UK Road-trip Extravaganza 2010—Edinburgh edition

After our barn adventure in the Lake District, we headed to Scotland to visit Edinburgh. We had heard from several people that if we only went to one place in Scotland, we should go to Edinburgh… the legends are true, it is awesome. 

The city feels very historical, kind of like an old book, one that has character, worn edges, and the smell of a scotch in its oft turned pages. The castle in the center of the city sits high on a hill overlooking the city; the north sea lies to the east and the rolling hills of the Scottish lowlands lie to the west. This is the view from Arthur’s Seat, a hill on the south side of the city.

We had a good time in Edinburgh; we stayed in a hostel on the coast, and they had free parking and a shuttle to the city centre, which was perfect. What was not perfect was having to sleep in tiny twin beds in a really hot room, nor having to walk a quarter mile down the hall to get to the bathroom and showers. Nonetheless, that which only costs you 10 pounds cannot be too harshly criticized.

As we’d mentioned earlier, Matt’s bag (and my shiny new camera) had not yet arrived, and by this time, it had been about 4 days… so we were getting worried. We were sitting in a cafe in Edinburgh, eating something delightful for lunch (though I can’t remember now what it was I was eating, which, if you know me, is sort of strange). All I remember is that Candice got a phone call, said, “Uh-huh… yes… uh-huh…” and then started motioning wildly that they had found Matt’s bag! We started celebrating with whispers and high fives, being sure to be quiet to hear what came next. After the call, we made such a fuss that the ladies who ran the cafe wanted to know what in the world was going on… so we told them… they smiled and I think one of them might have clapped her hands a little bit. We were relieved; it was a good lunch. Also, this is Matt’s happy face when he heard they had found his bag.

After that we went to Edinburgh castle, where Matt and I posed for a picture with a giant cannon… several things about this are funny: 1. Matt prefers that we match whenever we go out, so if you’ll notice, Matt and I are wearing the same pants; 2. I am wearing headphones for the castle audio guide, it’s probably telling me something cool about the cannons right now; 3. I’m sporting the classic tourist look… in addition to the audio guide hanging around my neck with headphones attached, I also have the jacket around the waist, the camera case attached to my hip via belt loop, and my cargo pants pocket stuffed with travel necessities :).

We love you, Edinburgh, and we hate to leave… but Northern Ireland has summoned us with her Celtic beauty and we shan’t ignore her call.