Edinburgh

see all photos »

We have finally finished our days at the call center and decided that it was time to venture around England. Our first stop is Edinburgh, only a 4 hour train ride from London, it is a great place to visit for a weekend trip. The hills of England are amazing, they are lush green and full of sheep, the weather is completely on our side. On our way there we pass York, Doncaster, Newcaslte and a couple of other castles. Newcastle from the train looks amazing, with a large bridge connecting the two halves split by a river. Then we see the North sea, so beautiful and vast, the light breeze creating small waves against the rocks, only a couple of houses edging the cliffs. I wish we could have stayed there longer but we arrived in edinburgh around 12 and there to great us were Cameron's parents doing their own journey around England. It was pure coincidence that we met up with them since we booked our tour without knowing when they would be there. First thing we do is book into our hostel, the Highlander Backpackers. Its location was the best thing about it even though it was situated 15 min away from the city center. There wasn't reception just a broom closet with the computer and they messed up our reservations so we had to sleep in a 10 bed room instead of 2 bed. We left all our non valuable things in the room and went to find the tourist information. Once there we booked tickets for a ghost tour at 8 and then Cam and I went off on our own because his parents had already seen most of the city. Our first stop is an area called Greenside, it consists mainly of Calton Hill, which gives you a great view of the city. Also located here is the City Observatory, Nelson Monument and National Monument. It is worth the steep uphill walk to see these buildings and get a feel for the city. The we came back down into the old city and walked down Canongate street to reach the Palace of Holyroodhouse, there are many shops and pubs to visit along the road. The Palace offers a free audio tour which is really helpful to point out all of decorations we might have missed on our own. The staff there is really friendly as well to answer and other questions, like: Why is that man painting circles in the grass? Answer: The guards are having archery practice tonight and the best place to watch is from the center of the circle. See nice friendly staff. At 6:30 we met up with Cam's parents to have dinner at a Deacon Brodies tavern, they have really good food, and good haggis which Cam made me try, it wasn't really that bad but its not something i would want as a meal. After dinner we had a date with the ghosts of Edinburgh on Auld Reekie's tour. Our guide was really funny and her accent made the walk really authentic. One part i did not enjoy was being turned into a witch (stop laughing Bob and Rhonda). Yes, they finally figured it out, I am a witch, and she made me stand in front of the group and touch my toes with my thumbs and stay like that until she explained how they would put me on trial and trow me in the river, there was some screaming from me and shouting from them, but in the end I made them "see" that i was not a witch. The best part of the tour was going underground and seeing where the poor of Edinburgh used to live. Bob was the only person brave enough to step into the evil circle and in the poltergeist room the made the men and women split up and stand on either side of the room, where in the end all the men scream liked little girls (well the girls did a bit too). After all this excitement is was time to go to bed. On our second day in edinburgh we visited Ediburgh Castle, we also picked up a audio tour which helped with many of the sites, but it also made the stay a lot longer. There is lots to see at the castle, the chapel is very nice and so are the jewels, there are 2 military museums so there was time for me to shop while Cameron read everything in there. We spent most of our day here but did manage to squeeze in St. Giles' Cathedral as well before we set off for Rosslyn Chapel, about 40 min away from the city.