Hogmanay 2007-8

Happy New Years! Mine was fantastic this year - I hope everyone had a great time at parties and whatnot too!

Neal and I travelled up to Edinburgh for the Hogmanay celebration (Scottish New Years in proper form). After getting off the train December 30th, our first adventure was finding our hotel. I spent a few afternoons searching webpages and called hotels to find the cheapest room I could - Hogmanay is a big deal and many places were only offering outrageously priced packages or had long minimum stays. But boy was I in for a surprise! Our hotel was gorgeous - giant room with great big windows and very high ceilings. We were impressed. And it got even better. Our hotel was paired up with the 5-star hotel across the street, where there was a beautiful dining area and bar, where Neal took the opportunity to enjoy some single-malt whiskys one can't find in the US. We got some dinner there - Neal ordered the seafood platter since the hotel was all about the Orkney seafood. However, it resulted in another cold meal of fish. Don't worry, we got him some proper Scottish hot food the following day.

Back to our first night. Hogmanay is more a series of great night events than a single day, although December 31 is certainly the biggest celebration. We were one night too late for the torch procession, but we did get to see the Massed Bands. They met up on the Mound and processed all the way to the Assembly Rooms on George Street. There's something totally cool about following behind a whole lot of bagpipes, marching through the streets of Edinburgh and singing along with "Scotland the Brave" :)

When they finished, a street party began. There were several stages, all with different shows. The part we enjoyed most was the stilt-walker giant ants (see picture), dragons, bugs, and old hags that were wandering in the streets. There were men dressed as goblins lighting road flares (which startled people with the noise), bathing the ants and dragons in a red glow. They also helped the stilt-walkers play tricks on people, like stealing hats or allowing a bug or dragon to sneak up on someone, so when they turned there was a giant creature right there! We enjoyed watching a group of the hags surround a woman who had gotten a better view up on a concrete thing around a lightpost. A few moments later, Neal and I were startled by one of the troll hags - we were looking at the approaching dragons, only to turn back and her head was right there! They were made to look adorable in a pathetic way, but they were scary enough that we both jumped.

We returned to our hotel, enjoyed a nightcap, and found "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" on TV. I haven't watched much/any TV since I've been here, so it was a treat. And an important one, since I'd never seen the movie and apparently it's required viewing (according to Neal).

New Year's Eve began with a very tasty continental breakfast - nothing skimpy about it. Then we hiked up to Arthur's Seat... it's quite a walk, but well worth it. The views were great and the history of the place is interesting. It's in the middle of the Old Royal Hunting Grounds - which is now a nature preserve and the site of three ancient ring forts, which we didn't get to go explore. We headed back and made our way back to the Royal Mile. We found The World's End Pub, so named because it used to be just inside the city's walls, so as far as the city people were concerned, it was on the edge of their world. It was amazing! Because of it's location on the Royal Mile, I was skeptical, but it was just wonderful. Great atmosphere, delicious hot food - everything. Neal got his traditional, hot Scottish food to make up for all the cold meals he'd felt obliged to choose. He had Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, from which I sampled a few bites. So I can now say I've eaten haggis, although I'm not convinced I'd have made it though a whole serving.


Then we did the required touristy walk, looked through some of the shops, and bought presents. We found an excellent whisky store for Neal to stock up at, too. By this time, we decided a nap was in order before the big evening we had ahead of us, so back to the hotel we went.


After dressing up for the evening, we headed out. It was a bit drizzly on and off, so I was glad we had tickets for the indoor event as well as the Street Party (for the fireworks). First, we headed back to The World's End for dinner and got some stovies (very tasty). Then we headed to the Assembly rooms for some Ceilidh dancing - definitely one of the most fun things ever! All too soon it was time to head out for the Street Party so we could see the fireworks at midnight. It was glorious! There were two displays - one over Edinburgh Castle and one over Hollyrood Park/Royal Palace. After the show had ended, we headed back to the Assembly Rooms for more dancing and merry-making. We had, to quote Neal, a "wild romping good time." Then we found our way back to our hotel for some sleep before catching our train. We ended up sleeping for most of the ride back to Manchester, too.