"Anyone But England!"

This weekend was amazing! Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-BOUROUGH) is so beautiful. I seriously considered moving there when I get out of school, but I don't know what I'd do. Maybe I'll retire there. Also, I've been told that the weekend was out of the ordinarily nice weather-wise but I thought it was a bit chilly. I cannot be cold all the time. haha

So Friday morning, we woke up bright and early to catch the train from King's Cross station at 8 am. It was so early and we almost didn't make it. No one can function that early and we were all pretty much running to the station. The ride there wasn't that bad. It was about 5 hours long but it didn't feel like it because Mary and I were trying to figure out how to watch Harry Potter the whole time (the train had wi-fi). The best part was when we saw the water for the first time in weeks. The train just came around the bend and there it was- sapphire blue waves crashing against the gray, stone cliffs. It was truly breath-taking.

As soon as we got there, we had a nice little hike to our hotel. It was mostly downhill so it was ok, but I was dreading the uphill when we were going to leave. The hotel was so cute! Our group pretty much took up all the rooms. We had a gorgeous view of a small courtard and we had pigeons outside our window that cooed the entire time. I shared a room with Tessa and Marie. Oh, p.s., they didn't provide any toiletries. Tessa and Michelle didn't bring anything with them, as I think most of the group didn't. Good thing I had enough for the three of us or we would have been out of luck!

After we settled in a bit, the three of us went to a small pub on the Royal Mile (the kind of central road where everything is) and some good ol' Scottish food. We all had steak and Guinness pie and a pint of some delicious scottish beer. I got McEwans. It was so good. I figured I'd need it for the tour of Parliament that we had to go on right after. ugh.

Parliament was alright. The building was ultra modern and I didn't think it was very attractive. Plus, the Scottish Parliament has nothing on Westminster, let's be honest. There isn't that sense of tradition. But anyway, it was really boring.

After that, we had a bus tour of the city on one of those open-top double deckers. The city was so small, we pretty much did it in less than an hour. But it was really interesting and we learned a lot about the city. That night we went out to Rose Street where there are supposedly over 20 pubs. When we first got there, it was really lame. The pub was full of old people just watching the England soccer game. They have a saying in Scotland, "Anyone But England" because the Scots hate the Brits and vice versa. We stayed in one pub for a while though until after the game. Funny story-Tessa, Marie, Mary and I made friends with two of the "bouncers" because we were hanging out by the door. After I told the big, beefcake one that I wouldn't buy him a drink, he literally picked me up and carried me out of the bar! I was on the phone with Judson at the time and all he could hear was me screaming. After I got off the phone and my arms stopped throbbing, I walked back in and saw everyone just laughing. It was nuts. Then, karaoke started and we, as loud Americans, made fools of ourselves as old, Scottish men looked on in disdain.

Saturday, we woke up bright and early to tour Edinburgh Castle. It was pretty cool I suppose. Some people in the group had been getting head colds and now I wasn't feeling so well. My head was throbbing and my nose was stuffy. After the tour, we hiked up Arthur's Seat, a giant mountain/pride rock at the edge of the city near Parliament.

Let me tell you, I thought I was going to just keel over on some rock somewhere. I couldn't breath, every step was a struggle and my nose was running so bad. But as we finally reached the top of the highest peak- it was all worth it. The view was incredible, indescribable even. The hike down was better, then we went back to the hotel and took a nap until we went out that night.

The night was a total bust for me. I didn't feel good, but I decided to try to go out anyway. First, we went to a bar called Outhouse where we were for a while the night before and Tessa and I made friends with the bouncer. He was working again so we stayed and talked to him about working in the UK vs. the US. Then we walked over to an area called the Grass Market where it was supposed to be hoppin. I left soon after because all I wanted to do was sleep.

Sunday was a free day for us so we went shopping and laid out in the park for a while. We found this little cafe with really cheap eats and it was so good...even though I couldn't really taste it because I was so stuffy.

We rode first class on the way back because our train got all messed up and the car we were supposed to be in wasn't there or something. It made sleeping a lot nicer after an exhausting weekend.