Fish and Chips

May 1

We finally had a full day with nothing at all scheduled and we all took advantage of it and slept quite late. By the time we were all up and ready to go out it was early afternoon. We’ve found that many restaurants are strict when they serve their meals so for most places breakfasts would be over. At least here we can always count on plenty of places serving Fish & Chips and we pretty much all agreed we could do that for any meal.

One thing Rob was really hoping to catch, and has been talking about every single day since weeks before the trip, is to catch someone playing the bagpipes. With some time to casually peruse the town he was hoping to finally catch a piper here.

Not far from our flat was a restaurant called GelatoBurger. We noticed it before and although the idea of a nice gelato was enticing, the idea of it on a bun was not exactly appetizing. Not having a better option we decided to check out the menu. It looked great so we stayed and it really was great. It was basically like a Purple Cow back home with a much more extensive menu of both burgers and gelato. They had lots of alternative, vegetarian and vegan burgers as well as various kinds of meat burgers. 

The entire trip Rob has been enjoying watching the sheep, and there are lots of them everywhere in Scotland. But the one place he does not want to see one is on his plate. He feels the same way about pretty much any meat besides a pig or a cow. He is very much opposed to venison also. Another of his characteristics is his very apparent American accent. Even Siri and Alexa can’t understand him most of the time. Here in Scotland where you hear the natives speaking English in their distinct accents its common to wonder just what language they are speaking. We found out that they have the same question when listening to us, and especially someone with as pronounced of an accent as Rob has. So it was no surprise when he ordered the double burger and the waitress wrote down deer burger. Nor was Rob aware of the mistake when she read the order back. Thankfully the rest of us understood and changed his order. Rob looked like he walked into a wall when he found out that he almost had a Bambi burger. Thankfully we caught the mistake before the food was delivered.  

I was one of the more adventurous ones, as always, and ordered a cauliflower, kale and smoked cheddar burger. It was absolutely delicious but I had to eat it with a fork. After dinner we tried some of the gelato. There were many interesting flavors including “Scottish Tablet”, whatever that is, and many adult favorites such as White Russian, which was yummy by the way.

We finished lunch and visited a souvenir shop where I found exactly the hoodie I searched for all over Edinburgh last trip. Here they were, just waiting for me and I grabbed one up. I won’t have any room in my luggage to take it home but I’ll work on that dilemma later. 

Towering about the town was what appeared from below to be a colosseum.

That was to be our goal for the day. We found out what it was and how to get there. I also found a spot near the “colosseum” called Jacob’s ladder and we were hoping to find that as well. We asked a few locals and followed some signs until we came to a long set of stairs.  I didn’t actually count the steps but figured it was somewhere in the millions. About halfway up as  Rob was fighting for each breath, we realized that this must be Jacob’s ladder, the stairway to heaven. At the time it felt a little like we were headed in the opposite direction. Then it happened. As Rob was hanging onto a handrail as if holding his final breath - we heard bagpipes. Rob lit up! This was what he had been waiting for, looking for and dreaming of. Noticing where the sound was coming from and where we were at the moment, he realized his situation. The bagpipes were coming from the pier, now far below, and half a hillside of steps between the two. We stayed put and stared down at the pier trying to catch a glimpse of the piper. Rob grumbled and snarled and whined and moaned and behaved in all sorts of unseemly ways. We had no choice at this point but to continue upward. If he did go back down now there is no guarantee the piper would still be there by the time he arrived and then he would have to start the ascent all over again. So we continued upward listening to his occasional moans of distress. In Edinburgh, we told him, you will see them in Edinburgh. And I sure hope we do or we will all be in trouble. 

We continued slowly up the second half of the hill and eventually reached our goal. This was not a colosseum at all. McCaig’s Tower is a prominent landmark in the resort town of Oban. Built in 1897 by local banker John Stuart McCaig, the aim of the tower was to provide work for local stonemasons and a lasting monument to the McCaig family. Although a bit unexpected, the climb from the town center to McCaig's Tower was well worth the effort for the spectacular views across Oban Bay to the Atlantic Islands. The gardens inside the tower were well maintained and looked like a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of town life in Oban. We saw several couples with blankets spread out enjoying the beauty of the gardens and the reprieve from the activity in the town below.

By this time the piper had stopped so there was no need to hurry down. We rested and took in the views and took pictures. As we started back we realized Rob was dropping things again, this time the napkins he had gotten from the gelato shop. Unknowingly he left us a trail to follow. Too bad there wasn’t any gelato left on the napkins. 

We made it back down the stairs and through a different area of the town before heading back to the apartment for a much deserved nap. We spied a few different restaurants serving Fish & Chips which certainly has been a staple of our menu so far.  We’ve averaged it once a day up to this point. Here on the coast they offer different kinds of fish. Haddock and Cod are typical but we have also seen them made from Hake, Sole and Mediterranean Sea Bass.

As dinner time arrived, we were still feeling pretty tired and no one was hungry. We debated going to bed early, watching some TV or just catching up on our emails and work. We couldn’t really decide so we instead got up and went out for more Fish & Chips.