Edinburgh day 2

Helloooo...

It's 8:15 pm and I've had a splendid day. I woke up around 9:30 am after about 5 hours of sleep, and although I wanted to keep sleeping I knew I had a "hearty scottish breakfast" awaiting me. Oh my my...I went out to the eating area and saw cereal and oats, and thought, wow, this looks HEARTY, not....but little did I know they had a menu full of the most heart attack enducing types of food ever. I ate scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast, bacon, and hashbrowns. Relatively tasty! I was really full and went back up to my room....and went back to sleep. I wouldn't be Annabo Kristine T if I didn't sleep until 3:30 pm! At 3:30 I launched myself out of bed and got dressed, brushed my teeth, and went out. I knew I had to seize all the time I could if I was to have an ACTIVE day and be able to sleep tonight. Oh I did. Here are some of the things I did:


Here is a view of the buildings near where I am staying:



I walked to the famous downtown street, Princes street. Because the weather was almost up to the seventies, it was jam packed with people, and of course, men playing bagpipes. Here are a few pictures from downtown:






Here is a video of downtown Princes Street:


After I took in the beauty of downtown, I walked back up near my hotel, grabbed dinner, and decided to tackle the hills of Arthur's seat (which has a beautiful view of the castle:


Here is the presbyterian church I will go to tomorrow, located at the end of the street where my hotel is:





Here is the healthy, small portions dinner I had...fish and chips...I couldn't even eat 1/3 of this, but it was tasty...:




However, I probably burned all calories I had in the last week with the 3 hour hike I took to Arthur's Seat....so worth it! It was disgustingly hot but the sights were oh so breath taking....Here are some pictures!:
This is what I had to climb!! :)












I have more pictures but the computer is pretty slow...enjoy!

Ahhhh...

That was the BEST shower ever....in a magical weird old shower...I'm happily in my hotel snug in my bed. It's 11:41 pm here, which is ridiculous because it feels earlier to me. I took an afternoon nap (I tried NOT to) and still felt tired when I woke up around 9 pm. It was getting dark so I went to the reception desk and asked for a place within walking distance that was open for food. Lucky for ME, there was a nice inexpensive Italian restaurant just down the hill.

Here are a few pictures from my day:

A picture from the heathrow airport in london:



A picture just outside the shuttle I took from the airport to my hotel:



My hotel!

Lots of old looking hallways and stairs:








Here is the restaurant where I ate dinner, about a 5 minute walk from my hotel..I had lasagna!:




I just took the best shower (felt so dirty after 12 hours of flying) and am so excited to go exploring tomorrow! Right now I'm feeling happy, it's all sort of surreal and I think that is from lack of sleep. :)



Goodnight! :)

By the way...

My plane will include thirty of South Africa's competitive high school/college karate team. YESSSSSSS..


:)

I see London!

'Ello 'ello. I'm alive and kicking. 10 hours and two insane bursts of turbulence later, l arrived safely in London. The plane ride felt longer than ten hours, and by the last two hours my legs felt so cramped. A lovely British couple was sitting by my side, but they ended up moving later in the flight because they wanted more space. So then these funny guys from Switzerland sat by me and we talked a lot of San Francisco and me freaking out over the turbulence. I managed to get some short naps in and watched "harry potter and the sorcerer's stone", "sweeney todd", and "St. Trinian's" (sooo funny) on the plane.

As the plane was descending and the clouds parted, I was able to look out my window seat and see a clear and fresh looking London. It was pretty mesmerizing to see so much green and old-ish architecture. I think the weather is in the fifties or sixties here today, but we'll see how it is in Edinburgh. I have another 40 minutes before I board the one hour flight to Edinburgh. I'm so excited.

I feel so blessed to have such supportive family and friends who are excited for me and this trip. I am so happy and grateful and excited to continue to share this adventure.

Will hopefully post in Edinburgh.

-Bo

Preparations

Hello! This is my first entry for my Scotland blog! I will be leaving California on Thursday night and getting to Scotland Friday afternoon. My to-do list has reached an unsightly four pages. I am sure that by the time I leave I will finish packing my various pairs of shoes and sweaters and be on my jolly way.

I hope this blog will serve as a place for you all to see my pictures and ramblings of my two months in Edinburgh. I will try to post as often as I can when I am not visiting castles, eating haggis, and hopping the next train to Hogwarts.