We began bright and early on Saturday morning. We got on the bus at 9 and headed to the train station. the next four hours were spent relaxing on the train and getting a glimpse of the beautiful UK countryside. Once we arrived in Edinburgh we had a little bit of trouble finding our accommodations, but once we did, we couldn't have been happier with the results. It was the perfect sized "family room" for the three of us with a couch, futon, and queen sized bed. After we got settled in we decided to explore the town a little bit. We roamed around and found a nice Indian restaurant for dinner. After dinner we were exhausted so we called it a night. We went home and spent a couple hours indulging in some much needed tea, cookies (also known as biscuits to the locals) and girl talk, and then hit the hay.
We woke up early again the next morning because we knew we needed to get a jump start, as we had a lot of activities in mind for the day. We started out having breakfast, then ventured over to the nearest place with a wi-fi connection (which just so happened to be a Starbucks). Our apartment internet conveniently wasn't working so we resorted to buying three bottles of water to use the wi-fi at Starbucks in order to figure out what activities we wanted to plan our day around.
First stop, a tour at the Edinburgh Dungeon! The tour guided you around the dungeon where spooky characters re-enacted some of Edinburgh's scariest history. After that we got some lunch, did a little vendor shopping around the town and then went to our next tour: Mary King's Close. This tour takes you through the underground streets and buildings of Edinburgh that was once bustling with people, until it was used as a foundation for the building of the Royal Exchange in the 1700s. Parts of the Close are still preserved underground and there are many stories associated with the area that you hear throughout the tour. It was so interesting (and a little bit eerie) to be so far underground while knowing that hundreds of years ago, low class people were also there, living in filth and dying of the bubonic plague. (Quite an uplifting thought, right?)
After the tour we high-tailed it to the Scotch Whiskey Experience. (Because who goes to Scotland and passes up an opportunity to try some authentic Scotch whisky?) At this tour we took a "barrel ride" through the whiskey making process and then got to have a tasting of whiskey from a region of our choice. We also got to see the world's biggest Scotch whiskey collection! After this, we were in dire need of some dinner, so we wandered around until we found the Royal Mile Tavern. Since we were embracing the "touristy-ness" (for lack of a better word) of our day, we decided to be ambitious. We tried the haggis! In the form of small, fried balls with a sweet and spicy chili sauce. Naturally, at first we were skeptical. But we dove in, trying not to think about exactly what we were eating, and we tried it.
And I must say, haggis is pretty darn tasty! And I feel much more adventurous and cultured having tried it!
Finally after dinner three very tired tourists began trucking on home. On the walk back we passed a little cafe that we noticed sold deep fried mars bars. And since it was on the way home, and since we hadn't had dessert, and since we are the greatest tourists of all time, we just had to. Go big or go home, am I right?
Quite honestly, it was a melted candy bar encased in fried batter. Simple as that. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.
And that was it! The next morning we packed our bags, had a quick breakfast, and we were on the next train back to Nottingham!
Some photos from the weekend (in no particular order):
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