Day 24: Thursday November 3rd, 2011
The next morning, Jess, Jordan and I switched to another hostel because our other was booked. The pair of them went off to tackle Arthur’s Seat, and I had a day to figure out my life, meaning figuring out where I’m going to sleep next, write some blog entries and most importantly, check my fantasy football team (my ugly obsession lives on).
I went to Black Rose Tavern and had a big fry (Irish/Scottish equivalent to English breakfast consisting of much the same thing): fried egg, toast, hash brown, fried mushrooms, bacon, sausages, beans, black pudding or haggis, I can’t remember).
I got a pretty cheap train/ferry ticket to Belfast in Northern Ireland and booked a couple nights there, en route to some time in Dublin and the rest of Ireland. I also bought a USB card reader so I could actually put photos on my computer, and to delete them from my SD card, enabling me to take more photos. Score. Somehow I still haven’t gotten all my photos online, but they are coming eventually.
I got a market dinner of carrots, broccoli, a baguette with garlic onion dip and a 10 pack of Tennants (cheap ass beer). I figured Jess and Jordan would be down to party, because they always are, but they were not, they were pooped and probably wanted to bone out instead. So I went on the free pub crawl through our hostel with the entire country of Sweden.
It was me, Emma and Sandra from the tour, joined by Wera again (the girl loves to drink). And also the group of Swedes that we met at Frankenstein the night before. Basically, a very young and blonde mix. There was Jesper, the lone brown haired gentleman who loved my dancing and was only 17, and a delightful guy. There was Stina, an 18 year old blonde and Johannes, a tall, blonde boy with braces and a keen fashion sense (rocks the vests).
We basically repeated the night before, singing the Aussie song enough to make Jess proud, and making poor men and women on our pub crawl do it too. By the end, I had made a bushel of new facebook friends and tentative plans to visit them in Sweden if I have the time and money (still TBD).
And that, my friends, was Edinburgh and Scotland. It was my favorite place of my travels thus far, producing the best friends and the most fun times, lots of haggis, history and beauty. The tour, like I said, was fantastic, and I hope to see these people again, whether in their home countries, in my home country, or in a random city down the road.
The only thing I have yet to touch upon (and it’s fucking important) was how much the Scots (or at least Richard) hate the Brits and want their independence. The mistreatment of their people by the English reminded me of what Americans do to everyone else. It’s awful. I hope they get it and without too much trouble (they’ve had enough). Listen to the “Flower of Scotland” by the Corries and you will too.
Next: More places in need of independence, Belfast! Plus: more Aussies!!!