TravelStream™ news feed for member jae on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jae en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 22 May 2009 10:24:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jae/3/1242310980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jae/3/1242310980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jae/3/1242310980/tpod.html Fri, 22 May 2009 10:24:41 -0400 Back to England, and then on to Scotland.

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Stonehaven, United Kingdom

May 14

After going to tourist information for a map and some information we caught a bus to Stonehaven. We walked down to the beach and walked to the harbour where we were told we would find the trail to Dunnottar Castle. The coastal walk was very nice - up on the cliffs looking down at the sea. We walked around a bend in the trail and saw Dunnottar off in the distance - a awesome sight.

The tide was just starting to come in when we got to the castle ever so we went out on the beach to explore. It's a bit of a treacherous walk on rocks and seaweed out to the waters edge. L stopped halfway but I went to the water. Just as I got to the water it seemed the tide was coming in incredibly fast. I quickly retreated - getting caught out there looked like it might be dangerous with the sharp rocks. It's amazing how different the shore looks between high and low tides.

The castle ruins were amazing. A huge place - took several hours for us to explore it all. There was a huge fireplace/oven, the size of some small rooms. It would throw off so much heat that chefs would die early deaths from heat exhaustion. The countess' room was above the oven, so she was always warm in her suite above - nice for her. There are beautiful lawns between the buildings where we had a picnic. Some people were taken prisoners (for religious reasons, but I can't remember exactly) and held in a vault of the castle. They had a beautiful view of the sea, but must have been horribly cold in the winter. Many of them died either trying to escape or from the horrendous living conditions.

On the coastal walk there is a war memorial that was erected by the people of Stonehaven to honour those who lost their lives in World War 1. It's at the top of a small hill and sort of looks like roman type ruins. It was purposely left half finished - I believe to signify the lives that were cut short.

We walked back into town and shared some fish and chips from a place that had been recommended to me. We had planned to eat them out by the sea wall but it was windy so we figured they'd be cold before we finished so we ate it in the square. Very good.

We've been searching for some crisp flavours to try that someone had told us about. We found them so boought 1 of each - chili and chocolate; hoison duck, cajun squirrel and onion bhaji. I liked the chili and chocolate. The onion bhaji was okay. I didn't really care for the other 2. We had worcester sauce flavored last week and they were good.

Went shopping in Aberdeen when we got back. L needed a pair of pants to wear to Oliver! tomorrow night. We went to a store called Primark that was great. Got a nice pair of linen pants for 7 pounds something. Before leaving Scotland we wanted some scotch for our wonderful dog babysitters. I had no idea scotch was soo expensive! Good thing I never developed a taste for it.

Went back to the pub where we stayed last night for a pint and a bite to eat (and to get our luggage). Ale was good, curry was mediocre. I wanted a 2nd pint but L thought me developing a taste for dark ale was a bad idea.

Off to catch the night train to London. We somehow lucked into being assigned the disabled berth. The compartment is much bigger than the regular ones. Unfortunately the electric door to the compartment wouldn't close so the lady moved us to another compartment. It was absolutely tiny in comparison - not really enough room to even turn around. I'm claustrophobic and I didn't like it. I would have survived but the lady came to the door after we got underway and sad she'd found us another disabled berth. The disabled compartments also come with first class little bags of goodies - I don't know why I enjoy those little packages of toothpaste and stuff but I highly enjoy them.

Back to England.
My observations about Scotland and the Scottish people.
It is a beautiful place
It has a huge variety of scenery packed into a small area (coastal, mountains, woodland, rocky)
The scottish people are very proud of their heritage and history
They speak very fast - hard to believe sometimes that it was english
I never knew how many different types of sheep there is
I also never knew how cute lambs were - almost a shame to eat them, and if I think about this any longer I'll have to become a vegetarian
I forgot to put in before - on the islands the main source of heat seems to be burning peat. They cut it from the bogs, dry it by laying it out, and then burn it. The smell is a distinct but pleasant smell - a very common scent on the islands. It is apparently illegal (according to our useless guide) to sell in Scotland, but free to cut and harvest for your own use. They also heat with coal - we saw it sold at the local stores.
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Aberdeen, United Kingdom

May 13

Up and took our luggage to the station. It was only 5 pounds to leave all of our stuff - we were pleasantly surprised. Took the citytours bus from the station over to the cathedral and the necropolis - a good deal that the tickets we got yesterday are good for 2 days.

