No, really. Look at the title again. I think I actually may have. The gym is going to be my best friend this coming week.
But enough with that nonsense- time to fill you in on my second trip to Scotland! This time, I ventured to the capital city, Edinburgh.
Wednesday, April 6:
So I guess today marks my third international flight in less than a week- after all, I was just in Ireland a couple of days ago! (I know Scotland is technically part of the UK, but whatever, I flew from England to Scotland... I consider that international.) For a life total, I have now been on 10 international flights, and only 2 domestic ones. Crazy, right? Before this trip, I had only been on 2 domestic and 4 international flights!
My journey started at noon with a train ride to London Gatwick Airport. Whoopie! After getting through the check-in and security in a record 20 minutes, I was left to read my books for my school papers- exciting, I know.
Soon enough, I was on a one hour EasyJet flight from London to Edinburgh.
It was a beautifully clear day. Since I got a window seat, I was able to get some GREAT aerial shots of London:
Hyde Park and part of Regent's Park from the plane
The London Eye!
Westminster, St. James', Mayfair, South Bank, and some of Central London from the plane
And soon enough, we were above Edinburgh:
My first view of Edinburgh
Upon landing in Edinburgh, I hopped on a bus that promised to get me to Edinburgh City Centre in 30 minutes. So, by 5pm, I was in the capital city!
Following directions given to me, I made my way towards my hostel. They sucked. Luckily I found some helpful police men and women. Although their accent is no where near as thick as the one in Glasgow, I still could barely understand them. It's like they were speaking a different language!
Finally, I found my hostel- Art Roch. Let's just say it was very... eccentric. I was greeted by some creepy mannequins that were spray painted neon colors in my room. You know what else greeted me? In a room of 16 beds, 14 were occupied by guys. What? I knew it was dorm style, but really?! Luckily, I had a bottom bunk, which meant I had some curtains all around my bed. Thank God. With my luck, one of the boys would be an Edward Cullen wanna-be and creepily watch me sleep.
By the time I was settled in it was around 6pm. My friends Naeemah, Kerry, and Julie weren't getting in until the next day. I didn't want to just stay in the hostel and do nothing, so I walked around the city.
The Scott Memorial
St. Giles' Cathedral
Edinburgh Castle, or Castle Rock, which I could see from my hostel room!
Eventually, I started to get hungry. One of the first places I stumbled upon was a little cafe called "The Elephant House". At first I was like, "O, that's nice"... until I saw this:
The front of The Elephant House
What made me freak out.
Yes. I couldn't believe it. I wonder if people make pilgrimages to this place. I figured the girls would want to go here, so I resisted the temptation to get dinner here. Instead I told myself that I would come back here later and read for my papers. I had brought one of my books with me, and the place said it was open till 11pm. I figured I would walk until the sun set, and then head to the cafe, read till closing, and head back to the hostel and go to bed. Good plan, right?
... In theory. Turns out the sun didn't set till around 9pm. This kinda freaked me out, not gonna lie. Because of this, I walked the majority of the city... on my first night.
I happened upon a whole section of the city dedicated to Greyfrairs Bobby. Long story short, this dog's master died, so every day until the dog's own death, he guarded his master's grave. Because of this deed, this dog now has a monument, a pub, a huge gravestone, and a church dedicated to him. The irony of the situation? The dog's gravesite and church are on grounds where dogs ARE NOT allowed! If a person is caught with a dog in this area, they are charged a considerable fine!
Greyfriars Bobby
After walking more of the city, I found the University of Edinburgh, a park, and a place called "Che" that served falafel and doner. Queue dinner. After getting a falafel and hummus wrap with a decently large side of chips (fries for all you Americans!) for ONLY £3, I walked to Edinburgh's Millennium Park- the Meadows. I found a bench, and had my dinner as I sat watching a group of people play rugby with Arthur's Seat in the background.
Yum Yums...
After eating every last bit of my meal, I headed back to the center of the city. The sun was still out. It was 8pm.
So I walked the entirety of the Royal Mile, the site of Charles I's coronation route. By the time I was done I was wiped, as it was 9pm. So I headed back to the Elephant House. Only to find that they were closing when their sign CLEARLY said it closed at 11pm seven days a week. Grr.
