We woke and went down for breakfast, where I had porridge followed by scrambled eggs, mushrooms and a potato cake.
Then we went back to the room to collect the bags before checking out. The express checkout form they had pushed under the door had missed off last night's restaurant bill, so I queried it. They had removed it from our bill for some reason as it looked as though there had been a mix up and we were charged another room's dinner.
Once we'd paid we drove back to the airport. Once there we dropped the hire-car keys off and checked in.
The flight back was on time and uneventful, and we arrived back home at about 1.45pm to find our marriage certificate and a new bank card for Alicea awaiting.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Getting Married - All Done
We woke and went to the dining room for breakfast. Then, after we had packed we took the cases to the car. On the way we met an artist who was unloading his pictures for an exhibition. We liked a couple of the pictures and arranged to buy one of Culzean Castle at winter time. The offices to the castle were closed so we couldn't pay our bill, so we had a wander around the grounds, taking a few pictures before we went into Ayr to take my suit back. While I was there I also bought a coat.
From there we drove to Burns' cottage where Robert Burns was born. We looked around the museum, and the cottage itself before going back to Culzean to pay and to pick up the picture. We also got a couple of extra brochures of the castle to give to our families.
Once we had paid and said our goodbyes to David Heron, the castle manager, and Gordon, we had a quick chat with the artist and made our way to Turnberry.
We booked in to find that we had been upgraded to an ocean view room. The room wasn't quite ready so we went across to the spa centre and had a drink and a bite to eat. Alicea booked in for a facial and I waited until about three o'clock before returning to the hotel to get our keys.
The room was lovely and had a magnificent view over the golf course to the sea. There was also a bottle of champagne, flowers, chocolates and a card of congratulations waiting for us. The porter delivered the bags and I sat and waited for Alicea.
I popped down to the car for something and met Alicea in the car park as she returned from her facial.
"What's the room like," she asked.
I told her it was a bit small, trying to keep a straight face. When we got to the room, I had shut the door between the main door and the room itself.
"See, this is it," I said.
She called me some names and opened the door to the room.
We were both very pleased with the room and opened the champagne. We each had a bath and got ready for the evening meal. Before going to dinner we popped down to the hotel shop and then across to the pro-shop to get some presents.
Then we went to one of the bars in the restaurant, the Ailsa Bar where Alicea had a wine and I had a scotch. Then we went to the restaurant. We had both dressed up, Alicea in a lovely black dress and myself in a suit. The food was nice, although the main course I had, poached asparagus, was disappointing as it was little more than a clear soup with a few sticks of asparagus floating in it. Also, there was a mix up with my desert that meant it was late arriving. Other than that, the meal was very nice.
Once the meal was finished, we went to bed.
From there we drove to Burns' cottage where Robert Burns was born. We looked around the museum, and the cottage itself before going back to Culzean to pay and to pick up the picture. We also got a couple of extra brochures of the castle to give to our families.
Once we had paid and said our goodbyes to David Heron, the castle manager, and Gordon, we had a quick chat with the artist and made our way to Turnberry.
We booked in to find that we had been upgraded to an ocean view room. The room wasn't quite ready so we went across to the spa centre and had a drink and a bite to eat. Alicea booked in for a facial and I waited until about three o'clock before returning to the hotel to get our keys.
The room was lovely and had a magnificent view over the golf course to the sea. There was also a bottle of champagne, flowers, chocolates and a card of congratulations waiting for us. The porter delivered the bags and I sat and waited for Alicea.
I popped down to the car for something and met Alicea in the car park as she returned from her facial.
"What's the room like," she asked.
I told her it was a bit small, trying to keep a straight face. When we got to the room, I had shut the door between the main door and the room itself.
"See, this is it," I said.
She called me some names and opened the door to the room.
We were both very pleased with the room and opened the champagne. We each had a bath and got ready for the evening meal. Before going to dinner we popped down to the hotel shop and then across to the pro-shop to get some presents.
Then we went to one of the bars in the restaurant, the Ailsa Bar where Alicea had a wine and I had a scotch. Then we went to the restaurant. We had both dressed up, Alicea in a lovely black dress and myself in a suit. The food was nice, although the main course I had, poached asparagus, was disappointing as it was little more than a clear soup with a few sticks of asparagus floating in it. Also, there was a mix up with my desert that meant it was late arriving. Other than that, the meal was very nice.
Once the meal was finished, we went to bed.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Getting Married - Wedding Day
Just Married
The big day!
We awoke and went down for breakfast to find that Caroline and Iain had got us a card and present for our wedding day. How lovely. It was amazingly nice of them. It was a wooden picture frame. We made arrangements to leave the dress and my suit there until we needed them after lunch and the, after breakfast, we walked into Ayr so that Alicea could get her hair and make-up done.
While she was doing that, I wandered around the town, returning to the B&B around midday. Alicea phoned shortly after to say she was done and I went to pick her up. We returned to the B&B to pay and say our goodbyes and got big cuddles from Caroline, the landlady. We then left for Troon where we had to pick the flowers up. That done, we drove to Culzean, stopping en-route to get some hairspray. The weather was staying dry, but getting very windy.