Walked across The Bridge of Sighs to the Necropolis. Beautiful and peaceful. I enjoy exploring cemetaries. They are a peaceful respite from the noise and bustle of the city. A lot of the headstones were broken in half, and look like they've been that way for a long time. Amazing that at one time someone thought this person was special or important enough to warrant a huge stone or statue to remember him/her, and now it seems to be forgotten by his/her descendants.

Back on the bus to go to the People's Palace - a look at life in Glasgow in earlier times up to the present. It showed what life would have been like for Glaswegian's at home, work etc. I found it shocking how long it took for Glaswegians to get indoor plumbing: as late as the 1990s 5% of the homes still didn't have indoor showers or toilets. I love that most of the museums in the U.K. are free.

We had lunch here in the Winter Garden - a huge conservatory with beautiful plants and trees. I had a full Scottish breakfast - a feast built for a heart attack! Holy greasy! It was good, but I certainly wouldn't want to eat it often.

Back on the bus back to the train station to pick up our luggage and catch the train to Aberdeen. We had an early lunch so picked up some sushi to eat on the train. I don't know how they did it, but the wasabi wasn't hot! We also had a yogurt bar - we first found them in Edinburgh. They have yogurt, fruit and nuts 'and nothing dodgy' - it actually says that on the label. Good thing because I'm not fond of dodgy food.

It was funny listening to a group of university students sitting across from us on the train trying to figure out how to say 'wowee'. They didn't get it.

Found the pub in Aberdeen where we had a room booked. Very nice room, but we paid much more than we usually do. Aberdeen is an incredibly expensive place to stay, apparently because of the workers from the oil rigs off the coast.

Out to find some dinner and eventually settled on a Wetherspoons. Good food at great prices. I think it was a bit better than the one we ate at in Derry. L wasn't horribly impressed, but 3.99 for a whole meal is enough to impress me and enough to make it good enough for her.

Back to the room and to bed. I think L and I might be fighting a cold or something off because we have both been very tired.
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Glasgow, United Kingdom

May 12

Out and walked up the Royal Mile this morning. They have bleachers set up outside the castle so it sort of ruins the ambience. We weren't going to but we changed our minds and did the tour of Mary King's Close. It was sort of hokey, but also interesting and informative (and expensive!). We were both glad that we did it. We checked out the shops on the Royal Mile and explored some of the Close's. Edinburgh must have been a horrible place to live years ago - crowded and very smelly. One would think they would have had a better system of getting rid of waste than throwing bucketfuls out of their windows. I don't know what someone would have done when they heard someone yell 'gardyloo' from above - certainly not look up I guess.

Off to the train station to get a train to Glasgow. Just our luck - the train we were on had technical difficulties so after we were all settled in our seats we had to change to a different train.

When we got to Glasgow I decided I needed to pee. Of course the 'superloo' at the station charges 20p and I didn't have any of that kind of p. L got me same change thankfully. I can proudly say that I have NEVER had to pay to pee in Canada (moment of homesickness over).

Glasgow has some of the most beautiful buildings that I have ever seen. They also have some of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen. We took a hop on/off bus tour around the city with our luggage and got off at the stop near the hotel. It's expensive but since we don't have much time here we decided to splurge. After dropping off our bags we hopped back on and decided to do the whole route again since it was a different guide, and we were sitting on the open air top deck this time and could see the top of the buildings.

Went to find somewhere to eat after. Walked in a huge circle without finding anything so eventually settled on a place we had heard about in our research: Frankenstein's. It was relatively good - both the food and the price.

Walked back to the hotel for a quick relax before bed.
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Edinburgh, United Kingdom

May 11

Nice shower in warm private room this morning! A nice change after the hostels. Also had a television again - yay!

Out relatively early to hike up Arthur's Seat. Got a map of the visitors centre at the bottom. We read a suggested path from someone on-line and followed those trails. First stop was a ruined chapel and well - didn't see the well but the chapel was cool.

Continued up and were amazed at some dogs going up and down and up and down the hills. Obviously in much better shape than us. One was a Saluki but I couldn't understand what the lady said the other dog was. I don't understand how we can all be speaking english yet often not understand each other (at least I don't understand them).

I was actually quite proud of my cardio-vascular health - I really didn't find the hike too strenuous at all (I'm not sure L could say the same thing - I kept stopping to wait for her and she wouldn't jog up with me at all). We had looked up to what we thought was Arthur's Seat last night and were impressed with how high it was. Turns out we were only looking at the top of the Salisbury Crags (I'm not sure about how to spell most of these things). The top of the crags was just the start of the tough climb. Anyway, the view was amazing. Out to see one way and over Edinburgh the other. At the very top the rocks were polished so many people have walked on them. They were very slippery and it was dry. I wouldn't attempt to walk on them if they were wet.

