(Sunday, May 3)
I got up and headed straight for the airport to catch my flight to Edinburgh. When I arrived in Edinburgh I hopped right onto a bus for about an hour ride to my hostel in the city center. I got to my hostel, got checked in, and settled into my room. The hostel I was staying at did free dinner on Sunday night at 7pm and it was currently about 5pm so I went out to walk around and see a bit of the city. Along my walk I came across a tour group who asked me to take pictures of them with their cameras. I ended up shooting pictures with about 10 different cameras and we all had a laugh about it. When the time drew near to 7 I headed back to the hostel cause I was most certainly not gonna miss a free dinner.
Back at the hostel I grabbed my Wired magazine and sat down in a large comfy chair in the dining room area. There was another large chair next to mine and in that chair sat a beautiful redheaded girl. For about 20 minutes she sat reading her book silently while I read my magazine, both of us waiting for the announcement to eat. When the time came we got up and got in the line for food. I asked her about the book she was reading and from there our conversation continued. The dining room was full so we took our plates down to the TV room. After we had finished eating we decided to watch a movie. She chose "Shaun of the Dead", which I had only seen parts of. When the movie ended we decided to watch another, this time I chose "Supertroopers". After the movie we picked right back up with our conversation. We talked for probably an hour then we decided it was time to get some sleep. Before saying goodnight we finally introduced ourselves. Her name was Jenny.
(Monday, May 4)
I got up kinda early cause I wanted to make sure I got the most of the day. I ate a quick breakfast, got cleaned up, made dinner plans with Jenny, and set off to explore the city. My first destination was the Scott Monument which was just a few blocks from my hostel. I can't really remember who this Scott guy was, but his monument was pretty neat. I walked up the hundreds of windy stairs to the top so I could get a better view of the surroundings. Being at the top of the monument I experienced probably the most powerful winds I've ever felt, good thing my camera had a wrist strap. After the monument I worked my way over to Old Town and up to the castle. Edinburgh Castle is the coolest castle I've ever seen from the outside. Inside the walls it is a bit bland, but still worth visiting. I spent over 3 hours walking around the castle and touring the various exhibits. When I left the castle I headed to the Scotch Whisky Experience which was only about a block away. Those of you who know me know that I hate whiskey, but I figured I would give it one more chance.
While I was waiting to buy my ticket I heard a group behind me talking in what sounded like an American accent so I asked where they were from. They turned out to be Canadian, so I was pretty close. Their names were Jame, Shelby, Jessica and Alex (who was Swiss). The first part of the tour involves sitting in a little car on a rail, very much like a DisneyWorld ride. Jame, Shelby, and I shared a car for this part. At the end of that ride you go into a room where the different regions for Scotch whisky production are explained to you (notice that I'm spelling whisky without the 'e'. Whisky = Scotch, Whiskey = everything else). After this the tour takes you into a huge display room with the biggest collection of Scotch in the world. Here you get a chance to taste 1 whisky from a region of your choosing. After this you head into a bar area where if you bought the gold tour ticket, which we all did, you can taste 4 more whiskys. We all sat down around a table with our tasting sheets and our 4 little glasses of whisky. We spent probably an hour and a half there getting to know each other and sipping on whisky. I can safely say that I still hate whisky just as much. After we had finished our glasses we decided to go grab a quick dinner.
We ended up at a nice little restaurant a few blocks away. Jessica ordered haggis so I got a chance to try it and to my surprise it wasn't bad. My only complaint was a bit of an odd texture, but the flavor was pretty good. We ate and talked for about an hour then it was time for us to go our separate ways. It was a lot of fun getting to know them, especially because of how random it was meeting them.
Back at the hostel I met up with Jenny and we went in search of dinner. We ended up at a place called Bad Ass, which was a bar about 15 minutes walk from our place. The food was some of the best I'd had in the UK. After dinner we went back to the hostel and went back to the TV room where we found people watching Stardust so we sat down and watched with them. After the movie we headed back to our rooms cause we were planning on an early start the next morning.
