Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, Black Pudding, Shepherd’s Pie – just some of the many dishes I tried during my family’s recent trip to the United Kingdom. We’d been planning a trip for a while and wanted to learn more about our Scottish heritage. It was a busy two weeks as we wanted to do as much as possible!
We started in London and took a long walk to see Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the National Gallery, and other important sites. We even found one of the public pianos at St. Pancras Station which I eagerly tried out. My mom and I also made it to a St. Martin-in-the-Fields duo piano recital. On the final night in London, we ate at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, Heddon Street Kitchen, for an amazing meal – one of my favorites during the trip! I’m a big fan of Chef Ramsay along with his MasterChef and YouTube cooking series, so it was exciting to finally taste the cuisine!
The next day, we drove to The University of Cambridge. My brother Robby, who just graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, will attend Cambridge in the fall as a graduate student with a full scholarship! He will study Engineering for Sustainable Development. It was quite humbling to tour the school buildings that have been around for hundreds of years. Cambridge was founded in 1209!
As we made it to the borders of England and Scotland, we found Hadrian’s Wall, Dryburgh Abbey, and Hume Castle, among other interesting castles and sites. The great condition of these structures is an amazing testament to their design and maintenance, especially considering that many have been the center of great sieges over their long histories.
Once in the Scottish Highlands, we spent some time at the Kingcraig Castle (which to my fortune had a piano!) and the coastal city of Inverness. My cousin and uncle even got baptized at the historic Dornoch Cathedral, and we celebrated afterwards on a tour of a local whisky distillery!
We then traveled south toward Loch Ness. We spent a good amount of time looking for the infamous Loch Ness Monster, but much to my seven-year-old cousin’s dismay, we could not find Nessie! We continued southwest across the Great Glen to Fort William. While we wondered at the marvel of Ben Nevis – the highest mountain in Scotland, we didn’t make it any further than the base of a trail head, but we had a great meal in the company of many sheep!
The last stretch of our journey brought us to Scotland’s capital – Edinburgh. We did a good deal of climbing – up the 287 steps of the Scott Monument and later into the Edinburgh Castle, and made sure to explore the Portrait Gallery and National Museum. I even tested my nerves on the Edinburgh Dungeon tour, which was quite thrilling, but informative at the same time. And, of course, more good food!
This trip is sure to stay in my memory as a collection of extraordinary sites and time spent with my family. On the flight back, I smiled imagining all the adventures my Scottish ancestors forged, especially the one that brought my Jacobite ancestor George Hume to America in 1721… I can’t wait to go back!