Thursday, July 14, 2011

Ok, so I may have lied...

I know I said I was going to post days three and four of Scotland a few days ago, but the truth is that I hadn't actually written them!  I've just had an incredible amount of schoolwork to keep up with this week... but I have some time right now, so here we go!!

First of all, anyone who went to Scotland with me two years back knows that I developed a serious Fanta addiction while I was here.  It's just so good!! It's not like American Fanta (that gross syrupy orange soda); I guess the closest equivalent I can think of is Orangina.  Delicious.  Well, I had restrained myself from drinking it on this trip thus far, mostly because of the high sugar content... but then I discovered Fanta Zero.


Since this magical discovery, I'm pretty sure I've drank my body weight in the stuff... 

Anyways, we set off at about 11:00 and headed to the Elephant House.  If you don't already know, the Elephant House is the cafe where J.K. Rowling came up with Harry Potter, and it is quite the mecca for Harry Potter fanatics such as myself.



We went into to sit and have some coffee, and it was really quite nice (albeit crowded)... I can see why she liked it so much.  Everything is decorated with elephants!


The view of Edinburgh Castle from J.K.'s table... I know it's her table because my mom asked the waitresses when she visited two years ago.  It's so cool to think that that's where it all began... the greatest literature of our generation!! :)


After coffee, everyone wanted to go on a whisky tour.  I wan't particularly keen on the idea, but I wasn't going to stay behind if everyone else was going.

It actually ended up being pretty interesting... They told us about the different types of scotch whisky, where and how it's made, and the different properties and flavors of the different regions of Scotland.  We also got to taste one kind of scotch, and I chose a lowland Glenlivet, aged 12 years.  I mean, it was cool to try and pick out some of the aromas and flavors they had talked about, but all in all, I've concluded don't really like scotch very much!

Personally, my favorite part was this room, which houses the largest collection of Scotch whisky in the world!

I have never seen so many different kinds of bottles in my life, including some rather unique and interesting ones... Yes, both the Scottie dogs and the bagpipers are actually filled with Scotch!



The photo is kinda dark, but here's me getting ready to taste my Scotch!  We actually got to keep the tasting glasses, which I am now using to hold my toothbrush next to my sink.  Classy, no?


After the whisky tour, I decided I was going to meet up with some other friends, but we were having some cell phone issues, so I was having a hard time figuring out where exactly they were... I ended up wandering around the Royal Mile by myself for a bit, just seeing everything there was to see. There were some city regulars, such as street artists...


...some Scottish standbys, such as the bagpipers...


...and then some people who were just pure awesome, such as this man dressed as William Wallace.


I know it's not a great picture, but I was kinda being pushed and jostled about by the crowd.  I went back later to see if I could get a better picture, but, sadly, he was gone.  Probably had to go beat up on the English or something.... you know, occupational hazards of being a badass.

Finally, they texted me and told me they were at the Elephant House, so I walked down to join them.  Before we left, though, I needed to use the restroom, and this is what I discovered:


A HARRY POTTER TOILET.  And, yes, I actually used it.  I'm a firm believer in incorporating Harry Potter into all aspects of my life whenever possible.

The girls had heard about a place called Chocolate Soup and wanted to go... we weren't exactly sure what they served there, but we did know that it sounded delicious and we wanted some.  So we made our way back to the Royal Mile to check it out.


Turns out, it's a cafe famous for their rich, gourmet hot chocolates.  They were enormous, so we got two for the table, one milk chocolate and one white chocolate. 


They were incredible, but very rich and filling.  You could have one of those for lunch and be totally satisfied!

We decided to putz around for a while after that... we stopped in a few shops, looking at all of the cute tartan wear, and eventually found ourselves in front of Edinburgh Castle.


We opted not to go inside (it cost fifteen pounds!!), but instead just walked around the outside and took pictures.  Unfortunately, about three minutes after this photo was taken, a torrential-yet-characteristically-Scottish downpour began.  We decided we needed an indoor activity, so we walked down to the Scottish National Gallery.  They have some really beautiful work there (no pictures allowed, sorry!), including a nice collection of Monet and other impressionists.  Right now, they also have an installation on the Queen in art that we really wanted to see, but it closed by the time we got there.  Bummer.

