So there I was, on a bus at 1 am early Sunday morning, driving to Dublin with three of the greatest girls ever, to catch a flight over to Edinburgh, Scotland. This was the ONE place that had been on my places-to-see list ever since I decided I wanted to travel abroad to Ireland, and the ONE place I almost didn't get to see. You see, the northern half of the UK can't seem to handle snow very well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cF7jCmqpaQ&feature=related
And Dublin wasn't much better. Airport delays, longer bus rides... it was all very chaotic. The brain said "no, stay here, study for finals, and don't risk missing exams that are worth 75% of your grade" and the heart said "ooooooh, but it's Edinburgh!!" So of course, I went to Edinburgh.
Fast forward to Sunday early afternoon. We'd made it to Edinburgh! And even had some time to spare in the Dublin Airport for a gingerbread latte! Holla! Our hostel in Edinburgh was one of the best I've stayed in. Right on the main shopping road, one block from the Christmas Markets, and full of awesome guests. Mostly Australian... weird. So of course we had long conversations about Sydney, and Bondi Beach, and Hunter Street. The four of us had a whole dorm to ourselves, and there was even a free meal that evening. Talk about lucking out!
That afternoon and evening, we checked out the Christmas Markets down the street. So adorable! Nucrackers, Nativity Scenes, and candles galore! And the food - OH the food! Mead, and bratwursts, and sweets! I even found myself a potato latke-ish snack, so my hannukah was complete! (oh my goodness, note to self: you need another blog about hannukah in ireland. ironic, right?)
At one point in the markets, we stopped to check out a street performer. Well, I don't know if he's at "performing" status quite yet... dropping juggling pins, spilling kerosene, and taking ages to start his act in the freezing cold were not some of his best moments. And of course we couldn't leave because guess who was grabbed to be a volunteer? Yep.
The rest of Sunday was mostly just a jumble of crazy conversations with crazy Australians... we ended up meeting a guy who was on his way to London in the morning to spend Christmas with his brother, so we hung out with him for the night... late night Tesco runs to pick up junk food and cider, stopping to buy a homeless man a warm dinner to go (I can't even begin to tell you how cold that night was!), and swapping American, Scottish, and Australian lingo until we could barely keep our eyes open. Woof.
The next morning, bright and early, we rolled ourselves out of bed, put on as many layers as we could find, and headed out for a traditional Scottish breakfast. Turns out it was not much different than a traditional Irish breakfast, which is not much different than a traditional American breakfast: eggs, toast, sausage, bacon... add in some Haggis and you've got yourself a Scottish breakfast! What is Haggis you ask? ... google it.
And then we took off to Royal Mile: the mile-long (um, duh!) stretch of road from the castle gates to Carlton Hill, which supposedly has the best views of the city. There, we stopped in Starbucks (eggnog latte, anyone?), engaged in a full-out snowball fight (gosh, how I missed those!), checked out some wicked stained glass (still, my favorite kind of art), saw a 3D movie on the Loch Ness monster (in no less than 4 languages, thanks to Andrea, who kept changing my dial), and got right up to the castle gates! ... before they closed them right in our faces. No more tours that day. Pooey. But still, the castle from the outside was just fantastic. No wonder they say JK Rowling got her inspiration for Hogwarts here! So incredible. Meanwhile, the airport had been shut down completely because of the snow, and roads in Ireland were only getting more icy. Go us. This is when we started to cross our fingers REAL hard...
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| One grande eggnog latte to go, if you please |
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| SNOW!!! |
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| St. Gile's Cathedral |
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| Coming up on Edinburgh Castle |
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| AHHHH! |
After the castle, it was back down the Royal Mile to the Elephant Cafe. Anyone? Anyone? Made famous by JK Rowling herself, who wrote most of the series sitting at a table in the back room. So of course that's what we did ourselves.
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| With an amazing view of the castle through the window |
Directly behind the cafe is a small little graveyard fill with ancient gravestones. They say this is where Rowling found names like McGonagall, Moody, Granger, and Tom Riddle himself! And that's when we decided to go.... hunting. Here's the scene: it's dark (and by dark, I mean it's 4:30pm and you need a flashlight to find the gates into the cemetery) there is knee deep snow wherever you turn, and my mesh runners are soaked through to the core. I'd say we had pretty good conditions.
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| This would about sum up our graveyard adentures... |
Sadly, we never found the markers. Later on that night, we would find out that, actually, we were only steps away from some of them. Maybe if we had had more daylight.... I guess this just means another trip to Edinburgh is in the future!
And we just had to cap off our last night in Edinburgh with something epic. After a slight defrost back at the hostel, an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet, and a quick swap of gloves (they weren't kidding, the red Olympic mittens really ARE warmer!), three of the four of us headed to a night ghost tour. We arrive at the meeting place and everyone there is speaking spanish! Are you kidding me right now?? The english tour was actually cancelled becuase only three of us showed up who spoke that language. Go figure. But the guy was really awesome (of course he was: he was a tall, dark, and handsome Scottish guy named Andy who wa studying law at the University of Edinburgh. Marry me now?). He ended up just taking the three of us on our own tour seperate from the company, but not before Kasey got in a few witty Spanish remarks. "¿Qué?"
The tour was great! Every bit as cynical and cheesy as one might expect. But glorious all the same. Plus, we finally made it up Carlton Hill, which really did have spectacular views of the city, as well as a half-finished Parthanon. Go Scotland! Had my camera been of superior quality, I could have captured all of this, but sadly, you'll just have to resort to google images for those! Ah well... By the end of the tour we were frozen solid, so Andy led us to an underground pub where we could defrost and enjoy a very American table quiz. Turns out our music knowledge earned us a few free drinks from a competing team sitting next to us. WIN.
Tuesday morning: the airport has re-opened!!! Not only that, but buses were running - somewhat - on time by Ireland's standards! Safe and sound back in Limerick by dark! Now for studying... ew ew ew ew ewwwwwww. But all worth it for the incredible trip we had had. I say it about every place I've gotten to see, but Edinburgh really was my favorite. There's something about that city that is so... me. Take me back, please. If you ever have a chance to venture to Edinburgh yourselves, here are a few things I learned that might help you out:
1) A kilt is NOT a skirt. It's only a skirt if you're wearing underwear. Fact.
2) Andrea and I make great passengers in the exit row of an airplane. We're attentive, knowledgable, and even refrained from ordering drinks offered to us by RyanAir so that we could be at our best for an emergency. Solid heroes.
3) Contrary to Kasey's beliefs, the last two numbers of your Social Security Number do NOT represent your birth rank.
4) Only a ginger can call another ginger "ginger". Just like only a ninja can sneak up on another ninja. Youtube that.
5) Cashmere rocks.
6) Dunnes Ugg Boots have ridiculously amazing traction.
7) If you're shoes are soaked through because of the snow, and your feet hurt from the cold, don't worry. Soon, a nice warm tingling feeling will overcome you and you'll be grand :) A little bit of hypothermia/frostbite never hurt anybody.
8) Sometimes RyanAir's baggage restrictions force you to hide your purse in very non-conspicuous places.
Ah! Such a great trip. Next time you best be coming with me!
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| Until next time, Scotland. <3 |
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