hannaH's wanderings: We Went to the UK: Edinburgh

We arrived in Edinburgh by train after dark. Our hostel was less than a half mile from the train station, but because of what they call closes (side streets that are very narrow) and our lack of knowledge of these, we took a very round about way to get there. But we found it!

We stayed at High St Hostel. It was a 400+ year old building. The staff were super kind and friendly and they had the best cereal for their continental breakfast.

Once we were checked in and found our bunks, we went out to explore a little. It was dark but it was only about 7 or 8 o'clock.

We found our way to the Christmas festival and wandered around. It was very similar to the one in London.

The only thing I would change about the whole trip (really) would be that we would have made it to the St. Andrews festival that night before it ended. We missed it by about an hour.

After a little meandering to find a view of the castle we headed back to catch some sleep before an early morning.

That night the hostel was cram packed.

The next day the plan was to get up early, walk to the castle at the end of the street on the royal mile and then go to a church service.

The weather this day was perfect. The sky was blue as could be and it was not overly chilly.

We checked out the castle from the outside and planned to go back the next morning for the tour.

Walking back down the royal mile we passed a Santa playing Christmas songs on bagpipes. As it was the first day of December, it seemed rather appropriate.

We made it to the church which was a lovely service, but to our slight disappointment, the pastor was from New Jersey and lacked the accent we had hoped to hear.

After church we went out for brunch and both ordered the traditional Scottish breakfast. I'm glad we waited until later in the day for this because I could not have handled it first thing in the morning. There was sooooo much food and it was all good. I'm pretty sure I didn't finish most of it.

After brunch and checking in at the hostel to trade out some things in the day pack we asked for a hike recommendation and ended up hiking up Arthur's seat. This is a must do if you ever visit Edinburgh! You can see the whole city and the coast line and the rolling countryside. However, if you do hike it, wear shoes with good tread. It was a slippery climb at times,but this added to the adventure.

After this Jessi and I split up for a little while. I did some souvenir shopping and stopped in a used book store and a vintage clothing shop and found a fantastic scarf that I just couldn't pass up.

Next on the list was a nap. It had gotten dark and all of our hostel roommates had moved out and we had the room to ourselves! To the introvert in both of us, this was a lovely time in the day.

After a good long nap, Jessi suggested we go see a movie. I thought this was a great idea! It was about a 10 minute walk and it was a great movie. We watched the movie Sunshine on Leith which was filmed in Edinburgh. It was a hokey musical but very enjoyable and neat to see the city that we had been touring all day on the big screen.

After this we wandered back through the Christmas festival and into a pub that had some good live music coming from it.

We sat and listened for a little while and then went back to enjoy a peaceful night in an almost empty hostel.

The next morning we took off early to hike up Canton Hill for another view of the city. We then came backed, packed up, cleaned up and checked out of the hostel. Leaving our bags in 'storage'.

We headed off to tour the castle and what a great tour guide we had. Kilt, boots, and Scottish accent to go with his extensive knowledge and snarky commentary.

After the castle we stopped in a weaving factory. This was one of my favorite stops of our trip. There were giant mechanical looms working hard to make the many tartans and plaids that Scotland is known for.