Edinburgh and Inverness

Wednesday, June 23rd
Early morning wake up in Motherwell. Uncle John was picking us up in Motherwell at "745 and we "know what Uncle John is like if you're late" or so we were told!!! So an early morning start to Peebles where he and Aunt Helen live. They have a beautiful view of the mountains and countryside. It's about 20 mins from Edinburgh. They live on sheep and chicken farmland...the views were incredible. Uncle John made us a hearty breakfast and took us on a tour of the chicken farm. It was really neat to see the egg harvesting process...the last thing we thought we would do in Scotland would be to hang on a farm. lol. John and Helen were kind to drive us into Edinburgh. Another adventure to be had when we were dropped off at Waverley stn. The thing about Edinburgh that we soon discovered is that the streets are not level and have steep inclines and declines. It was a hike up and down no matter where you were heading. So touristy us, are following our map and end up on the 'high' streets instead of the 'low' ones where our hostel is located. It didn't take us long to realize our error and get back on the right path...we were greeted with about 100 stairs though that we never had to take!!! Packs and stairs are not a good combination but we are definately getting our exercise and getting a good sweat on (SWODY). We arrived at our hostel at about 1245 and were glad to see that our room was ready and we could officially check in. Cute little hostel with a lot of common rooms and 'chill out' spaces. We settled in and did some more planning for the coming weeks. We are now booked up until July 1st, CANADA DAY, in Dublin. So we wanted to see a bit of Edinburgh before dark and get an authentic Scottish dinner. We wanted to go to Holyrood Park and climbed up to Arthur's seat which is the highest point of the hills in Holyrood and is 820 feet. It was amazing!!! We could see all of Edinburgh and had amazing views of beyond the city. After a few whipe out's and a very windy top, we were headed out for supper. We used our handy dandy Europe guide (thanks grandma and grandpa Wilson)and found a quaint little place called the Monster Mash just up from our hostel (and yes it was literally up, crazy Edinburgh streets). We decided that we couldn't go to Scotland and not try some Haggis so we had Haggis and Shepard's pie. The haggis was surprisingly good and was just like ground beef with spices and was served with mash and turnip or neeps.
Since it was our only night in Edinburgh we had decided that we should go out and get out on the town. The hostel that we were staying at had a pub crawl everynight and was led by the employees. So we thought it would be a great and cheap way to see the town and a great way to meet people at the hostel. So at 9pm we meet in the lobby and surprise, surprise, DJ Alex, our guide is Australian. I don't think anyone else works in the UK. So we met some friends from all over, Orangeville, Quebec City, France, and of course Australia. It was a really cool night. We went to an Oz bar first and the Australia-Serbia game was playing...needless to say it was BUSY!!! Next stop was an Irish pub and they had a great little band who played a lot of Irish tunes but to our great surprise they played Barrett's Privateer...you better believe we sang and danced along. We then went to some metal bar...slightly sketchy but they had really cheap drinks...mixed drinks were a pound each. Final stop was a dance club that was more like a sauna, but we had a great time anyhow.

Thursday, June 24
Edinburgh adventuring day. We set out for Mary King's close which is the underground city that was build on top of. It was really neat to be down in the old city but they have a lot of ghost stories and such...a little eerie but also very corny. Next we were off to Edinburgh castle...wow what a huge thing that is to see...there is so much history that you cannot possibly take it all in, in just one day. It was really cool to see though and learn a bit of the history. We were then on the move again...this time we were heading to Inverness. We said fairwell to our Edinburgh mates and to the highlands we go!!! We hopped on the bus and away we went!! We arrived in Inverness just shortly after 9 and we found the hostel in no time. It really did help that it was a stones throw away from the bus station...you can literally see the hostel from the bus station!! Came in, was greeted by yet another Australian working at the hostel and settled in. I then had the chance to Skype with my Mom, Dad and Max which was really cool!!! The common room did start to fill up and get pretty noisy. The hostel has a guitar, piano and didge that were all being played so it was a quick but good skype. We met a few other people staying at the hostel and ended up heading out to the pub with them...so much for a quiet night in! We went to a really small place that had a live band but was for the most part locals only. To our surprise we were sitting amoung a local celebrity. Duncan was a young Invernesion who recently was filmed in the Robin Hood movie. It was cool to hear about filming and he actually had a battle wound...they didn't find out till much later though as his screaming appeared as acting amoungst the battle scene. We then headed back to our hostel for an impromptu jam session...Heather and I were vocalists...:)!!!bahaha!

Friday, June 25
Slept in a bit today but got out of bed and ready for about lunch time. We had mentioned that we have not yet had pizza, which is a staple for an afterbar snack, but everything closes early that it just hasn't happened. So, for "brunch" today we ordered a pizza and were in heaven!!!! We decided that today was the day we had to hunt for 'Nessie'. So we booked a cruise to Loch Ness that ended at Urquhart castle. It was a really nice boat ride on the water and we found nessie beached on the coast (pictures to come soon). Hooray, we saw nessie!!! Thought that would never happen!! hehe Urquhart was really neat although it was ruins from the bombing of the castle. There was even a wedding there today...Heather was right in the action photographing the bagpiper (don't worry Mom, I didn't crash another wedding). We then headed back home to grab some dinner and beer (have I mentioned how cheap beers are here?). Tonight we are heading out to Hootananny's (sp?)an Scotish pub here in Inverness!!! But for now we are just chillin out watching the Spain and Chile game with a ton of Spanards...should be entertaining!!! Tomorrow we are off to Fort William and Oban...lets hope for continued good weather and good times!!!!