Scotland. The land where their national flower is the thistle and their national animal is the unicorn. This is a very good summary of Scotland... as it is the land where bins are non existent and toilets hard to find, but haggis is sold in a sweet shops and men wear kilts.
Our journey to Edinburgh was long (9hrs) but both Amelia and I managed to get some sleep on the bus. Despite our sleep deprived brains we managed to find our way to the address of our accommodation, lugging our huge backpacks up cobbled streets. The address was easy enough to find but as our first AirBnb experience was in an apartment block, the trick was to find the right apartment. Harder than you might think. After wondering around for about 15 minutes looking at all the numbers on the houses we finally found the right block and the right buzzer. Sure enough we are let up to our room where we were met at the door by a lady. That doesn't sound very traumatic does it? This little detail might make is sound more so: she wasn't wearing any trousers. (Just as a note I have learned to say trousers as opposed to pants as in the UK pants mean underwear.) Without a hello or a 'how are you doing' she told us to leave our bags in the hall. We dropped them and ran. Or rather attempted not to giggle all the way down the stairs. So that was our introduction to Edinburgh. Crazy Scots.
Oh how I love those crazy Scots, for they built one of the most beautiful cities I've had the privilege of visiting yet. We had booked a free walking tour from Sandmans (highly recommend this) and our tour guide was a Scottish man called Billy. Billy took us around the city and with much hilarity and with jazz hands he showed us a snippet of what is Edinburgh. We learned about equine statues (and the way you can tell how the rider died), heard fun stories about how tartan became legal again due to Sir Walter Scott and saw the cafe that J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. It was so great and we were able to see corners of the city that we would never have known about. After the tour was finished we found lunch and then headed off to Edinburgh castle. By this time our feet were sore and the lack of sleep was catching up with us but we persisted and walked up to the castle. The views from the castle were incredible and the knowledge of the history behind it frankly blew my mind.
It was truly spectacular but by this time we were tired, it was cold (someone broke summer in Edinburgh), and we had plans to go to church that night. So we settled down in Edinburgh's beautiful garden which is just below the castle (or rather the rock the castle is on). We purchased our obligatory ice-cream and I may or may not have slept for a little bit.
That night Amelia had found a baptist church down a little lane called Rose Lane. Walking down the street on both sides are cafes and pubs until we arrive at a entrance for Charlotte Chapel Baptist Church. There were two angels of men who were handing out hot drinks. We eagerly accepted them and nervously stepped into the church.
So. Good.
Like seriously so so good. The message was the gospel message about 2 Peter 3, and it was challenging and it applicable. So so so good. After the service had finished we chatted to a couple for a while. I then found out that the husband had actually been to L'abri when he was younger, so that was a fun connection to make. After we left the church we headed down Rose Lane to where we had seen Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant. However we were politely informed that they were booked out for the next 2 hours. So we decided to go to a pub and have a pub meal. We had dinner and walked back to our accommodation with some nervousness. Turns out we had a right to be nervous, again we had our host show us to our rooms with no trousers on. The room was comfortable however and she left us alone for the rest of our stay so it was in all not a terrible stay.
The next day we dropped our bags off at the bus station into lockers and headed down the other end of the Royal Mile (one end is Edinburgh castle, the other is parliament and the Queen's residence when she is in town). We decided we had enough time to hike up Arthur's Seat. So off we set... and what a walk it was.
It was a steep walk and I know that I turned around and "admired the view" many times in order to rest my poor legs. But the view was worth every step. 360 degree view of Edinburgh on a perfect day made the experience one of my favorite yet this trip. It was truly incredible. We then walked all the way down and to the bus station where we set off for Glasgow. But Glasgow will have to wait for another day I think.
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