We arrived at Culzean and were met by Gordon who informed me that he was to be my best man. We were shown up to the Eisenhower apartment and given a quick tour by Kelly Jo, who was arranging afternoon tea and dinner for the evening. I then got changed and went to wait in the drawing room where an afternoon cream tea and cakes was waiting for us. After eating some scones, jam and cream Alicea went back to the bedroom to get changed.
Denise, the registrar, and Robert, the photographer arrived, along with Isabelle who was to be our other witness. Gordon is quite a character and along with Robert and Denise kept the banter light and relaxed while we waited for Alicea. At one point Denise even ended up doing an impression of the Monty Python knights 'galloping'.
At 4pm, Alicea arrived looking absolutely beautiful and the ceremony began. I was quite nervous and concentrated on getting my words right, all the time thinking how wonderful my bride looked. Alicea was quite nervous too I think as she got my forenames around the wrong way, but quickly corrected herself. Once we were pronounced husband and wife Alicea's eyes filled with tears (of happiness I hope) and I gave her a big kiss. Robert had been taking pictures throughout the ceremony but to be honest I'd hardly noticed as he kept out of the way. We signed the register, had some photos with Gordon, Isabelle and Denise and it was time for Robert to do his stuff.
I was really pleased that we picked Robert to do the photos, as he new the castle very well and also knew the people that ran it. This meant that he knew the best locations to take the photos and also managed to get into other parts of the castle. We had quite a few pictures taken outside, but it started to rain before we had a chance to go to the beach to have some pictures taken there. Once Robert had finished, he left and we then had some time to relax before dinner was served.
We had a drink - Alicea had a gin & tonic and I had a whisky - and we decided to phone our parents. They were all thrilled with the news. We put some music on the CD player and had a dance, but the player kept switching itself off.
At around 7.30 we went into the dining room where we were served Cheese Souffle and Stuffed Peppers for starters (which we shared) Alicea had Sea Bass and I had Vegetable Pie for main and a chocolate torte for sweet. This was accompanied by wine.
Once we had finished dinner we sat in the lounge for a while, in front of the fire that they had lit. By this time, we were on our own in the castle. There was a weird moment when the door opened and nobody came in – perhaps the castle has a ghost!
After the fire had started to die down, we went to bed.
Getting Married - Settling In
We both had a fairly big breakfast and after another chat with Caroline we left for airport to get my name added to the car so I could drive it.
Today we had to see the registrar and the photographer. We were both a little apprehensive about seeing the registrar as we weren't sure whether Alicea's visa requirements were correct for her to get married. We arrived at the registrars and spoke to Denise Mackay who was going to carry out the ceremony. She was really nice and went through all the ceremony etc and chatted about Culzean. She didn't mention the visa, so neither did we. Once we were back in the car, Alicea said that we ought to speak to her about it, just in case, so we went back in and she took a photocopy of Alicea's passport, but said that as we had booked the wedding before February it shouldn't matter. That done we went to visit Robert Clark, the photographer.
Robert is a really friendly guy who has done loads of weddings at Culzean so we felt really happy with our choice once we left him.
We then parked back at the B&B and walked to the station where we caught a train into Glasgow to have a look around and do some shopping and get Alicea's wedding ring cleaned. She also got a manicure. Glasgow didn't have the same effect on me as Edinburgh, it seems quite industrial and dreary, but the afternoon was pleasant enough and we had lunch at TGI Friday's before catching the train back to Ayr. We ate in an Italian restaurant called Cecchini's, which was very nice, before returning to the B&B for the night.
Today we had to see the registrar and the photographer. We were both a little apprehensive about seeing the registrar as we weren't sure whether Alicea's visa requirements were correct for her to get married. We arrived at the registrars and spoke to Denise Mackay who was going to carry out the ceremony. She was really nice and went through all the ceremony etc and chatted about Culzean. She didn't mention the visa, so neither did we. Once we were back in the car, Alicea said that we ought to speak to her about it, just in case, so we went back in and she took a photocopy of Alicea's passport, but said that as we had booked the wedding before February it shouldn't matter. That done we went to visit Robert Clark, the photographer.
Robert is a really friendly guy who has done loads of weddings at Culzean so we felt really happy with our choice once we left him.
