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Wee bit more, please; Old Scotland charms even young lass from America.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Linda Burgess and Bill Dunlap, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Our plan, like those of countless American families, was to take our offspring to the old country - to the gene pool's edge, where she might glimpse her reflection in the language, landscape, history and culture of her Scots-Irish ancestors.

We were awash in good advice, from articles and guidebooks to the tireless Travel Channel. Even the Smithsonian Folklife Festival complied, featuring Appalachian and Scottish culture, by which time we had booked air travel, auto rental, accommodations and restaurant reservations all via the traveler's indispensable tool - the Internet.

Glasgow, the Clyde River Valley and environs is our destination, with an initial stop in Ireland and eventual departure from Edinburgh. The Emerald Isle's myriad charms, to say nothing of Dublin's 800 pubs, need more time than we have to give them, but we do our best during our two-day layover. Then it's off to fair Caledonia.

Our Ryanair morning flight to Glasgow Prestwick Airport is short and inexpensive, as is our train trip into the city. Provisioning in one of Glasgow's immaculate Central Station shops, we first hear in a rich Scottish brogue what is to become the trip's constant refrain.

"Aye, now, what might I fetch for the wee one?" Henceforth, Maggie, 7, would answer to and respond in the voice of the Wee One.

A friendly and informative taxi driver delivers us to our accommodations in the West End. The White House Apartments on Cleveden Crescent are superbly located in a residential neighborhood but just a walk from the Botanical Gardens, Glasgow University and many fine shops and restaurants off the Great Western Road. All rooms have kitchens and laundry privileges and can be rented for up to six months.

We unpack and then lunch at Stravaigin 2 on Ruthven Lane, a restaurant tucked into an alley not far from campus. The menu states, "think global, eat local," and the food is adventuresome and quite good - regional cuisine infused with Asian and Middle Eastern influences. The portions are so generous we can't clean our plates of West Coast mussels in basil cream sauce, seared Scottish fishes in Thai broth and, for Maggie, a cheeseburger (choice of Aberdeen Angus or Berwickshire ostrich). "Will the wee one be having dessert?" the waitress asks.

"Jelly pieces, please," she orders...

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