The hike back down was almost as challenging. We took the shortest and therefore the steepest trail to the crags. It was incredibly steep switchback after switchback. L was impressed that I jogged part of the way down. Wasn't hard of course as going up, but I wanted to try it.

From there we went to Cannongate Tollbooth (free admission). Fascinating museum which gave us an idea of what it would have been like to live in Edinburgh many hundreds of years ago. descriptions of people quotes work housing leisure legal day to day life laundry

Pizza express

Walk up along the The Royal Mile. Edinburgh has many beautiful buildings but most of them are so dirty they are almost black. I don't like how dark the city is. I like the bright and fancy areas of cities like London and Paris more.

Went to the Children's Museum (free). They have toys and games from today back through hundreds of years. Neat place.

Walked up the Royal Mile until we decided it was time to head over to Parker's house. Just as we turned off the Royal Mile (we were actually directly underneath the castle) we found ourselves in the middle of a fight. We stopped, tried to go around on the road, they moved out to the road, so we sort of scurried past them as one fellow broke a bottle over another guys head. Lovely.

Safely past the brawl we went to Parker's house. It's hard to say but we all think Parker remembered me. As soon as I walked in he came running over, and as soon as I took my shoe off he grabbed it and ran.

We took Parker out for a short walk. Streets go every direction and I got lost almost immediately. I told Parker to go home and he did! I wasn't sure if I should trust him (he could have been taking me to the butcher shop or pet food store) but I did and he seemed to go straight home.

Parker's parents showed us around there home. They live in what's called a tenement on the ground floor. It was beautiful. Huge rooms with incredibly tall ceilings. Parker's dad showed us some of the unique features of these houses - a knob near the front door would open the gate onto the walk. The fence and gate around the front yard would have been removed during the 2nd world war when Winston Churchill was having them melted down and made into things for the war effort. Their tenement has been painstakingly restored by the owner so there's cool features like the door bell is a knob by the front door that is attached by string to a bell in the kitchen. There is a door in the living room that is actially just shelves when you open it. This was meant to give the illusion that the home was bigger than it actually is. They've used all the space well so there are also rooms called 'box rooms'. They are very small and don't have windows except for a transom type window into another room of the house.

We had an excellent meal with them and then were able to try some very good scotch after dinner. It's official, neither L or I really like scotch. Parker seemed to really like the toy we brought for him and played with it for much of the time we were there. After a great evening we made our way back to the hotel, tired and covered in drool stains.
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Edinburgh, United Kingdom

May 10

Last day of tour. L and I are looking forward to having some peace and quiet and doing things on our own schedule.

Hostel sort of like camping - our room door leads outside and the room with the shower and washroom is freezing. After NOT having a shower we went off for our last day.

We drove up to Culloden Battlefield and were told about the battles that happened there. Very sad, as it is anywhere wars are or were fought. A lot of people died in that field.

We drove back past Loch Ness. I thought I may have seen Nessie, but I'm not sure. Maybe if I had stayed up drinking by the campfire I would have seen her more clearly

Drove to Urqhart Castle but decided it was too expensive to get in so just took photos. I think it's a really cool looking place.

On to see Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Scotland) and Fort William. Looks like a ski resort area. On to Glencoe. Even more impressive snow capped mountains than yesterday. Just out of the bus a few short times for a story or nreak.

Drove past Stirling Castle. The stupid driver didn't even point it out, much less tell us anything about it. Looks beautiful though.

We were told some history at a monument in Stirling, but I don't really remember - I was tired and just wanted the tour to be over.

Back to edinburgh and went to the hotel. It was so nice - our own room, with our own kettle and coffee, and a t.v.. Ahhhhh...

After resting for a few minutes we went our for something to eat. Ended up eating/drinking at World's End pub. We had our first taste of haggis (with natties and teeps) here. It tastes like black pudding to me. It was okay but I wouldn't want to eat it every week.

Back to our room to shower and go to bed. I felt so grungy it took quite a bit of scrubbing to feel better.
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Isle of Skye, United Kingdom

May 8

When we woke up this morning the hostel was freezing. According to our guide we apparently only pay enough for a couple of hours of heat in the evening - idiot! The fire had gone out too so even the common room was cold.

