So Edinburgh is sort of an awkward distance from London. It's sort of like the distance from Boston to Washington DC (which probably means a lot more to me because I am from Massachusetts but just trying too give some geographic perspective). This posed a few challenges to the money-challenged study abroad college student. There are definitely flights from London to Edinburgh (less than two hours) and trains (about five hours) but both of these options get somewhat pricy. Naturally I did what any poor student does - megabus! Yes, I thought that a ten hour bus ride couldn't be that bad. I did one in high school to go to DC for a band trip and I thought I could handle it again.
3 o'clock Friday I get on the bus. It starts out ok, but then I realize that the people sitting three rows behind me are actually the most obnoxious people I have ever encountered. What started as raucous laughter quickly escalated into full scale screaming. I'm talking horror movie, blood curdling screams. Why they were screaming I could not tell you - but I'll just say that it got rid of any possibility of actually falling asleep on this bus ride. In the middle of the bus ride, one of the other passengers actually snapped and started cursing at them and screaming back. They laughed at him. I actually thought I was going to see a fight. Thankfully, five hours later they got off at Manchester, but I still had five hours to go. It was an extremely long five hours, but some of the scenery along the way was nice (at least until it got back). Finally, at 1 am, I stepped off that bus and saw Hilary! Unfortunately, she had laryngitis so it was tough for her to talk but we had a great time nonetheless.
We woke up the next morning ready to take on Edinburgh. Our first stop - Edinburgh Castle. Back when Scotland had its own royal family, I believe they used to live there but it seems like all kinds of people had been there at some point. Here a few snapshots:
Why can't we have castles in America?
leading the charge to take over Scotland
Ok, I have absolutely no idea who this is, but she was getting married at a castle so I am convinced she is a princess
moving in soon
We continued our walk through Edinburgh down "The Royal Mile." We stopped for a quick look into the National Museum of Scotland (not going to lie, there's not that much stuff in there) and went to the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the original Harry Potter!!! As a big fan, it was a magical moment. Pun intended.
You're a wizard Harry!
very ugly building
castle that I can't remember the name of
The middle building in this series is the Scottish Parliament building. When I say it is ugly, I'm talking from a technical standpoint. It was voted the 8th ugliest building in the world in a poll recently. The castle at the bottom is where the pope and the queen hung out a few weeks ago. So I guess it's probably pretty nice.
We had dinner that night at a pub called "The Green Mantle." Their specialty is "buffalo burgers" which are actually made of real water buffalo (which apparently is more healthy than cow). Pretty delicious! So afterwards we went to Tesco (cheap supermarket) to get some stuff for the night. And by some stuff, I mean wine and cookies (or "biscuits" as they say in the UK). So we walk up to the cashier and put our stuff down and he says "What is going on here?" Being frightened college students we naturally assumed that we had somehow violated the drinking age and that we were all going to Scottish prison. A few seconds later he continued, "Are you guys just going to get drunk and eat biscuits?" Unfortunately, the answer was yes but we somehow played it off as if we were getting the biscuits for someone else. He made some suggestive comments about the names of our cookies (I won't mention what the name was here) and we finally got out of there. It was a strange, but hilarious experience.
That night we went to Hilary's union's club. Now, my union has a couple bars but they are pretty small. This was place was actually a nightclub and their student union. It was pretty amazing. The Scottish people are crazy! Hilary and her friends warned me that people invent their own theme nights but I didn't realize what she meant until we got there. One group was dressed in trash bags, another was all boys dressed in women's clothes, another was 80s. When we finally got inside, it got pretty rowdy. Let me also say this about Scotland's youth - they are about 10-15 years behind on popular music. Song after song came on from the mid-90s and EVERYONE besides us knew the words (including to a random Irish folk song). Finally "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus comes on and Hilary, her friends, and I jumped up and down screaming the words like 10 year old girls while everyone else stared at us like we were crazy. Whatever, they just don't know good music. Also, they didn't do the cotton-eyed joe dance to the "Cotton Eyed Joe." They just jumped up and down. Three countries I've heard that song in and no one yet has known the dance! Probably because it came out 13 years ago - too recent!
So after a long night of dancing (or more like roughhousing with the Scots), we headed to bed. The next day we got up bright and early to begin our trek up Arthur's Seat, a mountain/hill right in the middle of Edinburgh. It is actually right outside of Hilary's dorm (she has a great view). The hike wasn't too bad but it was very windy and cold at the top! I guess that's what you get in Scotland. If not for the clouds the view would've been truly spectacular!
beginning of our trek!
Hilary + Scotland!
owned that mountain
conquering Scotland!
Hilary also conquering Scotland!
Firth of Forth in the background (weirdest name ever)
castle from a distance
We decided to make this the most authentic Scottish day it could possibly be. Naturally, I had to have haggis, a Scottish delicacy. I'm not sure exactly where from inside the sheep it comes, but I'm almost positive it is the stomach or the intestines. They make it with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). To be brutally honest, it was disgusting. We also had this soda, Ironbrew, which is made with an ingredient that is illegal in the US. It tastes like a liquid creamsicle. Here is the haggis in all its glory:
ew
So after finishing the haggis, we had to find something just as Scottish to do. Naturally, we went on a whiskey tour! The Scotch Whiskey experience starts with a barrel ride telling you how whiskey is made, followed by an explanation of the different kinds of whiskey from Scotland and then a tasting! The first part, the barrel ride, was hilarious because it was just so ridiculous. How many rides are barrels of whiskey?
Scotch Whiskey Experience!! IN A BARREL!!
illustration of yeast that eventually becomes whiskey obviously
After the ride, we had a woman tell us about Scottish whiskey. They gave us a little scratch and sniff card with the different scents that you get from different regions of Scotland. That scratch and sniff card was EXTREMELY inaccurate. So we finally get the whiskey ( I picked the one that "smelled" like banana) and she told us to take a few whiffs before we tried it. I took one whiff and felt like I was going to hurl. I'm pretty sure that this whiskey was 70% alcohol (140 proof). I took the smallest sip I have ever taken in my life, and could barely get it down. She told us to try watering it down if we were having trouble. Hilary and I dumped the entire bottle of water into our cups, and still could barely take a sip. Most of it ended up in a bin. There was NO banana scent. But we still got to see the largest whiskey collection in the world so it was all worth it!
pre-tasting
enjoying the whiskey collection (because we don't have to drink that)
someone had a lot of time (and whiskey) on their hands
Scotch Whiskey Tour survivors!
After the Scotch whiskey tasting, we decided to go for something a little less traditionally Scottish and go to a place called Choco-Latte. It was so delicious and inexpensive! I got a brownie with a Mars bar in it for 69 pence! Scotland apparently is just as overweight as America (actually a little bit more), and now I see why. According to Hilary's research, they invented the deep-fried Mars Bar. Artery-clogging fun right there. For dinner, we continued to avoid Scottish tradition and went to a Nepali place. It was my first food of this type in the UK and it was pretty good! Definitely made me excited to go to Brick Lane (where all the Indian restaurants are in London) this week. Sadly, it was then time to go back to London. My bus ride back to London was just as miserable as the first. It left at 10:30 pm and got into the station the next morning at 7:30 am. I may have slept for two hours. Needless to say, Monday was not a fun day. Two hour art history class walking around the Victoria and Albert Museum was tough! I thankfully caught up on sleep on Tuesday (no classes, yeah yeah) and feel pretty rested today. We're starting to plan our trips for our break and it looks like Italy and Spain!! Details to follow!
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