The Grain and Grape

Last weekend, I headed to Edinburgh for a Six Nations Match with my friend, John, a huge rugby fan. This is the last year of the “Six Nations Championship,” as next year the countries of Georgia and South Africa will be added, to make it “Eight Nations.” While I enjoy sports, I was along for the experience and the trip to Scotland.

After some time in Murphy’s, we had to hustle to get to our next gate, but we made it. On the plane we made a new friend, a Scot flying from Rio, heading home to Dundee. We all had a great time sharing travel stories over beers all the way to Edinburgh.

A bus from the airport brought us to Old Town Edinburgh, where we found our Airbnb, conveniently located at the foot of the castle. After dinner at Greyfriars Bobby’s pub, we explored the Royal Mile, stopping in a few pubs for pints and traditional pub music.

Six Nations Match

Match Day! First stop, Quinn’s, purveyor of the Great Scottish breakfast. A small place, with about six tables, a tiny kitchen, and great food. The big breakfast comes with tatties, haggis, eggs, bacon, bangers, pudding, mushrooms, beans, and toast. We couldn’t have had a better start to the day.

With kilts on, we walked 1.5 miles to the stadium with hundreds of our new friends. The weather was sunny and not too cold, and the route was lined with food trucks, beer stands, bagpipers, and drummers. A fantastic Match Day atmosphere.

Once at the stadium grounds, we moved through the crowd, making our way to the official gear tent for a sweatshirt, the beer tent for a pint, and a food truck for a quick bite.

Our seats were in the upper level, west section, with a view over the entire field. A bagpiper led the band for Scotland’s National Anthem, “Flower of Scotland,” as the crowded stadium wholeheartedly sang along. It was awesome!

Scotland scored twice fairly quickly, then started giving up penalties to Italy. But, Scotland eventually came back to win 31-19. Yay!

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To top off a great day, we met up for dinner with my cousin Jim from Glasgow. Excellent food, a few pints, and great catching up while watching Ireland beat England 27-22 on the pub TV. What a day!

Sunday Roast Dinner

With flights in the late afternoon, we had some time on Sunday to walk around Edinburgh, seeing monuments and visiting souvenir shops. Lunch was a Sunday venison roast at Maggie Dickson’s pub.

As the story goes, Maggie was convicted, tried, and hanged in 1724. When she was placed in the coffin and carted off to be buried, she woke up and opened the coffin for a hasty exit. Having already been tried and executed, she couldn’t be tried again for the same crime. So, she went free, living for another 40 years, with the nickname Half Hangit Maggie.

What an excellent weekend. Time to head back to Germany, home to our amazing wives.

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