Right now, I'm on the train from Edinburgh Waverly Station (which was, thankfully, about 1 minute and 30 seconds from our hostel) to Liverpool (via Wigan.) Though it is early, I'm so happy to be on this train because I'm overlooking the greenest of countrysides and the early morning mist is just rising off of the fields. Nothing could be more beautiful right now and I'm absolutely enchanted and delighted by it.
To report on yesterday's activities (I'm FINALLY caught up with myself, and thanks to this WiFi I've got in 1st class, I can take the time to upload pictures!!)
We had another slow morning, but it was MOST delightful.
Spencer ordered a full Scottish breakfast again but I went across the street to the grocery store - called "Mama Said Food" HAHA! - to buy my favorite yogurt in the WHOLE WORLD - Onken Multigrain. This particular one is Strawberry. It's ever so wonderful because it's got little chunks of wheat and grain in it and the texture of the yogurt is SO smooth. And it's funny because British yogurt is all about the "bio cultures" in the yogurt. This particular brand specifies the presence of "Lactobacillus acidophilius, Bifidobacterium longum and Streptococcus thermophilus." They all sound more like Harry Potter spells to me, but I digress.
We spent the rest of the morning, into the early afternoon in the Scottish National Gallery. I'm so glad we did! It was GORGEOUS. And, surprisingly, it was really the first art museum I've been to on this trip. Quite a shame, when you think about it, but it made it special because it was a change of pace, indeed! We saw SO many great works - Rembrandt, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, and the list goes on. So beautiful! And, of course, we had a bite to eat at the Scottish Cafe at the gallery. I got a delicious barley soup and spencer got some sort of sandwich with "rocket" in it. We asked our server what "rocket" is and he said, happily, "Ooh! Ets uh keeind uf leh-us! Ets got uh rail zang to ut! 'Es queeit good, raelly." Indeed, it was.
We then bopped around. We were going to hike to Arthur's Seat, which is this FABULOUS outlook of the city (see below) but we decided not to because the day before we'd gone on a great, small hike thru a beautiful park and, being quite exhausted, decided to have a sit in Prince's Street Gardens instead.
Also we stopped by H&M - again.
After that, we went back up the Royal Mile (the street where the city originated, from Castle Hill down to Holyrood Palace) to see and do and what not, and decided to sign up for a GHOST TOUR!! We've been debating for quite some time about doing one. But this one seemed palatable and less likely to make me wet myself because it was at 7:00 - in daylight - instead of at 9:30 like the others we'd seen. Cha-CHING. After we made our reservation, we ate at the Thai Orchid, which is one of Edinburgh's top restaurant locations! Boy HOWDY was it good. And the prices weren't bad, either!!
The ghost tour was HILARIOUS! We're so glad we went. The guide was witty and quick on his feet, and the group was pretty funny, too. I'd say 2/3 of the people were normal folk, like us, but the last 3rd was a "Hen Party." In Scotland, you don't do bachlorette parties, you have "hen parties." And they were SO terribly obnoxious. They were pretty drunk already, and throughout the course of the tour wandered away to get more to drink. Lucky for us, they wandered away once and for all about 30 minutes before the tour ended so they weren't disruptive anymore.
The stories were good, too. All about people who'd died, witches who'd been executed, etc. etc. etc. Very interesting, and all true!! Huzzah!!
Afterwards, being the interesting people that we are, we headed back to the hostel, repacked our bags for our next trip, went to the station to print out our tickets, watched an episode of Lost to decompress and went to bed. Or tried. It was quite loud last night.
Now I need to nap on this train before I pass out.
Edinburgh Castle
Spencer at the Edinburgh Castle. Yay!
Edinburgh again
Wow, it sounds you guys have had an amazing trip! I love Scotland too. The next time you guys pay a visit, I'll have to come along in your suitcase. :)
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