scotland

This is my adventure that was SCOTLAND!!!

Our fabulous adventure began as we took the Tube to King's Cross Station. I know. The trip is already magical. Unfortunately, we left from platform 1, not platform 9 3/4, but that's okay. Our train ride through the beautiful English countryside was 4 hours, but it's tolerable because the outside is so pretty. I did sleep through. I much prefer the train to the bus, I'll tell you that much.

In my mind, I was going to get to Scotland and light fog would be rolling around hills of green while the sound of bagpipes would be wafting through the mist. And that is exactly what happened, except the misty fog was drifting around Edinburgh Castle. And, to top it off, we were walking to the hostel and we passed a guy in a kilt!! Can you say, "Welcome to Scotland!"?

So, we stayed in Edinburgh, just a block off the Royal Mile. We decided to get an overview of the city by hiking up the mountain (just a large hill. twas a hike, though.) and getting some of the most epic wind and views I've ever had! We took some windy-hair-model-shots, but not on my camera, so when I get them, I'll post them. They are worth seeing...maybe...not....

We ate lunch at this awesome little pub by our hostel and I had the best fish n' chips of my life! Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but here is a wonderful quirk of English/Scottish culture: when someone helps me at a restaurant or a pub or a shop, when I say "Thank you", they smile and say, "Cheers, love!" And that is what i love. Maybe i'll start saying "cheers" at the ticket office when I get back.

In Edinburgh, it is light until 10:30 PM. No lie. I was wondering what time it was, guessing based on the light outside, that it was 7:30. It was 9:00. WEIRD!

On Thursday we went to Edinburgh Castle! I have mentioned that i love castles?!?!

After the castle, we found the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of Harry Potter!!! I felt the ambiance of creativity and imagination oozing in the atmosphere of the cafe. And the garlic bread that I ordered was very yummy, too. Following the cafe, we went to the Scottish Museum, the Scottish National Gallery. I love Scotland!

Friday was a bit of an excursion outside of Edinburgh. Which equals another fabulous castle! This one was Stirling Castle and it was SO explorable! This was such another awesome Scotland moment. Like, I felt like screaming "I LOVE SCOTLAND!!!" I resisted, but just barely. Following the castle, we went to Wallace Monument and climbed all the stairs and had an awesome time. I know I keep saying that. "Awesome time." I guess a picture is worth a thousand words...but a picture still doesn't capture it all.

Our last stop on our day out was Ichmahome Lake, which, by the way, is the only lake in Scotland. Apparently everything else is a loch. So, we crossed the lake to the island where ancient ruins of a priory sit among the wildflowers and huge trees and this open expanse of rugged nature of Scotland.

After the ride home to Edinburgh and perhaps feeling the hungriest I've ever felt, we ate at a restaurant/pub/diner thing and I devoured a 10" pizza by myself. And then three of us shared this monstrous cookie-ice-cream-brownie-caramel-fudge-delight. All in all, one of the best days of my life. The weather was a gorgeous, sunny, and everyone got some sun as we sat on the warm wood dock breathing the fresh air. Good day award.

And the next day was very close to getting the award, also. We had the whole day free until 3:30, so we started it off by going to the farmers' market and then we strolled up the Royal Mile, looking at the trinkets, the street performers, the sunshine, the cobblestones, and parks, and just soaking up the fun that is Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, the awesomeness of Scotland had to end, so we boarded our train back to London. And you wanna know the weird thing? Pulling into the platform at King's Cross and seeing the signs that say "London" and getting back on the Tube felt so comfortable and...dare I say it while I know Mom and Dad are reading this...London feels like home. I think that I have many homes. Home is Lindon. But, you know what? London is home too, just in a different way. But I admit that sigh of relief was audible to everyone in my dorm as I crashed onto my bottom bunk.

If you've made it this far, congratulations because this post was way too long. But, I had to write it down because Scotland pretty much rocks my world. Also, feel free to leave a comment....

I will post pictures as soon as possible. The internet is just not really letting me do that right now. Thanks for reading!

i love london!