Dundee

Welcome to Dundee!

It's no secret that my main purpose of being here in Scotland is to study. I'm doing a one year program called an M.Litt, or Master of Letters, which sounds so much cooler that saying that I'm studying for my Masters Degree. I'm studying Art History, which is one of my greatest passions in life, and what better place to study Art than in Europe, "where the history comes from" according to comedian Eddie Izzard.

However all work and no play will make me a terribly grumpy cooped up cranky-pants, and so today Patrick and I traveled the 20 minutes or so to Dundee, the fourth largest city in Scotland. I needed to buy some new running shoes (a product that St. Andrews is sorely lacking) and we both need to get some cell phones (again... sorely lacking for the kind we need). Once there, we checked out a record store called Groucho's and then headed into a mall, but since I'm like a baby bird and need to be fed every few hours, I got hungry and we looked for food.

Little did I know the happiness that was  headed my way...

 

 

 

There was a little restaurant called Papa Joe's that seemed to be a mix between a classic Italian restaurant with red checkered tablecloths and a TGI Fridays due to the strange array of framed pictures and nick-knacks that just covered the walls. Patrick sat under a handful of pictures, one of which was a newspaper article of the Queen's wedding. We perused the menu as we listened to music by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. The lunch menu was small and mostly meat items, but we were able to find a vegetable pizza that we split. However the real tasty part was the coffee - mocha coffee. I don't know what kind of baby angel magic they used to make this drink, but I couldn't get over how good it was. It was like a hot chocolate, but not that Swiss Miss packaged powder, real chocolate. But it was also like a coffee. Like a delicious coffee with chocolate in it. I'm still salivating. Even Patrick liked it, and he isn't usually into sweets and sweet drinks, and who is very particular about his coffee (usually plain coffee with minimal milk and sugar). He commented that it "tastes like Christmas".

If Santa Clause were to drink coffee, this would be his only drink of choice.

We went back to the mall after and, although we didn't find any phones, I was able to get the trainers I needed (aka, the sneakers I needed), as well as some new running gear. Patrick got a new jacket, too. At this point it had turned a bit rainy and we had to wait for the bus to get back to St. Andrews (the 99 bus!).

My overall thoughts on Dundee? I feel like we might have seen the wrong part of the city. There was a good deal of construction going on where we were and with the mall it was a bit crowded and "touristy". I'd like to go back and go further into the city to see what else it has to offer. The best part about heading to Dundee is the scenery along the way. There are a lot of open fields with rolled up bales of hay, livestock, and green hills. Although, maybe because of the time of year, there were more tan hills than anything.

On the way to Dundee (because on the way home, it was dreary and rainy and did not look this nice!)

Cheers!