Edinburgh Weekend

My friends Carly, Ashley, Mariel and I went to Edinburgh for the weekend and it was amazing! Overall Edinburgh is pretty small. You definitely don't need to spend more than 2 days there and it is extremely walkable. We had such a great time.

On Friday January 23 we went on a National Express train. I must say that I am very disappointed with the train system on this trip. Our train was already running late, but it became even more delayed due to a fatality on the tracks ahead of us. Obviously, this isn't the train I was on's fault, but their solution and redirected route made us be over an hour late in the end. So we arrived in Edinburgh around 9:30. Carly and Mariel stayed in Castle Rock Hostel while Ashley and I stayed in a Premier Inn which is a UK chain similar to the Holiday Inn. The two places were within walking distance of each other.

That night we went out to a street within walking distance called Grass Market which has several taverns, pubs, cafes and restaurants. We ended up at a pub that has a dance floor and music called "Biddy Mulligans". We had brought clothes as if we were going out to a London pub so we felt really under dressed. In London, people will wear jeans and a T-shirt to a pub (we would be the ones overdressed) but in Edinburgh people, especially girls, really dress up to go out. And we saw all these people dressed up in costumes for no apparent reason. We saw a frog and a banana on Friday in Biddy Mulligans. There were also a lot of older people there mixed in with younger people. Apparently the drinking culture in Scotland is so strong that old and young people all just drink heavily together!

We met several Irish boys (one wearing a Boston Red Sox T-shirt named Allan!!!) and some English boys named Will, Chris, Roko and some others. My friends and I nicknamed Roko Wolverine because of a discussion with him about how he looks like Hugh Jackman (NOT REALLY) and his obnoxious side burns. Will was a personal trainer and him and Ashley got along very well. So we ended up leaving with them and going to a club called Stereo. Stereo was fun and we danced for awhile. But we were all very tired and left around 1:30 am.

Saturday January 24 we woke up early and did the Edinburgh castle right away at 9 am when it opens. It was definitely much colder in Edinburgh than London, I felt like I was back in Boston all morning! We got a free guided tour which was very informational. We went into most of buildings and exhibites. It was very well done and I really enjoyed it. We saw the chapel, the banquet hall, the national war monument, cannons, the govenor's house, the building Mary Queen of Scotts resided in at times, and the Crown Jewels of Scotland.

Then we went down the Royal Mile which is a historical street (tourist trap) that starts at the base of Castle Hill (where the Castle is) and ends at Holyroodhouse Palace. A memorable moment is when Ashley asked me "So how long is the Royal Mile"? We visited a kilt making center, a Scottish Whishky center, St. Giles Cathedrale, and saw several historical buildings from the outside. We stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant that had good lunch deals. At the end of the Royal Mile Ashley and I went into the Holyroodhouse Palace while Carly and Mariel walked/hiked up the Seat of Arthur which is a mountain right outside Edinburgh (actually a hill haha but Carly and Mariel say its a mountain). The Palace is over 500 years old and is still an official royal residence. It had a free audio guide which was great. It was really well done because the guide would point out things in the rooms but also explained the historial use of the room. There is also an old abbey half destroyed abbey attached to the palace which was really cool. The roof had collapsed hundreds of years ago and the structure had been open to the elements so it was really cool looking.

After meeting back up with Mariel and Carly we walked off the Royal Mile and found the cafe where JK Rowling wrote a lot of the first Harry Potter book. Then we all went back to our hotel/hostels and took naps.

That night we went back to Grass Market and had dinner at the Beehive Inn. I got my first fish and chips here in Britian and it was very good. Ashley and I were craving sweets so we walked around till we found Cafe Lucano. There, I got a latte and a "millionare shortbread" which is short bread with choclate and carmel....it was amazing.

We went back to our hotel/hostels and got ready to go out for the night. First we went back to Biddy Mulligans. But this time there seemed to be a lot of "stag" and "hen" parties going on and men that could have been our father were hitting on us so we left. We had found out that the club we wanted to go to, "Po Na Na" wasn't actually that cool so we walked around for awhile unsure of what to do. We ended up at the "Standing Order" which was a beautiful bar. The building was very ornate and inside was a huge bar that had very high and ornate ceilings.

At the Standing Order we made friends with people from a "hen party" (Scottish bachelorette party that always has a theme. These girls were dressed up as bumble bees and the bride had a tiara and sash). It seemed so fun! I want to do something like that for my bachelorette party! Ashley ended up meeting some boys Scottish named Rob, Iain (Gaelic for Ian), and Darren. We were so happy to meet Scottish boys because the night before we just met Irish and English boys haha! Rob was so fun because his dad lives in Texas and he was really into the Houston Astros and he loved the NFL. Iain and Darren are swimmers for Edinburgh University and they are both trying to be professional swimmers in the near future.

We ended up hanging out with them for awhile and eventually leaving with them to go to the Edinburgh University Student Union pub. We decided to walk there and the walk was so fun. We climbed up this staircase we called Mount Everest and walked by several monuments. At the Union we had so much fun talking to them that we ended up drinking and talking with them till 3 am! The boys of course of were gentlemen and walked us home to make sure we were safe :)

Sunday January 25 (Robert Burns day in Scotland) Ashley and I woke up at 8:30 and took at taxi into the part of Edinburgh called "New Town". Even though it is mostly residential, there were some great parks and beautiful architecture. We got some Starbucks and walked around. We ended up on Prices Street which is the main shopping strip. I got a new coat at Zara which I am very excited about! Then we met up with Carly and Mariel and the Scotland National Gallery. The Gallery was very well done and was the perfect size, not too big and not too small. After that we all walked around Princes Steet for something to do before our train at 4 pm.

Our train ride home ended up being a mess as well. Because our first train was running late we (and basically everyone else) miss our connection. We had to be bused to Darlington where we got on a new train and ended up being over an hour late.

But all the mess with the trains didn't change how great the trip was. Ashley, Mariel, and Carly are just really fun to hang out with. Ashley is very very similar to me and we joke that we are twins :-) She is very bubbly and energetic. Mariel is hilarious. She does great impressions and tells great stories. Carly is very sarcastic and fun and up for anything. Edinburgh will definitely be top London memory for me :-)