First Four Days: Edinburgh to St. Andrews

When I think of traveling, I think in terms of tasting notes. There is something about tasting notes as a form which offer to the reader a sensory experience which few other styles of writing, save poetry as a close cousin, can give. Sometimes tasting notes are simple — notes of cherry, chocolate, oak, and coffee. Other times they are delightfully ambiguous — tastes like your first time at the sea, oyster brine, pear jam, and homesickness.

While I am told that tasting notes, even if written by a sommelier, are meant as little more than a sales tactic, there is a joy for me that comes from reading them. Likewise, I find that there is a similar joy in trying to capture a day, week, or time of life with tasting notes. After all, we are sensory beings more than anything else. They say that for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or Dementia that a song, a smell, a taste can bring back a memory almost without fail. How often do we too find ourselves sniffing the air, leaning towards a sound closer, because we know it from somwhere. I can recognize my grandmother’s perfume from a block away.

Thus, rather than attempting to recreate each day as it happened through words, I think the best way to bring you along (and remember for myself) is to appeal to the senses by adding a picture or two (from my camera) and the tasting notes of each day. Think of it like a wine label and the words on the back. You may not be there, but you’ll get at least a decent sense of what’s going on inside the glass.

So, without further ado, here we go.

Day 1: Arriving in Edinburgh — 24 hours of travel

St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral

Tasting Notes: Airport Chili’s, Bill Murray in “Ground Hog’s Day,” The Best Chicken Korma you’ve ever had, and Lager

Pair With: Jet Lag, Getting Lost, and Long Layovers

Looking down toward the countryside

Day 2: First Full Day

Edinburgh Castle

Tasting Notes: Surprise Castles, Happy Hours in a Garden, Cheap Scotch, Chocolate Croissants

Pair With: Police Box Coffee, Park Bench Picnics, and Flights of Scotch

Shared my morning croissant with Frances

Constable Coffee

Day 3: Tourism and Collection Pizza

Bagpiper outside the gates of Edinburgh Castle

View from the Ramparts

Tasting Notes: Old Ghosts, Wide Eyes, Tartan Wool, and Sourdough Pizza

Pair With: Royal Births, Free Liqueur, and Dead Authors

The Writer’s Museum

Day 4: Train Ride to St. Andrews

From the Train Window

The Coast of St. Andrews from above the aquarium

Tasting Notes: Dew, Cold Beer, Long Walks, The Smell of the Sea, and Celebratory Toasts after a round of 18.

Pairs With: Ginger Beer on the Beach, Jigger Ale, and Fish and Chips

St. Andrew’s Castle from the Beach

The Swilcan Bridge from St. Andrews