December 29, 30, 31- January 1, 2, 3,4
First of let me say that my trip to
Scotland was my first trip outside of the
US that wasn’t to
London…although
Scotland is in the
UK. However, I was still excited! This trip proved to be all that I thought it would be plus more…if that is possible. It was totally amazing and I can’t begin to explain how beautiful it was. I took over 500 pictures (to be on facebook soon), and still those pictures don’t show how beautiful it was.
To begin our trip let me just say that if it wasn’t for Mr. Haggis and Sidekick (nicknames given by us) we would never have even made it to
Scotland. We were standing in front of the wrong bus and these two boys helped us find out right one. Me and Sidekick sat next to each other for the long 8 hour overnight bus ride that kept stopping for no apparent reason. It was definitely brutal. But we eventually made it to
Edinburgh and all went to find out hostel together.
Day 1- We couldn’t check into our hostel yet so we had most of the day to explore
Edinburgh. We walked around for a while and walked up the
Edinburgh Castle, but decided not to pay to get in that day. Then we walked back and walked past a Whiskey Distillery. We decided to do the Whisky tour which meant getting a ride in the barrel cart and learning all about Whisky, then our own free Whisky tasting with our very own Glencairn Glass to keep! Next we got to see the largest collection of Whisky ever! There were bottles in all shapes and sizes, including my two favorite- a chess set with all the game pieces full of whisky and an old grandfather clock with a bottle of whisky in it. Finally we got to sample 4 more Whiskies….although one was enough for me. Afterwards, we were going to see the musical Hairspray but it was all sold out so instead we checked into our hostel, met our new roommate Alex (who became one of our good friends) and relaxed before our night out in Endinburgh. After we had unpacked, showered, and changed we headed down to the pub Biddy Mulligans where the Haggis Tours were meeting. There we met up with Mr. Haggis and Sidekick and we also made some new friends including Lesbian girl and Velvet Boy. We had a great time eating, drinking, and dancing (and also telling the gorgeous bartender he was beautiful- Tiffany’s idea). Finally, we headed back to our hostel to sleep.
Day 2- This morning we got up and ate breakfast before venturing out into the town again. We were planning on going to see the Castle and do the free walking tour, however we timed things poorly and only made it to the walking tour. However, our tour guide Alan was great and we learned A LOT about
Scotland history, including my favorite bit of history where the term Shit-faced comes from. (Back in the day there were no sewer systems so to dispose of your waste you collected it in a bucket and threw it out your window. The government thought this was too unsanitary so they made a law where you could only throw it out before 7 am and after 10 pm. A bell would ring letting you know it was after 10 pm. However, also at 10 pm the pubs would close and drunk people would stumble home. When the bell rang you would yell Gaurde Loo and throw out your waste. If you were down below you would shout back to wait and get cover before being covered. However, if you were drunk you would hear someone shout something at you and look up…only to receive a face full of….well you know what. Hence the term shit faced). We visited many places and I took LOTS of pictures. We also saw the café where T.K. Rolling wrote the first two Harry Potters a.k.a the birthplace of Harry Potter. We also visited a cemetery that had some of the names in Harry Potter in them and we learned about the terrible things that occurred in the prison cell of the cemetery which is still haunted by the horrible prison guard that used to work there. In this prison, which is basically a wire box with no roof, the inmates were given the choice at night to sleep on their stomach or back. Once they chose a position they were not allowed to move at all during the night. If they moved the prison guard would shoot the person next to them, leaving them with the guilt of having move and caused the death of another person. Therefore, some inmates would drown in the puddle they were lying in so as to not kill the person next to them. The inmates were offered a way out by renouncing their religion (since their religion is the reason they were in prison to begin with) and board a ship for
America. Very few took the opportunity to leave (as they were very devoted to their religion), however the ship sank on its way across and the crew closed the doors so the inmates could not escape and drown. We learned about the Stone of Destiny (the stone people sat on to be crowned) which was stolen, then stolen back, then given back, and finally returned to its rightful owner and we actually saw it when we went to the Castle. After our 3 hour long tour, with an amazing tour guide, we went to have dinner at a pub with special deals if you were on the tour. Then we hurried to our hostel to get ready for the torchlight procession. We basically ran there so we wouldn’t be late and had to push our way through a MASS of people. It was a little ridiculous. We finally got our torches and joined the parade of people down the Royal Mile. This celebration prepares for the New Year. Everyone has huge torches that they carry as they walk. I felt like I was going to catch on fire the whole time and knew that this sort of thing would not be legal in the
United States. There were security people with fire extinguishers however I definitely did not feel safe, although, I did not hear about anyone catching fire that night. They ended the parade on the hill with fireworks and you could dispose of your torches in the bins which were basically bon fires. After the torchlight procession we decided to do the pub crawl with the same company that does the free guided tours. It was a really good deal because for 12 pounds you got to go to 5 pubs (each with either a free drink or shot) and then you also go deals at the pubs on regular drinks, finally ended at a night club. I did get to kiss the cute tour guide for the pub crawl. I was the lucky person out of the bathroom first. The girl who wanted to kiss him couldn’t because her boyfriend was there, so she picked me to kiss him instead. He agreed and from then on, I got to kiss a Scottish boy! It was a lot of fun and of course we got a little drunk. But somewhere around 2am we decided to go home.
