Birthday Week Kick off: Gusties in Scotland!

I spent the weekend before my birthday in Edinburgh, Scotland with two very dear Gustavus friends that lived in the same section as me freshman year. One of them, Sarah, is studying in Seville, Spain and the other Jenni Harms, I've mentioned before, is studying in Ireland. My trip was really short. Around 40 hours. But I didn't want to travel on my birthday and I wanted to see my Gustie friends!

Friday, April 19th
Friday was supposed to be a smooth travel day. I had nothing to do but get to Edinburgh. But of course it did not go smoothly. Apparently Jenni and Sarah had problems getting to the airport too. I guess it was just a bad travel day! My train from Uppsala was cancelled so I had to ride a different, less direct train to Stockholm that caused me to miss my train to Nyköping, which is where the airport is. The second train only runs every hour but luckily that train could get me there in time for my flight but just barely. I got to the airport 50 minutes before my flight. Stressful. I then proceeded to my gate but skipped passport control so I was escorted by the police to the passport check lines. The flight was running late so I didn't really miss anything at the gate. I made my way to our hostel in Edinburgh which was right off the High Street. Super convenient location. I made it there just after midnight. Jenni and Sarah were nervous that I wouldn't make it but everyone made it!

Saturday, April 20th
We had booked a Highlands tour for Saturday so that started bright and early! We knew little to nothing about the tour we picked. It was suggested by a couple other Gusties that visited earlier in the semester. It was also 11 hours long. Uff da. It was a really great tour though because it was small - all of us fit in a large van. Our first stop brought us to our new favorite cow. I had no idea that Scotland is known for this particular breed of Highland cattle. They are the goofiest looking cows ever and drool like there is no tomorrow. The cattle have long hair that protects them from cold and wind in the winter. 

Silly cattle

I'm bummed because the tour drove us through Stirling (that's right, my sister Stirling's namesake) but we didn't stop, we just drove past the castle so I didn't get any pictures of Stirling. Our next stop was to see the Three Sisters of Glen Coe. You can see two of the three sisters behind us. There was also a guy in a kilt playing to bagpipes. SO SCOTTISH. 

Jenni, our new bagpipe playing friend, Sarah, and me

Me and Jenni in front of the Three Sisters!

On our tour, we learned heaps of Gaelic words. I will share them now. Vocab lesson.

loch - lake

ben - mountain

fortnight - 14 days 

glen - valley

So that is all that I can remember now. But now you know some Gaelic!

We heard some stories about the massacre at Glen Coe and listened to some fabulous Scottish music on our tour. 

By lunch time we had made it up to Loch Ness. We had time for a quick bite to eat before we had to board the boat for our boat tour of Loch Ness! We did some hunting for Nessie! She doesn't like being called a monster though, she is a gentle creature. 

Beautiful Loch Ness

Going on a Nessie hunt with Jenni!

Most of the afternoon was spent driving south so our tour was mostly Scottish music and a couple more stories. Fairly uneventful, we had a bathroom break stop and a stop just outside Edinburgh to look at two bridges. Great tour, expensive and a lot of sitting but it was worth seeing.

Steak frites birthday dinner!

For dinner we ate a small pub that had live music and good food. I love me some good steak. It was my pre-birthday dinner!

We then went for dessert at an Italian restaurant that Jenni and Sarah had found the night before. BEST DESSERT EVER. Bella Italia was the restaurant and it was right off the Royal Mile. If you find yourself in Edinburgh go there and have the cookie dough lava cake. Here is the description from their online menu: Moist chocolate chip cookie cake with a melting chocolate middle, served warm with vanilla pod ice cream and caramel sauce. If that doesn't make your mouth water, you wouldn't know good dessert if it hit you on the head. It was heavenly.

 

Sunday, April 21st

Sunday was my last day with them in Edinburgh. But we woke up semi-early to walk around and see town before I had to head to the airport! We found the Elephant House which is the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the beginning books of the Harry Potter series. Sooooo cool. We obviously had coffee there. The decorations are really unique with elephants everywhere, duh. 

Me and Sarah in front of the birth place of Harry Potter!

There were even a few elephant chairs!

Fika in Scotland!

Edinburgh Castle from the Elephant House

In the back there are tables near the window through which you can see Edinburgh Castle. This castle on a hill was JK Rowlings inspiration for Hogwarts being on top of a hill in her books. I can't believe she was just a normal person hanging out there writing the books that would become some of the best selling books of all time.

The city of Edinburgh!

We then wandered around the city checking out shops and trying on Claddagh rings. I found a really nice British wool sweater that was over 50% off. However, I did not think about how I was going to get it home so ended up wearing it. Oops. 

I've loved all the cities I've been to this semester but Edinburgh really struck me as the first place that I liked not just for the flashy fun reasons. It's similar to England but distinctly different. The people spoke English so that was nice. The Highlands were amazing and it was somewhat fun going into it without expectations. 

I think my blog has turned into a food diary. I suppose that I had no plans for it so I didn't really know what to expect. Well that's fine. I will just have great documentation on all the fantastic European food I've eaten this semester. Anyway, that was birthday kick off! So lucky to spend my last weekend as a 20 year old with fabulous friends in a charming city.

Cheers!