any way our adventures in Edinburgh and Scotland are over sad to say but it was so unbelievable and amazing and we loved all the places we went! Now sitting in our little hostel room on eden quay right next to o'connell bridge about to take a short nap to recover from crazy travel before we start a new country!
so here are 10 tidbits about our travel in Edinburgh:
- # 1. we LOVED our hosts, Sarah, and Rosie were absolutely amazing and we all got along so well and they welcomed us into their brand new flat (they moved in the day before we came) and let us sleep in the "box room" aka large closet but we were able to fit two mattress in there perfectly so the set up was awesome and now we have great new Scottish friends for future :]
- side note they told us our pretend accents are horrible...sad news
- # 2. I totally get how JK Rowling came up with Harry Potter when she was in Edinburgh, everyday on our way home from the city we walked by the elephant cafe where she allegedly wrote the first book on napkins
- # 3. We got pretty good at navigating the streets of edinburgh particularly "the meadows," the royal mile (long walk way leading up to the castle that we crossed everyday and walked the whole thing one day, it has tuns of touristy shops and historical sites), and princes street/ waverly bridge, and a few of the closes...aka we walked A LOT!!!!
- # 4. the landscapes, green hills, ancient stone buildings, castles, trestles, even the clouds look straight out of a fairy tale
- # 5. we brought the california sun and it didn't rain the whole time! even though it was originally forecasted too... then today when we left it was raining for the first time
- # 6. it'll be nice to be back in the states when stores and restaurants and coffee shops other than pubs are open past 5! (the only ones we could ever find open a little later were american aka subway and dominos and pizza hut) and you can get stuff to go and iced drinks rather than hot
- # 7. unicorns & plaid are EVERYWHERE! in the crests, on tapestries, as school mascots, definitely a big part of their history
- SIDE NOTE: erin is uploading pictures to fb right now and is tagging some and just told me that the only people in her album / the names that pop up easily to tag are: herself, me and "unicorn" oh boy!
- # 8. I could probs live in Edinburgh for a while its pretty awesome, although the fact that im wearing my normal winter clothes when it is summer isn't quite my favorite :/
- # 9. I love the accents and all the little word differences, ex: there are stores all over that have signs saying "to let" and when ever we quickly glance down the rd we think that they are meaning to write toilet and they just forgot a letter haha..then rosie one of our hosts says she does the same thing!
- # 10. WHERE WE'VE BEEN!!
- Edinburgh Castle - right in the center of town, gorgeous, spent around 3 hrs in there gaping at everything, listening to historical tidbits on the audio guide, taking pictures, going in the museums were we got to see the Royal Honours aka crowns and wand (yes they have a wand with a crystal ball on it)
- local restaurants/ pubs - a traditional one where they serve haggis and erin and i couldn't quite muster up the stomach to have it (we probably could have if we hadn't asked what was in it first...), then a popular bar that our hosts took us too but funnily enough it was America themed and had a map on the wall made out of license plates and an american flag painted haha
- Hollyrood Palace - amazing where the Queen stays when she visits here loyal Scotts, its at the opposite end of the Royal mile and is set at the foothills of Hollyrood Park which has Aurthurs Seat - a mountainish thing you can hike up and get amazing views of the city
- Authurs Seat- did a awesome shortish hike up to the point where you get the best views a little before sunset aka "golden hour" and then walked through the park on our way back to the house and trusted our internal compas to guide us back
- side note: this little adventure led us along what we later found out to be the street with some of the most expensive houses in Edinburgh, even one street called Mansion St.
- National Museum of Scotland - really well designed, we had fun in the "kids" discovery section dressing up in old clothes, then they had an exhibit on the Lewis Chessmen which was super interesting, the top floor is also an observatory of the city which provided great views and picture taking
- Sterling Castle- took a 45 min train ride to the city and walked though it up to the castle, had one of the most energetic exciting tour guides who told us all the ancient history associated with the castle ex: William Wallace where he fought (also has a monument in Sterling), King James V and Mary Queen of Scots and much more..which is really exciting b.c erin and I are both suckers for that type of thing, the castle goes back as far as 1100's
- has a garden and courtyard area, walled in grasses that are GORGEOUS! and so breathtaking erin and I just want to do cartwheels and have picnics and skip around
- Edinburgh Yearly FIREWORKS Show over the Castle BEST THING EVER!! so the day before we got to Edinburgh was the end of what the city calls "festival" which is what they have every year for the month of August. Then at the end of festival they have a huge firework show and it happened to be while we were there. I have never seen a better firework show and I have even seen fireworks from the WhiteHouse Lawn!
- We camped out on a curb on Princes street (facing the castle and "rock" it is on) after our train from sterling for 2 hrs getting food and coffee, by the time of the show the whole street was jam packed so many people but the wait was well worth it
- THE SHOW: 4 separate parts coordinating the Edinburgh Symphonic orchestra with the fireworks over the castle to tell a story complete with strobe lights, fog machines, fireworks on "the rock" that look like waterfalls on the castle
- Inverness, Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle - another day trip but longer 3.5 hr bus ride to inverness, then figuring out how to get to loch ness and the castle, best option we came up with after talking to information people was a tour called TEMPTATION and gave us a short "guided" bus ride to a dock on the Loch Ness and then a half hr boat ride on the Loch Ness around the Castle then docking to give us time to explore before a bus took us back to inverness
- LOCH NESS- sooo pretty surrounded by hills with farms and trees and sheep, perfect clouds and we were there with gorgeous blue skys. the lake itself is 250 ft deep and the water is so dark and murcky aka perfect grounds for "Nessie" the monster :]
- URQUHART CASTLE - ancient ruins, earliest parts of the ruins date to the 500's erin and i were in bliss exploring and taking in the gorgeous scenery, everything is so mystical and breathtaking and just pure amazingness, we decided it would be a perfect backdrop for wedding haha
I know this is really long but I just wanted to include all the big parts of the trip! It was awesome and Erin and I are having a blast traveling together despite all the little humps that come our way like lack of internet, erin's ankle problem, my temporary sickness, airport drama, etc but we've made it this far and still have more coming!
LOOK OUT IRELAND!
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