We got in around 7:30 and walked the 5 minutes to our hostel before meeting the other half of our group and heading to the nearest pub for food. I had my first burger of the semester! And it hit the spot, we drank wine, shared stories and enjoyed our little night out before heading back to the hostel and getting to bed before midnight(!) so we would be able to get up early the next day in order to explore.
Our hostel offered free breakfast that consisted of cereal and toast with like ten choices of spreads; I thought it was great and loaded up on at least one large bowl of cereal and two pieces of toast a morning. After filling myself up, our group proceeded to walk up to the Edinburgh Castle. One of the things I loved about Edinburgh was that you could walk everywhere! So we ventured around the town up to the Castle and started to explore. Within the walls there are three museums and countless other room that were once inhabited by Mary, Queen of Scots, and all other Scottish and non-Scottish royalty. We spend almost three hours exploring the contents of the castle and thoroughly enjoyed all the history that came with it.
After the Castle we went to the "Scotch Whiskey Experience" which offered us a small 'ride' that explained how whiskey was made. After which we went into a room to learn about the four different regions in Scotland that make scotch whiskey and how the different regions each have their own flavor/taste. I was in love with the one that smelled like cookies but decided that the fruit smelling/tasting whiskey would probably be better. It turns out I dislike good Scottish whiskey as much as cheap American Whiskey.. I am glad we did it because it was very interesting and worth the experience. We also got special whiskey tasting glasses that allowed us to swirl and nose the whiskey properly.
That night we drank at the hostel bar and ordered different mixed drinks to try something new. I decided to try the 'milk bottle' because it had whipped cream on top, and you can never go wrong with whipped cream, and that turned out to be right because the drink was delicious. I'm not going to reveal the ingredients because it was very unhealthy and doesn't sound all that great, but it tasted like vanilla milkshake. We then ventured to a pub we had been told was very nice and all tried Früli, a Belgian fruit beer, that was very good. We made it to bed rather early again to be able to get up and explore more!
On the second day we set out looking for arthur's seat, which is a dormant volcano on the outskirts of town. Walking towards it we questioned our hiking attire but ultimately set up the path in search of amazing views. The walking path didn't seem to be the fastest way up the mountain so we did some off-roading and took the path less traveled. It was a tad bit muddy in some parts and super steep in others but I hadn't felt that alive in weeks, maybe months. With every step I took the views got more amazing and every time I turned around to see how far we'd come I was blown away by the shear vastness of the land we were able to behold. I felt completely and utterly free and relished every second of it.
At the very top I felt so utterly happy and accomplished I didn't really want to go down. We took many pictures at the top, but no pictured can combine the way I felt with the actual beauty of the landscape and it is something I can only attempt to hang on to for as long as possible.
On the way down Ellie and I discovered that running down the hill side was more fun than just walking down it :) We let our feet guide us and only slowed down when it was absolutely necessary. On the really steep part I decided I still wanted to run but ran in a zig-zag formation which is supposed to be better on your knees and safer because it slows you down a little bit. I probably looked crazy though! ha, especially because i yelled zig or zag every time I turned a corner to face the other direction. I laughed the whole way down and felt like was 7(probably because i was acting like I was 7..but these things do happen) Anyways, after we got down we walked back around the base of the mountain and ate at a little restaurant which I believe was on the campus of the University of Edinburgh.
I think I'm going to go for a bit of a run and try to spread this post out over two so you don't have to be completely bored and reading this for like an hour. more to come.
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