(Tuesday, May 5)
We got up early and walked to Jenny's friend's hostel. When we got there I met her friend, Miranda, who is a Canadian and has been living in Edinburgh for 3 months. We all walked to Old Town where we booked our coach tour of the Highlands. The tour was scheduled to last 10 hours and take us to a variety of places in the Scottish Highlands. Even though the weather was pretty crappy, we had a great time on the tour. I wish I could remember all the places that the tour took us, but sadly I cannot. When we got back we headed back to our hostel and Miranda went back to hers. I took a little nap cause I was wiped out from the tour. A few hours later Jenny and I went over to Miranda's hostel for the evening. Miranda and Jenny made dinner which was awesome and then we played drinking games till we decided to leave.
(Wednesday, May 6)
I got up early so I could check out of my room. After checking out, Jenny and I went to meet up with Miranda for lunch. We went to a place called Dirty Dick's, which was right next to Bad Ass, perhaps there is some sort of anatomy theme around there. The food at this place was equally as good as Bad Ass, which makes Edinburgh easily the best food city in the UK from my experience. After dinner we said goodbye to Miranda and went for one last walk around the city. We walked through Prince Street gardens, then up through Old Town, past the Elephant Cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter and past the Greyfriar's Bobby, which is a statue of a little dog who sat on its master's grave every day for years after its master died. We eventually worked our way back to our hostel to pick up our luggage. Luggage in hand we headed out to Waverley Bridge where we said our goodbyes. I headed down to the train station to start my journey back to Lancaster and she boarded a bus to the airport.
Edinburgh Photos
Edingburgh Photos 2
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Ireland & Scotland Trip Part 2: Dublin
(Friday, May 1)
My bus from Limerick arrived in Dublin around 5pm. I had forgotten to check where my hostel was before getting on the bus, but much to my surprise the bus actually had free Internet access and I had my laptop on me so that was easily sorted out. When I got to my hostel I checked in and worked on some homework for my online English class. About 2 hours later I got a message from Dennis that he and the group (Katie, Stacey, Oleg, and Marianna) had arrived at their hostel on the other side of the city. We made plans to meet up near my hostel an hour later, so I went back to my room and got cleaned up.
We met up at the O'Connell Monument near my hostel, which is pretty close to what you would say is the center of the city. From there we walked to the Temple Bar district which was only a few blocks away. We walked up and down the streets looking for a reasonably priced dinner, but this wasn't easy cause Temple Bar is probably one of the most expensive areas in the city. We ended up splitting up, with Katie, Stacey, and I going to a small cafe in the district and Oleg, Dennis, and Marianna going to Burger King which was back where we had started the walk.
After dinner we all regrouped at a pub in the district which was really nice. They had some live music playing and I had the best pint of Guiness I've ever had. We hung out here for a few expensive rounds then went in search of a club. We found one just down the block. It was 5 stories tall with a different theme on each floor. The cover was pretty steep so Oleg and Marianna decided to go back to the hostel for the night while the rest of us went in to dance. We stayed there for probably 3 hours or so and then headed out. Thankfully my hostel is right on the border of the Temple Bar district so it only took me about 10 minutes to walk back while Dennis, Katie, and Stacey had about a 40 minute walk ahead of them. I was feeling pretty hungry so I grabbed some Subway on my way. Back at the hostel I wolfed down the sub and did some finishing touches on my English paper before submitting it and going to bed.
(Saturday, May 2)
I got up fairly early so I could snatch some free continental breakfast in the kitchen at my hostel. The breakfast was pretty lame, but it was at least something. After breakfast I met up with the rest of the group and we walked along the Liffey River, which runs through the center of Dublin, to the Guiness Storehouse. We paid our entry fee and set off on the self-guided tour of all 7 floors. It was like an adult version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Along the way their was a tasting area so we downed a few half pints while we were there and kept on going. At the top there was a restaurant and with your entry you get a free pint of Guiness so we stopped into the restaurant to redeem our coupons and get something to eat. They were serving some hot sandwiches and I had probably the best roast beef sandwich I've ever eaten in my life. After lunch we descended back to the lobby, bought some souvenirs, and headed out.
