Books & Brews: A "secret" bar and some expert readers' advisory

One of our traveling companions had heard about an Edinburgh bar with a variety of unique drinks. Our last night together, we set out to visit Panda & Sons (a bar disguised as a barber shop, complete with a secret door). Joyfully, Ryan had joined our merry band by this point.

Group shot in front of the Panda & Sons inside door. I totally want one for my house!

As a librarian, I also loved Panda & Sons' book-themed menus (with chapters detailing different "genres" of cocktails. Hee-hee.)

Presenting The Birdcage.

Meghan was the most adventurous, choosing the legendary Birdcage for her first drink and the Tiki Takeaway for her second. I had a slightly more traditional version of a margarita, an Amor Joven, which was rimmed with smoked paprika, followed by a Raisin the Stakes.

With our second round of cocktails (and a boring beer for Ryan).

Perusing the menu "chapters". 

In other (book) shop talk, I'm coming home with three recommendations for British crime series thanks to our tour driver Lindsay (a retired Glaswegian police officer).

• DCI Lorimer series by Alex Gray (set in Glasgow) 
• Bob Skinner series by Quintin Jardine (set in Edinburgh) 
• Roy Grace series by Peter James (set in Sussex, England) 

Three stops for Scottish giants

One of my three stops on my trip from Dundee to Edinburgh. 

My journey from Dundee back to Edinburgh was the “Day of Giants” as I made stops to sightsee at an enormous boat elevator, visit the birthplace of a titan of industry and check out the gigantic metal horse heads visible from one of Scotland’s main highways.

The stained glass window honoring
Andrew Carnegie in the museum
at his birthplace. 

Stop #1: Dunfermline, the birthplace of U.S. steel magnate and philanthropist extraordinaire, Andrew Carnegie. He was born in this small town north of Edinburgh before his parents took him to America. His father was a weaver and his mother was an entrepreneur who ran a grocery in the front of their house and fixed shoes when automation cost Carnegie’s father his job.

Best fact: Young Andrew Carnegie became one of only three people in the U.S. who could translate Morse Code by ear making him a huge commodity for businesses that prized speed in communication.

Stop #2: The Falkirk Wheel. Instead of using traditional locks on a channel, engineers built a giant elevator for boats powered by water and gravity.

Best fact: It has the capacity to lift 100 elephants using only the energy required of heating eight teakettles.

Bonus fact: The design was inspired by the shape of a whale’s ribcage bones.

The giant boat elevator at rest as the orange tour boat floats in. 

The Falkirk wheel in motion as it lifts the boat up to the channel above. 

Once it connects, the boat floats down the channel. 

Stop #3: The Kelpies. These giant metal horse heads, unveiled in 2014, tower over the M9 – one of the busiest highways in Scotland and sit in a quaint park that includes wildlife (ducks, swans and even a heron or crane – I can’t tell the difference.) 

This bird slowly waded through the pond right in front of me. 

Best fact: Kelpies are part of Scottish mythology. They are "malevolent spirits" who dwell in rivers and often appear as horses to attract riders – but have sticky hides that won't let the rider dismount. 

A benevolent traveler snapped my photo in front of one of the Kelpies before I left just as the clouds rolled in. 

Obsessing over Outlander

Scotland is definitely taking advantage of Outlander's moment

(Like my dad, you might now be asking "What is this Outlander thing?" It's a book series and TV show that Entertainment Weekly described as "A time-hopping, continent-spanning salmagundi of genres." Basically historical fantasy/romance – moderately similar to Game of Thrones if it focused mainly on Jon Snow and Ygritte's relationship, lost the dragons, and added a time travel element.)

This beautiful area was primarily used to film Outlander’s opening credits. 

Outlander fandom was an impetus for this trip, so we stopped at a few locations used in the series. To make it easier for enthusiastic fans to spend money in Scotland, the national board of tourism helpfully maintains a list of all Outlander filming locations (or this link to the static version).

Our tour group managed to see four:

• Glencoe
• Doune Castle
• Deanston Distillery
• Culross

It is hard to pick a favorite. Doune Castle is certainly worth a visit because of the three audio tour stops narrated by Sam Heughan, the actor who plays Jamie Fraser in the TV series. The castle has been used to film other famous productions, notably Monty Python and The Holy Grail and GoT for which it served as Winterfell.

This castle has been used in Outlander as the fictional Castle Leoch (home to the MacKenzie clan).

The kitchen at Doune Castle served as inspiration for the series. A replica set was built for filming.

But I'd probably lean toward Culross. The village and the palace have both been used in Outlander. Palace is a misnomer; it's a merchant house built in the early 17th century. It was restored to give visitors a feel for domestic life in that era, right down to replicated textiles created by a local needlepoint group. The tiered garden is also quite beautiful on a sunny day.

The Palace at Culross and the village were filming locations.

Culross' garden served as Claire Randall’s herb garden.    

Don't be afraid to ask questions of the Culross docents: They are very informed about the local history (both Outlander related and otherwise).

I walked through the stones at Clava Cairns. Fortunately, I remained in the 21^st century.