Day 3- New Years Eve! This morning we decided to go to the National Museum of Scotland before the festivities began. We had more fun in the children’s section of the museum then the adult section lol. However, we did venture to the rooftop to see all of
Edinburgh from up high and it was really pretty. We did see some pretty cool things though, like a huge train and some antique shoes. After the museum we went to the Three Sisters pub to party. We were supposed to be there around 12 (noon) to celebrate the
Australia new years but didn’t quite make it. We made it around 3pm. Therefore we drank/partied from 3 pm until 2 am. We met up with Mr. Haggis and Sidekick who came dressed in kilts…which by the way I did not look up them…..they lifted them up for me haha. It was quite interesting partying all day. At night we ventured to the street party, which was super crowded. We actually got pretty close to the screen though. They played music and when it got close to midnight we all counted down. At midnight Mr. Haggis kissed us girls and fireworks went off (not because the kiss was that special haha). Then we continued to party and dance which is when I met my Scottish boy a.k.a Lips (because his kiss was that special haha). Around 2am we decided to go back to the pub for a drink but it was way too crowded and we had lost our buzz from earlier so instead we decided to go home.
Day 4- HAPPY NEW YEAR! Today we decided to go to the Castle. We did the free tour to learn the history about the Castle and found out that you cannot see
France from the Castle even though the tour guide was once asked that. We went into the memorial for all the soldiers lost in battle and the crown jewels room and finally the prison which we found out was not all that bad. The prisoners got lots of privileges…see my face book pictures for the descriptions. After the Castle we went to Belushi’s pub which was small but had a lot of people we knew in it. Also my Scottish friend Lips (
Jordan) drove an hour and a half to come hang out with me, however he had to leave early so he promised to see me again before I left
Scotland. After the pub we got some pizza and headed back to our hostel to get ready for the
Highlands the next day.
Day 5- Today we began our journey to the
Highlands. We met our tour guide- Leo or as we named him Hotrod because we would be driving down the road and he would be in the middle of a story and all of a sudden a car would pass by and he would tell us everything we needed to know about the car. Also he was the funniest tour guide ever. His opening statement to us was about hitting on us and sleeping with us (figuratively speaking of course haha). We learned so much on our trips about the history of the highlands and how sexy they were haha. Day 1 we went to William Wallace’s Monument…yes he was given his own monument. Then we went to visit Hamish the Heilian Cue (or highland cow) who apparently has herpes so it’s a good thing we didn’t touch him. Then we went to have lunch at the Green Welly shop and I had Cullen Skink soup which sounds gross but is really just fish soup and it was pretty good. When we got back on the bus we discovered a maze of paper towels strewn across the seats. We had to navigate our way through without breaking the paper towel. All 26 of use made it through without ripping it a tiny bit. That is when we became Leo’s favorite tour and got our Clan name of Clan McBlu Roll. Finally we decided to climb a mountain. Yes I said it. A MOUNTAIN! I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN! And if you don’t believe it you can look at my pictures and also call my friend Tiffany she witnessed the whole thing. It took us about an hour to climb it and it was really scary and Sidekick had to help me walk over the creepy bridge, and Mr. Haggis had to help me get down from a giant rock, however, I did climb the mountain! After that excursion we decided to go to our hostel. After resting up a bit and eating dinner Tiffany and I went downstairs for the quiz night. This was an epic quiz night, despite the fact that I only had one drink lol. We had to answer random questions like what is Lady Gaga’s real name (Stephanie), what color is hippo’s milk (pink), and what is the national flower of Scotland (not Marijuana as we said lol). Tiffany had to hold a glass of water above her head for the duration of the quiz…which she obviously did not and instead spilled all over us when we had to dance every time a theme song to a t.v. show came on. Finally to end our quiz we had to dress one person up in a Scottish kilt (more like a toga). I volunteered to be the person dressed up. We used some of the items we had in our possession to try and make it authentic and I even took off some of my clothes to make it look real. However, we underestimated Mr. Haggis and his traditional kilt he had bought and also his lack of care if anyone saw him naked. Therefore, after dressing up and even getting a butter knife for effect it was still a tie. So she decided we should have a dance off. That is when it got interesting. I tried to do my best and make Tiffany proud but when my attire began falling off I gave up and let Mr. Haggis win. (Even though our team got more answers to the questions right). Then we went to bed. And somehow, Mr. Haggis got locked out of his room and ended up in our room for a tiny bit again lol.
