Edinburgh! April 24, 2016

You're a pretty lucky girl if your husband says he will take you anywhere in the world for your birthday! Paris? London? Hmm...well, I thought since my ancestors are from Scotland, maybe we would see Edinburgh. We flew over the Alps, then arrived at the Waldorf Astoria Caledonian and this was the view! Across the street, a church and cemetery, behind it Edinburgh Castle. 

Only problem? Holy crikey, it was cold! 

St. Cuthbert's Church was built in 1894 and is located across from our hotel at the edge of Princes Street Gardens in the center of Edinburgh, Scotland. It's dedicated to Celtic missionary St.Cuthbert (634-87) who allegedly preached in the first of seven earlier churches on this site.

There is a graveyard next to it. 

View from the window in our room at night.  Our hotel. 

First thing, we went across the street to a pub and had Haggis Balls. Yep. 

Taking a walk around Edinburgh, we found a couple churches renovated - one into a bar/nightclub (Friday nights are hopping in town!) and the other into a craft sort of mall. 

                                       Scott Monument - dedicated to Sir Walter Scott.

A Scottish thistle. 

The obligatory Scotty Dog, named Angus. Of course. SO cute! 

You must stop at a very expensive cigar shop! 

These were on the side of a building along the street.

A poem about the days of the week on each. 

Interesting name for a pub! 

Looking for somewhere to eat. Always in the shadow of the castle. 

Cute pub where we stopped for dinner. The windows had circles in the glass of each pane. 

Tim had a huge fish and chips meal. During the meal some blokes from Sweden came in and performed, singing and playing guitar quite loudly. Fun. 

This pub is infamous - a place where Orson Welles drank at one time and where Dan Brown penned the last chapter of his novel The Davinci Code.

If you are a golf fanatic like Tim, a trip to Scotland would not be complete without a train trip to St. Andrews to see the famous golf courses. It was even colder! 

After the train, we took a bus out to the golf course and had to walk a ways to get there. 

Cool buildings. Are you seeing a theme? Everything in Scotland in April was very grey. 

The stones and style has much more earth tones, greys, browns, etc. than in other places like Italy.

Back to Edinburgh in the rain. 

Statue of Adam Smith.

A walk up the Royal Mile. Shops, etc. which leads you from Holyrood Palace 

up to Edinburgh Castle. 

This church is called the Hub. It's the home of the Edinburgh Festival. Entertainment, food etc. 

Walking up to the castle. 

The new Scottish Parliament Building

Holyrood Palace...see the white tips? 

Scott Monument 

A design competition was held for who would design a monument to Sir Walter Scott in 1837, George Meikle Kemp won and it was built on Princes St. Scott was popular for writing such novels as Ivanhoe and Rob Roy. After he died in 1832, 6000 pounds was raised to build a monument. The monument was completed in 1846, two years after Kemp's body was found in the Union Canal.

Statue of William Pitt

Royal Scottish Academy

Former Parliament Building

 Statue of poet and writer Allen Ramsay near the Mound

Walking down from the castle. 

Cemetery down the hill from the castle, next to the church across from the hotel. 

The Edinburgh Castle at sunset. It stayed light there much longer than in Michigan. Very early sunrise, late sunset. Interesting. 

Takeout box from the hotel. 

UNISG a trip to the University of Gastronomic Sciences and a trip to Genoa

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in April 2016, we drove south to Bra, which is near Alba, about 31 km from Turin, to check out the Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche. 

What a beautiful campus. 

Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, established the international university in 2004 to train students for employment in food and tourism industries, food-related government departments, or food-related journalism. 

The Slow Food movement asserts that an understanding of food involves economics, environmental science, history, biology, and anthropology, as well as aesthetics—and is true to the movement's core principles of "good, clean, and fair". 

Petrini chose the Agenzia di Pollenzo, a 19th-century neo-Gothic palace, for the school's campus. The Savoy royal family built the original structure in 1833 as a summer lodge. There is a church there, as well as several restaurants, student housing, classrooms and a Banco di Vino, which is basically a wine museum. 

This is where the gift shop, library and Banco di Vino are. 

There were chairs and stools made out of wine casks. SO cool. 

In the Banco di Vino, wines from every region of Italy were on display, along with the soil in which the grapes were grown. They also had wine tastings available. It was all climate controlled and staffed by the students. There were many crates of wine on display and for purchase. We met a couple of the students from all over the world who were very eager to share their experiences at the school. 

 This fall, the school and the Slow Food Movement will be attending the Terra Madre Salone de Gusto in the park near our apartment. Excited to check it out. 

http://www.salonedelgusto.com/en/#home