Well, here's my post for Scotland. I know, it's finally here. I'm so behind. Luckily I'm all caught up on my personal journal. If I have that done, then that's all that really matters. But to you non-facebookers and even to those who do, here's a more in depth look at my adventures there.
We left for Edinburgh, Scotland on Thursday morning. Somehow, I got ready in time and out the door on time. I was wearing my blue and white dress and hunter boots and felt like I had actually made a valiant effort to look cute. I feel like those days don't happen very often here. I don't even get ready for church. But back to the story. It was hectic getting my bag up all the stairs in the tube and dealing with layers that made us all start sweating before we even got to the King's Cross Station. From King's Cross station we caught the train to Edinburgh for 4 hours. It was a gorgeous view bit of the way as we passed countryside with an ocean view.
So we got into Edinburgh, where more hills and flights of stairs awaited us. JOY. But we trekked up and the hostel wasn't far at all. We put our luggage in a storage room and then headed to "hike" up to the castle. I thought we were literally hiking until I realize we were just going up the inclined street. Haha. Dursteler always makes things sound worse than they are. Although, as he pointed out, it's a good strategy because then we are happy with simply anything. Touché Dursteler. Touché.
We went to a castle there that was a lot of fun, but afterward we got to wander the town. I've decided that many of the places I've visited so far can easily be described in one word. The Edinburgh Castle's word:
BONDAGE
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| So many children attached to that leash... |
The Mill was probably my favorite part. This may have been the reason....
Accordion man. You're my favorite.
After that was Annie. We had seen the description for the show at a place we visited and figured eleven pounds wouldn't be bad to swallow for a few good songs (even if the acting/singing was crappy). We ended up getting fifth row seats and it was surprisingly good. Excellent decision team.
I adore these girls <3
The next day was a free day and we planned to hike Arthur's Seat. It was a relatively easy hike and I got much needed exercise. Plus, the thing that kept me going was to eat at "The Chocolate Soup" afterward. But more on that later.
The scenery wasn't too shabby... haha. As you can tell, its nothing less than spectacular.
Here's the group at the top
There were also ruins on the way down that we took pictures by. Scotland is so PRETTY!
And then, well, there were some accidents. It's a little muddy in Scotland and a little wet. We found that out the hard way. Actually, let's be honest, it was mostly Blake that found that out. Good thing he was wearing his hiking shoes though! :P
Afterward we changed and got ourselves up the hill to the long awaited shop, "The Chocolate Soup" The shop really is true to the name. I may or may not have gotten a shot of pure, melted dark chocolate. I don't regret it one bit. Don't worry, I had some chicken soup and bread before I coated my arteries with chocolate. But I think it's safe to say we were all felt the effects of the overwhelming amount of chocolate later that day.
We wandered around a large part of the day and did shopping. I visited a session of Parliament that was hilarious if only because they were arguing about trivial matters and seemed to be begging anyone who came in to the building to watch a session. For dinner, we hit up the Elephant Cafe (I'm too lazy to put the picture up... maybe later) where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter. Pretty good food. I can see why she went there. The bathroom was probably the best part of the place, because the toilet is decorated with Harry Potter pictures and the back of the doors are covered in Harry Potter trivia, information, etc. Which leads us to this....
This is Tom Riddell's grave. The dead bloke who was supposedly the inspiration for Voldemort's, He Who Shall Not Be Named's birth name. The graveyard is right next to the Elephant Cafe. We were all terrified walking through the graveyard late at night with a creepy gatekeeper at the front and limited lighting. We clung to each other the whole time and were screaming. Nothing could be more terrifying than trying to find Voldemort's grave at night, right? Yeah, we thought so too.
Our night ended off with deep fried candy bars. I could have done a mars bar but opted last minute for a Twix bar instead. It was delicious.
I was disappointed to leave Edinburgh. It felt like home. There was just something so charming about the town and there was still enough to do there so that you didn't get bored. It wasn't York, that's for sure. And it wasn't Stirling, another place in Scotland we later stayed for a night.
Dear Royal Mile, I Miss You Already
The next day was New Lanark, which I can't even begin to describe. It was just plain... weird. But in the best way possible. Haha. It was amusing and sort of interesting. I'm actually planning on holding my wedding there. Then I can send my friends through the Annie Mcleod ride (a Disney-esque Haunted Mansion type ride, although much more low budget) and then we can end at the cafe downstairs. They could even wander around and take pictures in the random rooms there filled with fake sculptures of people. It sounds all too tempting really.
All that can really sum up this ride is, "Remember us, remember us, remember us"
After this we stayed the night in Stirling. I have no pictures of that because there was nothing to do, and my pictures from here are limited. We did visit the William Wallace Monument, though. If I had to describe that place in one word it would be: stairs. Lots of stairs in narrow passage ways. It was a relief to get to the top and not feel quite so claustrophobic. Two boys in our group were very silly and wore kilts to the monument and everyone HAD to take pictures with them. It was funny to watch as we all lined up to jump in real quick to take a picture and then watch another person hand their camera to a friend and jump in. They could have easily started charging us. Luckily they didn't think of that until after :)
After that was a bus ride to the train with a short break back in Edinburgh before we headed home. I refuse to even talk about the train ride home. Haha. It was fun, but man, was it long. I had about three meltdowns where I picked up things in front of me to play with them and then got upset and threw them back on the table. I think most of the things I abused were Blake's. Sorry about that buddy. Sara, Blake, Julie and I all went a little crazy for a while, pretending we were a dysfunctional family and the jokes went on for far too long to even be funny anymore...but somehow they were. Sara and I have some pretty attractive pictures that "Mom and Dad"--Julie and Blake, took across the table from us, but I don't have access to those either right now. Maybe later. But yeah, that was Scotland. My favorite trip by far that we've taken. Sorry it took so long to post. Miss you all back home!
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