Day 6- Today we saw a lot of lochs which is what the
Highlands are famous for (also their mountains). However we did not stop at any today. Instead we looked at waterfalls. That seemed to be the theme for this day. We climbed a small hill (and by small I mean the hike was small however if you took two steps to the right you could fall off the cliff of the waterfall). And we also went to another Castle (
Eilean Donan Castle however it was closed so we just took pictures of the outside). This is what my new facebook picture will be. I took another titanic pose on the bridge leading to the castle. Then we went to Kilt Rock which is really the side of a mountain that leads to the ocean and apparently it looks like a kilt is hanging from the side of it; although I did not see this picture. The cool part was the waterfall that we could see coming down one side of the rock and if you stood just right it looked like you were throwing up the waterfall. So of course we all took picture throwing up a waterfall. This is also the point where you could look into the ocean and see……….seals! (Ok so we did see a seal and it was cool, however you can also see
Ireland!) This apparently used to be connected and we heard the legend of why it wasn’t anymore. And here is the point in my story where I tell you the legend:
This huge giant one day decided he wanted to steal this beautiful woman away. However she was already married to a wonderful man. One day while he was out at work (something to do with chopping wood I think), the giant comes and asks the woman if her husband is home. She replies no and he says to make sure he is home tomorrow because he is going to come back fight him and take her away to be his wife. Now the woman loves her husband very much and does not want to go live with him, however her husband is just a regular man and will not win a fight against this giant. When the woman’s husband comes home she tells him the news and he is very scared and knows he will not win. So they decided to sit down and think of a plan. The woman finally thinks of something (of course since women are the sensible ones…..now don’t judge me here since our tour guide-a man- said this). The woman tells the man to go make this huge square box out of wood and put it in their house. He doesn’t understand why but of course listens to his wife. Next she tells him to get undressed and she shaves his entire body, collecting all his hair. She takes the hair and some clothes she has and sews them all together. She then tells her husband to wait in the box. The next day when the giant arrives, he asks the woman if her husband is home. She says no, he is at work but should be home soon. The giant says well I will wait, I cannot let you out of my sight. The woman says ok and invites him in, saying she has to tend to her baby. The giant goes inside and see’s this HUGE bald baby (the husband) wrapped in a hairy blanket in a GIANT cradle. The giant turns around and runs out thinking that if her husband could make a baby THAT big, he must be huge and the giant would not win the fight. As he runs away he stomps the crossway between
Scotland and
Ireland so the giant man cannot follow.
Next we ventured to look for DINASAUR footprints. Apparently there are some in
Scotland, although the only ones I found were in plaques. But it was cool looking for them because we went to a beach on the
Atlantic Ocean where the tide was really low so we could walk on the sand. I wrote
Scotland and 2011 in the sand and then stuck my hand in the ocean….it was freezing so I’m thankful that’s all I stuck in. After that we went to a raging river. Now apparently this river is usually not this raging, but on this day it was. So we went to a calmer part to hear another famous legend. And again here it is:
There were these two clans who did not like each other and were separated by this raging (or not so raging) river. They finally decided it would be better being allies than enemies and brought forth their most beautiful children to be married. On the one side was a handsome man and the other a gorgeous woman. They met and hit it off. They planned an extravagant wedding and on the day of the wedding the woman took her best friend and also her stable boy to help her and her beautiful white horse (and dog) to cross the river. On their way across the horse slipped on a hidden rock and the woman fell off hitting her face on one of the rocks. He cheek was smashed in, blood was everywhere and her eye was punched out of socket swinging around her face (at this point our tour guide- Hotrod- was trying to re-enact the story without getting into the water and let me just say it was hilarious). The woman’s best friend came running over to help her. She was crying her eye out (get it, haha) and the best friend tried fixing her face a little, washed off the blood and put her eye back in its socket. He told her that the man really loved her and he wouldn’t care what she looked like. They could put the veil over her face and she would still look lovely on her wedding day. So they fixed her up and brought her to the church. The woman and man get married and it is time to kiss the bride. He lifts up her veil and is appalled at what he sees. He is furious. He thinks the other clan had played a trick on him, switching girls and giving him an ugly one. He grabs for the horse, takes a spoon, and gorges the horse’s eye out. Next he grabs the dog and gorges his eye out too. He then punches the best friend and runs from the church in an outrage. The woman takes