Happy April Fools Day! The origin of this fun holiday is, funnily enough, Scottish just like "the water of life" also known as whisky! (April Fools -not the whisky part!). So I got back last night at midnight from Scotland. It is quite pretty up there. My friend Corey and I took the train from King's Cross up to Edinburgh and it took 5 hours. Since we got up bright and early on Friday, I slept the ride there. Once we got off the train, one of the first things I saw was a dude in a KILT! (Welcome to Scotland!) We headed right over to Edinburgh Castle and dropped £11 to get in- exactly the amount I had on me. It was quite a hazy day, so the view was not that great and it was windy and thus a little bit chilly. We got our £11 worth and spent a few hours looking at everything in the castle (museums, a chapel, the great hall, the crown jewels...) in fact until it closed. The crown jewels were at the end of a very long museum-like display about the history of the jewels (which consisted of a crown, a sword, its hilt, a belt for the sword and the Stone of Destiny). The story of the jewels is that they've been around for a long time (since the 1500s) and they've only survived because people keep hiding them! Every time there's a war or the potential for them to get stolen or melted down to pay the army, someone makes sure they are under a floorboard or locked in a vault somewhere! The Stone is the same that was returned by England that used to be in the coronation chair in Westminster.the castle
After our few hours in the castle, we got dinner from this French vendor guy who was selling ratatouille and potatoes in these huge frying pans - it was reallllly good. Then for dessert I got a toffee crepe from the lady a stall down! That was also tasty and very messy. At that time, it was about 6 or so and everything started shutting down. We decided to find the hostel and it ended up being on High Street (part of the Royal Mile, not too far from the castle). Around 10, I decided I was too tired to function any longer so it was bedtime. We shared a room with 4 other people and they were all friendly enough and we all went to bed right around the same time.
I had a terrible night's sleep- there were rowdy people shouting and singing in the street and it sounded like the window was open. I even got up at around 4AM to see if I could shut it, but there was a bunk bed in the way of 2 of the 3 windows, so I just got back in bed and finally the loud people went to bed themselves and I fell asleep.
Me and my personal Stone of Destiny
We got up around 9 and got food for lunch before heading over to Nelson's monument and the national monument. They were both on a hill that overlooked the city to the East and we could see the ocean! (today was much nicer, weather-wise). Then we headed over to, and conquered, Arthur's Seat which is a long extinct volcanic ridge! It over looks the whole city and the higher we climbed, the better the view became!
Arthur's Seat
We ate lunch at the top and waited until 1 for the 1 o'clock gun to go off at the castle. The gun is a clock for the city and it goes off everyday (but Sunday) and it used to be for the sailors so they knew what time it was! According to the 1 o'clock gun, my watch was about 8 minutes fast (oops). We trekked down the rocky hill thing and visited the remaining wall of a chapel from the 1400s then went back into the city center.
can you guess which gun this is?
Up by the castle there was the Whisky Heritage Center... and we went on a tour. It was lame compared to Anheuser-Busch. We rode in a little barrel thing (like in a haunted house) and watched 3 videos in separate rooms. One of them was a "ghost" who talked about how old whisky is... he was green. We also got a sample and I have to say that whisky is not for me. I had a sip and let Corey drink the rest. I did learn that to be Scotch Whisky, it has to mature for 3 years on Scottish soil. Hmm, very interesting. After that delightful little trip, we went window shopping and then got back on the train.
I sat next to a woman and behind her two sisters. She was so funny- she chatted non-stop and whenever she saw something interesting she would point it out, mid-conversation: "Oooh, Tina, look at that one! That's a LOVELY little house! Oh T look at that tree, it's GORGEOUS!" It was entertaining.
On Thursday before the Scotland adventure, I saw the play Equus... it was crazy. I enjoyed the whole 'going to the theater' part but the show itself was very strange and a bit creepy. SPOILER ALERT! It was about a boy who was obsessed with horses (and ended up blinding 6 of them with a hoof pick) and really I noticed a lot of horses this weekend. Every time I did, I would think of EQUUS- even the whisky we sampled was called White Horse! Ahh! After the show we jumped out back and met Daniel Radcliffe! I took his picture and was close enough to touch him, but decided not to get his autograph. He was pretty friendly and also short.
my first celebrity encounter
