http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , United Kingdom , Scotland , Edinburgh en-us Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:06:41 BST Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:06:41 BST The last few days have been all about changing plans. I was meant to leave for Scotland yesterday but the day after Verona became lost time. Sensory overload on top of too much wine and too many late nights required me to take a day off. So tenUK pushed everything back a day for me and I took off this morning. Isn't the sound of an alarm clock going off at 4.00 worse than the hounds of hel http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-317486.html Tag 78 Edinburgh Forsyth ... 19.75 km Fahrzeit 121 Durchschn. 14.60 kmh Gesamtstrecke 3846 kmDas Wetter besttigt mich in meiner Entscheidung Schottland zu verlassen es regnet in Strmen. Die Fhre ab Forsyth geht um 1700 ab 1500 ist checkin. Da es bis dorthin nur ca. 20 km sind lasse ich mir mit dem Abbau des Zeltes Zeit und verlasse den Campingplatz um kurz nach 12.Kurz vor dem http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-316552.html Tuesday 26 August 2008I have decided I definitely don't like big cities Today we went to 3 different places The Brittania Yacht Stirling Castle and Falkirk Wheel. This required that we drive through 2 sets of peak hour traffic in a city that has lots of road works. I don't think we could have made it without our terse Brittish madam who ordered us to follow directions. Mind you when we didn't http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-316546.html Tag 73 77 EdinburghJohanna Schopenhauer sagt in ihrem 1818 erschienenem Buch Reise durch England und Schottland ber EdinburghDie Stadt Edinburgh von betrchtlicher Gre ist eine der schnstenund hlichsten Stdte zugleich . Die Altstadt ein grauen undekelerregender Klumpen alter schmutziger den Einsturz drohender Huserdie anscheinen ohne Ordnung in engen winkligen Straen an un http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-316544.html PreTravel So things have been pretty quiet lately as I had been taking some time to chill out for a bit before my Contiki tour started around Europe this Thursday. However before tour I thought I'd get a little bit of travel done to prepare myself for the big journey. Before I left for Edinburgh I needed to buy a phone charger left mine in Blackpool and some new shoes as having one pair prov http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-316323.html August 23 2008 Canberra to Sydney to London to EdinburghEven though we both knew the itinerary it seemed to take forever to travel from home to our first stop in Edinburgh. We are really grateful to John and Paula who picked us up from home and drove us and our 40kg luggage to the airport. Time for a quick cuppa and a chat before we headed for the security gates and the first of many times we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-316130.html Well the time has come to go home. Last night's performance was an emotional whirl wind I was happy one moment and ballin' my eyes out the next. I got through my solo on America the Beautiful okay but after some strong prayer I was so emotional during that song and so was the rest of the band. I lost it during the finale during Eternal Father Strong to Save. Even the boys were crying http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-315628.html First of all I have a correction. The BBC is airing the Tattoo now on August 25th at 1230 p.m. CST on BBC 1 due to Olympic programming. Last nightrsquos performance went very well. While wersquove been here we have had little redhawk pins that we have been trading for other items from other bands. Last night I traded with the Indian Band and I got back a really cool wood keychain that s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-315315.html I havenrsquot gotten to tell you about last nightrsquos performance. It poured rain the entire show even after having a gorgeous day. Oh it was so cold and it rained so hard that the water even saturated through our thick wool uniforms. It is currently 235 here and my uniform is still soaked. Our plumes got hit the hardest last night. Pray for them AGAIN This morning we all walked http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-315019.html I have backdated this entry to when I went to Edinburgh. I decided to get the overnight bus from London on the Friday evening. I finished work at about 530 or so and headed to Covent Garden August nightmarkets for a drink and some food before heading back to work to shower and change and head to Victoria Coach Station.After the last incident I made sure that I was nice and early for the bus thi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-314718.html Today has been a hard day on the band. Remember Nicole the girl who Mr. B sent home because she found out her dad was diagnosed with leukemia Well her dad passed away last night. It was so hard for us to receive the many text messages she was sending last night telling us of his condition. I just kept saying to myself ldquoLord this isnrsquot fair this is her second dad a 19 year old http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-314618.html Can I just say I am officially ready to get back to the states where it doesnrsquot rain constantly Prozac has to be the number one selling prescription drug here It is sooo depressing and Irsquove only been here for 4 weeks I am a very outdoor person especially when Irsquom not at home. There is a huge crag here called ldquoArthurrsquos Seatrdquo that people are able to clim http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-314617.html It's been more ups and downs but right now I am having a good time discovering all that the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh has to offer. Edinburgh is another stunning city with old old history and a great skyline I love the castle perched on the sharp bluff. The festival is fun and since it pours rain on and off it doesn't get too overly crowded but last night was a bit squeezed for me. This m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-314544.html First of all I have seen that some of you only see my blogs that are posted on the SEMO website and I have to apologize for the many typos that I have found on them. I'm usually in a huge hurry to type my blogs and get them posted that I do a horrible job of proof reading. I really do know the difference between there their and they're HAWell Irsquom heading into the homestretch of my http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-313878.html So yeah Irsquom illrsquoin like Bob Dillon Irsquom so mad because once the ldquoTattoo Flurdquo started going around at the beginning of the trip Irsquove been taking Air Born and drinking lots of orange juice everyday. Well that was a lost cause. My sinuses are severely messed up and Irsquom running a fever andhellipandhellipandhellipwell I just want my Mommy I rea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-313531.html Tag 72 Auchtermuchty Edinburgh 67.35 km Fahrzeit 438 Durcchschn. 