Pitlochry

This weekend is a bank holiday weekend, which basically means banks/post offices/shops are closed on Monday for a spring holiday (like Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc.). My friends Kristy and Kirsten both used to work in the town of Pitlochry, which is about 2 hours north of Edinburgh. They both left their job a few months back, but were returning this weekend to visit old friends and invited me to come along. We planned to meet at the train station for our 9:30 train on Sunday. Keep in mind that although I live in Edinburgh, I am quite a ways from down town. Looking at the bus schedule Saturday night, I realized my options for getting to town by 9:30 would be quite limited. You see, buses don't start their run until about 9:30 or 10:00 on Sunday mornings, thus it would be impossible to catch either of the two buses that run from here into town in time to catch the train. So...option A was to leave the house at 8:00 and walk to town (a little foolish if you ask me, because I was hoping to sleep in a bit) or option B was to coax Jane into getting dressed and driving me at least part of the way into town the next morning. Thankfully she couldn't pass up my pouty face and offered to drive me to the station. Imagine my delight when the alarm went off at 8:45 for a quick 15 minutes of packing and then a jump into the car. I met up with Kristy and Kirsten just in time and we quickly made ourselves cozy for the 2 hour ride. It was nice to catch up with Kristy, who I haven't seen in ages, and to hear about all the fun stuff they had in store for me. We arrived into Pitlochry at about noon and were picked up at the train station by one of their mates. Now this town is like the Mayberry of Scotland. A quaint small town with one main road dotted with loads of little shops/restaurants/bars. I think I counted at least 7 shops that sell primarily wool sweaters as well. I got the quick drive by tour of the main street as we headed up the mountain a bit to the golf course for some lunch. After lunch we went to a local whiskey distillery where we got free shots of whiskey and a short tour. We continued on our quest through town, stopping off at the places they thought were worth showing me, and meeting up from time to time with their old friends from the area.
The boys that we met up with were hysterical... and of course since I was the newbie at the table.. and American... they focused many of their questions on me and America. We made tracks all through town, at many bars and flats and grocery stores before finally making our way to a friend's flat for the remainder of the evening. The conversations were good and the company was great! It was such a random mix of people- from all over the world; USA, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Scotland... it was great. At about 5am we finally made it back to the place where we were staying... one of K & K's friend's flat who was out of town (don't worry she just left her door unlocked... because it is 'mayberry' and no one would come in uninvited). We crashed for the night and then had breakfast at the old restaurant that the girls worked at before catching the train back to Edinburgh this morning. It was the best night I've had in Scotland. Tonight I am drinking water... to give my liver a break.


Kirsten, me and Kristy at the Edradour distillery

This coming weekend I am going to Sutherland with Jack and Michael to visit their grandparents' cottage. Then I come back here for a few days before heading back to London on Saturday to hang out with my friend Melanie for a bit. Then... back to the good 'ol US of A on the 24th. Unbelievable.