Edinburgh xxxo!

Last stop on the whirlwind that was spring break- EDINBURGH!

We left REALLLLY early to be at the Dublin airport, we kinda over shot it- but better safe than sorry I have learned!

It was nice to get sleep on the plane, even if it was just like 40 minutes- I woke up to this beautifullllllll view outside my window! I wanted to sleep on these clouds! Or eat them!

We got to Edinburgh SO EARLY! And for most hostels check out is 10 am and check in isnt until 2 pm. So we dropped our stuff in the luggage room where it would be safely held until it was time to retrieve it.

THIS WAS BY FAR THE BEST HOSTEL WE HAVE BEEN AT!

 For a number of reasons:

1. The second most beautiful boy in the world (the first being shane the bartender) worked there

2. It had a great lounge with awesome music and free pac-man annnnnd it was really cool

3. It was in a great location!

4. And unbeknownst to all of us, we booked a suite instead of just 3 beds so our room was beautiful!

5. It was the cheapest of all of them! Great success!

Hallway

Cool Decor, note the candles

Lounge

ANNNNND the icing on the cake, OUR ROOM!

Mine and Marlene's Bed

We dropped off our stuff and then went to Edinburgh Castle. It was so nice out when we were walking there, and the hostel is right at the bottom of the hill from the Castle. And by hill I mean HILL
So like I said, it is kinda windy but the sun is shining.

You see this picture? PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE THAT THE SUN IS SHINING!

WELL GUESS WHAT? Edinburgh has the weirdest weather EVER. EVER.
We are at the castle, soaking it all in, loving the architecture and panoramic views and then BAM! it is downpouring. So we scurried into a museum that is part of the castle ( all about the war history of Scotland )
Walk outside, birds are chirping, the sun is smiling all is well. WHAT THE HECK!?

This kept happening! Anytime Marlene and I found ourselves outside alone together the weather would change. IT LITERALLY STARTED HAILING ONE TIME!

Anyway enough about that, PICTURES OF THE CASTLE!

note the rain!

In case things don't work out with my new bartender boyfriend, we have a bagpipe player!!

Oh whats that Edinburgh? You're sunny again?! Yeaaaa yeaaa I don't buy it!

GOOD THING I DIDN'T BELIEVE YOU! WE get to the bottom of the hill and rainnnn!

After checking out the castle, Marlene and I walked through the hail to the famous Vintage shop at the end of the street! Armstrong's Vintage Emporium! 

It was soooo cool in there! I wanted everything, and immediately fell in love with a pair of purple sunglasses but decided to leave them where I found them.

After that we got back to the hostel and hung out for another hour there, listened to their great playlist in the lounge (which coincidentally I just had them message me cause I really wanted those songs) and FINALLY got into our room for a nap-attack!

This nap was glorious and without a doubt I could have stayed asleep through the night. 

GLAD I DIDN’T THOUGH! Because I was about to have one of THE most entertaining evenings ever

 We had the Hostel recommend a place for dinner, and what do you know there was a place RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET- It was called The Black Bull and it was great. 

(We tried this drink, and it was good, but super duper sweet, 

which didn't leave anyone feeling too great afterward.)

Our game plan was to go to "The Opal Lounge" which is a club and it was their student night. WELL instead we got there and it was a little early, and I had researched a little about night life and one of the bars was on that street as well so we decided to start there.

It was called "The Queen's Arms" and it was great.

Bar Decor

Mandy and I at the bar!

It was a really great night, and we made a friend! His name was Tony and he is the CEO of a company that sells porridge bars called Stoats.

When we told him we were on spring break he was really surprised 

we had chosen Edinburgh as a place to go, he said he thought all American girls went to places like Cabo or Miami for

"SPRING BREAAAAK!" 

We quickly corrected this assumption. He was a very funny guy and it was definitely an experience talking to him!

Tony's version of spring break:

"Spring breakkkk!"

We never ended up going to the club, we just talked for a while and then it was pretty late and we had plans for the next day!

 So back to the hostel and off to bed!

DAY TWO:

Our day started with a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour! It was great cause your ticket would work for any of the hop-on buses all day, and we got to cover a greater span in shorter time, while learning!

Palace of Holyroodhouse

Parliament Building

WHAT IS THAT I SEE IN THE DISTANCE!?!

If you think for a second I didn't find my way back there later in the day 

you have GOT to be kidding me! 

I probably won't get a chance to have starbucks again until I get home! 

Which is funny because I kept thinking I had barely anytime left in Florence and now when thinking in terms of coffee I feel like I have years left! 

We got off the bus and Marlene and I went to the Surgeon's Hall Museum while Devon and Mandy went to the Museum of Childhood!

This is an ACTUAL FACE OF AN ACTUAL PERSON!

I wanted to throw up but couldn't stop staring, complicated emotion there!

He is a WW1 soldier that had a gunshot wound through the face. YOU CAN STILL SEE HIS BEARD HAIR AND EYE BROW HAIR AND EYELASHES AND WRINKLES!

HOW FREAKY?!?!!?!?

Blehhh still weird!

MOVING ON..

On our bus tour and at the museum we learned about Burke and Hare, two "bodysnatchers"

Bodysnatching was common in Edinburgh, and it was getting harder because the cemeteries started to set up walls and towers to protect the dead from being stolen.

SOOOOOOOO...

These two fine gentleman would kill people and sell them to doctors who were using the bodies in the name of research! 

Terrible, I KNOW.

They ran a hotel and people would come thinking they were simply staying at a hotel and living their lives, wrong-o! They were going to be killed!

Burke and Hare killed up to 30 people and sold them to Dr. Knox!

SCANDALS!

They got caught, duh that is what ALWAYS happens. 

Well Hare threw Burke under the bus and turned the evidence on him. And Burke was killed and then the irony of all irony, had his body donated to science!

Hungry?

Me too! We went to "The Candy Bar" for lunch. 

It was really good, I got fajitas because I miss them :)

  I also got a brownie sundae which made me miss Sean!

The Candy Bar

Then it was back to the bus! We saw the pub where J.K Rowling started writing Harry Potter 

Sighhhhhh!

And then it was time to take Devon and Mandy to the vintage store we had been to!

We spent some quality time at the store! And there was a deal, two sunglasses for the price of one!

(Yes I got a my purple pair and another pair)

On the way home we stopped into a conveince store and LO AND BEHOLD!

Stoats Bars! Thanks for the hilarious evening Tony!

We went to dinner in another restaurant near the hostel and then got ready to go out!

It was a really fun night, we went to a place called The Liquid Room and they had really great music and it was another really fun night!

Devon, Myself and Marlene

After an hour of sleep it was to the airport! Oh and it was SNOWING when we were leaving! SNOW!

Told ya the weather was wonky!

And I made it safely and soundly back to Italy!

Now if only I could find the time to actually unpack ;)