We then parked back at the B&B and walked to the station where we caught a train into Glasgow to have a look around and do some shopping and get Alicea's wedding ring cleaned. She also got a manicure. Glasgow didn't have the same effect on me as Edinburgh, it seems quite industrial and dreary, but the afternoon was pleasant enough and we had lunch at TGI Friday's before catching the train back to Ayr. We ate in an Italian restaurant called Cecchini's, which was very nice, before returning to the B&B for the night.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Getting Married - Arrival in Scotland
Having packed the night before, we left for Stansted about 6am. We arrived in plenty of time, parked and made our way to the terminal and booked in at the Ryanair desk. We then went to Ponti's where Alicea had a bacon baguette and some coffee and I had an orange juice. Once that was finished we popped to the cash machines. Alicea put her card into the machine, typed her PIN in and the machine switched itself off and rebooted, retaining Alicea's card. She was not happy as she now had no cash of her own to use. She spoke to the man at the Travelex kiosk where the machines were located, but he had no way to retrieve the card. However, he did give us a customer services phone number from where Alicea obtained the number she needed to contact HSBC. Once through passport control we made our way to the departure gate where Alicea spoke to HSBC. They weren't an awful lot of help and just said that they would post the card back.
We boarded the plane and it took off on time. The flight was uneventful, except that Alicea kept getting kicked in the back by the child in the seat behind.
We landed at Prestwick ten minutes early. While I waited for the cases Alicea went to the bureau de change to change some of her Polish and Czech money to sterling. Once she returned we went to the Hertz kiosk to pick up the rental car. I hadn't brought the paper part of my license so couldn't drive until they could verify my details with DVLA, which would be tomorrow.
We picked up the car and drove to the B&B. We had arrived quite early but the room was ready, so we dropped off our bags and walked into Ayr town centre to pick up my suit from Slater's hire shop. All of the measurements had been faxed to them so I hoped that I'd got them right. As it was, the suit fitted perfectly and I bought a shirt and a couple of ties before we went for a wander round Ayr looking for somewhere to have lunch. First of all we popped into a Wetherspoons, but they had no electricity in the kitchens so half the menu wasn't available. We then found a place on the way back to the B&B where we had a soup (I had mushroom - yummy, and Alicea had tomato and coriander) followed by a risotto for me and chicken for Alicea and we shared a bowl of chips.
We the drove down to Culzean to have a look at the castle grounds. On the way we stopped at Electric Brae, a place where the lie of the land makes it look as though the road is going uphill, when in fact it is going downhill. We pulled up in the layby and spent five minutes with the brakes off, gently rolling 'uphill'! We arrived at Culzean after the restaurant and shops had closed so we had a quick look around before making our way to Turnberry to look at the hotel we would be staying in on Wednesday.
We then went back to the B&B to relax and have a bath before going out to find somewhere to have dinner. The B&B was really nice and we stated chatting to Caroline, who owned the place with her husband Iain. She recommended a place called Ellisland to eat which was just around the corner. We decided to try it and were glad we did as the food was lovely and it was very reasonably priced. We discovered this was because they'd left a couple of items off of the bill, so we got them to rectify it, but it was still reasonable. The food was very nice too, especially the sticky toffee pudding! We were also taken with the pictures they had in the restaurant by someone whose signature looked like Hagen, or Hayden, so we're going to try and find out if we can get a print of one of the pictures.
After the meal we made our way back to the B&B for the night.
We boarded the plane and it took off on time. The flight was uneventful, except that Alicea kept getting kicked in the back by the child in the seat behind.
We landed at Prestwick ten minutes early. While I waited for the cases Alicea went to the bureau de change to change some of her Polish and Czech money to sterling. Once she returned we went to the Hertz kiosk to pick up the rental car. I hadn't brought the paper part of my license so couldn't drive until they could verify my details with DVLA, which would be tomorrow.
We picked up the car and drove to the B&B. We had arrived quite early but the room was ready, so we dropped off our bags and walked into Ayr town centre to pick up my suit from Slater's hire shop. All of the measurements had been faxed to them so I hoped that I'd got them right. As it was, the suit fitted perfectly and I bought a shirt and a couple of ties before we went for a wander round Ayr looking for somewhere to have lunch. First of all we popped into a Wetherspoons, but they had no electricity in the kitchens so half the menu wasn't available. We then found a place on the way back to the B&B where we had a soup (I had mushroom - yummy, and Alicea had tomato and coriander) followed by a risotto for me and chicken for Alicea and we shared a bowl of chips.
We the drove down to Culzean to have a look at the castle grounds. On the way we stopped at Electric Brae, a place where the lie of the land makes it look as though the road is going uphill, when in fact it is going downhill. We pulled up in the layby and spent five minutes with the brakes off, gently rolling 'uphill'! We arrived at Culzean after the restaurant and shops had closed so we had a quick look around before making our way to Turnberry to look at the hotel we would be staying in on Wednesday.
We then went back to the B&B to relax and have a bath before going out to find somewhere to have dinner. The B&B was really nice and we stated chatting to Caroline, who owned the place with her husband Iain. She recommended a place called Ellisland to eat which was just around the corner. We decided to try it and were glad we did as the food was lovely and it was very reasonably priced. We discovered this was because they'd left a couple of items off of the bill, so we got them to rectify it, but it was still reasonable. The food was very nice too, especially the sticky toffee pudding! We were also taken with the pictures they had in the restaurant by someone whose signature looked like Hagen, or Hayden, so we're going to try and find out if we can get a print of one of the pictures.
After the meal we made our way back to the B&B for the night.
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