scotland!!!

so we went to scotland this last weekend... we left thursday morning and traveled and stayed there until sunday... it was pretty, the people we a lot more friendly then in oxford but we stayed in edinburgh in a hostel that was called castle rock hostel right by edinburgh castle. it was a magnificent view and was a really fun hostel. each room had a theme and inside all the beds were of that theme.. they had a big game room and there were so many other kids staying there and the inside of the hostel looked like a castle and was set up like them it was fun

meiko and i decided we were really thirsty so we bought huge water bottles for the plane... forgetting that you cannot take bottles pass security we had a little chugging contest :o)

my bed for the next few days

our fun hostel

the view of edinburgh castle from our hostel

the first day out and about we did a ton of things.. or so it felt like.. we started the morning at 9 and got breakfast at mcdonalds.. haha everything else was expensive and we wanted a taste of home and a place to map out or day. the first thing we did was edinburgh castle, we had a tour guide and we just walked around the castle and into all the rooms. the castle took up quite a bit more time then we thought but after that we went to the scottish war museum. it was bigger then i expected but the best part was seeing the crowned jewels!

trevor, me, meiko, and lauren waiting for the tour to start

where the crowned jewels are housed

a view from the top

another view from the top..

group shot on the top of the castle!!

arthur's seat

ready for battle

after we left the castle we had lunch at this amazing mexican food restaurant... it was soo good but really it was better because they dont have much mexican food here and we all missed it. after lunch we walked around for a little bit then decided to walk up arthur's seat. we got on the bus and headed that way but were just observing the city and missed the stop.. instead of getting out and getting on another bus we decided to just stay on because it would circle around.. haha well it didnt it was the end of his route and that was fun. so we got to the other side of town and had to ride all the way back on a different bus just in time for it to start raining.. it was great. so we ran to the bottom of the hill took a picture then got back on the bus.. quite exciting. so we decided to make the best of missing it an go shopping! that was fun they have a lot of similar stores but everything is so expensive so we just walked around and looked and stuff. we then were exhausted and went back to take naps. after a quick nap we had a mystery ghost tour planned but we missed the meeting spot so we had to reschedule. so we went and got some dinner at this little place and hung out there for a while. we walked around the city and all around the city centre and then kinda got tired and headed to the hostel to hang out and play trival pursuit!

eating mexican fooood!!!!!

riding on the bus

saturday was an early day once again.. we started out eating breakfast at the hostel and then decided what we wanted to do for the day.. doug and i went to the zoo and then meiko trevor and lauren went to the scotch whisky heritage center

sealions!

the reason i wanted to go.. UK's only koalas!! arent the precious!?

polar bears! there were a lot of other ones and i have lots more pictures but these were my favorites

so after we met up with the other three and went to the loch ness experience. there is this creature named nessie, or so some say, and its a debate on if this creature really exists. it was rated one of the best things to do so we did it. it was kinda lame but we got to wear cool 3d glasses and headphones.

the group
after this we went to the camera obscura and the world of illusions. its this huge "eye in the sky" and its a live moving panorama of the city.. the world of illusions was 3 stories full of hands on exhibits and lots of weird stuff.. it was meiko's favorite place.

meiko couldn't stand up to look at the mirror long enough to take a picture. she would stand up and fall over laughing cause she had never seen anything like this.. we were in front of these mirrors for a good 10 minutes. haha she was crying she was laughing so hard.. it was quite amusing.

at this point we were starving so we headed to eat lunch at a local favorite. it was pretty good and not too expensive, it kinda reminded me of chilis... then we went to the dungeon where they reenact this edinburgh's great fire or something and its like a theme park ride and it tells stories and stuff but it started raining so since we had so much fun hanging out on the bus we went and got ice cream, picked a different bus to see a different part of the city and rode around for about an hour. it was funnn so after we went and got some souvenirs and then headed back to the hostel. after a quick nap we went on the myster tour we missed the night before. it was a murder and mystery tour that walked us around the city in haunted alleyways and told stories about witchcraft, the plague, tortures, bodysnatching and stuff that happened in the old days. there were ghosts all on the tour that would jump out and scare us and our guide was hilarious. it was a lot of fun but we were hungry and exhausted after so we went to a place to get a typical scottish dinner.. after getting inside and realizing that a typical scottish dish is haggis-- a sheeps stomach stuffed with spiced liver, offal, oatmeal and onion and eaten with mashed turnips and mashed potatoes. well after reading that on a menu we quickly decided to allow this time to not eat the typical meal.. i got salmon and a baked potato that was delicious. after dinner we wlaked around a little but it was getting late so we went to sit at a coffee shop and talk about our day, haggis, and the trip back home on sunday. we headed back to the hostel to pack and climb in bed for another early day..

sunday we just woke up at 6 and took the bus to the airport.. after a long day of traveling we got back home around 4, unpacked, and had 9 o clock.. it was a good weekend but not somewhere i would like to go again and again. it was good to go once though and see everything