- The trip was me, Ilana, Jess, Nick and two of Nick's friends from his school in London. We all stayed in the same hostel that was 5-10 minutes away from the main street.
- First hostel experience!!! Not what I was expecting, but still a pretty cool experience. The hostel we stayed at was a converted church (think look up from your bed and see stained glass windows) Our room was tiny and the wallpaper was peeling, but the room was clean, the beds were clean and the private bathroom that was shared by the hall was really big and clean.
- Edinburgh is even more scenic and picturesque than London. Didn't think it was possible, but Edinburgh looks even older and grander than London. The big rock castle that's perched on a hill in the middle of the town was a great sight :)
- Night life is dead. Friday and Saturday nights/evenings, when we were out for dinner and running around the pubs, it seemed like the city was deserted.
- It's also a really small town- I feel fairly confident in saying that in 1.5 days we explored most of it and a weekend was a PERFECT amount of time to visit. Add an extra day and we probably wouldn't know what to do with ourselves.
- We did the Scotch Whisky experience which was pretty cool, best line from the tour was "many people often try to use the name Scotch whisky even if its not from Scotland...yeah...then we find them and sue them." Whisky ain't a joke up there. We got to sample some and also see the world's largest collection of Scotch whisky. Pretty neat stuff.
- Rugby game- Scotland vs. England, Scotland got murdered by England, the Scots were pissed and the pubs cleared out faster than anything I'd ever seen
- Wow, guys actually wear kilts although I'm pretty sure most of it was dressing up for the rugby game. also, bagpipes.
- WOOL AND CASHMERE. literally everywhere. Many of the busy streets were just lined with shops selling lambwool and cashmere scarves/sweaters/hats. I bought a plaid cashmere scarf in one of the touristy stores too :) Yay, souvenirs!
on the train ride there
right outside the train station in Edinburgh
random pretty building
On the main street, Princes St.
Edinburgh castle perched on the hill
bagpipes!
I think this building is part of the University of Edinburgh...
Edinburgh opera
side view of Scottish parliament
Front? view of parliament
gallery on the way to Arthur's Seat
gate to a castle right below Arthur's seat
Views from the top of the seat
you can see Edinburgh castle on the hill in the background
On top of Arthur's seat! the wind up there was no joke
Scotch Whisky Experience!
This room houses the world's largest scotch whisky collection- about 3500 unique scotch whisky bottles, all un-opened. Some old Brazilian man started collecting in the 1960s and then sold it to a Scottish whisky company for an "undisclosed amount"
temperature controlled room and cabinets
some of the more unique bottles
The grandfather clock whisky was made to celebrate the year 2000. Since it's impossible to get a 2000 year old whisky, instead the company blended multiple whiskys together and the combined age of all whisky's used adds up to exactly 2000. Pretty neat stuff :)
Each chess piece is filled with whisky and when you take the other person's piece in a game, they have to drink from the piece(at least I think that's what the rules are haha)
More bottles of whisky- even the figurines in the back are whisky bottles
It's hard to see, but the bottle on the very top shelf, in the very middle (it has a rolled white piece of paper next to it) is the most expensive bottle of whisky in the entire collection. The bottle is made of silver and glass. Back in the 60s/70s, the bottle cost 1000 pounds and they said it was by far the most expensive bottle. They also have no idea how much the bottle would be worth now because in order to determine its worth, they would have to open the bottle and sample the whisky....and all bottles are unopened.
On the walk to the entrance of Edinburgh Castle
view from the top of the castle
sorry for the crappy quality of some of the pictures, most of them were iPhone pics
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