Edinburgh!!

Friday Oct. 22
We decided to take a 3 day weekend and go to Edinburgh! The train ride only took about an hour and a half and we got into Edinburgh just before 11:00 am. Our hostel was just a short walk from the train station so we dropped off our bags and ate our bag lunches before going out to explore! We decided to get the Edinburgh Pass that was kind of expensive but then we could go to lots of places for "free". We went to the Edinburgh Dungeon which was kind of like a haunted house but with some history thrown in as well, the 3D Loch Ness experience (not as cool as we thought it would be), St. Giles Cathedral (free anyway), the Dean Gallery, an underground tour and a graveyard tour. St. Giles Cathedral was really pretty! It wasn’t huge but it had a really nice and ornate chapel in one corner. At the Dean Gallery, Abby saw many pieces of artwork that she had studied at school which was cool. I enjoyed the two tours we went on. The first, as I mentioned above was an underground tour. We went into some underground vaults/rooms that were originally made as store rooms for expensive shops on the Royal Mile but due to the stone that was used to make them they ended up leaking and not being a good place to store goods. Also, the rent was really high. A few years after their construction they were empty and in moved the poor and homeless. It wasn’t a nice place to live but for those who had nothing else, it was a home. We heard many stories about what went on in the various rooms and the ghosts that supposedly reside there now. Nothing supernatural happened during our tour but the guide claims things do happen from time to time. Edinburgh Castle

We went back to the hostel to officially check in and get ready for the evening. We went to a small restaurant/take away for dinner. It was called Yum Yum and had the typical combination of pizza, burgers and kebabs. Since I had not had a kebab since coming to England I decided it was high time I have one since I really liked them in France. The UK version is a bit different from the France version but it was still good!

After dinner we went on one last tour that we could use our pass for. Sadly the hour and a half walking tour ended up taking place in the rain. It was informative and fun but we were all very glad to get back to the hostel and put dry clothes on by the end.
Day one in Edinburgh was a success.

Saturday Oct. 23
Our second day in Edinburgh was mostly spent on the Hairy Coo Tour (http://www.thehairycoo.com/). It is a free tour of the Scottish Highlands and it was fabulous! This small company started in June and runs tours for “free” 7 days a week. At the end of the tour you tip the guide and pay what you are able/can afford. The tour started at 9 am and lasted until 6:30 pm. It was a fabulous way to spend a day! So many beautiful views!
The first stop was the William Wallace monument.

At the top of the crest there is something that looks like pineapple to me but it is actually thistle which is the national emblem of Scotland and the reason why I saw "pineapple" all over Edinburgh.

Next we stopped at Doune Castle where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed. The guide had some props with him including coconut shells so we went around the castle clapping the coconut shells together like they do in the movie. It was great.
Our third stop was Aberfoyle. It was a small town and it was our lunch break stop. We ate lunch and then wandered around. There was a Chinese celebration taking place and there were four birds of prey on display from a raptor center.
Then we went to the first Loch, or Lake in Scottish, Loch Drunkie.
On the way to our next stop we had our first hairy coo sighting! It was exciting.
Loch Achray was the next stop. A nice Loch that reminded me of Lake Sag at SJU because there was a small church on across the Loch from where we were and no other buildings in sight…kinda like the Stella Maris chapel.
Since we were on a Hairy Coo Tour we of course needed to see some more hairy coo which the next two stops included. The first was a hotel that had some fenced in hairy coo. (The hat below isn't mine but another prop the tour guide had for us to borrow through out the day)
Next was Hamish, who is a famous hairy coo because he has been in several movies although I can’t remember which. Hamish and his lady coo friend Heather.

I don't remember the details but at somepoint a waterway was built between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Instead of starting in the middle and working towards the two cities the waterway was started in the two cities but never met up in the middle! So the solution was to build this contraption that takes a boat from one part of the waterway to the other.
Our last stop was to look at the bridges across the Forth, which is the river that runs through Edinburgh.

We found a restaurant/pub that had a great meal deal for dinner. For £3.50 we got a hamburger, fries and cider. Yum! So one thing that my flat mates find amusing about me is my ketchup consumption - which just so happens to be a lot more than they eat. Naturally with a meal consisting of a hamburger and fries, I use a lot of ketchup. At one point, Abby decided that if I ate any more ketchup I was going to have sodium level issues and put the lid on the ketchup bottle saying I couldn’t have anymore….luckily I didn’t need anymore! We had a chill evening and talked with some of the other people staying in our room at the hostel.

Sunday Oct. 24
We got up at a decent time since we had gone to bed fairly early and lounged around before getting going around 11. Abby was meeting a friend and Melissa and I went on a free walking tour. Although we heard a lot of repeat information we did learn some new information and see some new sights including the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the school/castle she modeled Hogwarts off of.

The picture above is of an old fashion buglar alarm, or a trick step. Apparently lots of staircases had trick steps in them. The home owners would know where the trick step was and be able to help guests avoid this step. However, if a burglar was trying to sneak up your steps to rob your house, they would not notice the step and fall noisily down the steps.

We met up with Abby in the afternoon and walked down the Royal Mile to hike up to Arthur’s seat. Boy was it a hike! It was definitely more of a work out than I was expecting. There were several paths you could choose and I think we picked the most vertical one! But it was worth it! The view was great!!! Of course, none of the pictures do the view justice.

For the rest of the day we wandered along the Royal Mile and Princes Street stopping in many tourist shops and Build-A-Bear to get Pandanick’s pawsport stamped (Melissa’s boyfriend gave her a bear from Build-A-Bear before she left).

For dinner we ate at a restaurant called Zenobia and I had falafel for the first time. It was great! It is definitely going on my list of approved foods and I hope to have it again soon!

Our train didn’t leave until 9:00 pm. After dinner we didn’t have too much time before our train left but we did have enough time to get our stuff from the hostel and for Melissa and I to apply for youth railcards (Abby got her card online).

I had a great time in Edinburgh!