unaware of exchange rates
• Watching Grey's Anatomy on Thursday night at 8:00pm
• Watching any TV as it is actually aired (and, without paying a TV fee)
• Hulu and abc.com
• Being able to call people on my way home from work
• Working (I can't believe I just wrote that)
  
• No difference between calling a landline and a cell phone, in terms of fee charged by the phone company (why, o why, is it free to call a landline but not a mobile???)
  
• A church that we really love
• St. Louis Botanical Gardens
• Renting movies inexpensively and hassle-free
• Knowing what size clothes and shoes I wear (UK sizing confuses me)
• Knowing what you need to know to cut through the red-tape
• An oven that uses Fahrenheit

So, there you go. Now that I have made you feel sufficiently sad for me, here's my shameless attempt to leverage your sympathy in my favor: leave comments on my blog. It will make me feel better.

Redecorating

Since we moved into our flat (which we still love), we've been talking about how we need to do something with the living room to make it more functional and inviting, especially for guests. Although "furnished," our flat was definitely lacking in the furnishigs in the living room-a sizeable room with just a couch. When we've had guests, we drag in two dining room chairs and sit across from the couch in a pretty empty room. No place to set a glass or dessert plate. And, it just seemed bare. So, on Saturday, Joe and I made the trip to Ikea (about a 20-25 minute bus ride). We shopped for a while and found some good pieces. They were delivered yesterday and, after Joe put everything together, I had a great afternoon shopping for a few additional accent things and putting the room in order. The walls still need something and I need to do something to off-set the sudden onslaught of white, but I am very pleased with the result. The furniture isn't great quality but it was affordable, looks good, is useful, and should last us at least as long as we are here.

Before:

Now (please ignore the laundry):

A little overexposed, but we finally have a desk to work at
(something we've both wanted as long as we've been together):

Those CD/books shelves were already here, just in a different place:

We're all ready for visitors...

Portobello Beach

Last Sunday, we went down to Portobello Beach. It's about 4 miles from the City Centre and lies on the shore of the Firth of Forth, an estuary that empties into the North Sea. You can see the water from many points in the city, so there's always a reminder about how close you are to the water. It's funny to me that we live so close to the sea but have not been down to see it up close yet. I love the water, so I was excited when Joe suggested an afternoon outing. (As a side note, when I start working, my office is near the docks on another part of the Firth, so I'll have daily sightings!).

Portobello Beach

In any case, it was a pretty day to be outside and after a short bus ride, we arrived. The beach area was pretty big, though very empty. Although it was sunny, it was windy and chilly--not really "beach weather." But, based on some signs there, Portobello was once quite the beach scene. In fact up until WWII, it seems this area was very popular and happening with numerous bath houses, a lively boardwalk, and lots of entertainment. It was quiet this weekend and it's not quite the attraction it used to be, but the boardwalk is now lined with pretty old homes and a few cafes dotted throughout. It was reminiscent of times gone by and I really enjoyed the area.









I did read two interesting facts about Portobello Beach. First, Sean Connery was evidently a lifeguard at a swimming pool here. And, there is a swimming facility here which houses one of only three remaining Turkish Baths in Scotland--they are open to the public, so we'll have to go back and try it out.