6-22-11 Edinburgh Day 8

Ahhh, day eight. This was a REALLY low-key day for me. This was to be our last full day in Edingburgh, and I needed to save money, so I chose to pretty much spend the day by myself, until dinner time. It was good for me. By this time, I was used to being with people all the time, but knew that as of the next day, I was going to be on my own, so this was my attempt to make a go of it, be self-sufficient, and imagine what it might be like when it was JUST me in a foreign country. To be honest, I was a little freaked out about it. This was only my second overseas trip period, and would be the first time I would be by myself.



I walked down to the Sir Walter Scott memorial, walked around. I wasn't feeling great. My feet were hurting and I was feeling a tad under the weather after so many days of traveling and restaurant food. I was just sort of feeling blah.  The day, however, was beautiful! I got to see the Princes, underground Mall, see pay toilets that really sort of bummed me out. Wow, it was like, a pound (which is $2, almost) to pee? Really?!? I spent time organizing my stuff, sorting through all the treasures I'd acquired to date, walked all around our area of the Royal Mile, went down any street I hadn't previously been down, and just hung around. Some of the window paintings in my pictures HAD to be captured on film! Steroids? Is that such a big concern in Scotland?!? Just the frankness of the windows made me giggle and I thought to myself "No one will ever believe these windows said these things if I don't take a picture...." So I did =)

We all met back for dinner, and this is when things REALLY started to go my way. Some members of our group had ended up buying like, a three month train pass because it actually worked out to be cheaper than buying a one day pass. They went up to Inverness and took a tour the day I had my lazy day, and I was going to Inverness. Someone told me about the tickets, and said they were just going to offer them to local people so they wouldn't go to waste. I offered to pay, but the family was gracious enough to give me the train pass, so I had my transportation from Edinburgh to Inverness and back again taken care, nicely, and for free. Yay, me! It was very, very cool of those folks to help me out!

We ate at this place about a block from our hotel, for dinner. They seemed, like, maybe not so much prepared for such a large party. This was my first opportunity to try haggis. One of our appetizer options was deep fried haggis bites. I was dubious at best, but figured just about everything tastes good fried right?! They were okay...they were served with a sweetish dipping sauce that made them more palatable. I think all of us were served fish and chips, and this time, the breading was much thicker. Several people did not care for the food here, but I thought it was good, if quite heavy.

After dinner, we walked down to what became one of the most hysterical memories of the trip. There is no way I will be able to accurately express the hilarity of the acting team that did our Edinburgh ghost tour. These guys were so funny, and at the same time, you were almost laughing AT them because they were just SO ridiculous. It was a good, fun time, though. They tried to scare us. Sometimes they were successful, sometimes they were ridiculous, but they were ALWAYS entertaining!

Everyone pretty much went to bed early this night because they all had to be up early to catch the plane in the morning...and I was going to venture off the to the rest of my adventure!

Peace!