While I lived in England for an academic year, I was really only able to experience a small part of the United Kingdom.  I made at least two short visits to London, one with several of my flatmates, an overnight trip to Edinburgh, and day trips to York, Oxford, and either the Lake District or the Peak District.  I can never remember which.  Most of my time was spent in Manchester experiencing the party scene and trying to keep up my studies.

I planned this trip to visit old friends and old stomping grounds and share some it with my daughter and to see a few things I had missed out on before.  I had been forewarned that the residence hall where I stayed had been demolished and was being replaced, and that Manchester had changed a great deal.

I am predisposed toward liking Scotland by my paternal grandmother’s claims that our family was of Scottish origin, though even she admitted it had only been traced to England.  Her claims of Scottish ancestry are largely oral history.  Our family name does have origins in Scotland, and was associated with Clan Davidson, but also has origins in Ireland and England.  I have casually researched our family history and never found direct evidence of Scottish ancestry.  There is plenty of evidence of English, Irish, and German ancestry. One branch of the family tree does reach to Ulster, Ireland, and so it is quite possible we are Scots-Irish, or what the English call Ulster Scots.

My daughter had already been to London with her mother, and I had hit the high points during my initial visit to the UK, and so did not feel like either of us needed to go there again.   While I had visited Edinburgh in years past, I felt the visit had been too short, and also wanted to see some of the rest of Scotland.  As a major focus of the trip was visiting some old friends we decided to focus on Scotland and northern England where those friends lived.

Weather aside, Edinburgh is very picturesque.

We took several TripAdvisor tours, which are a good way to hit the main sights, including one of the castle and a tour based on J.K. Rowling’s books.  We tried a number of eating establishments recommended by a food show that did an Edinburgh episode.  Tom Kitchin’s restaurant The Kitchin was my first experience eating at a Michelin starred restaurant. The food was outstanding, the staff were surprisingly, warm, friendly, and welcoming, and Tom Kitchin even came out to say hello and thank us for coming. I will admit I did not know who he was at the time. Michelin starred restaurants are not generally how I roll when it comes to food, and it is not something I want to do regularly, but it was an enjoyable visit.

We took in several other less upscale eateries. Hajar’s Shawarma King was the culinary highlight of the trip for me. There was a Mexican restaurant across Grassmarket Square from our hotel, which was an interesting experience. The food was very palatable, but having lived in Texas and having made several short visits to Mexico, I think I can say with authority that neither the spices nor the cheese were quite right, which made the meal feel off. It may just be coincidence, but I imagined that the people working in the restaurant had been hired because they were the most Mexican-looking options available in the local labor market, even though one of them was named Hussein.

Both my daughter and I agreed, to our surprise, that haggis tastes very good. Just don’t think about what it is made of. One of our Scottish tour guides recommended vegetarian haggis as well, which I wanted to try, but didn’t get to it before we left Scotland.

We also took a three day tour of the Scottish Highlands, including the Isle of Skye.  The Scottish Highlands are beautiful.

As we made our way through Scotland I decided I would give some of the local whiskeys Scotland is famous for a try.  I have never enjoyed any sort of spirits unless they are mixed with something sweet and fruity until the alcohol can no longer be tasted.  I sampled a cream liqueur that was given for free at Edinburgh Castle and liked that well enough, but felt that was probably a diluted product for those who can’t handle real whiskey.  

I even asked our tour guide if he could recommend a whiskey or two.  In hindsight his comment that he does not like smokey whiskeys and prefers smoother drinking whiskeys sounds an awful lot like a Scot confessing he prefers Irish whiskey.  I think I tried four different Scotch whiskeys, and later one in Ireland, and ultimately just conceded that whiskey is not for me.

After bidding a fond adieu to Scotland and swearing an oath I would someday return to this land I love, we caught a train from Edinburgh south to Haltwhistle to meet my old flatmate and sometimes traveling companion Nigel and see Hadrian’s Wall, the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire in Great Britain.  There isn’t a whole lot left of the wall and associated fortifications, but it was interesting for the history.

From Hadrian’s Wall we proceeded to Warrington, which is near Manchester to rest for the night.  The original plan was to have a curry in Rusholme, at one time known as the Curry Mile of Manchester, but having been advised that the area had changed and was not so focused on Indian Restaurants anymore, we met another friend and his daughter at an Indian restaurant called The Cottage for an enjoyable evening meal and catching up.  

In the morning we drove to Manchester.  Our stay in Manchester was brief, as there were only a few things I wanted to see there including this awful statue of Archimedes.  This used to greet me every morning when I got up and left my residence hall to walk to class.  

We also went to see the Castlefield Roman Ruins in Salford.  I think someone had told me about these when I was a student here, but I just wasn’t interested at the time.

Manchester Public Library.  Not a planned stop, but I wish we had a library like this in my home town.

From Manchester we headed to Wolverhampton to visit another old friend, and stopped along the way at the Black Country Living Museum.  If you are a fan of Peaky Blinders, some parts of that show were filmed here.  Think Colonial Williamsburg but set in early 20th century England.  Most of my photos have my daughter in them so they will not be posted.  If you watched Peaky Blinders, this may look familiar.

We spend the evening visiting my friend and his family in Wolverhampton and having an outstanding home cooked meal before heading back to Warrington.  We bid farewell to Nigel, and the next morning caught a day tour to Conwy Castle and northern Wales.  I had seen Conwy Castle during my year in England, but did not remember it all that clearly.

Legend has it Excalibur lies at the bottom of this lake…or maybe one of two others.

If you travel Europe for a while, you are likely to see a lot of cathedrals.  If you see a lot of cathedrals, you are likely to start thinking one is about the same as another after a while.  I have been guilty of thinking this way.  The Chester Cathedral was exceptional in my mind however.