The week leading up to our trip to Scotland was the first week that felt a little more routine. We had class a few days out of the week, went running a few times, and also went out of few times. We went to this great Irish pub that's really close to our apartment called Corcoran's and I got in an intense dance-off with a french man. Then a few nights later on Thursday, we went back to club Mix and danced partied there for a few hours. Courtney and I had to leave our apartment by 5 AM the next morning though, so we didn't stay too long. We made it to bed by 2 and then got up for the best weekend we've had yet.
Our trip to Edinburgh was loooooong. First we walked to the metro station, Gare du Lyon, and too a train to Gare du Nord. From there, we took an hour long train out of Paris to the small city of Beuvais. Unfortunately, the airport isn't in the city center so we had to take a shuttle bus to the airport and then wait for our flight to leave. Gotta love Ryan Air! Honestly, the flight was really cheap and if you don't mind the hassle of getting to the airport, it's definitely worth it. So we got into Edinburgh at about noon and really wanted to make it to the free tour of the city that started at 1. Unfortunately again, the passport line took over 45 minutes so we didn't even get to the bus till 1. But we made it to the center of Edinburgh in about 20 minutes are started walking around to find our hostel and some food. We were starving and exhausted but incredibly excited to see the city.
Edinburgh is beautiful. It's a small town compared to Paris so it made it very easy for us to navigate. The rolling hills all over the city gave us a great work-out as we walked along admiring the buildings and green grass. The only downfall was the downpour that we were walking through. On the bright side, we were seeing the real Scotland! It wouldn't really be Scotland without the clouds and rain as everyone told us. By the time we made it to our hostel, we were completely soaked. Castle Rock was a great hostel; great people, great view of the castle, clean, and really fun. We dropped off our stuff and then headed back into the rain to Vat & Fiddle for some grub. We ate some soup and sandwiches and then went to explore the town a little more.
First we went up by the castle and took some pictures and admired the view from the top of the hill. Then we did a little shopping and I bought a 100% lambswool scarf. I forgot to mention this before but I love scarves and I want to buy one in every country that I visit; I want the scarves to kind of represent the country I went to so that wool, purple plaid scarf from Scotland was perfect! We shopped around a little more and then went back to Castle Rock for a quick nap before dinner and our pub crawl.
We only had 30 minutes to eat before the pub crawl when we woke up, so as embarrassing as it is, we popped into the McDonalds to grab some chicken strips and fries. We made it to the pub crawl just in time! And its a good thing we did or we might have missed our first free pint! We drank up and then headed to our second pub. The pub crawl went to 5 pubs and then a club at the end. At each pub, everyone took a free shot and then there were really great drink specials for anyone on the pub crawl. It was awesome. For those of you that believe the true way to take a shot is straight without a chaser, you'd be very proud of me because not only did I take a straight shot with no chaser, but it was a whiskey shot and anyone that knows me knows I hate whiskey. I was very proud of myself. Then halfway through the pub crawl we met up with Callie Pittman and her friend Jeri who finished the crawl with us. We met a lot of really fun people and had a great night.
Then the next morning was our big tour of the highlands. We went from 9 in the morning till 7 at night touring the Scotland highlands, stopping at castles and lochs to enjoy the scenery and beauty of Scotland's highlands. It was truly amazing. Our tour guide, Bob, was an old Scottish man that made jokes and ripped on the English. Well, he really poked fun at everyone. He made a comment that the Americans would be the first off the bus at every picture stop because we take pictures of anything old. It was a completely true statement; we don't have anything old in our country so old things like broken down castles intrigue us! He was absolutely hilarious and very insightful about all things Scottish. We learned a small amount about Scotland's history, historic figures, such as William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Mary Queen of Scots. He also explained some of Scotland's customs and culture such as the kilt, haggis (their national food which is the lining of a sheep's stomach ground up), and of course whiskey. Bob talked for a long time about "the true Scottish men" and explained how women often try to find out if they are real men or not by sneakily checking under their kilts. This was one of the last stories he told us after we'd visited the castle where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed and also Loch Lomond. The scenery was amazing, the ride was smooth, and the commentary was very enjoyable.
We got back from the tour, grabbed some dinner and a pint at Binny Mulligan's pub and headed for our second night out on the town. First we went back to one of the bars we had been at on the pub crawl and we ended up seeing a few Germans that we met the previous night. We had a couple rounds there, switched pubs a few times, and called it a semi-early night at 1:30 because we had to leave our hostel by 4:30 to catch our plane home. So after a few quick hours of sleep, Courtney and I headed back to Paris.
Sunday was decently uneventful. I napped for about 2 hours, went to mass, had dinner, and then went to watch the superbowl. We made fast friends with a few of the locals and a bartender, got some free drinks, had a great time regardless of the outcome of the game, and finally went home by 6 AM to get some sleep. It would be the first night in 3 nights that I slept more than 3 hours. I was really looking forward to getting into my bed. 
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