At that point, we were already really close to Princes Street, and we walked down to see the famous Scott Monument, often considered the symbol of Edinburgh.


I think it's a really beautiful piece of architecture, but my path was kinda obstructed by an ENORMOUS group of elderly tourists with umbrellas standing all over the side walk, not moving.  I found it a bit irritating (similar to my dad's opinion of baby strollers).  The hold up gave me a chance to get a pretty good picture, though, so I guess it wasn't all bad.

And then, since we were already on Princes Street, we had to stop by....


TOPSHOP!!! No visit to Edinburgh is complete without a visit to Topshop! (Though I later discovered we have one here in Cambridge...oh well.)  We spent a good chunk of time shopping around, and luckily I didn't and up dropping 150 pounds like I did last time!

After Topshop, I headed back to Pollock Halls to change out of my soaking wet clothes and my rainboots-with-the-holes-in-them (don't even get me started on that one!) while the other girls went on their ghost tour.  No, thanks!  I had just decided to meet them back at the Royal Mile a few hours later, and when I got there, the sun had just started going down, allowing for some really beautiful pictures:


After we all met up, the other girls told me that they had accidentally signed up for a historical tour of the Edinburgh Vaults, rather than a ghost tour.... I was actually a little bummed, because it sounded pretty cool from what they were saying.  We started looking for a pub to celebrate our last night in Edinburgh, and we decided on Deacon Brodie's, which is actually a pretty famous place.


It was pretty crowded inside, but we found a table and ordered a round together.  A few of the girls ordered Scotch (I passed on that one), but I'm actually proud to say that I was able to guess what region they were from by their aromas!  That tour actually came in handy!  Ok, so Scotch identification isn't really a very useful skill, but it might be a good party trick at some point...


Deacon Brodie's was pretty pricey, so after one round, we went back to our old standby- The Filling Station- for the rest of the night.  It was a great last night in Edinburgh... we tried a few new drinks, had lots of laughs, and got into a singing contest with the drunk, middle-aged Scottish ladies at the table next to us.  Success.

And so for day four, I really don't have much to say.... I pretty much sat on the bus all day!  The only good part of the day was our lunch stop at Fountains Abbey, a twelfth century monastery in the English countryside.


It was hard to get a good picture because it's absolutely enormous, but it was a really beautiful place to be.  I spent an hour walking around the ruins and taking more pictures than I can count, but I have a few favorites:




After spending some time in the abbey ruins, I saw on the map something labeled "Anne Boleyn's Seat and Surprise View," which sounded pretty cool, so I set off to find it.  Unfortunately, I took a wrong turning somewhere, and by the time I realized I was going in the opposite direction, I had to start heading back to the bus.  I did get some pretty pictures of the water gardens and the banquet house during my walk, though: 




They had given us a two hour lunch break at the Abbey, and by the time I got back to the bus, I still hadn't eaten!  I wasn't about to spend my time there sitting and eating!  I ended up just eating on the bus, but I got a few weird looks from people (I think they were wondering why I was eating again so soon after lunch!).

And that was the second half of my lovely trip to Scotland!  I'm sorry if this post seems a little rushed, but we're in the center of midterms right now, so I'm quite busy!  Although tonight is quite a monumentous occasion:

HARRY POTTER!!!!  I am so incredibly excited!!  There's a trivia contest in the bar tonight (which my team is going to ROCK), followed by a screening of the seventh film, ending in time for everyone to get to the theatres by midnight!  It's going to be a great night... I ate a full English breakfast this morning in honor of the occasion, I've got my costume ready to go, and I am so excited!!!  Although I must express my discontent with the movie posters.  The tagline is "It all ends."  WHAT?!  WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT TO ME?!  Everywhere I look, Ron Weasley is telling me it's over, and I just think to myself "No, Ron, it's NEVER over!! As long as I have books and DVDS on my shelf and blood in my veins, IT WILL NEVER BE OVER!!!!"  Even as I sit typing this in the King's library, I'm getting a little heated! :)  Alright, well, I need to finish my essay before tonight, so I ought to get going, but I'll be back with more Harry Potter rantings and ravings quite soon.  And I'll let you know when we win that trivia contest. Not if.... WHEN.

Cheers!









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