We were up early again and went for a peaceful walk along the shoreline and saw sheep on tiny islands - we were relieved when we drove by later and saw that the sheep could roam once the tide went out.

We drove over to a beach nearby. There are quite a few beaches with beautiful clean sand and where the water is an aqua greeny blue type colour. The wind had settled down so we were able to have a short relaxing look and walk on the beach.

The driver dropped us off at a trail again and we did a short 1 mile hike to a church. This was a very good walk too with some challenging spots and amazing vistas out over the water and coast. We walked past little inlets with some boats and abandoned ropes and fishing type paraphernalia.

It was a catholic church. Not really ruins but not really a practising church. I was able to climb 2 ladders up into the tower - quite cool. L was too chicken (a theme during the particularly exciting activities in my opinion). People have left a lot of coins and a few prayers on the window sills and in between the rocks on the walls. The driver of course had no idea why when I asked him - he's utterly useless. There is a carving of a man on the outside of 1 wall of the tower and a woman on another. What they are doing is quite shocking to find on a church!

We were taken to a small store with a café to buy a brown bag lunch. We took advantage of all the exercising we are doing to carb load and bought two cheese scones and a package of shortbread.

Did lots of driving around. Saw some seals on some rocks in the distance. Would have liked to see them up closer, but cool nonetheless.

Saw and of course reached through the fence and petted my first hairy coos. I thought they looked rather fierce at first, but after I relaxed I realized they really are cute and friendly. I wouldn't want to annoy one though - the horns are ginormous.

We got to the ferry to Skye too early so the useless guide drove us out to no where for no reason. L and I took a trail (there are trails everywhere here it seems) up a hill and sat alone for awhile and just enjoyed the beauty and peace of the hills.

Finally back to where we catch the ferry to the Isle of Skye. Had some time before the ferry so admired Harris tweed (since we are on Harris). It's itchy and expensive so I am not the happy owner of Harris Tweed. It's nice to look at but I wouldn't want to have to wear it.

The ferry to Skye was an uneventful one and a half hours. Much calmer crossing than the one we took to Lewis.

Instead of planning ahead the stupid driver took us all the way from Uig where the ferry landed down to Portree for groceries to make dinner. Since it was obvious by this point that the planned pasta dinner wouldn't be until almost 9:00 pm. I asked for my share of the 'kitty' for the cost of dinner back and just got myself something quick from the grocery. Not ideal but I can't eat pasta so late.

The hostel is in a beautiful location on the north of Skye with views out over the sea. I just went up to the room, showered and went to bed. I'm not very happy with the tour this evening.
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isle of Harris, United Kingdom

May 7

Up earlier this morning so we could get ready peacefully (read: without others around) and at a slow pace. It was even colder than our house. The duvets on the bed are very warm though, and I just slept with my head covered with only my nose sticking out. I slept great though, even with the huge wind storm that caused the occasional breeze in the room. We were incredibly lucky that we had a room to ourselves - huge bonus on a tour that uses hostels.

We were ready before everyone so we went to go for a walk. The huge wind must have shifted something with the blackhouse because we couldn't get the front door open. The guide/driver was unsuccessful as well, as he let out a constant tirade of curse words. The back door was stuck as well but we did eventually force it open. We found out later that one of the girls eventually body slammed the front door and got it open.

We walked around the blackhouse village and took some pictures and then went down to the beach. It's amazing that people actually made their homes there up until the 1970's. The waves were huge again since it was so windy again. Very peaceful in a watching the power of nature kind of way.

Went to a ruined home - can't remember from what century. The doorways were so low you had to bend way over to get in. L banged her head very badly - somehow she forgot halfway through the door that she had to bend over. A little blood and she's going to have a horrible headache. Some of the doorways were so low that I had to crawl through. Up some stairs to nowherè - no roof - small round cone shaped building. Not a big place, but I love to explore ruins. The winds were the strongest that I've ever experienced. As I exited the house, bent over at the waist, a gust blew me right off my feet onto my side. Wearing waterproof clothes from head to toe sort of makes a large wind sail out of me!

From there we headed to the beach. Most roads here are single track with 'passing places'. Amazing that the driver is able to maneuver a 16 seat bus down them. It's only slightly wider than a sidewalk. We got to one of those cattle grates in the road and a backhoe was blocking it. A tiny sign on the gate beside it said to use the gate. I hopped out of the bus to open the gate and promptly fell flat on my butt. Didn't hurt myself but provided amusement both to myself and others on the bus. After some figuring out that to open the high tech piece of equipment (the gate) just required somehow moving some very large rocks on the other side of the gate and we were on our way to the beach.

