Trip #8: Edinburgh

Firstly, Edinburgh was nice due to the convenient travel. We took a flight leaving from Norwich airport, and it was only about 50 mins in the air. We arrived Friday night, had dinner and went to a pub for a little to try some Scottish whiskey. Despite the easy travel, we were all tired so we went home pretty early for a good night's rest.

"Home" was a building that used to be a church but was converted into a hostel at least twenty years ago. It was pretty cool, but most of it was built up and since they had to make the rooms, wasn't really just like sleeping on pews or anything. Still unique, though.

the creepy outside of our hostel at night

officially in scotland: colin found bagpipes in his locker

Saturday we went to Edinburgh Castle, which was really neat. The views are really spectacular and it also has the crown jewels of Scotland (older than England's!). Edinburgh is pretty cool too because the castle area is "old town" and it is all up a hill from most of the more city-like restaurants. "The Royal Mile" - which is book-ended by the Palace the queen stays at when she visits and the Castle, has touristy shops as well as old buildings and churches. I really liked the mix of old and new, and the cobble-stoned streets made me feel like I was in a Harry Potter movie.

spring has sprung! pretty yellow flowers

me and the castle in the background

Saturday afternoon we hiked/walked up a mountain that overlooks all of Edinburgh. Liz and Erica aren't the hiking folk, so they were with us for a bit but then left to go shopping while Colin and I conquered the higher peaks. It was probably my favorite part of the trip and had some breath-taking views of the city and the North Sea. After our time exploring, everyone re-grouped and went to dinner then walked over by the castle for our ghost tour! It was more funny than scary, but it was also interesting because with the ghost stories were included some history of Edinburgh. Definitely a fun way to spend the evening.

running up the mountain

looking over edinburgh

climbing some cliffs

Sunday we were all tired from the climbing the day before so we took it slow and had some fun shopping in the tourist shops and walking down "The Royal Mile." We stopped in some random cemeteries and churches that looked interesting and made our way down to the Palace. We had a flight in the afternoon so we made our way back to our hostel and took a short, easy flight back to UEA!

rubbing the toe for good luck

some more modeling shots

It was a but of a slow, lazy weekend but a nice recovery from the craziness of Rome! I also just loved Edinburgh's unique character and small-town feel.

Cheers.