Off to Scotland! - Day in Edinburgh

I left my apartment around 4:45 this morning so that I could catch the S-bahn that left from Bismarckplatz a little after 5. It was kind of cool to be on the first train of the day. But I will not be making a regular habit out of it! I got to the train station with plenty of time to spare and waited for my bus to arrive. There were quite a few people going to the airport so I wasn’t standing outside alone. I even recognized a girl from my class that I was skipping. I found out later that she was also going to Scotland. I slept almost the whole way to the airport and then again while I was waiting to board. I think I’d rather fly here early in the morning rather than later at night because then at least you know that it will still be daytime when you land. I also slept on the flight and woke up in time to watch us flying over the English Channel and into England and later Scotland. SO pretty! But I was surprised in Scotland because it wasn’t as green as I thought it would be. A lot of yellow and brown fields. Still pretty nonetheless. Jess gave me great instructions and I got on a bus that would take me right into the city center. It was only 5 pounds for a roundtrip and I could use it on whatever day I wanted. Perfect.

The bus was double-decker so I sat on the top. It was so nice. The seats were leather and super comfortable. I sat at a seat that also had a table and two seats on the other side. A really nice Scottish girl (with red hair of course!) sat down across from me. She was “phoning” some friends and I loved listening to her leaving messages for them. “Hi Maggie, it’s Sammi. I’m in Edinburgh today if you’d fancy we could catch up and get together for a drink later tonight. I’m just going to do a bit of shopping on Prices Street this afternoon. Cheers!” Too cute. After she made about three phone calls she told me “that was the last of that, don’t worry.” I told her that I didn’t mind and loved listening to her accent. I told her that I was going to visit a friend studying in St. Andrew’s for a few days. She said that St. Andrew’s is absolutely beautiful, but there is really nothing to do there. Before she got off the bus she said, “I hope you have a lovely weekend with your friend.” What a nice little welcome to Scotland!

My flight got in a little early so Jess wasn’t there when I arrived. She had sent me pictures of where to meet her and also mentioned that there was an H&M across the street. There was a purse that I wanted from there that was sold out in Heidelberg, so I thought I’d take a look. Of course they had it in every color except brown…the one I wanted. As I was walking around afterwards I saw a man in a kilt playing the bagpipes. Totally for the tourists, but still very cool. As I was walking around I heard Jess yell my name and it was so exciting to see her. She had gotten a packed lunch and we split it while sitting on a grassy hill. There were tons of people outside and I was really surprised that the weather was so nice. She also brought me a pack of Nice cookies (Caitlyn’s favorite) and I brought her some peeps. I was going to send them to her in a package while I was still in the US, but figured I could just bring them with me. After our little picnic we went to the FREE National Gallery of Scotland. Nothing too spectacular, but it was still cool to see.

We hiked up to the castle after that and thankfully Jess’ friend Grace lent me her Historic Scottish Pass that allowed me to get in for free. I have seen so many castles in Europe, but none that housed the crown jewels! There was a beautiful view from the castle and we had a good time just wandering around. When we were getting ready to enter the castle, a man who works there pulled us aside and asked where we were from and then if we wanted to hear a story. We said yes and he stepped back behind the door and told us this really strange story about how his grandson landed a plane without an engine or wheels. He prefaced this story by saying that we always read about 19, 20, 21 year-olds who are getting in trouble, but you rarely read about young people who are actually doing good things. We were both kind of confused as to why he told us this, but then he asked if we had time for another story. When we said yes, he grabbed Jess’ hand and waved it up and down saying that Scotland was famous for Haggis, shortbread, whiskey, kilts…and then asked if she was proud of that. She said no because of the Haggis so he did it again. And then he proceeded to tell us why Scotland was so great and that they established pretty much every navy in the world. And then he continued to tell us about how great Scotland is in the medical field and how there are Scottish doctors who are developing a pill that will cure cancer by 2012. At one point he even grabbed Jess’ face and put his hands over her ears. So strange. We continued to check out the castle after he finished his stories and left shortly afterward.

J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter at a café in Edinburgh called The Elephant Café so we had to go there! We both got delicious smoothies while imagining what excellent works the other people in the café were working on. We also read the many articles about J.K. Rowling that were posted on the walls and took some pictures. We had stumbled on a cute little shop on our way to the café and decided to go back after our smoothies and make a purchase. They had all kinds of adorable plaid things that matched in four different colors. Jess bought a short pleated green plain skirt with a matching headband and wallet. I only got a little flower keychain with a button that said Scotland on it, but that was good enough. We went to Hard Rock afterwards to buy a pin for a friend of mine in Heidelberg and then walked around a bit trying to find our bus. Thankfully we had time to get some water before the ride because we were on that bus for a really long time. The bus driver missed her exit and we had to take the scenic route. She freaked out when that happened and I thought we had run out of gas or something.

My butt hurt so bad from sitting in the bumpy bus for so long and I was really happy when we made it to St. Andrews. Our first stop was Tesco to buy a few groceries for dinner. We made Spaghetti, caesar salad and garlic bread and it was really great. It was also around 9:30 at this point and we were so hungry! We talked for a little while after dinner and then I was out. So exhausted, but also really happy to be with Jess in Scotland!