Storming The Castle!

Sara & I basking in the glorious view!

I survived my first week of classes. Go me! I was planning on traveling & lazying around--but apparently the Scottish love their education, and I will have to put the thinking cap on high. I am already stressing myself out. I've made a "EPIC to do list" which has numerous bullet points! Join a club, get a job, do my work, book flights...it goes on!

Yesterday, Sara and I met up with Briana at a quaint cafe called Kilimanjaro. Which was affordable and had scrumptious hot chocolate. She was very helpful and extremely nice. She informed us that the castle was free for that day only. Sara and I got uber excited and rushed up to the Royal Mile towards the castle. Free was a word we hadn't heard for awhile! On the way to the Royal Mile we paused by a display window. It was utterly heavenly. Doctor Who memorabilia was all over! It was an Doctor Who explosion! And in the side, sitting on a golden throne of goodness, was Dr. Who, David Tennant: A Biography! It was screaming my name. But I resisted (it was 15 pounds, er, I am not paying 30 dollars to read about his life--i'll just Imdb the shit out of him!) And the next window was ALL batman. I nearly died. And I observed to Sara obliviously, "Sara! THIS IS JUST LIKE FREAKING FORBIDDEN PLANET...IN SCOTLAND!" and she shook her head, and told me to look up. IT WAS FORBIDDEN PLANET IN SCOTLAND! Sweet!

After momentary pauses for photo opportunities, we made it to the castle. At first glance, the castle was impressive. Although the stone walls were meant to avert the enemy, the castle had a enticing come-hither stare. At the entrance stood two knights in little alcoves protecting the walls. If only there weren't as many people blocking my picture perfect postcard photos!

We got in and there were people waiting in a queue at the ticket booth. I was very puzzled. Why would there be people waiting to BUY tickets on a FREE day!?! I stopped a man with a camera hung around his neck, two tour guide books under his arms and socks rolled up to his thick calves (he was wearing shorts, go figure! It wasn't cold, but it most definitely was NOT short weather!) and asked him politely, "excuse me, is today free admission day?" He stared at me and scoffed, "I don't know where you heard that from! Most definitely not!" Curses. It was 12 pounds, but worth it (Sara and I made sure of that as we took probably 300 photos between us!) There wasn't even a student discount (but there were audio guides in Japanese) The free admission day is November 30th (mentally marked down in my internal calendar!)

The views were stunning. The weather was holding up for us--but it looked threatening. We scaled every inch of that castle from the various cannons, nooks, and levels. Each cobblestone was a photo opportunity! You could see Arthur's Seat, Princes Street, and a wide variety of Gothic churches.

CANNONS!
Arthur's Seat & Churches!

We even saw the crown jewels of Scotland. There was a pretty hefty pearl/diamond necklace that must have weighed a TON. As we walked through the exhibit we were following these annoying Spanish tourists. They stopped at every possible display to take a group photo, preventing people from passing them. And as they finished their photo they lingered and loomed over the displays. They posed with the baby Mary Queen of Scots, grinning as the plastic baby was held over their heads. Argh!

As soon as we coming to a close of our explorations...it started to rain. And rain it did, steadily until we got home...and I was unprepared for the rain (it had been SO nice all week!) But it was a wonderful adventure!

I just thought this was HILARIOUS! David Hume--A real cone head!