Day two in Scotland began as a lovely sunny morning (although it never got properly dark). I woke up, went and took a shower, came back, and there was Nicky. In his birthday suit plus socks. just chillin out in his bed chatting up a storm with me like it was nothing. Everyone else was running around getting showers and getting dressed and Nicky and Paulie were just lounging about in bed. Pretty sure they were still pretty drunk. But I can't complain because it was most definitely an entertaining way to start off the day. After we were all dressed and ready to embark on our day's adventure, we headed up to the hostel's bar--which during the day is more of a cafe--and had breakfast. I had "orange drink" and some toast with nutella (YUM) on it. There is a reason I refuse to actually buy the stuff. It is all I would ever eat. Anywho, we finished our yummy but simple breakfasts (hey its free, who is complaining), and went down to reception to ask how to go on our merry way. And then we went.
We first decided to go to climb the volcano, Arthur's Seat. It was hot out and it was the attraction we wanted to see that was farthest out so we figured we would get it done when it wasn't yet noon and we would then work our way in from there. It wasn't a tough climb or anything (keeping in mind that none of us had really brought proper walking shoes except pratik...guess it may have been a good idea to plan this all out before we got there) but it was kind of steep for the first half. We got nice and toasty. We chatted as we walked up and when we made it to the top the view was just gorgeous. You could see the entire city and the monuments that we had been seeing around town like the Scot's Monument that looked so big from the town center looked so SMALL from up there. We sat there for at least an hour. Legs dangling off the edge of this huge grassy volcano, a nice breeze, just looking out. It was one of the most perfect moments of my life. One of those moments that seems to encompass forever even though it feels like it only lasts a fraction of a second. Looking out at all of that beauty I couldn't help but feel that no matter what happens to me in my life, in a world where places like this exist, something good will come of it. I dunno. It doesn't even make sense when I write it. It probably doesn't even make sense when I try to explain it. But in that short time looking out over what can only over and over be described as breathtaking beauty, anything seems possible.
Anywho, we finally decided we should get up otherwise we wouldn't get through any of the things we had planned to do that day...and we were all MAD hungry after the climb up there. So we took one last look out at the view and then started to make our way back down the volcano. After taking one last look out at the view we came down from Arthur's Seat and started walking back towards the town center. On the way there we came across a restaurant that looked good for all of us. It had normal food, vegetarian food, AND it had haggis, neeps, and taters. Erin really wanted to try haggis and she got Maggie to split a sample portion with her....to both of their surprise, we discovered that haggis unexpectedly crunches in places where there should be no crunch...hmmm....glad to be a vegetarian. PS, for those of you who don't know, look up haggis because I'm not telling you what's in it. Its that bad. So we finished up eating, settled the bill, and then went back outside to head towards the National Museum of Scotland. However, we got slightly sidetracked along the way. We ran smack dab into the start of the gay pride parade's march through edinburgh. I'm talking huge blue double decker bus full men dressed as the village people with the sound system BLARING macho man. What did you expect? OF COURSE we started dancing along with them. hahaha. It was glorious. We got stickers and posters and one guy had on the same stunner shades as I have :) Kieran invited me to go with him to the parade in London on July 3....but I dunno if I wanna go participate (it costs 25 pounds...thas a lot) or just go cheer them on as they march by (which is probably what I'll end up doing) But nonetheless. It was a blast. So after that we finally made it to the National Museum.
The things we wanted to see at the museum: harry potter chess set (Lewis Chess men), Raja aka Pratik (endangered Sumatra tiger) Ching Ching (Panda bear) and DOLLY (my long lost love). So we started with the Lewis Chess Men and then worked our way through the animals. These chess men basically inspired the Harry Potter chess men and are also some of the oldest chess pieces known to man. However, what makes them so special is the way they look--each one of them is so intricately carved, especially in the face, that one can instantly know not only the purpose of the piece, but also see all of its facial features and even the emotions the artist decided to give it. So after we saw the chess men, we went to go see Raja and Ching Ching. Ok so I'm not really sure at all what the tiger's name really was but it was a stuffed sumatran tigress and her baby cub (the Sumatran Tiger is an endangered species). We all think Pratik looks like Raja, the tiger from Aladdin, so we decided it was something we needed to see. And Ching Ching...well I mean, next to Penguins (and possibly Koala bears), who doesn't think a panda bear is just about the most adorable thing in the world? After seeing these two, we moved down to the bottom floor to go see Dolly.
Dolly--the sheep who was so controversially cloned oh so long (not so long) ago--has now passed (although her clone lives on) and is stuffed and chillin out in the National Museum of Scotland. Her namesake, for those of you who are wondering, is Dolly Parton, who has her own set of rather famous...twins. So for those of you who don't know, I enjoy a good BAAAAAA. so I feel that Dolly and I had a good connection right from the get go. I mean, we basically were meant to meet. I'm just sad I couldn't meet her when she was still alive to have a good chat. Oh well.
After visiting the museum, we made our way to the Edinburgh Castle. Out of all the castles I have seen since we have been in England, this is by far the most renovated. And while it is great that the rooms and things have been turned into memorial's and mini museums explaining the history of the place, and it is BEAUTIFULLY situated overlooking the city, I feel like it may have been lacking in some of the regal-ness of the other castles (even though those were more empty) just because the others hadn't been changed to pretend to be something they weren't. But it was still pretty incredible. We went and looked at the war memorial, we went to the Great Hall where a school choir had put on a performance and was singing "Defying Gravity" from Wiked...one of my favorite songs. We went into the royal apartments, AND WE SAW THE CROWN JEWELS OF SCOTLAND. We saw the sword, the scepter, and the crown. We also saw the Stone of Destiny, which Marky Mark had told us allllll about the day before. It actually has a pretty interesting story. It was the stone upon which all of the Scottish Kings were originally crowned. Then England took it. A student at Edinburgh University decided that for guts and glory he was going to steal it. He actually succeeded in stealing it from Westminster Abbey in the 1950s. He also broke it into two pieces in the process, but he had it put back together. However, the Scottish Police turned it back over to England and it was eventually returned to Scotland by the Queen. So all is well again. Kinda. We took some pictures at the Castle, and then decided it was time to head back to the hostel for a little nap.
