Kilts, Cashmere, and Arthur's Seat: Scotland

Scotland the Brave: A traditional Scottish Folk Song

Towering in gallant fame,

Scotland my mountain hame,

High may your proud standards gloriously wave,

Land of my high endeavour,

Land of the shining river,

Land of my heart for ever,

Scotland the brave.

This weekend twelve of us ventured out into the land of Scotland, into a town called Edinburgh.  We left early, early Friday morning and hopped on a train. Our train ride was about three hours and once near Edinburgh it took us all along the coastline. When we arrived we headed straight to our hostel to drop our luggage off. Unfortunately the weather made this trek an interesting one with the rain and hill and windy roads. Our hostel was by far probably the nicest hostel I will be staying at for the next four months. We stayed at the Art Roch. They had a chill room that was huge with foosball, couches, a stage, a hammock and a full kitchen which we later cooked a family dinner in. They also had a garden patio and of course our eighteen person bunk bed room! Since there were only twelve of us we had a couple of roommates who needless to say “spiced” up our weekend. Carl (or as he would pronounce it Car) and Krissy were from Australia but were not traveling together, Dave Cave from Canada and a few others.

             Although it was too early to check into our hostel they do have a luggage storage room where we stored our luggage as we got lunch and explored the town a little. Our hostel was in a prime location and we could walk everywhere. We walked over to Arthur’s castle and the famous Royal Mile. Once all checked in we cleaned ourselves up and headed out for Mexican dinner. The sun was setting just after dinner and it’s at this time right outside our hostel that the picture in front of the castle was taken. All twelve of us proceeded to explore the night life that Edinburgh had to offer. We met men in Kilt that attempted to teach us traditional Scottish dance, it was quite the experience.

 

(This is the only picure with all twelve us + one more )

            The next morning we woke up the twelve of us along with some of our roommates from the hostel trekked up Arthur’s Seat. Words and Pictures can’t even come close to describing the amazing views we had. Arthur’s Seat is no walk in the park to get up to as you can be able to tell in pictures, and might I add myself and Talia did the hike in flip flops (not knowing this is what we were getting ourselves into) The hike up there consisted of grassy hill paths, stepping stones climbing straight up, lose gravel and lots and lots of Wind! The views on the way to the top were spectacular. Nothing can compare to the scenery from the top though. Once at the top we sat (as well as hung on for dear life because of the wind) for a good thirty to forty minuets just taking in the beauty of it all. It’s just a reminder as to what God’s work as to offer and that there’s so much out there in the world. You can sit at the top of this climb and look out one way and see all that Edinburgh has to offer with castles and cobble streets, winding streets, churches, golf course, local life; you can see it all. Turn the other direction and you see the Ocean stretching as far as the eye can see.

            Saturday night was “family dinner night” the boys cooked for everyone and made an amazing meal ( probably the best since I’ve been here) Andy made homemade meat balls well Mason and some of the other boys made garlic toast with cheese and basil on it, we also had spaghetti noodles, sauce, salad and cookies for desert. We made enough food to share others, some may say we over did it. But yet even with all this food it only came out to three pounds per person… way cheaper then eating out!! (Note to self… book hostels with kitchens). The hostel was hosting live music and an organized pub crawl so we definitely did all that. It was at the live music we were able to really meet people from the hostel which is an experience in itself. We met Simon and Quentin from France (although they appear to be from Spain) we spoke little English. We met a group of boys from Notre Dame who are studying in London.  People from all over Europe, Ireland, France, and Germany, it was so neat to be able to exchange about culture and life styles and other trip experiences.

            The following morning was an early one we had to be check out of the hostel in the morning but again were able to store our luggage there for the day. After having breakfast at a small café close to our hostel we headed to a Whiskey Distillery where they give tours and tastings. You ride in a barrel and it’s like a ride where it takes you through the steps of making Whiskey from water and barely. We then were led into a room where our tour guide told us more about the different kinds of Whiskey and where in Scotland they are made. It then was time for us to taste the Whiskey we had chosen, where after taking a baby sip I decided Whiskey just isn’t for me and passed the rest of my glass on to one of the boys in our group. The tasting itself was in a room in which one man had collected and never opened over 3,000 bottles of whiskey.

            After the tour we decided after being together all twelve of us all weekend we would split up and do our own things as small groups, as for Laura, Veronica and I… we went shopping! We walked all along Royal Mile which is home to shops, pubs, restaurants, and lots of people in customs. There was a women who holds the world record for most piercings, we currently has just over 2,600.  After a long day of walking around it was finally time to head back to the manor. After a long action packed weekend with very, very little sleep we looked forward to a three hour train ride to sleep. Until we were ever so lucky to have ten forty year old not married living at home drunken men come onto our train about an hour before our stop… Let me tell you that was probably the most entertainment I’ll see on the train while here in Europe.

Well as for this week we have an educational field trip to the town of Lincoln on Wednesday and then Thursday Laura, Veronica, and I head out for Oktoberfest!!

Miss you and love you all!