Water of Life

So its on to Country number two!

We left fairly early Wednesday morning to catch our train to Edinburgh. We arrived there at exactly 3:00, I'm not sure if it was coincidence or if British trains are always right on time. Scotland is very beautiful, and its way different than anywhere I've ever been before. The buildings architecture is quite a bit different, and the stone used is very unusually, it looks like they have been burnt. And the countryside was also different, rolling hills with hay fields, and I see where all the sheep and Scots jokes come from. Fields are full of them. It was interesting to see hay bails next to salt water.

Edinburgh was more of a compact city, at least as far as sightseeing goes. there hasn't been a need to take a bus anywhere, which is nice on the wallet. At first i found myself walking in the middle of the streets thinking they were walkways, but the roads are all stone. They aren't flat or smooth, i would guess it would be like constantly driving on the rumble strips.

On Thursday we had probably the best day so far. We had a nice day with a cool breeze, so we hiked up to see Arthur's Seat at the top of a huge hill (seemed more like a small mountain, took us over an hour). We could see everywhere and the landscape was amazing, it was worth the long hike for sure. After that we toured the nearby Castle, which is perched on the ledge of a cliff (no wonder they never lost a battle there). We also took the whiskey tour. We learned about scotch and took a few taste tests, we learned that whiskey(whisky here) comes from 'water of life'. I cant remember right now what Latin word it came from but you get the idea. So then we went out for dinner after and went on a pub crawl organized by the hostel. We got to meet a few people, a bunch of Canadians, (enough to sing the anthem loud enough for the whole bar to hear) I was slightly embarrassed... but what the hell, when if Rome right? I don't think i get that saying. But also with the pub crawl we got to experience several bars and several different kinds of beers. And thanks to a new friend who inherited a large sum of money some of our drinks were free!!! it was the most expensive day so far tho.

On Friday we took it easy, and spent very little to make up for the day before, but it was fun too. I am quickly learning that each hostel will have its own unique feel. I kind of assumed that they would be pretty much the same. But the atmosphere here is way different than London. Its like everyone here is a family, which wasn't that fun at first because we weren't part of the family. People stay in this hostel for months and months at a time. So its more of a permanent home for them. But they are friendly and once we had a few drinks in us we were all talking and having fun. We also had a fairly lucky coincidence, Jacks had friends who happened to be visiting as well and staying in the same hostel, which gave us some instafriends there too.
Edinburgh seems like a place that you could stay for a long time though, i see why this hostel is so tight.

That's about it for now,
cheers