Edinburgh, I love you!
May 22nd, 2010
Well we both feel much better now after catching up on our sleep! We started our morning off with a breakfast from the hostel including- instant coffee! (MMM. No really, instant coffee is actually good here.) And my favorite foriegn cereal- museli! yum yum! Ok, so sign number 2 that you know Tawny is not yet awake- she spills an almost full cup of coffee on herself! :) That got us laughing for sure! After a quick change of jeans, we left the hostel and went to my favorite museum in the entire world- The National Museum of Scotland. Eeeeeeee!!!! So happy I got to go again. I am just so amazed at how planned out the museum is around its objects. Old doorways are displayed as actual doorways built into the walls. Old pieces of pottery are displayed in recreation of the rest of the jug that is clear but helps you situate where it would have been. I mean, how cools is that?! Anyone? Anyone? Ok maybe thats just me but I think its very forward thinking. Plus admission is FREE and audio guides are FREE! We then took a guided tour as well. I love these. The docents are always a little off, yet endering at the same time. Our docent was an elderly lady who was pretty funny. At times she kinda mumbled to herslef. One of my favorite lines said by her was when she was talking about King James VI/I. She said, "I really like him, but he wouldn't have liked me much. He didn't like smokers...or women for that matter." LOL!! What a strange comment! After that we headed up to the rooftop terrace and enjoyed some beautiful views of Edinburgh, but we left shortly after that to go to the Castle.
The castle was...hilly. Haha, ok it was more than just hilly, it was absolutly beautiful and had outstanding views as well. We saw the crown jewels of Scotland. Oooo Ahhhh purdy!! And we went through all the other little rooms spread around the castle. One of the coolest places, though was the room right next to the bedchamber of Mary Queen of Scotts. It was a tiny little room that almost looked like a closet, but thats where King James VI/I was born! Wow! We were standing in the very spot that royalty was born in! How amazing is that?!
After that we did a little shopping and I got a scarf with a pretty pink/purple design. Oh...I'm supposed to be buying things for other people...righhhht. Opps! We then went back to the hostel, collected our backpacks and made our way to the train station. Next stop- Carlisle to see my friend Ali. When we got to the train station we saw our train on the boards but it was the only one listed that did not give a platform number. Well we had plenty of time, we could wait. It got closer and closer to the time and still no platform number. We had 10 minutes to go...no number! We tried asking a train worker but he wasnt much help. A bunch of people gathered together and we were all freaking out together. Finally about 4 minutes to go it poped up on the board. Its a big station and we were lucky that we just so happened to be standing next to the platform we needed, so we got right on. If we had been anywhere else, we would probably have missed it cause it left right when we boarded.
When we arrived, we immediatly found Ali. Yay! Its been 3 years since I've seen her. We left the station and got some comments from some local boys- "welcome to our country" in a really loud screaming voice. lol, ooook. We ignored them and got a taxi back to Ali's place. When i tried to get in my backpack got stuck and I pretty much fell into the taxi. Hahahaha! Her house was really nice. Small, but perfect for one person. We then got some fish and chips from a place a few doors down, took it back to her place and chatted for a few hours before going to bed. What a day!
Well we both feel much better now after catching up on our sleep! We started our morning off with a breakfast from the hostel including- instant coffee! (MMM. No really, instant coffee is actually good here.) And my favorite foriegn cereal- museli! yum yum! Ok, so sign number 2 that you know Tawny is not yet awake- she spills an almost full cup of coffee on herself! :) That got us laughing for sure! After a quick change of jeans, we left the hostel and went to my favorite museum in the entire world- The National Museum of Scotland. Eeeeeeee!!!! So happy I got to go again. I am just so amazed at how planned out the museum is around its objects. Old doorways are displayed as actual doorways built into the walls. Old pieces of pottery are displayed in recreation of the rest of the jug that is clear but helps you situate where it would have been. I mean, how cools is that?! Anyone? Anyone? Ok maybe thats just me but I think its very forward thinking. Plus admission is FREE and audio guides are FREE! We then took a guided tour as well. I love these. The docents are always a little off, yet endering at the same time. Our docent was an elderly lady who was pretty funny. At times she kinda mumbled to herslef. One of my favorite lines said by her was when she was talking about King James VI/I. She said, "I really like him, but he wouldn't have liked me much. He didn't like smokers...or women for that matter." LOL!! What a strange comment! After that we headed up to the rooftop terrace and enjoyed some beautiful views of Edinburgh, but we left shortly after that to go to the Castle.
The castle was...hilly. Haha, ok it was more than just hilly, it was absolutly beautiful and had outstanding views as well. We saw the crown jewels of Scotland. Oooo Ahhhh purdy!! And we went through all the other little rooms spread around the castle. One of the coolest places, though was the room right next to the bedchamber of Mary Queen of Scotts. It was a tiny little room that almost looked like a closet, but thats where King James VI/I was born! Wow! We were standing in the very spot that royalty was born in! How amazing is that?!
After that we did a little shopping and I got a scarf with a pretty pink/purple design. Oh...I'm supposed to be buying things for other people...righhhht. Opps! We then went back to the hostel, collected our backpacks and made our way to the train station. Next stop- Carlisle to see my friend Ali. When we got to the train station we saw our train on the boards but it was the only one listed that did not give a platform number. Well we had plenty of time, we could wait. It got closer and closer to the time and still no platform number. We had 10 minutes to go...no number! We tried asking a train worker but he wasnt much help. A bunch of people gathered together and we were all freaking out together. Finally about 4 minutes to go it poped up on the board. Its a big station and we were lucky that we just so happened to be standing next to the platform we needed, so we got right on. If we had been anywhere else, we would probably have missed it cause it left right when we boarded.
When we arrived, we immediatly found Ali. Yay! Its been 3 years since I've seen her. We left the station and got some comments from some local boys- "welcome to our country" in a really loud screaming voice. lol, ooook. We ignored them and got a taxi back to Ali's place. When i tried to get in my backpack got stuck and I pretty much fell into the taxi. Hahahaha! Her house was really nice. Small, but perfect for one person. We then got some fish and chips from a place a few doors down, took it back to her place and chatted for a few hours before going to bed. What a day!
posted by Ashley | 7:20 PM
1 Comments:
So glad you got to see Ali! What a wonderful adventure you are having. I am trying not to be jealous, but maybe I will reserve my jealousy for Rome!!!! Have fun baby :)
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