I got a fairly decent amount of sleep Friday night. Even though the hike wasn't very strenuous, it still took a good bit out of me. I awoke fairly early and had an absolutely delicious breakfast in me by about nine. There was an itinerary set up for the day to meet in groups to do things, but the group for Arthur's Seat left at 10:30 and I really didn't want to wait that long and decided to trek out myself. I saw Mims at reception and checked with her to get a general idea of the path (I probably would have asked her even if I had known, because I think her accent is my favorite of all of the English I've met so far. I kind've want to just hand her Harry Potter and ask her to read it to me and see what she says). It wasn't hard to find, I mean its a giant hill overlooking the city.
I didn't make it all the way up to Arthur's Seat, through reading maps later I'm pretty sure I just didn't continue far enough to get to that particular path. The path I walked was probably only 75 feet or so lower than the Seat, so I felt pretty satisfied and my feet hurt a good bit. You can see the pictures, they are quite spiffy I think. After walking on the overlook I continued up behind Scottish parliament and on into the city. I stumbled across the Museum of Edinburgh and had a look around it. If you know me you know I've never been a big history fan. I didn't really read much, rather just look at all the shiny and interesting things. Afterwards I set my sights on the Scottish Museum. I spent several hours in this one, it was much more extensive. Check out the pictures of the swords and such. It's pretty intense. I'm guessing the early Scots must have played final fantasy.
I stopped in a sandwich shop on the way out of the museum on the way to Brewdogs. It was really one of the more authentic feeling things I've done thus far (but then again, I don't really know authentic). It was a small sandwich shop with a cute Scottish girl behind the counter. I picked out my bread from where I was and handed it to her, she cut it and made the sandwich (ham, roasted peppers, and mozzarella). She toasted it, brought me tea, and I ate my sandwich whilst drinking tea. It was tasty and relaxing. I then set off for Brewdogs, a bar my friend William informed me was in the area. It was in the lower part of the city and it took me a bit to find, but when I did, a-m-a-z-i-n-g.
Really, it was some tasty beer. It is a "punk bar". The music the play is pretty punky and it has a bit of a punkish theme to it. I told the bartender what I liked and he let me try a few different brews before I settled on Punk IPA for my lunch brew. So tasty. Brewdog is a UK beer maker that makes some different sorta beers. One is about 41 % alcohol, called "Sink the Bismark!" and another is "Nuclear Tactical Penguin" ranking in at 32 % alcohol. These beers are drank by the nip, which is basically a shot. The idea is you sip on it, then sip on another beer which compliments the taste. I was allowed to sniff the cork from the Nuclear Tactical Penguin bottle, and let me just say that it smelled magical. The bartender put the cork back in the bottle and a few drops even splashed on me. I felt honored. Anyway, there was a bit of a sad point to this fabulous bar. This is to the best of my memory what the bartender said, just be sure to read it with a Scottish accent,
"The location is just no good. There are clubs around and there are lots of stag parties. We get some people in here like you looking for good beer, but we get a lot of people that just stumble across it looking to get wasted. They'll order 5 nibs of nuclear tactical penguin and just shoot it. It's just such a waste, but its my job and I have to give it to them. Then they get sick and throw up everywhere and make a bloody mess and we have to clean up after them."
After Brewdogs I bought a few souvenirs and headed back to my housing for a nap. Just as I got settled in the clouds settled in with a nice storm. Some would say I wasted part of my day by sleeping while in Edinburgh, but that was such a blissful nap listening to the rain and thunder. After napping I gathered my things a bit and headed back out in to the city. Where? To Brewdogs, of course. I was really going to meet a family friend, Jacqui King, at Ghillie Dhu for some live music, but I had time and wanted to try another of Brewdog's brews. This time I got the Alice Porter. It was exceptional as well, I've never had a beer so dark that was so drinkable. And by dark I mean this thing was absorbing all the light in the room like a black hole. Afterwards I wandered around downtown Edinburgh, stopped at a subway for a sandwich, and eventually found Ghillie Dhu.
Jacqui met me there, my first time meeting her in person, but she seemed like family I've known for some time. Her long time friend Kevin was there, along with several other fellows and the bounciest lady I've ever seen. The music was great, and I actually got to hang out with some real Scots (I seriously doubt that many people from the programme I'm in can say they did that!). Jacqui is into the music scene and many of her friends play as well (as you may or may not know I am into music a bit myself). The plan is that I will visit Edinburgh again in the fall, and one of the things I want to do for sure is go to the proper jazz club to see some improv and such. The band that played was good, but they were playing what I guess you might call well known American jazz classics. The people in the bar certainly didn't have any shame for dancing either. To be honest if I had had shoes that weren't hiking boots and my feet hadn't been close to blistering I probably would have gotten up too.
The music ended about 12:30 and Jacqui had to go so I did too. I was a bit inebriated, and I have never gone back to my housing the way that I was to go that time. I did have my map, but I found it quite difficult to read. I believe it was about 2 miles away. I really should have just called a cab. I did make it back eventually. I packed a few things and passed out to wake up about 5 hours later. I got everything together and went and enjoyed my last delicious buffet breakfast. All good things must come to an end, I suppose. The coach left shortly after 8.30 and we were on the road again. The trip was filled with good chat or decent sleep. We stopped in Richmond to tour the castle and grab lunch (fish and chips....so delicious) and then I got some cake for the bus. It was absolutely delicious cake. Shivani more or less had to make me stop eating it, as I was approaching sugar coma but my tastebuds just wanted more. We eventually arrived home and I grabbed the washer and a shower as soon as possible to avoid any potential queue. Next week we begin classes in earnest.
Things are likely to slow down a bit now, but I will still keep at least a short tab on things even if it was uneventful. There is still more to come though, as I still have another trip to Edinburgh and two trips to London in the planning.
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