So off to the hostel I went. I hung out in the lobby till 11pm, reading for classes. It was finally an acceptable time to go to bed, so I headed upstairs.
Upon going up to my room, I was greeted by a couple only 2 years older than myself. They were from Australia. We spent the next 2 hours talking about anything and everything. Turns out that they had both graduated from Uni in December, and have been touring Europe ever since! They only have 2 weeks left of their tour- Dublin is their next and last stop before heading home. How cool is that? They were super nice, but by 1am we couldn't stay up any longer.... so we went to bed.
Only to be woken up at 3:30am by 8 very drunk Brazilian boys. They deemed it acceptable to talk loudly to each other across the room, from when they returned till when they finally fell asleep at 4:30am. Boo.
O well, that's a hostel for ya!
Thursday, April 7:
After a late (10am) wake up due to the Brazilians disturbing my much needed REM cycle, I found the Australians had already checked out. So I headed to breakfast in the Hostel alone. After having some cereal and a banana, I was out- it was 11am, and I had to entertain myself till Naeemah got in at 1pm.
Castle Rock, or Edinburgh's Castle, could be seen from my hostel, so I headed up to it. I figured the girls would want to tour it, so I didn't go in- I instead snapped some pictures and headed back toward the city centre. On the way, I found a weaving and tartan mill exhibition, and it was free! So I stopped in and learned all about Kilt making!
Kilts through the ages....
Actual looms to make the tartan and kilt fabric!
Next, I headed to the Scottish National Gallery. It has 3 buildings. I didn't even get through 1. I have seen so much art these past months that I am quite sick of it.
Luckily, Naeemah had just got to the city. I met her at the station, and after dropping her bags at the hostel, we were off!
First we stopped at The Elephant House for a quick lunch. I had to pose with the sign to prove I had been there:
After lunch, we pretty much walked everywhere I had walked the day before. After finishing that, we decided to head to new territory- Arthur's Seat, the hightest point in Edinburgh. The city is built around hills and mountains after all.
Only bad thing? Although we could SEE the mountain, we had no idea how to find a trail to climb it.
As we approached a condo complex, we stared up at the mountain, utterly confused. We must have looked completely lost.
And all of a sudden- an angel.
"Do you need help? You look lost."
An old man with snow white hair and long nose hairs (this seems to be quite popular with old British men...) stood next to us.
Long story short, the old man offered to show us the way to the trails that lead to the top of the mountain. It was a 15 minute walk. He was the sweetest man ever, and it turns out he is a Londoner! He moved to Edinburgh 23 years ago, and told us a bunch of places within the city to visit. Upon arriving near the base of the mountain, we parted ways after he told us some good paths to take.
So then we climbed the mountain. I almost made it to the top, but the wind was so intense that I got blown into the side of the mountain when climbing it. I decided to forgo going to the peak... if the wind could push me into the side of the mountain, there was no doubt in my mind that it would push me off the mountain. I settled on being about 100 feet below the summit.
Arthur's Seat in the distance
Me on the start of the trail to the top... this "trail" disappeared soon after. Which made climbing the mountain difficult, considering I was wearing boat shoes. Fail.
Yeah, it was THAT windy. But look at the city in the background!
After climbing the mountain, Naeemah and I ventured back to the city. We got to see the Queen's official Scottish residence (her husband is the Duke of Edinburgh after all...), the Scottish Parliament (which is an eye sore), and this building- "Our Dynamic Earth". Apparently it is a natural disaster simulator. No thanks.
Me in front of "Our Dynamic Earth"
After exploring this end of the city, we wandered back up the Royal Mile. And we found this:
Chocolate Soup- home of amazing chocolate soup. Really.
Long story short, they had molten chocolate. But not just dark chocolate. WHITE CHOCOLATE! SO EXCITING! I love white chocolate, so I had to get a molten white chocolate drink covered in caramel and whipped cream. YUM!
We then headed back to the hostel to officially check Naeemah in and drop some stuff off. And I found this mural when we explored the hostel...
New best friend.
By the time we were done, it was 7pm. Time for some YUM YUMS! We headed out to Grassmarket, where our hostel was, and went into a little pub called "The White Hart", which is the oldest pub in Edinburgh- it is almost 500 years old! And it was here that I introduced Naeemah to Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties. YUM!
