Edinburgh: Life on the Royal Mile

It didn't actually hit me that I was going to spend nine hours on a bus until I got to the bus station on Thursday night and saw the all too familiar blue Megabus. Up to now, I thought this little overnight adventure would be fun, but I soon realized that we are not the only ones willing to save some money in exchange for a pretty miserable night. Practically every seat on the bus was taken. I was in and out of sleep (mostly out, though) for the first few hours, and was fairly miserable until I simply decided that sleep was not going to happen, and gave up trying. Instead, Josh and I passed some time by playing 'cows and bulls,' a game I used to play on long car rides when I was little (only my mom will appreciate this). By 8:25am, we arrived in Edinburgh. Although I was tired, the excitement of getting to my first out-of-England destination meant that I could hold off for a nap until later that day!

We met Sam, who arrived the night before, at the hostel. Our hostel was on the Royal Mile (it's actually 1.17 miles, but that would sound funny), and across the street from Edinburgh Castle. It's not every morning you get to be greeted by a castle on your way out the door. The location was great and the hostel was very cute, but I think my expectations are now unrealistically high for the rest of the hostels I stay in while in Europe. This hostel spoiled us a little.

Our hostel is on the left:

Quick laptop break before breakfast!

I liked a subtle theme in this hostel. Their (very) random book collection included the biology book I used in high school and the room Sam stayed in the first night was called "Plant Biology!" We stayed in a room named after currency. My bed was "Rupee" but I found a Russian coin in my locker, which I thought was pretty appropriate!

After a quick breakfast, and a look around the area, we went on a three hour guided tour of Edinburgh.


This was a place that you would get nailed to by your ear if you stole something from the market. If you couldn't stand waiting to be let free, you could rip your ear off the nail, and forever be identified as a thief.


This building has a trip step to trip robbers (the third step). Although I don't understand how it's much of a trip step if you can see it from the outside.


This was an old cemetery. This dog sat by his owner's grave for 14 years. I spaced when the tour guide told us this, and thought she was talking about an extremely loyal person before we got to the statue.




On our way to the tour we passed this heart on the street. I thought it was a cute touch. Then, our tour guide informed us that people spit on this heart for two reasons. One of them is historical (I don't remember it) but people also spit on it to show their dislike for a football club often referred to as "The Hearts." Honestly, though, the only two people I saw spit on the heart were Josh and Sam.

I thought this was just about the cutest street ever.



Although this wasn't so cute...

That night, we went to dinner at a pub close to our hostel, called "The Last Drop." It was in Grassmarket where public hangings used to take place. This was the pub that the accused would come to for their last drink. Nice thought. The rest of the night was pretty relaxed since the four of us who had braved the Megabus were still tired. We explored Edinburgh some more and finished the night with a few rounds of the card game Presidents and Assholes.

We woke up early the next morning to climb a mountain called Arthur's Seat. We needed a good breakfast first though, so we went to The Elephant House where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book (I really need to read past the first book...). After that, we were ready for a hike.

We first though that this was our mountain, so we took a few pictures.


But then, we realized that the taller mountain behind it was the one that we were going to climb. Josh found the toughest trail up, and we began the climb. I huffed and puffed a little on the way up when we decided to take a little detour up another hill, but I got over it. I am not sure how long it took, but we were told that to get up and down the mountain takes about two hours.


We stopped at this point to look around.




A few weeks ago Brittany and I had a conversation about how horrible it would be if one of us sprained our ankle -- London (and most of Europe, I would imagine) is not handicap-accessible in the least. Considering that the soil was still wet from last night's rain, if any of us were going to sprain our ankles, it was going to be here.

We made it to the top (250.5 meters up) with all ten ankles intact though, and the view from the top was incredible!




We returned to our hostel after our climb, and went across the street to Edinburgh Castle to see it up close. We then went to a tartan blanket-weaving factory before going back to the hostel to rest.





That night, we met some people at the hostel (some were from U of I -- small world!), and went out with them. First, we went to a pub that had a band playing Scottish music. By 3:30am it was time for bed. Unfortunately, by 8:30am it was time to wake up with the sun. That morning we had the Scottish drink Irn Bru. Not only does it outsell Coke and Pepsi combined in Scotland, but it's also claimed to be the perfect hangover remedy.

We took a train back to London on Sunday afternoon. After sitting for nine hours on a bus, then climbing a mountain, then sitting on the train for five more hours, I think I'll be walking a little funny for the next few days. I absolutely love train rides, and this one was no different. It was nice to see some of the countryside.



When I came back to London, I was thrilled to find that it's finally getting warmer and that the sun is setting considerably later than before!

Next up: Greenwich and Bath!

I'm a nine hour overnight bus ride away from...

Edinburgh!

A weekend without the boys...

While the snow day ended on Monday for most people, mine continued to Tuesday because the lecturer for my class couldn't make it to campus. The next day, I woke up sick, fever and all. My mom was quick to point out the correlation between playing in the snow on Monday and getting the sniffles on Wednesday. That night though, Josh got us tickets to see The Mousetrap as an early valentines day gift (because we'll be in Edinburgh on the 14th). The show was great as expected, considering that it is the longest running musical (57 years)! I was all better by Thursday morning. That morning, the guest lecturer didn't show up until 25 minutes into my class, right as we were about ready to leave, at which point I though that I had gotten away with having 2 hours of lecture that week. (Because the lecturer showed up, it was 3.5 hours, so I'm not complaining). The boys left for Belgium for the weekend, so Thursday afternoon Brittany and I watched Lost (at a reasonable time!), had dinner at a Mediterranean place, and then went to "the world-famous" Comedy Store. There were six comedians and they were great -- it was a lot like Second City. I especially enjoyed the Canadian comedian who made fun of the fact that Londoners couldn't handle snow. Then, we thought we were following each other home, which inevitably ended in us walking away from Brittany's dorm.

Friday, Brittany and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, but found that the top rooms were closed because of the weather (...), so we went to the Natural History Museum instead. First, we saw a special exhibit of photographs called "Wildlife Photographer of the Year." We spent a while there, and the photographs were great, many of them very unique. My favorite was a black and white jellyfish. We then went on a search for the giant squid that we were promised. We found it. It was a squid. And giant. But it was also plastic...kind of lame. After that short disappointment, we went to see the dinosaurs. The building itself was once again impressive.

Saturday night, Brittany and I went out to a club! We even witnessed a fight while waiting in line, and met people who knew way more about the Chicago Bears than I did, which again, made me feel like a bad American. Needless to say, we didn't make it to an Indian market that we planned to go to on Sunday morning, but we made up for it by going to an Indian restaurant for dinner!

I don't have too many pictures worthy of the blog from this week (not that it takes much to be worthy), so instead you should check out my new favorite website, which has nothing to do with London, other than the fact that I have more time here to find fun sites like this one: http://www.toxel.com/

Snow Day!

Apparently, it doesn't snow much in London. And when it does, it's a big deal. Big enough to cancel classes and take the buses off the streets. To be fair, it was the most snow London has gotten in nearly two decades. The kink in transportation didn't keep us from seeing the city under a blanket of snow though! I put on five layers and two pairs of socks and I was ready to go! We first went to the Big Ben and Westminster Abbey before heading toward Hyde Park and stopping at Buckingham Palace.





We had a snowball fight in St. James's Park, but unfortunately, I didn't get to make a snowman.





We then made our way to Buckingham Palace. I felt bad for these guys (the guards). I think they were huddling for warmth.




I came home with puddles in my shoes but it was well worth it. The city was gorgeous!