Anyone from Scotland?

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I live about two hours away from Scotchland.

These are the songs I have heard at pubs

Wild Rover
Irish Rover
Whiskey in the Jar
Black Velvet Band
Finnegan's wake
I'll Tell Me Ma
Fields of Athenry
Molly Malone

All of these are Irish, except Wild Rover?


My parents are in London right now and mom told me it's such a beautiful area, but London's traffic is way worse than the Washington DC area, and also everything is so expensive. But that's London. Edinburgh is much smaller than London. Is traffic in Edinburgh bad too? But Edinburgh and London hardly ever see temps above 70F. My kind of weather. Not hot and humid like it is here in the summer time. We are supposed to get up to 100F on Sat! I can't stand summer in Washington DC area.

The Highlands. Is that where the Westies originated from?

There are not only Polish restaurants here, but in Edinburgh and other larger centres, small Polish supermarkets and convenience stores have sprung up that were set up by the expatriate community here. Scotland doesn't have a large foreign born population compared to the UK as a whole, let alone the US. But it's also true to say that the foreign born population has risen rapidly in recent years due to immigration, especially from Poland. And Edinburgh has more foreign born than any other area of Scotland.

The Bible college I refer to has had about half, or even more of its students, being from Korea year after year. Edinburgh is a point of attraction for them because it was a missionary from Edinburgh who brought Christianity to Korea. It's also an attraction point partly because these Korean Christians who come over are Presbyterian, the state religion in Scotland and the largest religious group here.

Only from my ancestry on my mother's side do I have relatives in Scotland, but I'm from Dallas Texas.

Not something I have specialist knowledge of, but you'll be interested to know Edinburgh is famous for the legend of Greyfriars Bobby, and he was a Skye terrier. The origin of the West Highland Terriers is in the county of Argyll on the western side of Scotland.

It's probably best to say that Wild Rover is a folk song of the British Isles as it's been sung all over for a long time. You could call it a folk song of half the world.

Irish Rover and Whiskey in the Jar are certainly Irish. Black Velvet Band is English, from Manchester (or at least, first recorded there) but as a transportation song would have been popular in Ireland and England both (and Manchester's always had a sizeable Irish population anyway). I think Finnegan's Wake was written by an Irishman in New York, call it Irish or American. I'll Tell Me Ma was sung all over the British Isles, like Wild Rover, but was written by someone from Belfast called Francie McPeake (or so Mudcat tells me ). Fields of Athenry is Irish (and comparatively recent). Molly Malone was (so far as anyone really knows) written by a Scot. And then they all got sung and changed and mixed up in America and Australia to make new ones.

There's always loads of variants of each song as everyone is free to change names, places and whatever else they want whenever they want.

It's an excellent location, and a really nice hotel too. It's right in the middle of everything with the Old Town, New Town, and most of the major attractions close by. It's almost right below the castle and is in the middle of what could be considered the cinema and theatre district of Edinburgh.

The traffic is quite bad though, as Edinburgh is busy at all times and a very crowded city in the city centre. It preserves almost all of its original, historic street layout, part of the charm of the city but doesn't help traffic. Traffic also isn't helped by the city being a focal point for a wide surrounding area and population, and by the tram works currently going on.

I'm not sure what the one most popular dish would be, I'm presuming you're asking about traditional Scottish dishes or those of Scottish origin, so could be any of haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes), or mince and tatties, or stovies, or a Scottish breakfast, or even chicken tikka masala which arguably started in Scotland, or even any of a range of high-cholestrol, high-fat meals with chips which are popular and served at chip shops.

Get some fudge bars if you see them, they're delicious.

Thanks all for the suggestions!

I was wondering if this Catholic church is near by the Sheraton.

The Sacred Heart Of Jesus
28 Lauriston Street

Or would you recommend staying at a hotel near Edinburgh airport or staying at a hotel in Glasgow?

Is Argyll close by Edinburgh? Could we travel Argyll for the day?
When do the kids in Scotland have holiday? Here in the US, kids are out of school from end of May till early August. It all depends on the area of the US. Some kids go back to school as early as August 10th, and finish by May 20th or so. Then they are out for several weeks for Christmas holiday. Would Sep/Oct be a good time to visit Edinburgh? I don't mind the cold weather since I love love cold. Also you mentioned about food too. I did read that Scottish cuisine can be high in fat. I love seafood, pasta, chicken, but nothing fried.

What about Pembroke Corgis?

Pembroke Corgis are from Pembroke in Wales, most Corgis are from Wales

oh ok. Just wondering why at Harrods there are tons of Westie collections, but not other UK breeds.

Also when does Scotland celebrate Independence Day? I was watching Braveheart over the weekend. GREAT movie.

it doesnt have an Independance Day, it has Burns Night which is on 25 January and is to celebrate Robert Burns's birthday

Robert Burns being a scottish poet see

Oh ok I see. I thought maybe Scotland would have one because of watching the movie Braveheart where in 1314 Scotland got their freedom.