her dog, horse, and best friend back to the river and sits down and cries. (Now mind you the reason for this story is that the river apparently is magical because of the Fairies that live there. Now these are not good fairies because they will always take something from you before they give something). All of a sudden the head fairy shows up. He asks the woman what is wrong. She says it is her wedding day and it should have been the happiest day of her life and yet it is horrible and she looks up at him. The fairy says woah! Say no more I understand. He says don’t worry that man you were going to marry didn’t really love you. And you are at the magical river, just dip your face in for 7 seconds and when you come out you will be beautiful again. She dips her face in for 7 seconds and when she lifts her head up she is even more gorgeous than she was before. (Now at this point our tour guide has removed his glasses and dipped his own face in for 7 seconds…needless to say he came out gorgeous, lol.) Then the woman decided she would fix her dog. She held his head under water for 7 seconds and he came out brand new. Next she led her horse to the water (This is where Hotrod said: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, however you can hold its head underwater for 7 seconds.”) Her horse was brand new. Then she looked at her best friend and realized she had loved him all along he just wasn’t that handsome. She called him over saying she dropped something and asked if he could get it. As he bent down, she held his head under water for 7 seconds and he came out looking stunning. They got married and lived happily ever after. *FYI- side note- I did see one of the fairy houses when we were riding in the bus. Apparently they are all over but hard to see and no joke I saw one!*
Needless to say, after hearing the story a lot of us, including me, held our faces under water for 7 seconds…and can I just say, if I could look even better than I did before….I do! Lol. After that grand adventure we headed back to our hostel for the night. Now our hostel was called Saucy Mary, after a woman who married a sailor and when he was away at sea she tied up boats across the waters so that the other sailors had to pay her to pass through. As they passed she would flash them giving them good luck on their journeys. Since showing her breast meant calm seas. I am well aware that this hostel sounds like a brothel and I actually think it is quite funny. Now after getting into our hostel we discovered a spider in our room. Yes a spider! Of course, all of us girls would not kill it. Therefore I had to enlist the help of Mr. Haggis to come kill the spider for us, while he laughed the whole time. After resting and changing we went to eat dinner (I had venison which was not that good), drink, listen to the “Band” (I put this in quotes since the band was an accordion player and a violinist), and chat with friends for as long as I could stand sitting up, as unaware to the fact that I was severely sick, I came down with a fever. We finally went to bed.
Day 7- Today we went to the forest where the guy who wrote Peter Pan came up with the idea. It really did look like an enchanted forest. I took lots of pictures, look at them on facebook. But there was a little hut and a river and big trees with lots of root space for secret passage ways. Then we headed to Loch Ness. This is the famous loch where the monster Nessie lives. We ate at her little shop then took pictures with her statue. Then we went to the dock in search of NESSIE!!!!!! Hotrod told us the only way she would show herself was to do a dance/chant to get her to come out. Now, if you have not gathered by this point that our tour guide was a little mental yet hilarious, this video of the dance/chant will definitely prove that. I will be putting that up on facebook as well. And in it you will see Mr. Haggis and Sidekick doing the dance/chant with him. There is only one word for the video….HILARIOUS! After they showed us the demonstration we all stood in a circle doing the dance/chant and waited for Nessie……….to no appear. At which point our tour guide blamed one of us for not believing which would make her not show herself. Although we did see some ducks lol. Next we went to an old church. Now I know this church has significance to
Scotland…although I do not know what it is because the whole bus ride I was asleep. I was still feeling sick and couldn’t stay awake on the bus. Therefore I took pictures of the church and of the icy mound we had to walk on to get to it (it was the only place in
Scotland I actually saw snow), yet I have no idea what the significance of it is and it was not open to go inside anyways. Then we headed to lunch and then back to
Edinburgh. Once in
Edinburgh we said goodbye to our bus/friends/awesome tour guide…in which case we got a hug and some of us (ME!) got a kiss on the cheek. Then we checked out the ghost tours. We found one for that night so we decided to see the haunted underground vaults of
