It's only Monday now, and I've already been in 3 cities over my spring break. We woke up to a freezing cold Edinburgh, and I do mean 0 degrees Celsius so, actually freezing, but after fueling up with yogurt and granola (Calcedonian Backpackers- 1, all other hostels- 0) and my brief encounter with Vegemite (I saw it sitting on the pool table and tried it before Kelsey read me its ingredients) we set out to brave the weather and see all that Scotland had to offer.
The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter
In the National Museum of Scotland (another free and warm building); when Caroline went to the bathroom Kelsey and I found a dress up kit for kids- 18th century Scottish garb- and when she got back a photo shoot commenced. I thought my headpiece was really meant to be worn the way I fashioned it around my face, but after reading a label I learned it goes under a shirt?
Why does every highlight of my day seem to be the food I order? This soup place Caroline found online, Union of Genius, is a tiny soup shop serving a selection of 6 specialty soups, only opened until 4 pm with 2 seating areas, one of which we scored, and while we sat we watched the workers cross soup after soup off the list of those available- they sold out of all but 2 kinds by 1:30! We hit the hot spot for a cold day in Edinburgh, obviously, and I couldn't have been more overjoyed by my soup sampler plate: sweet potato with coconut and tamarind, butternut and bacon, and cream of leek and potato. We also had 3 sampler breads to pair with each soup: poppy seed, wholemeal, and olive, respectively. I must make these soups somehow, some way, back at home! Also I bought this vest here in a vintage store along our path today, 5 pounds...after the leather jacket I said no to in London, I couldn't pass this up.
We strolled up to the castle on the hill to see it from the outside but didn't pay to go in...my priorities were to get somewhere warmer ASAP.
We walked around more, stopping into various shops to look at the selection of fur hunting hats, cashmere sweaters, kilts, and all things Edinburgh tourist-related (every single store sells the exact same stuff). We also briefly stopped in the famous whisky store and looked for the most expensive bottle we could find. What we came up with? $17,500. I bet you if I tasted the stuff I'd spit it out in half a second- and that'd be $100 down the drain.
So cold and my face was so numb I couldn't even really make a frowning face. RIP Kelsey's headband...
Dinner was Mexican food (something we were all mutually craving). My goat cheese quesadilla was awesome but the service at the place wasn't that great; they forgot my side order of black beans, then brought me re-fried beans, then brought me cold black beans, then seemed perturbed when I asked them to heat them up, and they also gave us water with a hint of tequila flavoring and called them margaritas. And it was the most expensive meal I had the whole trip. All things aside though, I loved the spiciness of the meal, it kept me warm for at least the walk to the comedy club we went to afterwards...
The stage of The Stand Comedy Club; it was amateur night so we watched 10 acts and one guest act (who is/might be somewhat famous in Scotland?) for 2 pounds. It was my first experience with live comedy, and even though there were a few bad acts (since it was amateur night, there were a couple really, painfully uncomfortably bad ones), I enjoyed them all, if for no other reason than to hear everyone's accents. And some guys were very entertaining. About half the jokes went over my head as they referred to Scottish or UK humor, or the accents were so thick I just got plain lost trying to decipher words, but it was such a fun and different way to spend the night-- way to go us for looking in tourist guides while stopping into random outdoor gear stores for me to look for heavy duty winter wear (I would've bought a face mask had I seen one).
And that was it for day one. We woke up early Tuesday morning to a day that felt much warmer, although maybe we were just getting used to it by now, but we decided to seize the day and hike up to Arthur's Seat. It began blizzarding on our way across town and I almost thought about turning around, but its something I really wanted to do, so we forged onward. And I am so glad that we did. Right after we started the hike upwards, the snow stopped and the steady climb allowed me to even feel slightly warm. And the views from every point of the hike were astounding.
Coming down from the peak made the formerly bone-chilling wind feel like a breeze. We walked around the far side of the little mountain while the sun was (almost) out, and right when we made it back to the starting point it started to blizzard again. Perfect timing. We had a small bowl of soup, parsnip and hazelnut I think it was, at a cafe called Milk just around the corner of the hostel, and then headed back to warm up and relax for a while. We walked to Tigerlily, a swanky bar that was also right by the hostel, for high tea late in the afternoon. When we got back we met some new roommates in our room, two girls from Pennsylvania studying in Barcelona and a girl from Vienna just traveling the UK. We went out together that night in hopes of finding a bar to hang out in. First we couldn't find a place with a single person inside, and the one we did find that had some life in it had no free seats. K, C, and I decided to break off from our random group to use up the rest of our Scottish pounds at the local grocery store...on 8 apples, 2 granola bars, a bar of dark chocolate, and some half-off Cadbury biscuits. A balanced selection. We also had a glass of strawberry cider at a swanky bar that seemed to have something going on in sleepy little Edinburgh on our way home.
At Tigerlily where, since we called for a reservation, we had a booth that could fit 7 more people all to ourselves. I couldn't have felt more under-dressed for this hip place- I don't think I changed out of my hiking clothes, I don't even remember if I took off my tennis shoes. Just goes to show you how much we cared about appearances this week... (one of my favorite parts about traveling with best friends and the promise of not running in to anyone you know).
Kelsey's infamous pockets, emptied out. It was a running joke throughout the week how much she could fit and keep in her pockets at a time. It's mostly the reason we discovered the leftover change to buy all our travel snacks for the trip to Dublin.
Cider shared by Kel and me and hot chocolate for Carol, the perfect way to end our stay in Edinburgh. Next stop: Ireland.
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