My So Called Parisian Life: Scotland

Friday

We took a train to Edinburgh which actually only took about 4 hours. I tried to stay up to watch the countryside go by but that just made my eyes really tired and I wound up falling asleep anyway. We got to Edinburgh around 2pm and went straight to the hostel to drop our stuff off. We were running a little late because the train was delayed but we quickly hiked up the Royal Mile up to Edinburgh Castle. The Royal Mile is the main street that runs through the city. The castle was so cool! It had amazing views of the city. It was absolutely freezing though, but totally worth it. We were there until it closed so we also got to watch the sunset over the city. That was just spectacular. After we turned in to popsicles we went to the Elephant House Cafe which is the birthplace of Harry Potter. We actually got to sit where J.K. Rowling sat. The inspiration for Hogwarts was actually Edinburgh Castle.

After dinner at the cafe we did a walking ghost tour of the underground vaults. I hate anything scary and haunted. Our guide was definitely a theater student and was way overacting but I can't tell if I was just telling myself that so it was less scary, or it she really was. So we're walking around above ground still and she's telling us all different stories and some drunk guy comes up behind our group and tries to join and our tour guide was like um you need to leave and he wouldn't leave so we just moved on. Then it was time to go underground. It was pitch black and small and it had a weird smell and was just so creepy. I kept my hood on and my hands in my pockets the whole time because our guide was like you might feel someone grabbing your hand. From that moment on I only half paid attention and sung Taylor Swift in my head...it made it way less scary. After the tour was over everyone was really freaked out and I was just minding my own business and singing TayTay. Our ISA group leader, now picture a Bulgarian woman with fiery red hair, dressed in all black, with some serious rings on, with a heavy accent telling everyone, "No, no the vaults are really haunted. People come from all over the world to test out the paranormal activity." I almost passed out I got so scared when she said that. It was only about 8:30pm at that time but we were freezing and tired and scared so we went back to the hostel and fell asleep really early because we had a long day ahead of us!

Saturday

The bus picked us all up from the hostel at 8am to head out to Fort Augustus which is were Loch Ness is. The difference between a loch and a lake is that a loch is all sea water. We drove for about 45 minutes to an hour and then would stop for either 30 minutes or 5 minutes depending where we were. Our bus driver talked the entire way there, without stopping. We were booking it down all the windy roads through the mountains. It was weird because it would be torrential downpour and then it would be sunny and it just continued on like that the whole time. We stopped in Glencoe for lunch which was really pretty. There were snowcapped mountains and a bagpipe player. After 4 hours of driving on the bus we got to Fort Augustus which is where Loch Ness is. We did a boat tour of the loch which was just incredible. The water is pitch black because it's so deep but it never gets cold enough to freeze. The first sighting of the legendary Loch Ness monster, Nessie, was spotted by the Vikings in 565 AD and there have been over 1,000 sightings since then. A couple years ago a bunch of submarines went on a mission with advanced sonar technology to try and find the monster. It wasn't made public at the time but there were 18 unidentified swimming objects, or USO's, that were found. After that we got back on the bus and made the long trek back to Edinburgh. We were on the bus for a total of 8 hours. It was annoying at the time but looking back on it, it was cool because we literally drove across the country of Scotland in 4 hours. Not bad at all. We got back to Edinburgh around 8pm. It's amazing how exhausted we got from sitting on a bus all day!

Sunday

We walked down the other end of the Royal Mile past Parliament and over to Arthur's Seat which is a big volcano. We hiked up about half way and stopped to take pictures. It was a hard hike just because it was all uphill and the path was volcanic rock. Plus it had rained the night before so everything was super slippery. It was an incredible view though. So worth the burning leg muscles. After the hike we stopped and had lunch at a little cafe before heading back to the hostel. We back home to London at about 6:45pm and then back to our flat around 7:15ish. I had a great weekend and got some amazing shots. I can't wait to go back through and really look at all of them!