14.5 kmh Hhenmeter 595 Gesamtstrecke 3817 kmMorgens im Hotel wieder mal ein schnes englisches schottisches Frhstck.Der Regen gestern abend hat ein paar Straen berflutet. An einer Stelle muss ich meine beiden tieferhngenden Taschen abnehmen bevor ich durch eine 50 Meter lange berflutete Stelle fahre da ich sons http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-313472.html Day 13 Scotland 7th day of tour First full day of the Fringe FestivalAnother nice thing about being in the dorms was that we had access to a lounge area where we could all come togehter and talk. So in the morning we met and talked about the show that everyone saw the night before. We made a plan that everyone had to see at least 2 theatre performances a day and 1 performance of their choice http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-313279.html Day 12 Travel to Scotland 6th day of study tourYet again another early morning. We met for breakfast and made sure everyone was ready before taking the bus to the train station. Once there we waited for our train. We got on the train and I fell alseep for until an announcement came on that said there was complimentary WiFi Really I was so excited I woke up and got out my computer. That http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-313247.html I had ice cream today for the first time since I've been here and it was truly magical I had a McFlurry from McDonalds. It's strange because all of their flavors were based on Cadberry chocolate since that's their main chocolate supplier here. It was strange for there not to be MM's Butterfinger or Oreo McFlurries. Instead there were Dairy Milks Crispies Smarties which are basically http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-312813.html So the BBC finished filming tonight. The cameraman was right in my face once again If I don't make it onto the DVD something is wrong haha I'm really interested to see the DVD but we don't get them until November. Now that the filming is over I feel like we can relax a little bit but not too much. There was a shindig thrown by the royal marines tonight after the performance. Mr. B tol http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-312458.html This morning I finally departed TASIS summer number four. I decided to rent a car and drive to Edinburgh Scotland. Although I knew it was a 7 hour drive I did not know that I would see about 1000 sheep and I am NOT exaggerating nor did I know I would be driving a stick shift Shodar a kind of car which I named Shroeder from the Peanuts on a two way road in the back hills of Scotland be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-312399.html Tonight's performance I believe will be my most memorable of any of the performances. Remember the girl I told you about who's dad was just diagnosed with lieukemia She found out he isn't doing so well so Mr. B insisted that she go home and he had all her arrangements made in about 3 hours this morning. In fact she should be arriving in Chicago tomorrow afternoon. She felt so guilty for le http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-312106.html Tonight was a night full of excitement nervousness and DRAMA The BBC began filming tonight and unfortunately it rained so we had to wear our black pants and no plumes. Yes our white pants do look spiffy as a whole group but they look bad individually so I really donrsquot mind the black pants. When we donrsquot wear our plumes we look like toy soldiers. Since we wore that tonight http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-311710.html Yo The BBC begins filming this week so we have to be at the top of our game so Mr. Bernhardt had it arranged for us to have a rehearsal today at the barracks. We left at noon arrived at the barracks and immediately began relearning the fundamentals of marching. I mean we didnrsquot even carry our instruments Now thatrsquos basic Itrsquos funny to think wersquove been doing this http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-311230.html Trip Prep A quick run up to Gleneagles this afternoon Sunday avoiding the rain. Bike is running well even now fully loaded but only a top speed of 85mph theoretically all looking good for the trip.We are catching the Thursday evening ferry from Newcastle to Amstemdamage then on to CZ. Plan is to cover 500 miles first day to get across Germany ... will see how we get on.Hoping to add some http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-310617.html We have the day off today because we were supposed to go to Stirling which is where all of the William Wallace activities are located but that trip has been postponed until next Sunday. It is a gorgeous day today Irsquom a bit tired today though because a few of us stayed up until 530 this morning Oh but that was the most fun I have had in a long time. There are some truly funny peop http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-310544.html Howdy Well it was another glorious rainy day in Scotland Today has been a very lazy day for me. I slept until 1130 which is a new record for me had a Twix bar for lunch and then I headed up to the internet caf where I stayed all afternoon with some of my friends watching videos on You Tube such as ldquoCruising in Kennettrdquo and ldquoKitchens in Kennett.rdquo Everybody got a g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-310542.html Hey Yarsquoll So last nightrsquos performance in a misty rain didnrsquot go so well. We ldquogot a talkinrsquo tordquo and everybody was pretty bummed. My flat mates and I stayed up until 200 am eating to get over our worries You would not believe the amount of food we can eat Now Irsquom not saying I ate all of this but this is what we demolished Pizza fries chicken http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-310103.html