SCOTLAND

My weekend was fantastic! Yes, there was rain, wind, and the bitter cold but all in all it was worth every dose of bad weather/lack of sleep.
We (Patrick, Christina, and me) headed out to the Victoria bus station at about 10 pm on Thursday night. Our bus left around 11 pm from London and was set to arrive in Edinburgh at 8 am Friday morning.
Now I am sure that a 9 hour bus ride sounds like torture enough, mind you that the flight over to London was only 8 hours, but it got worse. The guys sitting in front, to the side, and behind us were part of a group heading to Edinburgh for their bachelor party and saw the bus ride as a pregame ride. Needless to say they were loud and obnoxious. I gave them until 4 am until I was going to say something (probably similar to the time I yelled at the neighbor about their boat, but that's another story). Luckily, they stopped making too much noise around 2:30 but it was still in and out sleep the entire time.
Finally we were in Edinburgh and to our pleasant surprise it was down pouring! We tried to trek to our hostel, but it was all uphill so we caved and hailed a cab for the rest of the way. We checked into our 8 bedroom dorm, which was surprisingly spacious! Then headed back out to the rainy streets for breakfast. We settled for good ole McD's on our first morning.
We headed out to the Royal Mile also known as High Street. There we booked out tickets for a bus tour the next day (i know, i know MORE bus time). We toured through St. Giles Cathedral (which is really not a cathedral but a church but they haven't changed the name for years). We decided in the afternoon that we would do an "Underground City Tour". There is supposedly really creepy and haunted things that go on in Edinburgh. We walked in underground vaults where hundreds of people died in the Edinburgh fire. I am scared easily so that kind of stuff freaks me out, but it was interesting to hear about some of the city's history. After the tour, we decided to head back to the hostel and clean up a bit then head out for dinner. We ate at a place called Garfunkle's. Patrick and Christina had traditional Scottish meals like Cottage Pie and Black pudding, but I stuck with the veggie burger. After we had some drinks but called it a pretty early night because our bus tour started at 8 am the next morning!
Sleeping in the hostel wasn't too bad. The bed was more comfortable than the spring board I have in London, but people were coming in and out all night so I was being woken up a lot.
7:20 am came quick! We all woke up got ready and headed to the Scotline Tours office to catch our bus to the Glencoe, Loch Ness, and Highlands day tour! This was my favorite part of the the trip because the sights were just breath-taking. I have never seen so much natural beauty! The monroes we so tall some of them were snow-capped. They had forests along them and the leaves were changing colors and then in the rocky terrain you could spot waterfalls jutting out of the side. Loch Ness was also very pretty. I didn't spot "Nessie" but I did see many many replicas.
Sunday morning we woke up early to beat the crowds at the Edinburgh castle. It was a wonderful sight to see. They changed most of the Castle itself into a museum like atmosphere rather than original room settings. Attached to the the Castle was the Scotland War Museum. After the castle we grabbed some tea to warm up then decided to head to the Scotland National Gallery. I cannot say that I am much of a Scottish art fan, but it was interesting none the less. Our morning went by quickly but we had the remaining afternoon and evening to kill before our bus left at 10:30 pm. So we walked and walked and walked. We ended up walking up a mini-monroe and getting some wonderful scenic views of the city! We decided on getting an early dinner and hanging out before we headed to the bus station. Dinner also turned into a few glasses of wine, which I can't decide helped or hurt my sleep on the bus ride home. Although we didn't have the bachelors on the way home, the heater wasn't working on the bus so it was very very cold! I did sleep in and out but i think I was more uncomfortable than on the way there! I got back into London around 7:30 am Monday and crawled into my bed by 8 just to wake up again at 10 for my 11 class.
Now with it being Wednesday, I have caught up on my sleep. I am staying in London this weekend and hope to do some sights around town. As always, I will keep you updated!

PS I forgot to mention, I did try Haggis! I am very proud of myself. It wasn't that bad! I would compare it to a salty stuffing.