Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Holy crap, this day was ridiculous! The flight was great, very smooth, lots of food, I napped.
When I got off, I went to currency exchange and apparently the vouchers you can get online with great rates are only if you’re selling back pounds, not if you want to buy them.. SO the lady wanted between 900 and 1000 USD for 500 GBP which is outrageous so I freaked out because I need to pay Gavin (my highlands bestie for three days). Luckily I was able to get it situated (with help from home) and Gav will sort things out Monday.
After all that stress, the currency exchange lady helped me with the buses and I had 1.50 GBP leftover from Belfast that I used to get to the city centre. I broke down and downloaded a great app while sitting at Starbucks charging my phone.. You can buy bus tickets and everything with credit so no worries about transport and it gives you routes. Awesome!!! 1-UP for Lothian Buses.
So I am in the city centre and while charging my phone I decide I should try to make the cannon so I buy a ticket online for Edinburgh castle and set out. It was great but at this point it’s getting warmer, I’m lugging my luggage around, and I haven’t changed or showered in over 24 hours.. and the cake was up A LOT of stairs and multiple hills. I definitely got my money’s worth at the castle though, I was there for 2-ish hours and took several photos (including photos 4 through 7 and 10). The castle is steeped in history and I got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels!!! No photos were allowed there or in the war memorial.
Anyway, I did make it for the cannon, which I had on my list of things to do. I will post a video right after this!
After that I found my way to my B&B (photo 8) (side note- SO excited or breakfast tomorrow) and it is nice and small and lovely! Right next to a bus stop. My shoulders were raw from my super heavy backpack :( I showered after over 30 hours in the same clothes and then WENT OUT!
I met a bunch of nice people but I forgot to bring my sharpies to town! (for people to sign my cast) :( I ate at Castle Arms and the veggie burger was freaking delicious!