Edinburgh. We took a tour of parts of the city I had already seen this time getting the darker history of it. Learning that to prove a woman/child was a witch they would make them do thumbs up and stick them on their knees then push a nail through their hand/knees and throw them in the lake that was filled with everyone’s waste. If they floated (which most did because of all the crap (literally) in the water) they were a witch and were dragged out and burned at the stake. If they sunk (which some did) they were proved as not a witch, however they drown and were dead anyways. Next we went into the torture display room where there were cases of torture devices; most of them seen in the Saw movies. These included chastity belts, jaw breaking face plates, whips, handcuffs, and my favorite the chest plate that covered your shoulders and went around your waist but had an opening at the stomach/chest part where they would put a rat on top of you the cover it with a metal plate that was scewed in. Next they would put burning coals on the top so the rat got really hot and needed a way out and the only way out was through you. After that gory room we headed into the underground vaults with three different levels. The first level (the least haunted/ activity level) is still used for practicing “witches.” The next level (with a stone circle we were told not to step in as some people who did immediately fainted or occurred various scratches amongst their body) I still did not see anything and no one did step in the circle, however I did feel a slight pain in my leg. Then we went to the final level (the one where the Poltergeist lives). This level was completely dark except for the flashlight our tour guide had. We were told that this was the free place to live and where most people lived since they didn’t have enough money. They would lay side by side crammed in the room all night with a leaky roof on a bed of straw and when they needed the bathroom they could uncover some earth do their business, cover it back up, and go back to sleep on it. Then we were told the story of the fire in
Scotland that killed many people. When the town heard about the fire they took their women and children and put them in this room surrounded by stones knowing that the stones would not burn and they hoped their families would be safe. They put a stone in front of the door and went to fight the fire. However, the fire spread over the bridge and above the heads of the many in the room. The room did not catch fire because it was stone, however it did conduct heat. Therefore, the room got hotter and hotter. They tried moving the stone, but in the heat it expanded trapping them in the room. They hoped their husbands/fathers would realize what they had done but no one came. Therefore, within hours people were dying of heat exhaustion in the burning room. The ones who survived for a couple days had to in a room with lots of heat and dead bodies. None of the women and children survived. Now during this point in the tour I started to feel a bit dizzy. We were told not to talk, so I didn’t tell Tiffany and I have no idea if I felt that because I was in a room where many were killed and a poltergeist lived or if I felt that because I was sick. However, I was too busy concentrating on that when the other tour guide jumped out and screamed scary everyone on the tour who also screamed…except me. Then we headed to a pub for our free whisky and shortbread (I did not drink the whisky). And then Tiffany and I went to Burger King for dinner. Now this is the point in the night when I figure out why my Scottish boy Lips has not come to see me, since he promised he would. And I figured out why he hadn’t even text me to say he wasn’t coming to see me. Here I thought he was standing me up and thought that he better have a really good reason like being in the hospital and turns out he really was in the hospital because he had the flu and he said I probably had it to, which of course I did since I was already feeling sick. Then to add to my wonderful night I get to the bus station and can’t find my paper with my ticket number on it. I asked one of the workers if there was any way I could use my name instead which he replied no and told me I should panic if I didn’t have my ticket number. I of course panicked since I couldn’t buy a ticket until 6 am the next day and couldn’t check my e-mail on my phone to get the number. Thank goodness the worker let me use his computer to check my e-mail and get my number. Then for the next 8 hours I slept on the way home.
Day 8- I would normally end my blog now as I have arrived back in
London and my
Scotland trip is officially over. However, I hate to leave this on a bad note…so I will continue so that I can leave it on an even worse note. Today we arrived at Victoria Station and as we headed home (me very sick) developed a rash all over my body. I was freaking out and immediately went to the doctor who couldn’t help me. So I went to bed, finally went back to the doctor for him to tell me he can’t do anything about the flu and to just sleep. And I went home and slept for the next 3-4 days. I barely got out of bed, even to eat.
Then I went to the doctor again on Sunday to find out I also had a throat infection/ear infection. I was given medicine and slept some more.
Finally, today- I returned to work. (Ok, so I lied it ends happy).
By the way I know some of my stories were hard to follow because I kept interjecting random things into them, however I felt this was appropriate because I felt just like my tour guide who would randomly say something in the middle of his story then continue like nothing happened. So Hotrod….this is for you!
Well now that I have taken up 7 ½ pages with my recount of
Scotland I feel it is time to end this blog. But don’t worry, for all of you who are not sick of me yet. I am also posting a blog about all the funny quotes that happened during our
Scotland trip so be sure to check that out. I will also post the pictures sometime next week when I actually have internet.
Until next time,
