Toussaint 2 :Temple of Doom

Starting from where I last left off: it is now Monday the 29th of October. I am still in Edinburgh.

Monday 29th: Once again, Camila and I woke up early so we could meet up with Jessie and get as much sight seeing done as it was our last day in Edinburgh. We walked back to the Royal Mile, and walked along it until we got to Edinburgh Castle (at the top of the hill). We paid to go inside, and saw a beautiful, nearly 360 degree, view of the city. Once inside we went on a little guided tour and then into some of the buildings. Most importantly: Mary Queen of Scots chambers. Inside, their was a chronological painting of all the Kings/ Queens of Scotland (later Great Britain in general) followed by the Scottish crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny. 

Camila and I, who were both really stoked to see the famous Stone of Destiny, were greatly disappointed when we realised an hour later that we had been so focused on the jewels that we had failed to acknowledge the large gray rock right beside them. DAMMIT! Our first major Scotland fail.

Hungry, we walked around until we found a restaurant that wasn't too pricey and looked tasty. There, I had a traditional Scottish salmon burger with avocado. Well, maybe not traditional, but it was sooooo goood! We rewarded all our trials and tribulations thus far with some dessert. Ice cream served on a cookie ftw!

We then went to the National Museum of Scotland, which is really cool and free! Inside, I saw Dolly the cloned sheep (now Dolly the stuffed sheep) and a lot of other artifacts and science-y things. It was like a mixture of the ROM and the Science Centre. Camila and I bid adieu to Jessie, packed up our bags and headed to the bus station to take the night bus from Edinburgh to London.

Hello sharks!

Night Bus: Duh duh duh!!! The dreaded night bus.....actually wasn't so bad. Firstly, it was packed. No empty seats, which kind of annoyed me as I asked a 50 something-year-old woman to sit next to her and she gave me this really angry look (her poor purse was forced to settle with the over-head compartment instead of its own seat) Boo. Hoo. Anyway she was weird. I actually burst out laughing when I saw her open a small individual sized packet of jam and start eating it with a spoon. I regret nothing, it was hilarious.

Kensington Gardens

Tuesday Oct 30th: We arrived at Victoria Station in London around 5 am. Not knowing at the time that that area is rather sketchy, I'm glad Camila and I decided to wait in the station until dawn. We checked in to our hostel (into our room with 18 other people!!), showered and walked to Kensington Gardens (10 minutes down the road). We walked along the gardens, past the Orangery (fancy tea place) and Kensington Palace. We met up for a free 3 hour walking tour of London (regrettably the tour guide was trying a bit too hard to be funny and it was just awkward). We ended up in the Soho area of town and had pizza for dinner. Then it was off to the theatre to see Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" (longest running play ever don'tcha know). It was suspenseful and funny, even if I did figure out the murderer. As it was now dark, we took the underground back to our hostel.

Wednesday: So our hostel claims to have free wifi, but no one can mysteriously access it. hmmmmm. Anyway, after sleeping in for the first time in ages, we had breakfast and made our way to the nearest subway station. We accidentally took the wrong subway car, but eventually found our way to the Tate Modern Art museum. Spent a few hours there then walked around that area of the city. We walked along the river until we crossed Tower Bridge. For dinner I had fish and chips! By this time, it was going dark so Camila and I decided to walk around and see London at night. The skyline is a lot prettier at night, in my opinion. We made our way to the Leicester Square and met up with some of Camila's friends. As it was Halloween, EVERYONE was out wearing costumes, it was a lot of fun.

Tower Bridge

Stay tuned for my next instalment.

So fly

Fun Facts/ whatevaaaaa:
-I really should have seen Braveheart before going to Scotland. It kept getting brought up. I'm just not a big Mel Gibson fan!!

-I can't believe I didn't notice the freaking stone of destiny! I'm an idiot.

-I wish we could have spent more time in the National Museum of Scotland, it was really big.

-There was a creepy, old guy in our hostel room who slept in his underwear. Bleh!

-On Wednesday we actually walked/ stood for 6-7 hours. I couldn't even believe it when I look at a map.

-Because of France being on holiday, there were more french people in London than british.