It seems an age since I have last written, but that will not stop me from entering the dusty attic of my memory and pulling out some tidbits to tell you dear readers of mine, if any of you remain. Leaving Ireland for me is like leaving your dearest love behind; I know that you all have heard me ramble about the undying love I posess now and always for that dear, sweet country. We awoke at 3:30 AM for our flight to Edinburgh and so all was quiet. Normally, I would be irked beyond words to be awake at that time and thus ignore my surroundings as my rage would consume my entire being. However, the air was so crisp and there was a haunting breeze whipping around me and I felt like I was experiencing a moment between just Ireland and me.
Wow, that was the cheesiest story I have ever written. My apologies to you all. That was a story about my undying love for Ireland, now, here comes a long rant about my sheer, undying hatred for Ryanair. Some people in the world do not seem to understand and are even baffled by my desire for that airline to go under. However, should you have had as many horrendous experiences with them as I, you would feel the exact same sentiments. This experience was one of them. We had to check a bag, and in the cases of most airlines, the weight limit is 20 kg. However, Ryanair being the money sucking leeches that they are have a limit of 15 kg. After the lady took our bags and put them down the conveyor belt, she informed us in a snarky tone that we each had to pay for our overweight bags and that we owed 20 euros per kilo over. Now had the not snatched our bags away, we might have been able to repack them. However, she being the slimy creature that she was, she took them away before we had the chance, thus making it so I had to pay 40 euros and Dianna 60 euros. Add that to the amount we had to pay initially to check the bag of 30 euros and it equals a VERY angry Marisa that should have flown on a decent airline as it likely would have been a hell of a lot cheaper. I hate Ryanair, did I mention that yet? They screwed us over as well on our flight to Paris so do not fret, you will all get to hear more of my thoughts on this airline in time.
Edinburgh is a lovely place, especially when you are not dying of some awful illness such as I was the last time I ventured to this fabulous, gothic city. The last time I was there, I had a constant and seemingly incurable sore throat, unsubsiding pressure in both ears, and swollen lymph nodes all over the place. Spanish doctors being as they are, they prescribed me "fizzy tabs" before I departed, and that, as you can imagine, did nothing.
Anyways, that is the past, and irrelevant except to say that this time was much more pleasant. The hostel was fabulous in that it was esentially right beside the castle and the Royal Mile which are the main attractions of Edinburgh. Other than that, it was not a fantastic place to stay, but after weeks of hostels, my expectations had become extremely low. I do not think there was a single room in which we stayed where no one snored. At least this particular snoring person was not the worst. The worst makes an appearance later in my story, so there is that to look forward to.
Many that we have encountered have said that two days is "more than long enough to see Edinburgh". These people must move at light speed or close to it, as we had plenty to do and see for our five day stay. The first day, we met up with my dear friend Craig who attends university in the city. He met us at the Elephant House cafe, which is famous for allegedly being the "birthplace of Harry Potter" as it refers to itself, since J.K. Rowling used to frequent it and apparently got the idea for the series whilst looking out the window at Edinburgh castle. Whether Harry was born there or not I cannot say with certainty, but they can assuredly credit themselves with having some of the best coffee we had in a good long while. Needless to say, we ended up there at least once a day during the remainder of our trip.
Later we decided to hit the cinema as the desire to see a film had not been met in a good long while since departing the states in my case. We decided to see One Day, a melancholy film about fate and love or whatever. It was only okay. One of the highlights of the next day was going to get fish and chips with Craig for dinner. Of course, fish and chips is always a highlight. The thing that made this meal stand out was the rather comedic element of the waitress. Typically, Dianna and I find ourselves needing to request extra tartare sauce, and this was no exception. Our request, however, seemed to completely baffle the waitress beyond reason. Upon asking the young, apparently Eastern European girl, she grew pale and her eyes extremely wide, and uttered "oh...um..." and other single syllable words of confusion before telling us with a tone of panic that she simply did not think it was possible.
Now, I know a lot of requests that may instill panic in an individual, such as "can you please conceal this dead body for me?" or something else of the like, but never did I think that a simple request for tartare sauce could cause such a reaction. Needless to say, we all had a nice little chuckle about it and I sincerely pitied the girl for her apparently very shaky nerves.
After the chippy Craig took us to a vodka bar which had around 30 different flavours of the liquor. Vodka is likely my favorite hard alcohol, so I was most definitely pleased at this endeavor. I believe that I tried the strawberries & creme, chocolate-toffee, white chocolate and birthday cake. They were all quite good but rather lacking in alcohol content, and sorely over-priced.
We decided despite the costliness of the tour, that it would be worth it to see the Scottish highlands and Loch Ness. As I child I was quite fascinated by the legend of the Loch Ness Monster (and still am), so I figured it would be nice to appease my desire to see the Loch up close and get the chance at my own Nessy sighting. However, though the boat was equipped with sonar and I had my camera at the ready, she decided to remain dormant that day. Maybe next time I shall have more luck. Upon returning from our bus tour, we went out on the town with Craig and his mates, and it was um...interesting...and not much more needs to be said about that evening.
The next day I went to see the museum with Craig and his girlfriend Sileas. It was quite nice and newly rennovated so it was different than the first time I went to see it. Fun fact I learned: temperature of alligator/crocodile eggs is what affects their gender. Afterwards I went to the Elephant Cafe and ended up sitting besides an Asian girl who had just had a Ryanair flight and we got to have a nice long chat about our sheer hatred of the airline. After she left a group of Spaniards sat at my table and we spoke in Spanish for a little while- it was nice to practice.
