The Esthetic of Lostness: Epic Celtic Adventure

Part 3

1,2,3, Whiskeeeeeeey!

Ahhh.

It is 8:35pm as I write this and the sun hasn't even begun to set yet. I'm scribbling this outside tonight(!), on the deck behind our B&B. There's a wonderful breeze out tonight, and I'd guess its about 60F. There's hardly a sound except for the clink of the waiters clearing away dinner inside and the babbling of the small garden stream next to me.

I'm sitting here with an excellent (albeit ridiculously expensive) Punch Exclusivo Reino Unido, and a glass of scotch. The former is from Cuba, and he latter is from right here in Edinburgh. What an absolutely fantastic end to an absolutely fantastic day.

But before go on about today, a little bit about what happened yesterday after we landed:

Well, first off, we landed. I've found that is always an excellent way to start off a vacation. We took a taxi from the airport, driven by a lovely Scottish gentleman, and arrived at our B&B, the Ceilidh-Donia Hotel.

We wanted to keep ourselves awake until at least 8 or 9 and to eat some real food (damn you airlines and your stupid peanuts!), so at our hostess's recommendation, we went to an awesome little pub called The Crags. It is mostly populated by the university students here about, so it had a great atmosphere. It was very much like Fidos or Bongo Java, except with fish and chips and beer.

After we prevented our starvation (damn you airlines and your stupid peanuts!), we went on an awe-inspiring hike up to Arthur's Seat.

Arthur's Seat is the highest point on a hill in the middle of the Queen's Park, and from it you can see all of Edinburgh. It was absolutely breath taking. We also saw a lot of HUGE rabbits, pheasants, slugs, and ravens. Not the ravens you see at the Tower of London either. Those are kept ridiculously fat and clipped so that they won't fly away, thus bringing about the fall of the English monarchy. No, these were wild and beautiful ravens.

Then, we slept. On beds.

It was wonderful.

Christy and I woke up this morning at 8, just in time to catch a few minutes of the just starting UK version of Who Wants to be a Super Hero? before breakfast. Unlike the American version which was populated by fat nerdy adults, this one was filled with British children, and was almost as adorable as it was funny.

And speaking of breakfast, wow. I had a full cooked Scottish Breakfast, which consisted of bacon, sausage, tomato, beans, egg, hashbrowns, and haggis (which I loved), as well as several glasses of fresh OJ and coffee. Fan-freaking-tastic.

Then, we took a cab into the city and went straight to the castle. Needless to say, I love any visit to any castle ever. This time we got a great intro tour by a man named Jim. He was by far one of the best guides I've ever had. He was an excellent guide and a fantastic story teller, and we got to stick around and chat with him for quite a while after.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking down the Royal Mile. We stopped for tea at the cafe below St. Giles Cathedral (tea and raspberry tart w/cream for lunch ftw!).

After a hearty dinner of fish and chips, we took a tour of Mary King's Close, a section o the old Edinburgh that is now buried underneath the Royal Mile. I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone traveling here. It was very interesting, as well as being a very fun tour.

And so here I sit, with two extremely sore and well blistered feet, exhausted, but full of life. Cheesy-much? Definitely. But also incredibly true. Despite the mind numbing stress of the past weeks and the crazy 48 hours of travel, I have spent a glorious first day in a country I'm falling in love with, and have many more such days coming to look forward to.

But now my cigar has finished, and my glass is empty. It is time to put down my pen, have a mug of hot chocolate and a shower and go to sleep.

Til tomorrow then.

Slainte.