1st thing this morning was to find an internet cafe, it is Sunday, so that may be a challenge. So headed out and I knew I was going to go visit the castle as well today, so I headed in that direction. Until I saw a sign, "Free Walking Tour", hmm, maybe I should do that. So I joined to group, grabbed some Starbucks before we started (Starbucks in other countries NEVER taste the same) and I learned about the city and Scotland. It was a 3 hours tour w/ a break for lunch. I guess I've brought good weather with me again, because the tour guide kept commenting on how beautiful it was and that it was so amazing to have this much sun! Awesome, the weather was a bit cooler here, but there has only been a slight trace of rain! So the tour walked us past churches, important old buildings, the castle and the place that the author of Harry Potter got her inspiration for the books. We also visited a cemetery and learned alot about the issues between England and Scotland... quite interesting! My tour guide was named Ruth and she was a drama student in Edinburgh, up from England, so she was very funny and entertaining. I also met a guy named Dustin, studying in Oxford, lives in Atlanta when not in school and lived in Colorado Springs for 11 years. He was really nice and let me join him for lunch at the very table of the Harry Potter inspiration, in The Elephant House. It had an awesome view of the Castle and he convinced me to definitely do the castle tour (I started to think I'd skip it) and he also convinced me to skip the "Pub Crawl" that night and go hike up a hill called Arthur's Seat. It is in the largest national park in Scotland and was a super big hill that towered over the city. He showed me some pictures and I decided to have a go at it. So I bid farewell to him and heading straight (up hill) to the castle. Did I mention that Edinburgh was build on a volcano and it has HUGE hills? So 1 1/2 hours later, I was done with my tour. It was an amazing castle and has tons of history, like the birth of King Edward the 1st, by Mary Queen of Scots, and it also houses the Royal Jewels. Along with the rock of destiny and all sorts of swords and other stuff like that. It really was fascinating. So I then walked down the Royal Mile, it was a street that was 1 mile long and connected the Castle to the Palace Holyrood, where the queen stays. They don't have very imaginative names here, with actually makes it pretty fun. I stayed on Cattlegate, next to Grass Market, so yes, back in the day, while the farmers were buying grass for their cows, the cows would be kept at Cattlegate. There are all sorts of names like this. By this time it was 6pm and I guess that's not the time of day when people eat around here, because I had a dickens of a time finding a place. So After getting pics of the Palace, I found a Pub that served until 7!! I ordered the Scottish meal of Haggis and Mash.... interesting. I was told earlier what it was made of, and I still tried it anyway, I guess since I eat hotdogs (sometimes) I could try this. I also had a half pint of beer. I started talking to a lady that was traveling with her son and daughter and grandson. She had a sister in Edinburgh and came back to see her every year, I think. The whole family was very nice and they even bought me an other half pint (I still had to go on a hike, beer wasn't really needed). They were all from a small town in Florida on the beach, mmm the beach sounds lovely and when the lady heard I worked at a bank, she introduced me to her son, whom also works at a bank. Very funny. I had to leave them after a little bit of conversation to head off to this "Arthur's Seat". It was a big hill and the trail was super steep, nearly straight up, hardly any switchbacks. Then, when I thought I was at the top and I climbed as much as I could, I went around a corner and viola, another section to climb. There were some stairs on these hills and many foot holes, so it was easier then I originally thought. I made it to the top, just in time for the sun to go down. I decided not to stay up very long, even thought the view was spectacular, because it was going to get dark quick and I needed to find my way back. Well, Dustin said to me earlier in the day, "my motto is, Never go back the same way you came". So I tried it.... it is much quicker to go over a hill then it is to walk around it at the bottom. Wow, that was a long way. But I found my way back and headed to the hostel. It was a nice night and going to a pub sounded like a nice idea, but same as the night before, once I hit the bet, I was out!
No comments:
Post a Comment