Bonnie Scotland

This weekend was long, tiring, rainy, windy but worth it all. Left Hull at about 7:30am on Friday, and got to Edinburgh two hours after our expected arrival time of 1pm. The drivers decided that taking a scenic route was the best course of action, so while it was a very pretty drive - lots of lakes and hills and sheep and grassland - it was long. Everyone was tired and hyper, not a good combination. But we got to Edinburgh about 2:30, 2:45 ish, only to spend 20 minutes circling the city centre trying to find the hostel. For those of you who have been there, you'll know about the different levels of the city, and the difficulty in getting from one level to the one below it, especially in a large coach. But we got there, we settled and we left to ramble. I spent most of the weekend with Vicky, Karolina and Jan. Which was entertaining, since Jan met up with a childhood friend and those three spent the weekend conversing in Chezk {I've no idea how its spelt. Corrections?}. It wasn't too bad though, as Jan's friend Peter got a little bit more alcohol in him he began to speak more English. I really need to learn another foreign language. Properly!

The Saturday morning we spent wandering around the castle, and almost being blown off the cliff. The wind was so strong that certain parts of the castle grounds were closed off, because they became a very strong wind tunnel. We saw a large wooden bench be tossed across the courtyard, at which point the guy on duty decided we should leave. We thought it was a good idea too!

The rest of the afternoon was spent just wandering around the city. The Writer's Museum - which I was just dying to go see - was closed, due to an electrical fault. But its ok, just gives me an excuse to go back again. Although I think I went back too soon. It's only been a year since I was last there, and though it's a beautiful city, and one of the few I could see myself living in, I think it was too soon to do a touristy visit again. But on the plus side, I knew my way around. Was pure delighted with that. I knew where I was going! Makes a change! I even found the same coffee shop that I loved last year. It's called The Elephant House, and for all Harry Potter fans, it's the place that J.K Rowling wrote the first book. And sitting in there you can see why. It's a beautiful big room at the back, with a fabulous view of Edinburgh castle, which from that angle looks remarkably like Hogwarts. They do a fabulous array of food and teas and coffees. I could spend hours upon hours in there reading or writing or just people watching. We went back on Sunday morning to kill an hour, and it was jammed. The queue was from the counter to the door (about 15 people in lenght) and a few people outside it too. And the range of people in there was very wide. There was the group of girls, late teens early twenties, recounting the night before. There was the couples having their sunday breakfast with the newspaper. There was the writer. And there was everyone in between. Including the tourist's coming to see the birthplace of Harry Potter.

On Sunday we took the quick route home and got back to hull shortly before six. And I went to see Stardust - again!! Its brilliant!! I love Robert Di Niro. No one else could have done that role as well as he. It's a fantastic film, possibly the next The Princess Bride. Well worth seeing, and definately needs to be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated.

Monday night I had to attend Union Council as the girl on the ISA committee that normally goes couldn't make it, so I went in her place. It was not nearly as exciting as I expected, and that's saying something. But it was an interesting evening none the less.

And yesterday I was taken to dinner again. I'm liking this. Twice in a month, I'm impressed. Might keep this one for a while!
Went to a restaurant and wine bar called Sleepers, quite near to where I live. Never been before, it was really nice. Food was good, which is always a good sign. Had a really nice night.

Edinburgh photos to follow soon. Haven't uploaded them yet!