Hey, I managed to have another entry with Harry Potter being a legitimate tag. :P More on that later. And this will be a long entry, entirely devoted to my trip to Scotland.
So, how did I get to Edinburgh? Took a train from Colchester to London (1 hour), take the underground (bus on the way back) from Liverpool Station to King's Cross station (which looks almost nothing like it does in the HP movies, I was so disappointed! But it did have the clock and the cooly ceiling and was very nice) and then take the train from King's Cross to Waverly in the center of Edinburgh (5-6 hours, depending on the number of stops).
I arrived mid-afternoon on Thursday and, after hitching a cab to my hotel (the Murrayfield Hotel - very lovely, if you plan on going to Edinburgh, I suggest you check it out, it's high quality for average pricing, but the Royal Scots Club was horrible and expensive so don't ever stay there - I had to stay there Saturday night because of booking mistakes). Where was I? Oh, after going to my hotel, I collected about a half-dozen maps of Edinburgh and made my way out to explore the city. Lucky for me there was a bus stop right in front of my hotel and the buses in Scotland go everywhere. Really.
Later that night, I made plans for what I was to do the next day since the trip to Scotland was very sudden. As in the decision was made the night before I left. Talk about a spontaneous vacation, right?
Friday:
I got up early and went to Edinburgh Castle first, not only because it's at the top of the Royal Mile (and pretty much all the attractions are on or very close to the Royal Mile) but also because it the first touristy thing to open, at 9:30. Everything else didn't open till 10:30 - and by the way all the touristy places are closed by 5pm, except for the graveyard/catacomb tours (more on that later). The Castle was nice and everybody should see it at least once even though it was ridiculously expensive. I met a group of Kiwis (4 of them plus one Aussie, hehe) there, from Dunedin (so, naturally I told them about you Jon) and they seemed to think we had this sudden connection and were instant buddies because they followed me around for the rest of the day. 0_o
They were rather rowdy, though, and so I admit, while I did like them, I did try to ditch them a couple of times but it proved to be impossible. I still managed to see what I wanted to see because they were all following me. So, me and my Kiwis went to the Museum of Scotland (very cool, with a lot of neat old stuff if you like that kinda thing - which I do - and the museums here are free so you should go anyway!). Then we went to the Museum of Childhood (a fast trip b/c it's small but it's free and cute so I suggest you go). We also checked out St. Giles, the Tron Kirk, and another cathedral whose name I can't remember right now. The only cathedral still used for worship is St. Giles (right? or is the one whose name I can't remember? Oh, I suck at guide thingys, don't I?)
Walking down the Royal Mile, we checked out a lot of cute shops (lots of kilt shops and whiskey shops). We walked all the way down to Holyroodhouse Palace (where the queen stays during... July and August, I believe.), which wasn't expensive and definitely worth the look. It was gorgeous. And it had the most wonderful view of King Arthur's Seat (a mountain to the right of it) and Calton hill (to the left). The only bad thing was the front view which was of the Scottish Parliament house, which is an ugly piece of modern architecture which doesn't fit in with the town at all. It was horrible.
Then we walked up to Prince's Mall, because it had began to rain more heavily and decided to see a movie. We went to Serenity and it was awesome! I LOVE SERENITY. It's my favorite new movie. Anyway, the theater we were in was a special one I guess because it had a bar so we all got drinks (I got one Bacardi Breeze while the Kiwis and Aussie had about 20 beers between them all and so they got trashed and even more rowdy). After the movie, I finally successfully abandoned the crazy Kiwis :P It was late anyway so I picked up some carry-out from an Indian place and went back to my hotel to eat and get ready for the cemetary tour I bought tickets for for later that night.
The Cemetary of the Dead cemetary tour. It was voted by Fox News as one of the scariest places on earth. I'm not sure I entirely agree. Wait - let me start at the beginned because you're not going to believe this. I arrived, bundled up nicely because I was in Scotland and it's cold there (haha) and who do I see? THE KIWIS. And their Aussie friend. Wearing flip-flops and bermuda shorts nonetheless! I told you they were crazy. Anyway, I must've mentioned the tour to them eariler because they met me there and greeted me by lifting me off the ground in a bone-crushing hug. How lovely. At least if I ever visit New Zealand, I'll have people to stay with. Back to the topic (I always seem to go off tangent, don't I?)
The cemetary tour was decent. The Kiwis and a group of drunk old women made it interesting and fun and even scary at times. The guide was plenty entertaining (if possible - ask for the only non-Scottish guide - she's hilarious!) and even managed to make us feel a bit creeped out when we reached the cemetary. Now - the part of the graveyard with a poltergeist - it's locked off. So she unlocked it, let us in, and locked the gate behind us. It's very loud - remember this later.
As we walked into the haunted part, there were tombs and stuff everywhere and the guide told us to stick together because the poltergeist was violent and might try to split us up. After prying one of the drunk Kiwis off my arm, I lagged behind to see what would happen. Nothing did. I did get a good look inside all the tombs, looking for actors and stuff and didn't see any. Remember this later as well.
Then the guide packed us all into a tiny tomb and began to tell the tale of why the poltegeist was here and some of the things it had done. I was by the door to the tomb and so when the guide suddenly stepped out of the doorway and into the tomb, I got a little nervous. Why? This is why: an actor jumped in and shouted "BOO!" How lame, right? Right, but it was still scary as hell because 1) there was no place in that part of the graveyard he could have hid without us noticing and 2) we didn't hear the gate screech open. And so I screamed my head off and jumped backwards.
I suggest the Mary King's Close tour instead. This was sorta lame but you're welcome to try it out.
Tomorrow I'll type what I did Saturday just to keep this from being too long and because I'm tired of typing.
Oh, and after the tour I went back to my hotel and went to sleep. Nothing exciting there :)
scotland
) school 