That night we took the most ridiculous ghost tour that I think exists. We took this particular tour as opposed to others as it was a free tour. However, it consisted of following a creepy little man dressed as William Burke (a serial killer from the 18th century who would strangle people and sell their bodies to science) who would rant about tales that were clearly untrue in an accent which was near impossible to understand. Afterwards, we went to Frankenstein's which is a really famous bar in Edinburgh.
Wow, that was the cheesiest story I have ever written. My apologies to you all. That was a story about my undying love for Ireland, now, here comes a long rant about my sheer, undying hatred for Ryanair. Some people in the world do not seem to understand and are even baffled by my desire for that airline to go under. However, should you have had as many horrendous experiences with them as I, you would feel the exact same sentiments. This experience was one of them. We had to check a bag, and in the cases of most airlines, the weight limit is 20 kg. However, Ryanair being the money sucking leeches that they are have a limit of 15 kg. After the lady took our bags and put them down the conveyor belt, she informed us in a snarky tone that we each had to pay for our overweight bags and that we owed 20 euros per kilo over. Now had the not snatched our bags away, we might have been able to repack them. However, she being the slimy creature that she was, she took them away before we had the chance, thus making it so I had to pay 40 euros and Dianna 60 euros. Add that to the amount we had to pay initially to check the bag of 30 euros and it equals a VERY angry Marisa that should have flown on a decent airline as it likely would have been a hell of a lot cheaper. I hate Ryanair, did I mention that yet? They screwed us over as well on our flight to Paris so do not fret, you will all get to hear more of my thoughts on this airline in time.
Edinburgh is a lovely place, especially when you are not dying of some awful illness such as I was the last time I ventured to this fabulous, gothic city. The last time I was there, I had a constant and seemingly incurable sore throat, unsubsiding pressure in both ears, and swollen lymph nodes all over the place. Spanish doctors being as they are, they prescribed me "fizzy tabs" before I departed, and that, as you can imagine, did nothing.
Anyways, that is the past, and irrelevant except to say that this time was much more pleasant. The hostel was fabulous in that it was esentially right beside the castle and the Royal Mile which are the main attractions of Edinburgh. Other than that, it was not a fantastic place to stay, but after weeks of hostels, my expectations had become extremely low. I do not think there was a single room in which we stayed where no one snored. At least this particular snoring person was not the worst. The worst makes an appearance later in my story, so there is that to look forward to.
Many that we have encountered have said that two days is "more than long enough to see Edinburgh". These people must move at light speed or close to it, as we had plenty to do and see for our five day stay. The first day, we met up with my dear friend Craig who attends university in the city. He met us at the Elephant House cafe, which is famous for allegedly being the "birthplace of Harry Potter" as it refers to itself, since J.K. Rowling used to frequent it and apparently got the idea for the series whilst looking out the window at Edinburgh castle. Whether Harry was born there or not I cannot say with certainty, but they can assuredly credit themselves with having some of the best coffee we had in a good long while. Needless to say, we ended up there at least once a day during the remainder of our trip.
Later we decided to hit the cinema as the desire to see a film had not been met in a good long while since departing the states in my case. We decided to see One Day, a melancholy film about fate and love or whatever. It was only okay. One of the highlights of the next day was going to get fish and chips with Craig for dinner. Of course, fish and chips is always a highlight. The thing that made this meal stand out was the rather comedic element of the waitress. Typically, Dianna and I find ourselves needing to request extra tartare sauce, and this was no exception. Our request, however, seemed to completely baffle the waitress beyond reason. Upon asking the young, apparently Eastern European girl, she grew pale and her eyes extremely wide, and uttered "oh...um..." and other single syllable words of confusion before telling us with a tone of panic that she simply did not think it was possible.
Now, I know a lot of requests that may instill panic in an individual, such as "can you please conceal this dead body for me?" or something else of the like, but never did I think that a simple request for tartare sauce could cause such a reaction. Needless to say, we all had a nice little chuckle about it and I sincerely pitied the girl for her apparently very shaky nerves.
After the chippy Craig took us to a vodka bar which had around 30 different flavours of the liquor. Vodka is likely my favorite hard alcohol, so I was most definitely pleased at this endeavor. I believe that I tried the strawberries & creme, chocolate-toffee, white chocolate and birthday cake. They were all quite good but rather lacking in alcohol content, and sorely over-priced.
We decided despite the costliness of the tour, that it would be worth it to see the Scottish highlands and Loch Ness. As I child I was quite fascinated by the legend of the Loch Ness Monster (and still am), so I figured it would be nice to appease my desire to see the Loch up close and get the chance at my own Nessy sighting. However, though the boat was equipped with sonar and I had my camera at the ready, she decided to remain dormant that day. Maybe next time I shall have more luck. Upon returning from our bus tour, we went out on the town with Craig and his mates, and it was um...interesting...and not much more needs to be said about that evening.
The next day I went to see the museum with Craig and his girlfriend Sileas. It was quite nice and newly rennovated so it was different than the first time I went to see it. Fun fact I learned: temperature of alligator/crocodile eggs is what affects their gender. Afterwards I went to the Elephant Cafe and ended up sitting besides an Asian girl who had just had a Ryanair flight and we got to have a nice long chat about our sheer hatred of the airline. After she left a group of Spaniards sat at my table and we spoke in Spanish for a little while- it was nice to practice.
That night we took the most ridiculous ghost tour that I think exists. We took this particular tour as opposed to others as it was a free tour. However, it consisted of following a creepy little man dressed as William Burke (a serial killer from the 18th century who would strangle people and sell their bodies to science) who would rant about tales that were clearly untrue in an accent which was near impossible to understand. Afterwards, we went to Frankenstein's which is a really famous bar in Edinburgh.
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