Do Scots wear anything under their kilts? We found the answer to that after a seriously crazy night in Edinburgh, Scotland.
A few years ago my wife, brother, and I found ourselves in Edinburgh, Scotland for one night. None of us had ever been there before and we had no idea what to do, other than to see Edinburgh castle. But we were excited to be in Scotland and wanted to make the most of our short visit. We drove around looking at the different hotels in Edinburgh and settled on a nice one within walking distance to the city centre.
We strolled through the city centre admiring the old buildings and architecture and stopped for the occasional pint in a pub. As evening approached, the streets and pubs started to fill with the locals and we were amazed at their clothing. Scots actually wear kilts! We saw one couple dressed formally with the man wearing a tuxedo top and a kilt. But the weirdest thing we saw was a guy wearing a kilt and a white t-shirt with a hand drawn German flag on it. He must have seen us staring at him as he approached the table we were sitting at in a pub and took a seat next to us. Not only do Scots wear kilts, but they are very friendly and kind of hard to understand after they have had a few pints. But this friendly guy with the German flag on his shirt told us the story of how he, and many other Scots, had recently discovered a German link. You see, we were visiting Edinburgh during the World Cup and Germany was playing England that day. Let’s just say that the Scots were all cheering for the German’s to win. So after his story he stood up, turned around, flipped up his kilt, and waved his derriere at us. Nope, they don’t wear anything under those kilts! He laughed and said that now us Americans know the truth.
After our interesting experience, we continued pub hopping and met lots of other friendly people. And fortunately, none of them flashed us their backsides. After spending a few nights in England where the pubs close at 11pm, it was nice to be in a place where the pubs stay open late. And I mean REALLY late! As we left the last pub for the night at around 3am we noticed something very odd. The sky was starting to get light. At 3am! We were visiting Edinburgh close to the Summer Solstice and being so far north makes for a short night. Most cities at 3am are pretty dead, but not in Edinburgh. People were still out in the streets going from one place to another and having a great time. It was a fun night!
The next day we visited Edinburgh Castle and then reluctantly left to head back south to England for the remainder of our vacation. We wished we could have spent more time in Edinburgh, but we were on a tight schedule. Maybe the next time we are over there we will get the chance to spend more time there and see all of the places we missed and hopefully get the chance to experience haggis!