Edinburgh Part One

We left Limerick at 1:00 pm, and finally got to Edinburgh at 9:30 pm. It was a long day of travel from bus to bus to plane to bus, then a lot of walking in a new country with a very limited map. We found our hostel, the Brodie, but the sign said it closed at 6:00 pm, so we ring the bell for a few minutes, and have no answer, so we are out of luck. On Halloween weekend in Scotland, you are not going to find a place to sleep, but we try anyway instead of sitting there pouting. So we walk about 15-20minutes and find a hotel, it is the nicest looking hotel I have seen in a while, but we're desperate. The guy informs us that they are fully booked, but gives us a phone to try and call the hostel. Turns out there are two of the same hostels pretty much directly accross the street from one another. So they were open, and we are now relieved, but you can imagine how stressful that hour was. We wanted a beer, but by the time we actually got back and put our stuff down and got to a pub, it was pretty much closing time. We went to eat at a hole in the wall (where you get the best food), and some guy from a show called the 'X Factor' walks in, and the entire staff, all five of them go nuts. They begin taking pictures of this guy and telling him he was the best and blah blah blah, turns out it is a form of American Idol. Next we just want to get to the hostel to sleep, passing a guy in a costume who we talk to, and tells us we should have gone to Glasgow, another Scottish city, where he lives. He was also the source of my new favorite quote, he says, "you would have been as welcomed as a fart in a spacesuit, but you still would have a great time."
When we woke up we had breakfast, followed by a free walking tour, by the same company that we used in Dublin. This tour was 3.5 hours of walking so you can imagine there is a lot to learn, and too much to share. The most interesting thing I found was a graveyard that was the biggest in Scotland, and they told us that when a person is buried there, they can pay a family member or friend to sit on the grave for two weeks and prevent graverobbers from trading their recently buried friends to the black market. This was the origination of the term, 'Graveyard Shift.' We got to have Haggis, which is the national dish of Scotland, and it is the unused parts of a sheep, like the heart, neck, and that good stuff, inside of a sheep stomach, cooked and served on a bed of mashed potatoes, and as nasty as it sounds it actually wasn't too too bad. We got to have American pancakes as well, and tonight going to watch football, and celebrate Halloween with a haunted underground tour of the city.

London- Football match

Tuesday night, we went to the England V Montenegro football match. And by football, I mean soccer. The game was at Wembley, and even though there was no scoring it was still by far the most exciting sports experience of my life. The atmosphere was unlike anything I have ever witnessed, and UEFA is a dry venue, so you can not drink in the stadium, and people were getting kicked out for trying. When we arrived at the stadium and showed our tickets, the ushers asked us if we were England fans, and we said, not really, why? They told us we were sitting on the Montenegro side, and if we were England fans, they would have moved us. We got to sit in the heart of the Montenegro cheering section, which was awesome to experience, because it was real passion for a team. There was one annoying guy who was blowing a whistle that put a vuvuzuela to shame. But, fortunately for us, he tried drinking, so he was escorted out in a hurry. The game ended in a draw which was very disappointing, but it was still an amazing experience.
When we were headed back to the train station there was the biggest mob of people I have ever seen. The attendance was near 75,000, and it looked like every one of them wanted to get on the train.
The experience really made me wish America had a real passion for soccer, because it was better than any baseball game I have been to, and outside of the 700 level of Vet Stadium, there is no passion like I witnessed, at an NFL game.

London

Saturday-
This was a rough start to the day, because we had to catch a cab to the airport at 4.45 AM, and the softball team kept us out until 2.30, so that wasn't a fun cab ride. But we got to the airport, got on the plane, and took the short flight (1h15m) to London. When we landed, we had to catch a train, but being dropped in the middle of the most confusing transportation system I have ever experienced, after a night out, and with no sleep, was no easy task. When we finally got a train, and then a connecting train to our destination, we were here, finally. As soon as we walked out of the Underground, we were in front of a huge clock, and we were positive there is no way that this train randomly dropped us in front of Big Ben, but it did. The first things we see in London are Big Ben, Parliment, and the London Eye (a huge sight-seeing ferris wheel). We wanted to locate the bus station so that we would know where to go tomorrow, for a day trip. On this trip we saw Westminster Abbey, which we planned on returning to later, but for 16£, (28$), it wasn't worth it to us. We finally did the London Eye, and then went back and crashed at the Walrus Waterloo, our hostle, which was different from the other two I have been to, but still good.
Sunday-
Another early day, as we catch a bus to the bus station, where we are set to depart for our day tour of the Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Oxford. The tour guide asked us which one we were most excited to see, and Stonehenge won by a landslide. Our first stop was Windsor Castle, which I was later informed, is where the Queen lives. This castle was amazing, and soon became my favorite stop on the trip. We did a self-tour of it, and a little bit of the city in front of it. The next stop was Stonehenge, which was exactly what I expected, an awesome thing to see, but not something that fits into the 'exciting' category. We got audio-guides to tell us what we were seeing, but this was a quick stop, you get out, walk around the footpath, and then get back on the bus. We depart Stonehenge for Oxford. When we get to Oxford, we are led on a guided tour of the city, which was beautiful, and then after we saw a few key places, we made our way around the important parts of the campus. We got to see some famous authors' houses, like J.K Rowling, J.R.R Tolkein, and the inspiration for the scar on Harry Potter's forehead. When the tour was over, we went to lunch, and had to be back at the bus at 4.30 to go back to London. We got to the bar at 4.08, and told the guy we were in a hurry, because we were a 10minute walk from the bus. So we got our food, and left the bar, getting to the bus as the guide was stepping on. If we missed this, it would have been a long, expensive ride back.
I am running out of time from the internet cafe, and will blog the rest of my trip when I land back in Limerick.