Katie and Stacey decided to go back to their hostel for a nap while the rest of us pressed on to see more of the city. The first stop on our walk was Dublin Castle. The name is quite deceptive as only a tiny part of it still looks like a normal castle. Most of it looks like some kind of Victorian palace or something like that. Next stop was Christ's Church. We didn't bother going in, we simply walked past it but it looked kinda neat. After that we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral is fairly plain from the outside and we didn't want to pay to go inside, but the park outside of the cathedral was nice so we laid down in the grass for a quick siesta. Next up was St. Stephen's Green. This was certainly the best part of the afternoon. St. Stephen's Green is a beautiful park in the southern part of the city. Its filled with criss-crossing footpaths that take you along little ponds and past flower gardens. We walked around the park for a bit before coming to rest on a patch of grass near one of the ponds. We all laid down for a bit and I fell asleep for probably about 30 minutes. Our last stop on our tour of the city was Trinity College. Sadly by the time we got there it was starting to rain so we didn't walk around it as much as I would have liked. I'm sure its a nice campus to walk around and I will go there if I make it back to Dublin again. When we left Trinity College we headed back to my hostel which was fairly close by.
Back at my hostel we all relaxed on the couches in the lobby and checked our email on my laptop. We made plans to meet up with Katie and Stacey in an hour so while we waited I went back to my room and shower up. When I came back to the lobby Dennis, Oleg, and Marianna were all asleep on the couches. I shook them around a bit and reluctantly they got up. We left the hostel and met back up with Katie and Stacey. The first order of business for the evening was dinner. Since it was Dennis' birthday we let him decide and we ended up grabbing some lackluster Chinese food. After dinner we walked once more into the Temple Bar district in search of some drinks. The first place we came to was a bar on the bottom floor of a hotel. The place was pretty fancy and it was really busy so we decided to join in. We managed to find an open table and I headed to the bar for a round. It took me about 30 minutes to get a drink, which led to our decision to leave after that round. When we left there were some people in the street handing out flyers for a nearby strip club so we decided to go there so we could embarass the birthday boy. When we got to the door of the club they said that no ladies were allowed to come in so we nixed that idea and instead went looking for a pub. We ended up going to The Temple Bar, which was one of the coolest pubs I've ever been in. It was completely packed so there wasn't a whole lot of space to move around, but the atmosphere was great. We had a few drinks there before we called it a night. We walked out to the main street then said our goodbyes cause I was going to Edinburgh in the morning by myself.
Dublin Photos
My bus from Limerick arrived in Dublin around 5pm. I had forgotten to check where my hostel was before getting on the bus, but much to my surprise the bus actually had free Internet access and I had my laptop on me so that was easily sorted out. When I got to my hostel I checked in and worked on some homework for my online English class. About 2 hours later I got a message from Dennis that he and the group (Katie, Stacey, Oleg, and Marianna) had arrived at their hostel on the other side of the city. We made plans to meet up near my hostel an hour later, so I went back to my room and got cleaned up.
We met up at the O'Connell Monument near my hostel, which is pretty close to what you would say is the center of the city. From there we walked to the Temple Bar district which was only a few blocks away. We walked up and down the streets looking for a reasonably priced dinner, but this wasn't easy cause Temple Bar is probably one of the most expensive areas in the city. We ended up splitting up, with Katie, Stacey, and I going to a small cafe in the district and Oleg, Dennis, and Marianna going to Burger King which was back where we had started the walk.
