Our time in Edinburgh was wonderful. Both Pia and I fell in love with this city. I felt as if I stepped into a magical kingdom and reality stopped for a day and a half.
We arrived in Edinburgh at 7am last Sunday morning. Thanks to those drunk girls, we didn't get ANY sleep, but we decided not to waste our only day in the city. So we decided to take a hike up to Arthur's Seat, which is an 822 foot hill which was formed by an extinct volcano system. We decided to stray from the main road and took a very narrow and steep path up the hill, which made for resting breaks every 30 seconds. But once we got to the top, the views were incredible.
By the time we made it back down the hill, it was lunchtime (aka our favorite time) and we went to The Elephant House, which is a cafe in Old Town where JK Rowling got her inspiration for Harry Potter. Pia and I each ordered a sandwich on focaccia bread, then walked to the nearest patisserie and took our dessert to the main square, sat in the warm sun, and listened to the bagpipes as we ate our cake. It was a perfect day.
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| The Royal Mile... main street in Edinburgh |
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| Cemetary |
We went back to our hostel to shower and take a nap, since we were still running on zero sleep. That night, we got dressed up and went next door to the Royal Mile Tavern, where we enjoyed a couple of Scottish beers and listened to some great live music. At that moment, we honestly thought about cutting the rest of our trip and just staying in Edinburgh for 3 months instead. But we didn't. We moved on to Glasgow... unfortunately.
We had a few more hours in Edinburgh the next day, before our bus left for Glasgow. We walked around the city some more, saw the Edinburgh Castle, and visited the Writer's Museum. The Writer's Museum is a museum that celebrates the lives of three famous Scottish writers - Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
I can't say that our time in Glasgow was as wonderful as Edinburgh. No magical kingdoms or mountains. Since we would be using up the rest of our British money in Glasgow, we tried not to take any more money out of the atm and just use up what we had... which meant hot dogs and beans for dinner... for two days. Talk about a healthy diet. (But don't worry... we have been living on fruit, salads, and butternut squash the past 3-4 days! And beer.)
On our first day in Glasgow, it was pouring rain. So we decided to go somewhere indoors... we visited one of the largest libraries in Europe - The Mitchell Library. In the afternoon, Pia went to an art museum and I walked around the main square in downtown Glasgow and did some people watching. Then we came back for a nice meal of hot dogs and beans. Yum.
The next morning, we got up at 3am and walked to the bus station to catch the only bus early enough to make our RyanAir flight at the Prestwick Airport... NOT the Glasgow Airport. After we made the big hike up the hill to the bus station, we were exhausted. As we were waiting for our bus to come at 4:30, three Irishmen about our age asked us why Pia and I weren't speaking to one another and why I was reading my book instead. We explained to them that in America, people usually don't speak to one another at 4 in the morning, but they were convinced that we were "in a fight" and it was time for us to make up. They asked me what book I was reading ("Reconstructing Amelia" - don't ask, I got it for free at a hostel) and one of the guys said, "it looks to me like you should be reconstructing your relationship". Even though Pia and I weren't fighting, they did put us in a better mood... and we started to get excited about going to Ireland and hearing those Irish accents ALL the time :)
Pia and I have been in Ireland the past 4 days and we have LOVED every second of it. I will hopefully get a post up about our time in Ireland before we head to Rome next week!
Shea
We had a few more hours in Edinburgh the next day, before our bus left for Glasgow. We walked around the city some more, saw the Edinburgh Castle, and visited the Writer's Museum. The Writer's Museum is a museum that celebrates the lives of three famous Scottish writers - Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
I can't say that our time in Glasgow was as wonderful as Edinburgh. No magical kingdoms or mountains. Since we would be using up the rest of our British money in Glasgow, we tried not to take any more money out of the atm and just use up what we had... which meant hot dogs and beans for dinner... for two days. Talk about a healthy diet. (But don't worry... we have been living on fruit, salads, and butternut squash the past 3-4 days! And beer.)
On our first day in Glasgow, it was pouring rain. So we decided to go somewhere indoors... we visited one of the largest libraries in Europe - The Mitchell Library. In the afternoon, Pia went to an art museum and I walked around the main square in downtown Glasgow and did some people watching. Then we came back for a nice meal of hot dogs and beans. Yum.
The next morning, we got up at 3am and walked to the bus station to catch the only bus early enough to make our RyanAir flight at the Prestwick Airport... NOT the Glasgow Airport. After we made the big hike up the hill to the bus station, we were exhausted. As we were waiting for our bus to come at 4:30, three Irishmen about our age asked us why Pia and I weren't speaking to one another and why I was reading my book instead. We explained to them that in America, people usually don't speak to one another at 4 in the morning, but they were convinced that we were "in a fight" and it was time for us to make up. They asked me what book I was reading ("Reconstructing Amelia" - don't ask, I got it for free at a hostel) and one of the guys said, "it looks to me like you should be reconstructing your relationship". Even though Pia and I weren't fighting, they did put us in a better mood... and we started to get excited about going to Ireland and hearing those Irish accents ALL the time :)
Pia and I have been in Ireland the past 4 days and we have LOVED every second of it. I will hopefully get a post up about our time in Ireland before we head to Rome next week!
Shea
Stars moons and clovers, sound like Ireland was your Lucky Charm. On to Roma this week. Enjoy the adventure. TRC/Fosse
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