adventure after adventure...

So Thursday night I embarked on an adventure...which involved travelling and Amy.
When we left early Friday morning (by early I mean 5 something) we had our arms full of bags. Amy slipped on black ice and was down, flat on her back, hair spraying out around her head. At first she was concerned about her ankles, but upon rotation it was discovered that they were fine and we continued on our journey to the bus stop. With a glance at her hand we realized that she had gouged out a chunk of skin on her palm while attempting to break her fall, and we had no bandaids with us, or time to go get them. Thankfully a lady at the bus stop assured us that we had not missed our bus and we got out the fare in preparation of getting on the bus. It was supposed to drop us off at the train station but it didn't, so we hopped off and lugged up a hill to the train station.
Our train was supposed to leave at 5:55 or something, which was a few minutes away. the station didn't open until 6:05 and the ticket machine was refusing our bills. Praise the Lord, there was man who just happened to be hanging around who showed us how we could get a permit for travel and then pay the rest upon arrival at our destination, and we made it to the platform with a few minutes to spare. the mysterious man came down and subsequently disappeared. guardian angel number one.
We reached our stop, paid the attendant, hopped on the shuttle bus, and made it to the airport and checked in. We were also able to buy a first aid kit for Amy's hand. We did a quick clean job in the bathroom, and then took off. Our flight was uneventful, but when we landed in Edinburgh I noticed that it began to snow! right after I pointed it out to Amy they made an announcement. I was so excited to see snow! A little of it actually stuck to the ground, but only near the airport...it pretty much melted instantly in Edinburgh. Although, we did see one snowman...
anyway, there was a kind lady who gave us a little map and showed us which bus we should get on to find our hostel. so we did...but we must have missed our stop or something...because we did not see our hostel. A lady on the bus overheard us talking, and she told us to get off at the next stop. We did, and so did she, and she took the time to show us where to go and then pointed out a person who would be more likely able to help us. guardian angel number two.
It turns out that this guy didn't know anything about where we were trying to go (no one had heard of our hostel, but we weren't too worried) so we decided to set out on foot...still carrying our bags around an unknown city. we found what we thought was our street at began looking for 55. 193, 93, 40. what? It was so random. we went into a store and asked the man for directions and he tried to help us. we followed his directions a little ways and realized it wasn't helping. I had Amy look at the address one more time...and we discovered that it was the wrong street! so we walked for a looooooooooong time and finally found our street and the building number 55.
There was no sign out front indicating that this was Ocean Hostel. We went up to the door only to discover it was locked. We knocked and banged on the door. Peeked through the mailbox hole to see someone vacuuming. More banging and knocking and shouting. ten minutes later he finally answered the door. We paid him and wrote down our names...he didn't ask for our passports or any ID or anything...then he showed us to our room. We got to pick our bunks, and there were no lockers for our stuff...it was a co-ed dorm, but the bathrooms were still separate, so that was nice. Unfortunately, there was no toilet paper in the bathroom. so I asked the manager/staff/cleaner James if he had any. He scrounged around and found 2 rolls. apparently his assistant was out buying some. Ok. The bathroom was pretty dirty, but life goes on. It was better than some public bathrooms I've encountered. The kitchen could have been nice, if people cleaned up after themselves. isn't that always the story?
So anyways, Amy and I eventually made it out into the city, found a bus that we thought would take us to the castle, and set off exploring. The castle was closed due to bad weather. at this point it was already raining again. So we meandered down the streets.
A monk stopped us telling us how they were trying to raise money for books for children or something and so they made a monk rock cd. yes, a monk rock cd. how can you resist buying one of those for a couple pounds when the money goes to kids reading and no one you know has a cd of monks rocking out and he's also wearing a canadian flag? c'mon...so Ames and I bought one. we totally got played. oh, he also gave us a book of wisdom or something. we thought since we both gave a few pounds we'd each get a cd, but he only have us one. there were 3 to choose from. blues, hard rock, and an in between. I wanted the hard rock, and Ames wanted the blues, so we got the middle one. He told us we could burn it and give copies to people because he wants the world to know monks are rocking. or something. The next day we were approached by two different nuns selling the cds. are we easy targets or what?
so anyways, we didn't really look at the book or listen to the cd until we were back in London Sunday night...and I think they were Hindu. I didn't know white people were Hindu, but there's something about holy cows and stuff and so I was really bummed cuz we totally missed an opportunity to witness to them because we didn't ask enough questions. poopsen.
