Oh, Scotland! It was beautiful! We took the train - a five hour ride from King's Cross Station to Edinburgh. Tammy & I read, shared my mp3 player, & tried to nap as much as possible on our long journey. The night before we left for Scotland was Tammy's 21st! But we were good & got ourselves home & in bed by 12:30AM! We greatly appreciated that at 6:30AM! :)
We pulled into Edinburgh & the sun was shining! A little on the chilly side, but gorgeous!
After a looooong train ride we got to Edinburgh around 1:30PM. We found our hostel, Backpackers Edinburgh, which was just a quick walk up from the train station. It felt like San Francisco [not that I’ve been there yet] with the hills we climbed! Talk about steep! Anyway, we checked into the hostel & trudged upstairs to the 2nd [which is really the 3rd] floor. Once we saw who was staying in our 14-bed room we knew we were gonna be awake in the wee hours of the morning. We picked our beds, walked down to the room where Anitra & Lanette were staying, & ventured out into Edinburgh! The four of us walked around. It was sunny & very Spring-like! But then the fog rolled in pretty thick – it was nbuts! Tammy & I went to the Real Mary King’s Close. It appears to be underground but it’s actually originally street-level with City Chambers [kinda like City Hall] built on top. Very cool tour! : ) I was half-expecting to be scared or spooked a little – but no [thankfully]. : )
After that we went to dinner at Jimmy Chung’s Chinese Buffet – same place we ate at in Dublin with Michael! : ) Yummm! : )
From there we met up with Anitra & Lanette & headed back to the hostel. We hung out there for a bit – talked with some other Regent’s kids – then headed out in search of a pub! We wandered down High St. [Royal Mile] & went into The World’s End. The funny part was that it was so foggy that night that you couldn’t see 30 feet in front of you – the perfect atmosphere for a place called The World’s End! : ) So we went in for a few drinks – had some laughs, told a story about Alexander & Penelope the pigeons – came back to the hostel & went to bed!
On Saturday we woke up around 8AM. I’d been awake at some point in the middle of the night when everyone came crashing in. I took a cold shower – we ate at Southern Cross Café for breakfast [yummy bacon roll!] & went to the Kirk of Saint Giles & Edinburgh Castle. We spent about four hours in the Castle & heard/watched the one o’clock gun go off. Then we had lunch at a pub not too far from the Castle. Tammy ran across the street to buy our tickets for our Scotch Whiskey Experience tour. We ate, went to the Woolen Mill where they make tartan & sell big wool sweaters. That was pretty cool. Then we went to the Scotch Whiskey Experience [what we were told was like “Drunk Disney”] - & it was eh. It was nowhere near as much fun as Guinness [that was fun!]. We went back to the hostel afterward, dropped off our free whiskey glasses & headed in the direction of Holyroodhouse Palace. Only Tammy & I detoured to try climbing Arthur’s Seat. Windy! Crazy! Lots of fun! We came across a Newfoundland, too! He was like a bear!!! : ) We found Anitra & Lanette after our hike & ate dinner at the Royal Mile Pub. We hung out for a bit – Tammy & Anitra got cider that contained Sulphur. Interesting.
We headed back to the hostel for a bit & hung out with some Regent’s kids for a little while. : ) Then we went in search of dessert & ended up in Quizno’s eating small pints of Ben & Jerry’s. : ) We got back to the hostel & crashed.
Sunday morning, Tammy & I got up early again, ate breakfast & went to Holyroodhouse Palace. Very cool! : ) Then we did some shopping! : ) Of course, the day we left Edinburgh was the best weather day of the weekend. Figures.
Overall it was a great weekend in Scotland! I’m so happy I got to go! I didn’t think I’d make it there & I did! : ) Another country to add to the “I have visited…” list! : )
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