So upon arriving in Edinburgh, Scotland, I was a little scared. The people here are more than eclectic. Right now, it is Festival Month so there are a bunch of REALLY OVERLY DRAMATIC 20-somethings running around trying to convince you to attend their performances. They wear outlandish, mismatched clothing and have hair in all colors: purple, pink, blue, orange, and red. We said fairwell to our rental car... a blue Ford Fiesta. BTW Lisa Lou: the Honda Fit is all the rage over here, I saw Snowflake on the drive and thought of you... except here it is called the HONDA JAZZ... WOOT WOOT.
We went exploring on Grassmarket Street where our hotel is. We dined at a little restaurant called Made in Italy... the wait for restaurants here in the U.K. is no less than 30 minutes to be seated and order. The people here move so much slower than we do... it's awesome but really unusual for a fastpaced crazy person like me. The spaghetti and pizza were good but bland... Brits and Scots DO NOT like spicy food. Perhaps I will open a Chipotle chain over here....? While dining, we met a lovely couple from Denmark who had never visited the U.S. We exchanged "holiday" ideas... holiday is the word for vacation here. Vacation is the whole month of August for most people because schools are only out for 1 month instead of 2 like at home.
I tried a little crepe stand last night too... and you know what Jones? THEY RAN OUT OF NUTELLA. I tried a chocolate and marshmallow crepe and it was not the same. Sigh. This morning, we got up to visit the Edinburgh Castle, the view that inspired J.K. Rowling to write Harry Potter. Do you know how much it costs to get in? 15 pounds... aka about 23 bucks a person. Again, we were satisfied admiring the Castle and taking a photo.
After the castle visit, we read about a little Cupcakery called Cuckoo's. So, we walked the entire mile down the hill to find it. Let me tell you, I am not cuckoo for these cupcakes. We ordered 4 varieties to sample... chocolate chocolate, chocolate vanilla, strawberry cheesecake, and black bottom. I tried the strawberry cheesecake... it had real strawberry jam in the middle with a fake sugary icing on top. But the ingredients were not good ol' fattening buttery ingredients, these were like HEALTHY cupcakes. Oh the horror. So, if you are health conscious and visiting Scotland, please do stop by. All others disregard. :)
For dinner, we had a pizza from a kebab house. I loved this kebab house upon entering because they played Usher and Beyonce songs. :) Then we wanted to wander to the Elephant House... the cafe of J.K. Rowling when she wrote the Harry Potter series. OMG. Now, as many of you may know... I am a Harry Potter fan myself if it gets children and young adults reading. I do not believe grown adults should read these books and shout from the hilltops about their literary genius. Harry's audience is meant for children and maybe teachers. Anywho, I was less than energetic to go skipping in but I was so ridiculously pleased that the Elephant House remains untouched to this Harry Potter craze. Here, I had the best latte I have had in my life and Peter had the best hot chocolate he has had in his life. My latte had just enough bitterness without being burned and the frothy milk mixed in completely with the Espresso below. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Peter's hot chocolate was made with Italian chocolates, fresh whipped cream, and marshmallows. Delish. We sat at the table where J.K. sat and saw the Edinburgh Castle when writing the books. If you are a Harry fan, refrain from salivating on your laptops.
Yesterday morning, we did a little souviner shopping... aka... I bought Highland Cow earmuffs to wear at school. You all will be so impressed. I almost purchased Petey a kilt but he said he would pass. Oh well. In front of our hotel, there was a YARD SALE. How exciting, it felt like a Saturday at home. I wandered through all kinds of booths only to end up in front of a GYPSY CARAVAN. Of course, I know all about gypsies from watching TLC's My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. I stood with my mouth wide open, chin almost to the ground, so excited at what my eyes were taking in. She was a gypsy who did TAROT CARD READINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was too afraid to go near her but I took lots of pictures. :)
Then, we wandered back to the hotel to pack up and catch our train to Glasgow, Scotland. More on that later. The laptop is not working so well to upload pictures so my next blog post will be photos for this entry. Then, I will tell you about Glasgow.
Cheers,
Kate
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