We had been on our feet all day and I thought I was going to pass out while I was still standing up. So we went back and went to sleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up Nicky and Paulie were back. Naked again. hahahaha. They seem to hate clothing about as much as I do. They had gone sight seeing a little during the day and had come back to shower. They went out to drink and we went out to eat dinner, drink, and watch the USA game. We would meet up later to go on a ghost tour together. So we went to the Bank Bar to watch the USA game. The service was terrible, the bartender was a bitch, and the food didn't suck, but it wasn't really worth the hastle. This was probably the only place I didn't like in the whole of Edinburgh. We literally waited I think for about an hour before we got most of our dishes and all the person who took our order said was "don't worry it's coming" and then they sent one of us the wrong sandwich. Twice. Its not like we ordered elaborate meals or anything either. It was like...nachos...chips (fries)...and sandwiches. Anywho. We didn't wanna leave because they had a TV showing the game and we had a table (in hindsight the empty table should have been a sign). So we dealt with it. All to see the US fail miserably and have a fat ginger redfaced scotsman scream "f***ing Americans" at us at the end of the game (which we completely did not deserve. Sorry buddy. Can't really help the fact that I was born there. If you wanna take it up with my mom, I'm sure she would have some lovely choice words to say to you). That was our one and only experience in Scotland with someone being completely and utterly rude to us as well. So Bank Bar. To you I say....you suck.
After Bank Bar we headed back to our meeting place with the tour company we had been using--neweurope tours. They are really cool I like them. Very informative. We met our tourguide for our Ghost Tour!!! haha so this ghost tour. Edinburgh is supposed to be one of the most haunted cities in the world. Really...its just a bunch of creepy ass weirdos in their history. We did, however, learn about the first case to ever be solved forensically by a Dr. Bell. A man poisoned his wife and then to hide the evidence created a gas leak in his home and lit it on fire. Dr. Bell was able, for the first time ever, to prove that the woman had been dead before the explosion. That she was not killed by it but rather by a poison. At the time, a young man by the name of Arthur Conan Doyle was working in Dr. Bell's apprenticeship. That's right. THIS STUFF WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR SHERLOCK HOLMESSSSSS. WHAAA?! But yah. We learned all sorts of weird stuff about what people used to believe about fairies (the not good kind) and vampires and the such. The perhaps scariest part was a true story we were told about a man who cut his friend's head off and drank his blood when his friend said something rude about his friend's "girlfriend." Now pass this off as some weird scary medieval shit, but let me tell you. It happened in 2004. Not so medieval huh? The crazy guy who thought he was a vampire was in love with Queen Akasha (Alliyah) in the movie Queen of the Damned and decided that when his friend told him it was just a movie and in fact the actress had already passed, it was time to kill for his queen. WHAT A WEIRDIE.
After the ghost tour the company bought us all a pint and then we went off on our merry way. We also separated from Nicky and Paulie, who we would see later at the Hostel. We went to Rose Street and ended up at this bar where the whole crowd had a good 20 years on us. But that did not stop us from having a blast. Maggie and I heard ABBA blaring from their speakers from outside and demanded that we go in. One of the best decisions of the night. SO MUCH FUN. We danced to all the oldies and then some. Some scottish music too. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, that place closed around 12:30, so the search was on for another place to continue our Scottish adventure. What do we find? A crazy ass latina club in the basement of a building in the middle of Edinburgh? Sounds good to me. The place was called El Barrio, and it was crazy. There were tequila girls going around pouring tequila shots for people on the dance floor and people dancing salsa all over the place. It was like little mexico in the middle of Edinburgh. It was awesome. I danced salsa, meringue, taught prats how to, and just had a great time in general. Finally, around 2:30 ish we decided it was time to head back to our hostel. So we began the journey back. We got back, got in our jammies, and got in bed. Nicky and Paulie were already there. We all talked drunkenly in the dark for a while before dozing off to sleep.
We woke up on Sunday morning and got ready to trek back to the bus station to get on the bus and head back to London. We said our farewells to Nicky and Paulie, who were leaving in the afternoon, and began a somewhat sad walk. We enjoyed our time in Edinburgh so much. The city, the group we were with, everything seemed to just work out for us. We got on the bus. If the trip to edinburgh was arctic thunder, then the trip back was like the sahara desert. Dear England: please invest in better air control in your transport vehicles so we do not have to resort to opening emergency exits to get some air flow going. So we ended up sitting near each other but next to some random people. Which usually freaks me out but it turns out the guy I was sitting next to is a really interesting person. His name is Parris and he is a music video director in New York. He runs a company called Goreela. He started the company up himself and is now doing things with some pretty big artists (not their hit songs or anything, but the lower key songs on albums). He has worked with Busta Rhymes, P Diddy, Jay Z, and the like. He was a really interesting person to talk to as far as just talking the logistics of business and business relations and the evolution of the music industry. He also had a wireless internet card so we streamed the England game while we were on the bus (it was about a 10 hour ride back) and watch them get obliterated by Germany. When we got back to London we headed back to the Crofton. Our internships start this week so we got everything in order, made dinner, parted ways, and got set to start off as working londoners!
Radhi
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