Edinburgh, Scottland/London, England - June 9th - 11th

A couple thoughts before I write about the last few days:


1. Traveling solo has been 1 of the best things I have ever done. It has "forced" me to meet new people - I've never had a problem with that of course! - and stay close to the action because I'm staying in hostels and asking where to go, etc. When I've traveled in the past in groups or with another person, we usually stay at ncie hotels and quite frankly don't get in the actual vibe of the actual places where you travel.

2. Very few Americans travels it seems! Yes, I've met a lot of Americans, but most have been younger. There have been a lot of Canadians and Australians especailly my age...it seems abroad it is a LOT more accepted - even encouraged really - to travel and take time off

On that note, Edinburgh is my favority city I have ever visited in Europe and that is a strong statement! Paris has always been 1 of my favorites, but what I like about Edinburgh is its not overwhelming in its size and scope. Me and the 2 Americans I met in Belfast - John and Alex - met a 4th, James - that was in our hostel. Alex and I chose to do the walking tour on Tuesday as James was traveling to Loch Ness for the day and John had a bit too much to drink the night before!

Alex, myself and about 25 others people throughout the city met up for a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of "old town" Edinburgh. Essentially old town is where all the sights are and new town while still picturesque is mostly shops and trends stores. The walking tour was phenomenal - we of course saw the famous Edinburgh Castle. The pictures I took don't do it justice, but it is an enourmouse Castle perched at the top of a rocky mountain/hill. It dates from the 12th century, and while there are some modern improvements and buildings on the grounds, the base and majority of it are awesome.

We then saw many of the places where people were hung and buried in the city..in fact there is a ghost tour you can take of some of these places at night but I couldn't squeeze it in. We walked the Royal Mile, a fantastic mile of an old road that goes from the castle to a museum, with churches (we saw 1 where Sean Connery was knighted), gallows, and many pubs (more to come on that!) not to mention Grassmarket Square, which is where much of the nightlife happens.

We had time for a smoothie and a sandwich along the way, and after that tour - by the way the commentary was just amazing as well as the stories you don't get from tour buses - I decided to head towards new town. I found a tower of about 300 feet which I paid 3 pounds to climb the top to get a view of the entire city. The pictures I had taken again don't do it justice but the panoramic view of the city are just overwhelming.

I then met John (who had finally gotten out of bed at 2pm!) and Alex for the Scottish Whiskey Tour, which was a tour of how Whiskey is made. It was a little disneylandish (a tour car..think of those rides you take in Disneyland where the ride goes very slow like Peter Pan) but we - in this tour car - slowly moved past little videos and steps of how the whiskey is made. We culminated the tour with of course a taste of whiskey (we could choose amongst 4 different types).

After the whiskey, we headed to diner. There I had the famous Scottish traditional dish of Haggis. What is Haggis? It is a fat, cataloupe-size sausage made from sheep lungs, liver, and hearts mexied with spices and onions. It was with mashed potatoes and gravy. Not the best meal I've described, smeller, or eaten!! I've got a picture of me eating it and well -- I've had Haggis and I probably won't have another round!

The night was epic. We did an organized pub crawl with a few different hostels. 10 pounds got you 1 free beer and 5 free shots. Well...you can imagine this would make for a fun evening! We got pictures at each bar, and they got more entertaining. I didn't make it to the last bar though and couldn't get the pictures of all of us with TOO MUCH to drink because me and another guy made this stupid - but actually I'm glad I did it - idea of hiking the highest mountain behind Edinburgh that overlooks the city. Picture William Wallace running up the mountain in 1 of the scenes! It took us an hour and at 3:00am we had reached the top and the views - well, the moon was out and the sun literally was just staring to come out as we made our way down. That is a night I won't forget!

Waking up the next day I was tired - very tired - but the 4 of us and 2 girls from Florida in our hostel got a Scottish Breakfast! 1 egg, 1 sausage, 1 bacon, 1 potato scone, and toast. Delicious, Delicous. After that I did an actual tour bus around the city and then afterwards hopped on a quick 1 hour flight to London.

I met Brian Phalen last night and stayed in his flat. He is a childhood fried from Phoenix and is letting me crash on his couch and even do some much needed laundry. His flat is in Bloomsbury, near the British Museum about a 20 minute train ride from the heart of London.

We went out for a few beers last night and then I woke up today ready to tackle London. I had been here once before, and the sheet magnitude - there are 10 million people that live here and over 2,000 years of history - is immediate. I paid 24 pounds for a double decker bus tour/boat tour where you can hop on and off at each one of the 87 stops on the tour.

I of course stopped off at the famous sites -- Buckhingham Palace (I JUST missed the changing of the guard), Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parlaments/Square, St. Paul's Church - which has the 2nd largest free supporting dome on top of it besides St. Peter's in Rome - and Trafalgar Square). London Bridge is not much to see, but definately the Tower Bridge is. Over 100 years old its probably the most famous bridge in the world, words don't really do it justice. I then took the boat tour which gives views of the Tower Bridge - and the Tower of London itself, which is famous for hangings and tortures - and then down the water to Westminster, where the views of the Eye (2nd largest Ferris Wheel in the world), and the before mentioned sites are even BETTER on this large Thames river.

After finishing my 7 hours of river tour/double decker tour with live commentary/LOTS of walking - oh and I actually had SUBWAY today because its all I could find for lunch!! -, I headed back to Brian's house for a quick shower and am ready to go out tonight. Tomorrow is Stonehedge, and am very excited for my trip!