After dinner we all regrouped at a pub in the district which was really nice. They had some live music playing and I had the best pint of Guiness I've ever had. We hung out here for a few expensive rounds then went in search of a club. We found one just down the block. It was 5 stories tall with a different theme on each floor. The cover was pretty steep so Oleg and Marianna decided to go back to the hostel for the night while the rest of us went in to dance. We stayed there for probably 3 hours or so and then headed out. Thankfully my hostel is right on the border of the Temple Bar district so it only took me about 10 minutes to walk back while Dennis, Katie, and Stacey had about a 40 minute walk ahead of them. I was feeling pretty hungry so I grabbed some Subway on my way. Back at the hostel I wolfed down the sub and did some finishing touches on my English paper before submitting it and going to bed.
(Saturday, May 2)
I got up fairly early so I could snatch some free continental breakfast in the kitchen at my hostel. The breakfast was pretty lame, but it was at least something. After breakfast I met up with the rest of the group and we walked along the Liffey River, which runs through the center of Dublin, to the Guiness Storehouse. We paid our entry fee and set off on the self-guided tour of all 7 floors. It was like an adult version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Along the way their was a tasting area so we downed a few half pints while we were there and kept on going. At the top there was a restaurant and with your entry you get a free pint of Guiness so we stopped into the restaurant to redeem our coupons and get something to eat. They were serving some hot sandwiches and I had probably the best roast beef sandwich I've ever eaten in my life. After lunch we descended back to the lobby, bought some souvenirs, and headed out.
Katie and Stacey decided to go back to their hostel for a nap while the rest of us pressed on to see more of the city. The first stop on our walk was Dublin Castle. The name is quite deceptive as only a tiny part of it still looks like a normal castle. Most of it looks like some kind of Victorian palace or something like that. Next stop was Christ's Church. We didn't bother going in, we simply walked past it but it looked kinda neat. After that we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral is fairly plain from the outside and we didn't want to pay to go inside, but the park outside of the cathedral was nice so we laid down in the grass for a quick siesta. Next up was St. Stephen's Green. This was certainly the best part of the afternoon. St. Stephen's Green is a beautiful park in the southern part of the city. Its filled with criss-crossing footpaths that take you along little ponds and past flower gardens. We walked around the park for a bit before coming to rest on a patch of grass near one of the ponds. We all laid down for a bit and I fell asleep for probably about 30 minutes. Our last stop on our tour of the city was Trinity College. Sadly by the time we got there it was starting to rain so we didn't walk around it as much as I would have liked. I'm sure its a nice campus to walk around and I will go there if I make it back to Dublin again. When we left Trinity College we headed back to my hostel which was fairly close by.
Back at my hostel we all relaxed on the couches in the lobby and checked our email on my laptop. We made plans to meet up with Katie and Stacey in an hour so while we waited I went back to my room and shower up. When I came back to the lobby Dennis, Oleg, and Marianna were all asleep on the couches. I shook them around a bit and reluctantly they got up. We left the hostel and met back up with Katie and Stacey. The first order of business for the evening was dinner. Since it was Dennis' birthday we let him decide and we ended up grabbing some lackluster Chinese food. After dinner we walked once more into the Temple Bar district in search of some drinks. The first place we came to was a bar on the bottom floor of a hotel. The place was pretty fancy and it was really busy so we decided to join in. We managed to find an open table and I headed to the bar for a round. It took me about 30 minutes to get a drink, which led to our decision to leave after that round. When we left there were some people in the street handing out flyers for a nearby strip club so we decided to go there so we could embarass the birthday boy. When we got to the door of the club they said that no ladies were allowed to come in so we nixed that idea and instead went looking for a pub. We ended up going to The Temple Bar, which was one of the coolest pubs I've ever been in. It was completely packed so there wasn't a whole lot of space to move around, but the atmosphere was great. We had a few drinks there before we called it a night. We walked out to the main street then said our goodbyes cause I was going to Edinburgh in the morning by myself.
Dublin Photos
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