Allan showed Joe and me this carving on the pavement in Edinburgh and it had our family name in it “Tay”. It was a quote by Voilet Jacob, a Scottish writer now known especially for her historical novel Flemington and her poetry. I was curious to know what she meant by Tay, and I found this on the web.

A river of central Scotland rising in the Grampian Mountains and flowing about 190 km (118 mi) through Loch Tay to the Firth of Tay, an inlet of the North Sea.

There is a river with my name Quite rare for a Chinese, in an Scotland eh?

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish city after Glasgow. Edinburgh is one of Scotland’s 32 local government council areas.

Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea. Owing to its rugged setting and vast collection of Medieval and Georgian architecture, including numerous stone tenements, it is often considered one of the most picturesque cities in Europe.

It forms the City of Edinburgh council area; the city council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30-square-mile (78 km²) rural area.

It has been capital of Scotland since 1437 (replacing Scone) and is the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, earning it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In the census of 2001, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 448,625.

Edinburgh is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh Comedy Festival (the largest comedy festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

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After the Palace and the Scotish Parliment, we headed down town to see Edinburgh proper. Its a really beautiful city. Anywhere from the city you can see the beautiful castle up on the hill. There are tons of statues on almost every round about, loads of shops too. There is a nice park which used to be a moat, and every now and then you see somebody wearing a kilt playing the bagpipes. Its truly a beautiful city, but the lack of sunlight and showers during the day I was visiting made it rather hard to take photos that truly reflect its beauty. I will definitely come back to Edinburgh one day.

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The Palace of Holyroodhouse, or informally Holyrood Palace, founded as a monastery by David I of Scotland in 1128, has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scotland since the 15th century. The Palace stands in Edinburgh at the bottom of the Royal Mile. The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence in Scotland of Queen Elizabeth II, who spends time at the Palace at the beginning of the summer.

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The first place Joe and Allan brought me to was, Holyrood Palace, which is the Queens official residence when she comes to Scotland. This place is full of history, as it is the house where Mary Queen of Scots lived. Visitors are allowed to walk around and see most of the interrior of the Palace, but photos are not allowed inside. It gives you an idea of the Royalty of the time live and how they live today as well. The master bed was really really small which lead us to believe that there were hobbits back then. I doubt that the size of Queen Elizabeth’s real bed. Haha. The grounds of Holyrood palace also has the ruins of Holyrood Abey, which is a beautiful sight! A must see.

A note however is this. Don’t bother eating at the Cafe at the palace! Yucks! I definately don’t think the Queen eats this at all. It was all terrible! Worse Chocolate cake I ever ate.

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish.

There are many recipes, most of which have in common the following ingredients: sheep’s ‘pluck’ (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal’s stomach for approximately three hours.

Haggis somewhat resembles stuffed intestines (pig intestines otherwise known as chitterlings or the kokoretsi of traditional Balkan cuisine), sausages and savoury puddings of which it is among the largest types. As the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique puts it, “Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour.”[1]

Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. There are also meat-free recipes for vegetarians.

It is often asserted (e.g., on the packaging of MacSween’s haggis) that the dish is traditionally served with “neeps and tatties” (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes; these are boiled and mashed separately) and a “dram” (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky). However, it might perhaps be more accurate to describe this as the traditional main course of a Burns supper, since on other occasions haggis may be eaten with other accompaniments. Whisky sauce (made from thickened stock and Scotch whisky) has recently been developed as an elegant addition.

As soon as I knew I was going to Scotland to see my brother and Allan, I knew I wanted to eat Haggis. I have heard about this for years, and its the first thing I though off when asked what I wanted to eat for breakfast. The boys brought me to a nice little pub just behind their place of residence and we ate a Full Scottish breakfast. Haggis good! Me like haggis. The rest of the breakfast was not great, and the amount of food served for a FULL breakfast was rather small, but all in all, I was happy I ate Haggis Hehe.