20 March: EDINBURGH!

Day 2:

Today was our "lets be tourists" day so to keep with the theme we went on a bus tour! Not much to say about that other than we had the jankiest bus ever. Next, it was time for Edinburgh Castle! Sweeeet! Liz and I walked around together, saw some really neat stuff. The Castle is on a hillside so it overlooks the entire city; beautiful view! We went into the War Museum, saw some old uniforms and a great photograph display on Scottish soldiers in Afghanistan looking really rough. Also, the Scottish are known for being close to their animal counterparts and the castle actually had a dog cemetary. PRECIOUS!

Next, Liz and I went in search of souvenirs. I got some really good ones for friends and fam fam but it remains to be seen if I will actually have them for the trip home :[. I accidentally left them on the first train ride home. I've been trying to track them down through the train service, but they keep sending me to different departments! Rough.

After souvenir time we walked to Elephant House, birthplace of the first Harry Potter book! JK Rowling actually sat at the front of the cafe to write the Sorcerer's Stone. The food there was cheap and tasty! I had a pesto tomato half pizza with a side salad and a fudge, cherry walnut, brownie dessert. It was interesting and DELICIOUS to say the least! I love me some cherry anything!

Delicious food lead to being really ful and needing a walk. Liz and I ran into University of Edinburgh and a place called 'the Quarter Mile'. It's a big expanse of fields for the students to lounge about in, play frisbee, football, yada yada. On this gorgeous day everyone was out and about playing around. It was grrrrreat. This made Liz and I motivated so we walked to the big platteau in the distance, Salisbury Crag! We weaved about the streets keeping it at the front of our vision. Finally! We arrived and sat on the grass, looking up at the crag. But alas, it was time to go to dinner.

Dinner was a group dinner at a place called The Best. The food was sooooooooo good. I had a three course meal that consisted of (a) mussels, (b) red mullet Scottish fish, (c) chocolate crepe. JESUS CHRIST! I have honestly never had a meal so good. I'm just going to leave it at that. Next we (Mike, Liz and I) went to the Jinglin' Geordie for a drink and then went to the hostel.

While we were at the hostel pub I was hit on by a 60 year old man! What you say? YEAH! I went up to the bar to get a Strong Bow and this innocent looking old man starting chatting me up. I was a little tipsy so I played along. He asked me where I was from, yada yada, and then started talking about how he thought my 'look' was sexy and he loved my piercings. AND THEN HE ASKED FOR A KISS!? What the hell. Lol. I don't remember what else happened but it was crazy.

By this time, I had met a girl named Carrie in the bathroom and we became fast friends. She introduced me to her boyfriend and his friends and her friend Michelle. All of the LC kids wanted to go to bed but I said fuck it and went out clubbing with my new friends! We went to SNEAKY PETE'S! Too bad it wasn't DJ Tittsworth spinning. I bonded with Michelle, who was from Canada, and had a great time talking to her. She was so nice and missed the North American accent. After a time I decided to head home, but as I was walking I ran into this group of people surrounding these guys in 70s style suits with mega bell bottoms. I stopped to ask what the hell they were doing and didn't really get an answer. But this Scottish kid asked me if I was American ...I said yes...and he asked if I was from Michigan...and I said yes. WHAT HOW DID HE GUESS? We were both shocked, and then a friendship was born. The people in the group ended up being main Scottish friends: Bennie (Michigan kid), John, Rachel, Tibby, and Ruairidh (pronounced Rory). I accompanied them back to their flat and we had a GREAT time which also involved staying up all night and having to meet Liz the next morning for our Highlands adventure.