Anyways, Friday afternoon we did the touristy shop thing (judging by the tartans, I need to marry someone with the last name Galloway) and had tea in this cute cafe. We had sandwiches and shortbread and scones and cakes and tea...but the shortbread left much to be desired. I guess I've been spoiled my whole life with excellent shortbread, and this was from a box. sadness...we had been looking forward to the real thing!
Friday evening we went to a cute Christmas market and watched people skating downtown...it reminded me of home with the lights and Harrison Park and oh, those are two things I miss. Anyways, everything closes at 5 except for pubs so we didn't know what to do...so we went to a movie (thanks to nice guys working in a cafe who gave us a newspaper and showed us where to go even though we didn't buy anything) and it was so cute! We laughed and cried...it was so fun to watch a chick flick with Ames again.
Saturday I set my internal alarm clock (because we'd both forgotten to bring one) and we got up on time. We were sidetracked (or lost, depending on how you look at it) on the way to the castle and went for a hike up this hill that overlooks the city which would have been beautiful if it wasn't pouring rain, but it was still really nice. We decided that it qualified as our hike, even though we had planned on going on a real one, because the weather was not so nice.
I also bought an alarm clock at a catalogue store...quite the fun experience!
The castle is supposed to take two hours to visit...it took us about three and a half. It was so cool...and we even got to see a reenactment of a red coat soldier. It was very informative. I felt much smarter after, but I forgot most of the things I learned. Except for sideburns. I'm sure the other things will come back to me eventually. OH! I learned why the book of James in the Bible is James. Because in every other language it's Jacob, and so I wondered if it was James in English because of King James but apparently it's because of the Latin. so that's cool to know. The Jacobites up in northern Scotland were James' originally. Or something.
Anyway, the castle was cool, but we still hadn't had any haggis neeps and tatties, so we ventured down the Royal Mile to look for a pub with the cheapest haggis. we found it, but they were out of haggis, so our search continued. We found another pub and tried the delectable meal. It was so good! but the portion was really small. good thing we brought food along with us to cut down on expenses!
Sunday we got up early (partially due to the alarm clock, but mainly due to the snoring men) to catch a bus to catch our train, but the buses don't run very often on Sunday mornings and we had to take a taxi...the first time I was in a car in almost three months! When we got to the train station we were delighted to discover that we had first class tickets! We were served tea and coffee and good shortbread and chocolate cookies and peanuts and wine and sandwiches and crisps every fifteen minutes. well, not all of them every fifteen minutes. but something. It was incredible! and the scenery was great...we went through Dunbar which was cool (Amy's last name is Dunbar). Then we got slowed and stopped due to flooding. 10 minutes they estimated. no problem. that turned into 30...then 45...we went back to the last station and everyone unloaded as we were to be bussed around the flooded area and onto a train at the next station. Somehow Amy and I got on the first bus, and just as it was pulling out the rest of the people had a mass exodus back into the train station and onto the train...we were not allowed off the bus. After we'd been driving down the road for about 15 minutes we looked out the window and saw our train going by...one man on the bus was talking to his friend on the train. bummer! the bus ride took about an hour and a half...by the time we got onto a train we were very behind schedule.
We arrived in London 3 hours after we were supposed to. Long day! and also...it made us miss our Delirious concert. We got there as it was starting, but the line up (queue if you will) was down the block and around the corner with hundreds of people still trying to get in the already full theatre. I e-mailed Eran, and then we had Burger King. When we finally returned to Amy's room I had an email waiting from Eran and so I was able to call him and we chatted for a bit which was really nice. Pray that he finds a job soon (and that he takes one, even if he doesn't think it pays well enough). It was so good to talk with him though.
Monday was uneventful as I returned home...it was a lovely vacation though, and it was so nice to see Ames again.
cheers!