Edinburgh

We arrived in Edinburgh yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon and had enough time to briefly see the old and new town as well as grab dinner at Monster Mash-a cute little 50s style cafe known for their bangers and mash, which was excellent...we just cant seem to get enough sausage on this trip. We went out with a couple from our hostel, one of whom was Scotish and knew the city quite well, to a really cool little pub called Sandy Bell's. They had a variety of Scotish beers and whiskeys, as well as nightly live open music sessions played by locals. This was a really nice place to enjoy a drink while listening to traditional Scotish folk tunes. This bar was clearly popular as half of our hostel showed up at different times throughout the evening.

The next day we started with a free 3 hour walking tour of the city, as recommended by our hostel manager. The tour is based on tips only, so it was a great opportunity to see the city without having to spend more than a few pounds each. We were able to tour much of old town as well as see some of new town, and we learned a lot about Scotish literary, geographical and even geological history.

Thanks to a recommendation for, "the best curry we will ever eat," from our Scotish friend from the night before, we got some lunch at a mosque with a kitchen producing Indian/middle eastern food (we aren't exaclty sure the ethnicity, because we were told it was Indian food, but it was served at an Islamic mosque, so...?) It was really delicious, filling and cheap.

After lunch we went to the Scotish National Museum where we enjoyed a brief tour through 2000 years of the history and tradition of Scotland. The highlight of the museum was Dolly the cloned sheep in a display case. Little known fact, Dolly was named after Dolly Parton because the scientists were thinking of breasts at the time of cloning????!?!?! You may want to check my facts. Afterwards we saw the Edinburgh castle from outside the walls and saw a really cool cemetary where a bunch of old Scotish people are buried.

The Highlands were absolutely beautiful, as you can see from pictures. We met Hamish, the Highland cow, who happens to be very famous. We went to Urquart Castle, which is remains of an old castle that was destroyed by rebels, and sailed along Loch Ness. Unfortunately, we did not catch a glimpse of the monster, Nessie. We spent the entire day driving around the Highlands seeing the sights and learning about Scottish history. It was a great experience.