Because my trip to Scotland was full of surprises and stories worth telling I am going to organize this post by day starting with Friday when we left St. Pancras station. We (Chris, Tim, PJ, Emily, Caroline, Erin, Haley and I) arrived 45 minutes for our train out of St. Pancras station, due at 15:30. Most of the listed arriving and departing trains had a platform listed to which they would be departing or arriving to or from, ours did not. So it began to grow later and later 
and still no sign of a platform for our train. People were waiting anxiously for the missing platform number to suddenly pop up. It was now 15:15, and still no sign of the platform number, people were beginning to pile up. When the announcement of our platform number was finally announced it seemed like the entire St. Pancras station full of people started running towards our platform to hop in line. I had no idea it would be such a mad dash. We all hopped in line (quickly) and boarded our train with no problems. We were off to Scotland in no time! Once we arrived we walked around aimlessly for a while trying to decipher a map we finally came upon our hostel, Edinburgh Backpackers. I’m not sure what I was expecting, maybe something a little more glamorous or charming, but Edinburgh Backpackers, was far from glamorous or charming. We walked into the door with high hopes but they were soon demolished by the 10 minute check in process...for each person. At check in they informed us they did not have enough clean sheets for all of us, so we would have to come back later. Fortunately Tim, Erin, Haley and I were all staying in the same dorm, which slightly comforted my sceptical nerves. We entered our room carefully and we were greeted by two Australian girls and a man on his computer. We all exchanged names and “settled in.” The room was a configuration of 4 bunk beds. When I noticed the comforters sitting on each bed I immediately thought to myself ‘when was the last time these were washed?’ We got ready as fast as possible and bolted out the door for dinner and drinks. After a delicious meal at “Bella Italia” we began our search for a pub. After several frustrating attempts to read a map, we found a pub very close to our hostel. We began walking towards the door and as we approached we noticed a man pinned to ground by two Edinburgh police men. We were shocked, they had his face turned one way with their knees and his shoulders turned another. They were all yelling and we all just stood back in amazement, after what felt like a minute of this went on, finally two strangers approached the police men and told them to stop, pulling the man off of them. It was the strangest encounter, especially for our first night. We later learned this exchange happens every time someone is too drunk at a bar and they are thrown out, no warning, just a sever beating. After getting into the pub, Erin and I found a bachelor party to hang out with. This was a brilliant idea, considering they bought us drinks all night! We headed back to the hostel, washed our faces in cold water and crawled into our hopefully clean beds. It was slightly unnerving when Erin informed us that when Tim unfolded his sheets to place them on his bed a used band aid flew out, just slightly disgusting. Erin, Haley, I and Tim all awoke the next morning (Saturday) and headed out to get some breakfast around 9:30. We waited for Chris and PJ to wake up and get ready for about an hour (this is normal, to wait on the boys for up to an hour). They met us at Starbucks and we headed to Edinburgh castle for the day. Upon arrival the boys decided the castle was too expensive, so they headed elsewhere while we forged onward. We toured the castle and viewed all the exhibits the castle had to offer and then settled down for a lunch at one of the cafes located in the castle. It had amazing views and corny exhibits. After a day at the castle we grabbed a pint and then showered and got ready for the night. We (Erin, Haley and I) grabbed dinner at The Bank Hotel. During our dinner a pub crawl commenced at The Bank Hotel, and naturally we got roped in to joining in. The night included 3 pubs, 1 bars and 1 dance club. We met some very fun Australians and Canadians named Scotty, Mario, Graham and Jared. The boys met us at the second pub we visited, but Chris left shortly after to venture on his own. We all had a great time visiting all the local pubs. The next morning (Sunday) we woke and the boys wanted to show us the amazing views they had seen the day before. We all hiked up to a monument that overlooked the entire city. After spending an hour there, we decided to climb “Arthur’s Seat” (a huge hill located in the middle of city) to see some even more amazing views. Chris, once again decided he would rather not collaborate with the group so he left. We (PJ, Tim, Me, Haley and Erin) climbed and climbed for what seemed hours hung-over and hot, but once we reached the top, it was spectacular. They castle was off to the right and the city surrounded. It was absolutely breathtaking. After a much easier climb down we grabbed lunch and headed back to towards our hostel and the Royal Mile. We began watching a street performer who was wearing a black suit and tennis shoes. His face and hands were painted completely silver. It was straight out of the movie Eurotrip
. He began dancing like a robot and doing funny dance moves and what not. He had a particular act where he would come up to ladies in the audience grab their hand, kiss their hand and then turn his cheek for them to kiss him back (on the cheek). He did this to several women. Towards the end of the show he came up to me, pretending to do the whole normal thing of kissing the hand and then turning his head for the cheek kiss. When I leaned in to kiss his silver cheek, he turned at the last minute and kissed me a on the lips! Mortified I screamed in disgust and the entire audience of around 30-40 people laughed historically. I was not mad, just shocked! I had silver paint covering my nose and lips! A street performer in Edinburgh just tricked me...and kissed me! To say the least it was an eventful end to an eventful trip. We grabbed our bags at the hostel and then headed back to the train station for our departure. As soon as we got home we all Skyped, showered and prepared for another work week after a great weekend!