Haggis #1 of the trip, #3 in my life
And guess what? She liked it! Seriously, it's great. We stayed in the pub till 10pm, talking with each other and the nice German couple next to us. By 10 though, we headed back to the hostel- we had to be up at 6:45 the next morning- we were going on a bus tour!
Friday, April 8:
Today Naeemah and I decided to take a bus tour of the Scottish Highlands. Best £42 I have ever spent. Our tour started at 8am, and went until 8:30 pm. We traveled almost 400 miles around Scotland, stopping in a ton of towns, including Stirling (where William Wallace aka Braveheart had his epic battle in the movie), Glencoe, the Highlands, and Fort Augustus (where Loch Ness is). Our guide told us the history of the towns we went through, and local legends. He was so entertaining!
Instead of telling you all the details of the trip, I'll just put up some pictures. However, one of the highlights was taking a boat tour of Loch Ness. Did you know that this loch is 26 miles long, and holds more water in it than all the lakes of Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland COMBINED?!?!?! Yeah.
...and if anyone asks, I saw Nessie.
Me in front of a Loch at the beginning of the trip... so gorgeous!
Entering the Highlands... this land was owned by Rob Roy!
Me in Glencoe, formed from the most destructive volcanic eruption in the history of the Earth!
Me in the depths of Glencoe. Yeah, it's huge. I wasn't even NEAR the bottom- I was at the edge of a cliff leading to the bottom.
Just hangin' with Nessie.
Loch Ness!
Me in Fort Augustus, with the cliffs surrounding Loch Ness in the background.
Highland cows- I call them Emo Cows. They're just so... emotional... *Shake head to make bangs get out of your eyes*
The Forth Bridge in Edinburgh going over the River Forth.
After the tour, we met up with two of my new friends from Interstudy- Kerry and Julie. They are studying in Ireland, and after meeting them last week, we found that we were going to Edinburgh at the same time! They were also going on a tour that day (we actually saw them in Loch Ness) so when we got back to the city, we met up for dinner! We found a nice Mexican place (which I have been craving like CRAZY!) and enjoyed some amazing food and great company.
After planning to meet up the next day early in the morning, we headed to our hostels. Naeemah and I found a little crepe stand on our way back to Art Roch. The crepes were £2. Hard to resist. So we relented. AND THEY WERE GREAT!
Finally, it was time for bed.
Saturday, April 9:
Today was my last day in Edinburgh, so after checking out of the hostel at 10am, Naeemah and I went to the Elephant House and had breakfast. I had stromboli- one was spinach and mozzarella, and one was.... HAGGIS and sweet potatoes! Haggis #4! YAY!
We then met Kerry and Julie at Edinburgh Castle, after seeing William Wallace....
Best job ever.
Because we were at the castle, we did the tour, and got to see the Scottish crown jewels! Very pretty, but nowhere near as impressive as the English ones.
After the tour, we headed to a cafe for lunch. Where I had Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties. #3 for the trip, #5 overall. Still delicious!
We then headed to the "New City", which is across from the Old City. It is not separated by a river, like London. It is separated by a train station. Yeah, Edinburgh is small.
After wandering the streets, we saw lots of shops. Including this one. At first I only saw the three mannequins on the left. I turned to the girls and was like, "Really, who does what the one in the green undies is doing? NO ONE squats like that!"
...and then Julie pointed out the one in the pink undies. HA!
Dear mannequin with the pink undies. What the HELL are you doing? Really Calvin Klein? Really?
Before I knew it, it was time for me to get on a bus back to Edinburgh airport! After bidding adieu to the girls, I hopped on and was driven back to the airport.
I had 3 hours to kill (security took 10 minutes), so I headed to the airport restaurant, where I got....
...HAGGIS! #4 for the trip, #6 overall. AND IT WAS GREAT!
So to all those haters out there... don't bash it until you try it.
And to Scotland? If your haggis sales go up due to this blog, I think I should get some of the profit.
Finally it was time to get on the plane back to London. Although I had a ton of fun in Scotland, I was glad to get back to London. Not because I missed it though, but because I have 16,000 words waiting to be written for my papers....
Wish me luck! (I'm gonna need it...)
Cheers!
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