Powerful wind and waves. The beach was split in half by a huge rocky area. I climbed up and it was amazing - the surf hitting the rocks sending spray high into the air. Fun trying to safely maneuver the rocks while avoiding getting hit by the spray, getting blown over by a gust of wind (I was still in my wind sail outfit), or losing my footing on the rocks. L was too chicken to go on the rocks. I went twice as I had to go in and give her the camera so she could take a photo of me up on them. As we walked back to the bus we had to use our hoods or walk backwards to shelter our faces from the sand being picked up by the wind.

There was a very short path to an iron age house that we walked to. It was closed so we couldn't go inside - disappointing. Honestly though, it looked the same as the houses in the blackhouse village.

The driver dropped us at a path and we did a great walk. It was a bit up and down with some very technical spots. A bit of a challenge but not too difficult. Just after we got to the top of the first hill it started to rain - it wasn't a surprise because we could see the rain coming in across the water. It was a downpour. I had to hold my hood out to protect my face because if it hit my face it hurt. It also hailed for a few minutes. Rained so hard you would be drenched to the skin in seconds but except for my gloves that got soaked I stayed completely dry. Foolish girls on the tour weren't so lucky ;). We were surprised after hiking part way up a hill to find a small boat and lots of seaweed.

The landscape seems to be ever changing and is always beautiful. Much of Lewis is quite hilly and rocky and is best described almost as a moonscape with very low plants. Once we cross to Harris (which involved crossing a ten foot bridge so as you would never know it was a seperate island) the landscape became much more dramatic with much larger hills and cliffs. Still not much in the way of large vegetation though. The hillsides on the island have pockets of wild daffodils and iris. Wish we could have seen them in bloom.

We stayed at a bunkhouse called An Botham (I think) in a small village on Harris tonight. Just shared a 4 bed with one of the girls (Heather) so we were lucky again. The room was very nice with lots of space and nice bunks.

L and I made a veggie and tofu stirfry tonight. It was the first time anyone on the tour had tofu, and the first time we've had a good dose of veggies. It was a bit of a challenge cooking for 9 but it went over very well - some went back for seconds and there was very little left.

L and I went for a short walk down to the water before falling into bed for the night.
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isle of lewis and stornaway, United Kingdom

May 6

We slept late today - didn't get out of bed until almost 9:00! After a quick breakfast we set out from the hostel on a 2+ hour hike.

It was very beautiful, walking along the coast, up and down hills for just over 2 hours. We'd just reach the top of a hill to look down and see we had to go down and then back up, over and over again.

The path cuts through fields where sheep are grazing. Being spring there are all sorts of lambs about. They're incredibly cute, running and playing. It was windy so the waves hitting the shore were big. It was a lot of peat bog that we were walking through. It was nice stepping through water knowing our feet would stay dry in our boots - thank you gore-tex. It rained a bit but not badly.

The guide took us to Stornaway for lunch, but wasn't at all helpful in showing us where to go to eat. It was pouring rain at this point and we all wanted to find somewhere to warm up. There were very few places to eat as it turned out, and some of them were closed. We ended up at a little café and I had what was called a 'chicken tikka wrap'. Near as I could tell it was hunks of chicken in thousand island dressing - edible, but certainly not good.

After lunch L and I went to look around the town a bit more. There are very few towns I would ever say this about but it really wasn't very interesting. We did find a library and were able to check our e-mail. There was a huge rock on display in the library. It described what type of rock it was and said how it can only be found in a few places in the world. It described how it is only found in Canada and the UK because they were both once part of a larger land mass.

We stopped at a memorial to the land struggles in Scotland. People didn't have the right to own land and after the men came back from the first world war they wanted to be able to keep and own the land they had. Apparently some man bought the whole Island of Lewis and whole villages were evicted and put on boats for places such as Canada. Some sort of uprising eventually won them the right to own land.

We also went to the Callandish Stones. This is along the same idea as Stonehenge, but older. There are also several circles of them spread out in the area, miles apart. The reason the stones were placed there is a mystery. Once the others from the tour moved away it was a very peaceful place. Because I wasn't able to do an audio tour I didn't learn as much as at Stonehenge, but it was a very peaceful experience. I think that it is some sort of an energy field or vortex, like in the Sedona area of Arizona.

