Scotland-Part Deux

The next morning was Easter Sunday, so we went to a nearby church called St. Mary's Cathedral. The service was beautiful, and the interior was so immaculate. Also, there was a Cardinal in attendance, so a ton of news cameras were everywhere. Who would have thought? How lucky! I thought of my mom and Gramma the whole service-I miss them so much, especially when I go to church!

After, we walked to the indoor mall and got crepes and a few other things. Life's pretty inexpensive in Edinburgh, especially compared to Dublin, so we took advantage 

We then went back to the hotel to plan the rest of our day and our tour to Loch Ness that Monday!

We decided on a couple activities for Sunday, the first of which being souvenir shopping. I got my grandpa a MacDonald clan scarf (he’s very much into our family history/ancestral tree) as well as a magnet for my dad.

After, we had planned to visit a place called St. Mary's Close, but it was booked the whole day, so we went to a cool visual/science museum called Camera Obscura.

Camera Obscura can only be described as a visual “experience”, with about five floors of very cool pictures, kaleidoscopes, and a "Big Brother" type camera at the top of the museum. It's a camera that literally zooms in on the streets of Edinburgh, and you can sit in a room and watch the people walking around the Royal Mile.

Also, the top of the museum offers a beautiful view of Edinburgh (see facebook for pictures) where you could see the most amazing view of the city!

After, we decided shop for more souvenirs and get dinner at a pub called Deacon Brodies, named for a con artist we learned about on our walking tour (http://www.bestpubs.co.uk/layout0.asp?pub=105887)-smart man, actually.

We ordered our food (another veggie burger for me!) and started to chit-chat. We ended up staying at Deacon Brodies for over two hours, just talking about things like where we saw ourselves in 5 years, how we feel about divorce and marriage, and what sort of relationship we'd all like to end up in (if any). It was really a great bonding experience, and was one of the best conversations I’d had in a long while. We even ordered dessert to prolong the dinner, hahaha :)

By the time we left, it was about 9;00 pm and we headed to the Starbucks (again) for our ghost tour!

We were led through the streets of Edinburgh by a man (I forget his name) with a scruffy beard and a knack for telling stories. Luckily, he was a comedian and professional actor, who loved giving tours in the after hours, so we were entertained the whole time.

The first stop was a graveyard, housing Hume’s mausoleum (one of Scotland’s greatest thinkers) and a number of other graves/ghosts. I literally got chills during some of the guide’s stories.

One was about a woman who was buried alive (she had fallen into a coma and no one knew) and she began to scream as two men tried to saw off her fingers after she’d been buried. They were trying to steal her jewelry after she had been buried, but were taken aback when she started screaming and left her there! Ah!

The tour also took us up Calton Hill, where Scotland’s “National Disgrace” stands proudly at the top. Scotland tried to build their own acropolis, modeled after ancient Greece, but it was never finished due to dwindling funds. Glasgow offered to help fund the project but, according to our tour guide, Edinburgh would rather “have an unfinished acropolis than accept anything from Glasgow”.

Bitter much? Haha.

So the acropolis remains unfinished, and has for 180 years, which is why it is referred to Scotland’s “National Disgrace” instead of their “National Monument”.
(The Acropolis’ most recent use is as the sight of an annual pagan celebration, in which witches run around nude and consume a ton of alcohol.)

The tour ended with a complimentary pint at the Bank Bar (popular spot!) and the four of us sat at a table near a group of 15 year-olds who looked at us strangely whenever we started laughing or talking too loudly. Must not be used to our craaazy American ways! hahaha. Juuuust kidding.

That’s the thing about Europe, though,-it’s not uncommon for kids as young as 14 to be relaxing in a bar or pub. Europeans look at alcohol and pub life in a completely different way, and children are exposed to the drinking culture (that’s right, I said culture. See Lara’s blog --http://theverydramaticblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/irish-love-jesus-but-they-do-drink.html-- for more information) at a very young age. It’s really no big deal to them.

Fun fact: When we lived in Germany in 4-6th grade, Kelly and I took Irish Dancing lessons in a pub. Sometimes, there were a few customers sipping on a pint while we were practicing, but the place was mostly shut down for the lessons. For some reason, I just don’t think that would fly in the States, haha.

After our pints, we bought some peanuts (Cajun flavored!) and headed back to the hotel. We were dead tired (that ghost tour took it out of us!) so we crashed immediately. Plus, we knew we had to wake up early for our Loch Ness tour the next morning, so we wanted to be well-rested for that.

Next morning was Monday and our bus tour left at 8:00 am. Early for us college kids :)