AMAZING
Yeah that pretty much sums it up. Edinburgh, with one city left, is my favorite place so far. It was absolutely amazing. Now, usually there's nothing but rain in Scotland, and it had rained every day of my trip- until I got to Scotland. I hit the holy grail of weather there. The unicorn of weather, if you will. It was sunny and beautiful every day. I got sun burnt. I loved every second of my time there.
The flight there was smooth. In the airport I ran into a girl from the States, Claire, who turned out to be staying in the same hostel as me. So right away a new friend. It was an omen. The first night I ended up going out with 2 other girls at my hostel. We went to a ceilidh (pronounced kaylee). It's a traditional Scottish dance party. It was so much fun. They play folk music and teach you all these dances. It was great.
The next day I took a free walking tour of the city which was also very cool. Not to mention informative. Edinburgh is such a beautiful city. The castle and this one school were the inspiration for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. She even wrote the books there. Or at least the first couple anyway. I got to see the cafe where she wrote them and everything. I even (and this will only be cool for true Harry Potter nerds like myself) got to see Tom Riddle's grave. Yeah. I know you're jealous.
I took a ghost tour thing one night because Edinburgh (and Scotland in general) has a very dark history. We're talking witch hunts and body snatchers and lots of hangings. We went through cemeteries and up Calton hill where there's a bunch of monuments and stuff. It wasn't super spooky, but was still really cool. It was fun to listen to all the old legends and stories while standing in a mausoleum. And I got some great night shots of the city.
I did, of course, climb Arthur's Seat. The view from the top was incredible and it was the perfect day for climbing. I went with Claire and her friend Kate. Then we went to the Scottish Whiskey Experience. I got to try 12-year-old, single-malt scotch. I officially do not like whiskey. I tried, I really did. It's just gross.
I met tons of people, had some great food, got to do tons of fun things- including my first ever pub crawl. Highly recommended. I sang karaoke in a Scottish bar. It was super fun. My hostel was cool, but took the whole 'theme' thing a little too far in my opinion. Each dorm had a theme, which is fine. Mine was 'Addictions'. But then each bed had a name (instead of the usual number) to correspond with the dorm's theme. My bed was Sex. Yes. I slept under a wooden plaque that said SEX in big green letters. Other addictions included coffee, drugs, chocolate and shopping (now THAT one would have been appropriate for me).
Edinburgh was a huge win. Huge. I can't believe it almost didn't make it on my list of places to go. As lame as this sounds, a little piece of my heart is still there.
I will be home in less than a week now. If you don't count today (which I don't because it's almost midnight already) I will be home in 5 days. That is insane to me. I miss you all so much, but this trip has been so life-changing for me. There will be at least one more post full of pictures for Amsterdam, Sweden and Germany, as well as one to sum up Ireland. I will see you all very soon. Love you!
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