With kissing street performers and pub crawls in Scotland, who knows what will happen in Paris...
Pictures are soon to come! Keep an eye out for them!
and still no sign of a platform for our train. People were waiting anxiously for the missing platform number to suddenly pop up. It was now 15:15, and still no sign of the platform number, people were beginning to pile up. When the announcement of our platform number was finally announced it seemed like the entire St. Pancras station full of people started running towards our platform to hop in line. I had no idea it would be such a mad dash. We all hopped in line (quickly) and boarded our train with no problems. We were off to Scotland in no time! Once we arrived we walked around aimlessly for a while trying to decipher a map we finally came upon our hostel, Edinburgh Backpackers. I’m not sure what I was expecting, maybe something a little more glamorous or charming, but Edinburgh Backpackers, was far from glamorous or charming. We walked into the door with high hopes but they were soon demolished by the 10 minute check in process...for each person. At check in they informed us they did not have enough clean sheets for all of us, so we would have to come back later. Fortunately Tim, Erin, Haley and I were all staying in the same dorm, which slightly comforted my sceptical nerves. We entered our room carefully and we were greeted by two Australian girls and a man on his computer. We all exchanged names and “settled in.” The room was a configuration of 4 bunk beds. When I noticed the comforters sitting on each bed I immediately thought to myself ‘when was the last time these were washed?’ We got ready as fast as possible and bolted out the door for dinner and drinks. After a delicious meal at “Bella Italia” we began our search for a pub. After several frustrating attempts to read a map, we found a pub very close to our hostel. We began walking towards the door and as we approached we noticed a man pinned to ground by two Edinburgh police men. We were shocked, they had his face turned one way with their knees and his shoulders turned another. They were all yelling and we all just stood back in amazement, after what felt like a minute of this went on, finally two strangers approached the police men and told them to stop, pulling the man off of them. It was the strangest encounter, especially for our first night. We later learned this exchange happens every time someone is too drunk at a bar and they are thrown out, no warning, just a sever beating. After getting into the pub, Erin and I found a bachelor party to hang out with. This was a brilliant idea, considering they bought us drinks all night! We headed back to the hostel, washed our faces in cold water and crawled into our hopefully clean beds. It was slightly unnerving when Erin informed us that when Tim unfolded his sheets to place them on his bed a used band aid flew out, just slightly disgusting. Erin, Haley, I and Tim all awoke the next morning (Saturday) and headed out to get some breakfast around 9:30. We waited for Chris and PJ to wake up and get ready for about an hour (this is normal, to wait on the boys for up to an hour). They met us at Starbucks and we headed to Edinburgh castle for the day. Upon arrival the boys decided the castle was too expensive, so they headed elsewhere while we forged onward. We toured the castle and viewed all the exhibits the castle had to offer and then settled down for a lunch at one of the cafes located in the castle. It had amazing views and corny exhibits. After a day at the castle we grabbed a pint and then showered and got ready for the night. We (Erin, Haley and I) grabbed dinner at The Bank Hotel. During our dinner a pub crawl commenced at The Bank Hotel, and naturally we got roped in to joining in. The night included 3 pubs, 1 bars and 1 dance club. We met some very fun Australians and Canadians named Scotty, Mario, Graham and Jared. The boys met us at the second pub we visited, but Chris left shortly after to venture on his own. We all had a great time visiting all the local pubs. The next morning (Sunday) we woke and the boys wanted to show us the amazing views they had seen the day before. We all hiked up to a monument that overlooked the entire city. After spending an hour there, we decided to climb “Arthur’s Seat” (a huge hill located in the middle of city) to see some even more amazing views. Chris, once again decided he would rather not collaborate with the group so he left. We (PJ, Tim, Me, Haley and Erin) climbed and climbed for what seemed hours hung-over and hot, but once we reached the top, it was spectacular. They castle was off to the right and the city surrounded. It was absolutely breathtaking. After a much easier climb down we grabbed lunch and headed back to towards our hostel and the Royal Mile. We began watching a street performer who was wearing a black suit and tennis shoes. His face and hands were painted completely silver. It was straight out of the movie Eurotrip
. He began dancing like a robot and doing funny dance moves and what not. He had a particular act where he would come up to ladies in the audience grab their hand, kiss their hand and then turn his cheek for them to kiss him back (on the cheek). He did this to several women. Towards the end of the show he came up to me, pretending to do the whole normal thing of kissing the hand and then turning his head for the cheek kiss. When I leaned in to kiss his silver cheek, he turned at the last minute and kissed me a on the lips! Mortified I screamed in disgust and the entire audience of around 30-40 people laughed historically. I was not mad, just shocked! I had silver paint covering my nose and lips! A street performer in Edinburgh just tricked me...and kissed me! To say the least it was an eventful end to an eventful trip. We grabbed our bags at the hostel and then headed back to the train station for our departure. As soon as we got home we all Skyped, showered and prepared for another work week after a great weekend!With kissing street performers and pub crawls in Scotland, who knows what will happen in Paris...
Pictures are soon to come! Keep an eye out for them!
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