We have coffee in our rooms while Tony orders us a taxi. It’s a four-and-a-half-hour train ride to Edinburgh. Who knew Scotland was so far away? We talk, read, eat a sandwich. Brian asks for a scone. They don’t have scones, but they have “moofins.” Finally, at 1:30 PM, we arrive and check into our hotel.
Our hotel, the Waverly, a large, pleasant 3-star Victorian hotel, is just steps from the train station on Princes Street. The registrar at the hotel desk has a thick, incomprehensible Scottish brogue. He talks for several minutes giving us copious instructions. When we take our keys and turn away, Brian and I look at each other and both say, “Did you understand a word he said?” Brian says. “I think we’re supposed to return the key to the desk when we go out.” I say, I think he said something about breakfast. Really, we have no idea.
Our first stop is Britannia—Her Majesty’s Royal Yacht. It was decommissioned in December 1997 and is now docked in the Port of Leith in Edinburgh for tourists and corporate events. Taking the ship out of service was quite controversial at the time. Admittedly a drain on taxpayers, yet it represented Britain all over the world and commanded respect wherever it went; some calling it a national treasure. Then during its decommissioning, just a few months after the death of Princess Diana, it did not go unnoticed that the Queen showed more emotion at the loss of her yacht than she did for the death of her former daughter-in-law; even wiping away a tear at the ship’s decommissioning ceremony. (Heaven forbid!)
The tour starts with a short video showing Britannia sailing the ocean waves. The visitor’s center offers insight into the Royal Family and the world’s rich and famous whom they entertained. We learn:
- The Queen travelled with five tons of luggage when making state visits, including Malvern water for her tea.
- The port windows in the Queen’s apartments are higher than eye level so that seamen wouldn’t inadvertently see the Queen through the windows.
- The most distinguished guests, like the Clintons, stayed in the Honeymoon Suite, the only room with a double bed.
We also watch film footage of the Queen’s various state visits. Over 44 years, the ship made 968 official visits calling at 600 ports. Interestingly, the Queen chose the ship’s outer blue color, which is striped with a band of 36-carat gold leaf. Unusually, the ship does not have its name on her hull, only on the ship’s rather modest-sized bell.
Royal Yacht Britannia
In some ways, the yacht with its imposing front staircase and elegant state rooms is much grander than you expect, but in other ways, it’s more common. In the long state dining room, the dining table is precisely laid with elegant china, silver, and crystal for a party of 24. But, there is bamboo furniture in the sun room, which Prince Phillip bought in the 1950s, and it looks like it was bought in the 1950s—their style and colors dated.
In that way that the Brits love their pomp and circumstance, we learn that all the clocks on board the ship remain stopped at 3:01 PM the exact time H.M. the Queen was piped ashore for the final time during the decommissioning ceremony. It is a nice touch.
We loved Britannia, from the captain’s deck, to the engine room, to the state drawing room, to the Royal living quarters; it is a floating palace with exotic tales of the bounding main that once truly did rule the waves.
We return to our hotel and rest before heading out for our Scottish evening at the George Intercontinental Edinburgh Hotel—a dinner event with singing and dancing and, of course, haggis.
Scottish Evening Dinner Menu:
- Scotch Broth (vegetable soup)
- The Chieftain o’ the Pudding Race (haggis)
- Bashed Neeps (mashed turnips)
- Champit Tatties (mashed potatoes with chives)
- Roast Rib of Aberdeen Angus Beef
- Rumpledethumps (cabbage, potatoes, onion, and cheese)
- Scotch Whisky Trifle (custard desert)
- Coffee and Highland Shortbread
Scotland’s national dish, haggis is lamb organ meat chopped and mixed with oatmeal and spices. To cook it, the mixture is boiled in a sheep’s stomach.
For the land of Burns, the only snag is haggis
— popular rhyme penned by an English poet
A piper always announces the arrival of the haggis. The head of the table gives his “Address to the Haggis,” a Robert Burns poem, which is recited over the dish. The bulging stomach is then cut open with a dagger or sword and everyone drinks a whisky toast to the dish.
Our host and emcee for the evening, the kilted Graham Fraser, addresses the haggis after it is piped with much flair into our dining room. We raise our whisky glasses high.
Address to the Haggis:
Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great Chieftan o’ the Pudding Race! Aboon them a’ ye take your place, paineh, tripe, or thairm! Weel are ye worthy of a grace as langs my arm.
— Robert Burns
For all its ceremony and hype, it’s a spicy meat dish that resembles hash or stuffing—the organ meat tastes mildly of liver—overridden by a strong pepper flavor. Its build-up is mainly for tourists…I think.
The highlight of the evening is the music―a Scottish piper, fiddler, and accordionist―and the dancers. We clap and tap our toes to the likes of Scotland the Brave and the Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond.
Our Scottish Evening Programme:
- Welcome to Scotland and Come to the Ceilidh
- The Ceremony of the Haggis
- The Skirl o’ the Pipes
- The George Highland Dancers
- Sing a Song of Scotland
- The Pipes and Highland Dancers
- The Ballad of Glencoe
I love the Skirl o’ the Pipes (skirl meaning wail or moan, which is just the sound the bagpipes make). The bagpipes’ eerie quality provide an ancient, mystical tone to accompany the age-old sword dance.
I come away humming Scotland the Brave.
Just outside our hotel, in the park in front of the Sir Walter Scott monument, a piper dressed in full Scottish regalia plays; a busker. We passed him coming back from Britannia and he is playing again tonight as I write this. The melodic tunes of Amazing Grace and Scotland the Brave go on for several hours. It is at times jaunty, at times haunting, and always lovely.
Jody’s UK Memories 