Edinburgh. Oh, where do I even begin? Firstly, you have to understand that I have never known much about Edinburgh - or Scotland at all, actually. I've heard that it's "viciously cold," the men wear kilts, and that it's where JK Rowling started and finished the Harry Potter novels. Pretty cool, but it was never a city that I NEEDED to see, like Paris or Rome or even Barcelona.
So when our program announced that we were off to Edinburgh (not Edin-burg or Edin-borough/burrow, but more like Edin-bruh with a rolling r), I was excited but not exactly over-the-moon dying to go. And then I went, had the grandest time, and this cheeky city sneakily found a way to burgh-ow into my heart. I didn't even see it coming.
{ Balmoral Hotel, where JK Rowling finished the Harry Potter books }
After a long bus ride and a short flight, all 35+ of us made it into the city, dropped off our bags, and ventured off to find something to fill our stomachs. Upon first sight, Edinburgh is breathtakingly beautiful - a castle and much of its city center is across a bridge and sunken garden and so there are dozens of statuesque, centuries-old buildings raised high on a sort of platform. Very majestic.
A few of us decided on this well-known vegetarian cafe. I picked a spinach and pepper lasagna with lentils, and ... yum! Interestingly enough, Edinburgh has stellar vegetarian food - half of our meals were at vegetarian restaurants. The other half involved haggis. (Just kidding, I didn't go near the stuff.)
{ John Knox House }
Afterwards, we met up with the big group and were taken on a walking tour of the city. It was over two hours long. I don't do two hours of physical activity, I think that's an atrocity. But it was led by a hilarious man in a kilt who referred to flatulence, so all was good.
He took us up and down the Royal Mile, pointed out areas of historical interest, famous sites, and told us about the Scots {they are a prideful bunch, they are!}.
Two and a half hours later (did I mention I don't believe in extended periods of physical activity?), he dropped us off at Edinburgh Castle. Glorious and wondrous as it was - it was like walking around in the Tangled village! - it started raining and freezing and hailing a little bit. So we hid out in the castle cafe, which offered us great panoramic views of the city, until we couldn't hide anymore. We checked out the Crown Jewels and then started our journey home.
Like I said, it was hailing and torrential downpouring and suuuuuuuper windy, so we turned our backs to the wind, tried our hardest not to get blown away, and laughed and painfully and merrily made our way back to the hotel.
Beautiful, no? I thought so too.
