After six weeks of relief teaching slog, we finally made it to another mid term break. On the agenda this time was an exploration of our heritage, a seeing of the sights, a road tour and wee dram or three (yes, we were meeting up with Andrew and Jess!).
We arrived in Edinburgh following a three hour train ride from Leeds up the Eastern coast, passing through some very spectacular coastal scenery. After getting our bearings, the first job was to check into the backpackers that we had so conscientiously booked in advance for us and Andrew and Jess. After a half hour stroll spent planning our next week and reflecting on how organised we had been in pre-booking (I'm going somewhere with this!) our accommodation, we arrived at the hostel.
Upon speaking to the person at reception and producing our printed internet reservation, we were told that the backpackers had no record of our booking and that there were no rooms available. We then spent the next two hours phoning all over Edinburgh looking for accommodation (the reception person at the hostel was bloody useless and provided no help at all). We eventually sorted something out and managed to avoid the (large number of) homeless ranks on the streets.
The next three days saw us roam around Edinburgh looking at the famous Edinburgh Castle (where the military tattoo is held), watching various kilted bagpipe buskers, going on a scenic bike tour (in the rain), doing quite a bit of souveneir shopping along the "Royal Mile" and savouring the great Scottish classic - haggis, neeps and tatties (washed down with quite a bit of beer).
We really enjoyed Edinburgh, it is really quite a pretty and historic city, with its old buildings in amongst large parkland with many green trees - definitely worth a visit. The entire city is quite hilly (really good for the fitness) mainly due to the fact that it is built around an extinct volcano - the castle is actually built on the summit of the volcano.
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