We left early early Thursday morning to catch an 8 o’clock train from King’s Cross. (And the fact that that’s where the Hogwarts Express takes off is only partly the reason why we left from there.) The train ride was really long, and we didn’t really know how to deal with English trains at that point, so we were sitting in one group of two and one group of one (Sienna of course being the selfless martyr - she’s my wife!). We sat on the right side of the train as per Richard’ request - then slept for most of it. We did see an absolutely immense cathedral, and about 374 million sheep and the ocean - unexpected. We finally arrive in Edinburgh Waverly station about five hours later and … here it comes … it’s raining! We book it to our hostel, which was incredibly close to the train station, so that was nice, but they wouldn’t let us check in until two (and it was only about one) so we went to the pub across the street (the Three Sisters Pub). The bartender, disappointingly enough, was not only not Scottish (he was Irish) but he was trying so hard to be chill, that he ended up just coming across as an asshole.
Our hostel was very nice. We had our own room (six beds) connected to a flat with two bathrooms and a kitchen. After settling down a bit, we walked to the National Museum of Scotland and walked around there for a bit. It was pretty cool, but we really wished we had had Michael there with us to tell us about everything. We all got bored with reading the things and just ended up in the Discovery game thing that museums have until they closed and kicked us out. So we went across the street to the Elephant House, which was the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter - I know: AAAAHHH! I did. And I had the best sandwich I have ever had in my life. It was a brie, apple and redcurrant jelly sandwich on ciabata bread, and it was delicious. Not to mention that this café mixes all my favourite things about life: Harry Potter and elephants.
After that, we headed back to the hostel for a nap before our evening ghost tour. Sienna was determined to go on one, and I wasn’t going to protest to it. It seemed like fun, and we had Geoff to protect us. After our nap, we head out to the Royal Mile (about a block north of us) to meet our ghost tour guide. At first as we saw him walking towards us in his cloak, I was thinking “Oh man, this lame guy either hates his life and the fact that he has to wear that for his job, or he’s a total loser.” But the moment the first sound came out of his mouth, the three of us were in love. His name was Jared, and his voice was like what the water at the bottom of a deep, old river would sound like if it could speak: magical. We followed him around, and he was a very good story teller, and I didn’t get a bit spooked every once in a while, but as was to be expected, I didn’t see any ghosts. You want to know why? Because they’re not real.
Friday morning was absolutely beautiful. We had initially planned on going to Edinburgh Castle that morning, and then hike up to Arthur’s Seat, a dormant volcano that we had been told to visit, on Saturday, but the weather was too good to ignore the opportunity. So we walked our way over, a nice little walk, and then made our way up the slipper slope to the top of Arthur’s Seat. That was definitely my favourite part of the trip. We could see what felt like all of Scotland from the top of that hill, and the wind was so violent, Geoff thought he was going to get blown off! But the feeling of freedom that came with standing on the top of that mountain and looking out over everything and how beautiful and peaceful it all looked was amazing. If December 2012 rolls around and it looks like the world is ending, that’s where I’m going to get the best view.
On the way down, midsentence (and the sentence was, in case you were wondering, “We totally rocked that”), Sienna slipped in the mud and fell. I felt bad for laughing, but Geoff and I couldn’t stop ourselves from exploding into laughter. Even as I write this now, days later, I’m still laughing out loud at the memory. Not five minutes later, Geoff slips, and - AS HE’S SLIPPING, he hasn’t even hit the ground yet - he curses. Man, I can’t tell you how hard I laughed. Really hard. There was an old little 14th or something century cathedral that had been built near the base of the hill that we played around, and then we went to go observe some massive swans in a small lake at the bottom before heading back. We also tried tackling the castle that afternoon, but they closed relatively soon and we didn’t want to feel rushed, so we hung around the outside marveling at the beauty of it, and meandered down a bit of the Royal Mile. We shopped a wee bit, and because our hostel was so close to the Balmoral Hotel (the place where J.K. Rowling finished the last Harry Potter), we stopped in there to ask if we could visit her room and see the bust she signed. Alas, someone was in the room. Eff that. Oh well, so we headed back to the hostel and had a vacation night in with playing and sleeping. We were still lucky at this point in having the entire room to ourselves.
Saturday morning was still relatively nice. We headed towards the castle, which was so Hogwarts. Just everything about Edinburgh screamed “I’m like this part of Harry Potter!” It’s not a wonder Jo lives and writes there. The castle was really cool, but again, I wish we had had Michael. It was starting to get pretty cold, so we stopped in a café on the castle grounds and ate a little there and had some tea, and then after finishing our rounds, I did some good Christmas shopping in the gift shop there. And, believe it or not, there was a canon fire at one (like there is every day) and we missed it! I don’t know how that happened… Anyway, we went back to the museum straight after that because it was on the way to the hostel, and we didn’t get to finish discovering things in the Discovery room. So we finished discovering things, then I dragged everyone back to the Elephant House so I could have another epic sandwich and relish in the J.K. Rowlingness elephantness of it all.
At this point, it was pretty cold and off-and-on rainy, so we went back to the hostel and played some games and watched some magic tricks, courtesy of Geoff (who for the record becomes a d-bag when he’s in his magician character), and some Australian girls arrived in our room. No big. We took a nap (we were on vacation, OK?!) and then headed out for dinner. Sienna wanted to eat at this place called Wee Windae’s or something and as we’re walking towards it, I start talking about Jared and how much we loved his voice. Not two minutes later, there he is rounding the corner! We were all too starstruck to say anything, but we squealed as soon as he had passed us.
In any case, it turns out the restaurant we had wanted to go to was über fancy, and didn’t have vegetarian haggis which Sienna was determined to try. So we headed down the street to some other super Scottish place where she got her vegetarian haggis (which was actually really good. Want to know why? Because the gross stuff in it is what makes it not-vegetarian. Take that out and it’s just good).
This is mostly to show you Arthur's Seat
Sunday morning we woke up at a reasonable time to pack everything up and catch the train. We checked out at 10 (check out time) but our train wasn’t until 11. So - since it was on the way - I drag everyone to the Balmoral (of course) to see if the people who had been staying there were still there or if I could go see the room. The girl we talked to was not nearly as nice as the one from Saturday, and said that we couldn’t go because, while it was empty, it hadn’t been cleaned. So we went to the train station, I wallowed, and then headed back to the Balmoral to make double sure that we couldn’t go in. We couldn’t. Bummer.
The train ride back was uneventful. Long again, but this time we knew how to handle the train, so we got a table and the three of us sat together. There went the ocean, the sheep, the giant cathedral, more sleeping… Being back in London, however, was like a big breath of fresh air. Don’t get me wrong, I had a wonderful time in Edinburgh, but I missed London. We celebrated being back by doing nooooooothing. What more could anyone ask for after a vacation?
“On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach!”
- Bardolph, Henry V
Tags: london
Oh do I love reading your writing! It is so light and fluffy and nice and intelligent. Thank you so much for sharing that experience with us again.
You seem to have had such a nice little vacation.
I will so miss these blog entry once you return to LA
I meant “entries”
We can’t make the picture bigger. The account is wonderful. I can’t believe the semester is almost over. I am never ready for the holidays when they come. I need, like, 30 hours in a day.
Happy Thanksgiving from us both plus, of course, WOOF WOOF from Bessie & Weller. Loved your travels to Scotland - sounded like you had a blast inbetween naps!! Only kidding.
My ex slipped in a slippery mud stuff!!! and to this day I still have a laugh about it and that was 40+ yeas ago.
Take care .. safe travels .. Luv Aunt Marg & Uncle Jim