May 26-28, 2000
Fife is the area of Scotland that sticks out between Dundee and Edinburgh. Dunfermline, St. Andrews and Dairsie are the towns I visited in Fife this weekend.
May 27, 2000
For the first time on my travels in Europe, I met up with some relatives. My cousin, who I have met twice before picked me up at the train station and we headed out the next day to to Dunfermline where I met my great cousin and great aunt that I've only heard stories about. If you're backpacking around, I highly recommend looking up relatives, even if they are a bit distant just to get another perspective on things and get a slight (and perhaps also false) feeling that you have an identity and belong there just as well as home.
May 27, 2000
My cousin lives the next town over from the famous Saint Andrews golf
course and while not golf fans, we both have childhood memories of playing
golf in a tiny Scotland front yard. So small in fact, that we hit each
other in the jaws on our back swings and went crying back inside the house.
Meeting again nearly 20 years later, we knew to stay away from the golf clubs and walked onto the greens and just looked at the holes. Historically there were many "stick and ball" games, but golf was the one that stuck and spread around the world; however, there was a time when it was illegal in Scotland since it was considered a distraction from archery and riffle military practice.
But there's more than just a golf course here. Scenic sea side cathedrals & castle ruins are scattered through this now university town.
May 26-28, 2000
Dairsie is a small residential community in the farm hills minutes from Saint Andrews. It's one of those "nice place to live" towns that gives the feel of suburban Scotland, which is different than American suburbia in population, culture and cows.