Got back to the hostel and had hamburgers and salad for dinner. Had a lively discussion with the Quebec girls about language and people being bilingual, or the lack of it in Canada. L and I went for a short walk down to the beach. It was windy so the waves were quite big and powerful.

Into bed exhausted. Bruce, our driver/guide, found out that they are waiting for a part to fix the heating so it is really cold in here. There are 2 large propane heaters, but the bedroom is quite chilly.
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Ullapool, United Kingdom

May 5

A quick breakfast in the room and then off to check in for our Wild in Scotland tour. They were not very organized. Three tours left this morning and there was some confusion - they thought we were missing 2 people so we didn't leave on time. Turns out they were wrong but it took them almost an hour to figure that out. Then our guide gets on the bus and tells us we pulled the short stick so we have to spend most of the day on the bus. Hopefully things get better.

Except for a pee break we spent the morning on the bus. It's a nice small group - only 8 of us plus the driver/guide. Unfortunately the mix of people isn't the best. There's 7 Canadians; us plus a girl from Peterborough and 4 girls from Quebec. The other person is also female and from Phoenix.

The guide is not giving us much information about what we've driven past which is frustrating. That was one of the reasons we booked a tour - to get the background history and legends about what we are seeing. Hopefully it gets better.

Stopped in Piltrochy for lunch. Bought a picnic lunch at a deli which was very good and cheap. The guide suggested over and over that if we didn't already have waterproof trousers we should buy some since it's supposed to rain for the next few days. We took his advice and each got a pair. At least we can use them once we get home. I'm not sure what the girl from Phoenix will do with hers. We also each got a pair of thick warm hiking socks.

After Inverness the signs to and on places were mostly bilingual; english and gaelic (just like in Ireland). The landscape changed as we drove north and west from similar to what's at home to more hills and bush similar to northern Ontario.

Caught the ferry in Ullapool to Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis. It was a long 2 and a half hours. The boat was getting tossed around a bit and I forgot to bring gravol. I didn't get sick, but I was happy when we got to Stornaway. L giggled like a little girl as she carried oversized tea cups with hot drinks in them back to our seats without sea legs - it looked more like running ahead three paces, stepping back and pausing only long enough to quickly raise the cups in the air to prevent the tea and latte from spilling and then starting all over again. A girl sitting beside us got several calls on her cell phone on the ferry. In Ontario we can't reliably get cell service in many many places, but an hour out to sea in Scotland and there's still service!

We drove straight to our hostel for the night in the Blackhouse Village. By then it was about 9:00pm. It's a really cool place. Our group has one of the cottages all to ourselves. It has a double bunk room, 2 six person bunk rooms and a weird loft accessed by a ladder that has a double bed in it. We were lucky enough not to push and shove to the front to grab a bed, so we have the quiet bunk room at the back for just L and me. The heat isn't working right so it's cold in here, but the beds have thick duvets and are very comfortable. After some hanging out and chatting with the others we went to bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jae/3/1241452500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jae/3/1241452500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jae/3/1241452500/tpod.html Wed, 20 May 2009 11:58:09 -0400 Back to England, and then on to Scotland.

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Edinburgh, United Kingdom

May 4

Got up relatively hangover free amazingly enough. Just a bit of a headache and feeling a tiny bit 'off'. Packed up and checked out and headed down to the shambles. I think you get a much better experience of the place if it's not busy. Wandered around a bit and tried to figure out where we were the night before. We couldn't. I was a 'wee bit' tipsy (ha!) so I know why I couldn't remember, but I'm not sure what L's excuse is.

Got on the train headed to Edinburgh. The train follows the east coast for quite awhile so there was some beautiful scenery. When we got to Edinburgh I followed a tip that I had read about an easy way to get to the hotel. It worked and saved us some steps up a hill!

We checked in (supersaver room at the Travelodge) and headed out. The hotel is just steps from the Royal Mile, so awesome location. We found the tourist information centre and got a crappy free map. We used the good map books they SELL to look up where the restaurant we wanted was (thanks tourist information!). We decided after thoroughly checking out their map books not to buy one - after all we already knew where we were going.

Off to dinner at Monster Mash. We shared our meals, so had 2 types of sausage with champ mash and steak pie with chips. Very good, very filling and very unhealthy - not a vegetable in sight.

We walked the Royal Mile mile a bit and then went back to our room. We're both exhausted. Fell asleep by 9:00 to one of my favourites on television, Oliver.
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