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Published: August 20th 2007
On Tuesday the 10th, I got up late (AGAIN). This time it wasn’t my fault! The girl in the bunk above snores but it was REALLY LOUD because she was drunk. Neither Kara or I could sleep. Usually if I knocked on the bottom of the bunk she would turn over and stop snoring for long enough for us to fall asleep, but no such luck this time. We decided to go downstairs and maybe walk around outside. There were way too many drunk people so we decided to watch the end of the movie playing in the movie room. Unfortunately, the movie was Freddie Got Fingered, a really, really bad movie. We finally went back to bed and eventually fell asleep.
After a very quick breakfast I headed into town and went to the bus station to drop off the rest of my luggage. I also needed to book my ticket for that night to London. I had tried many times online to book the ticket but it kept saying they could not process the sale without giving a reason. I went up to the counter to book the ticket but apparently they do not book Megabus tickets and
the trip to London is the only one that you can’t pay for on the bus. So I tried to book it online once again using a kiosk in the station. After that didn’t work I called Megabus (which I had to pay for since they do not have a toll free number). The first guy I talked to was useless and I ran out of time, so I had to call back again after I got more money. This time I got someone who told me what the issue was right off. Apparently they can not process credit cards registered to someone with a US address. You can imagine my response. They actually operate in the US also so I just couldn’t understand why they couldn’t take my Visa but they can take a British person’s Visa. The guy told me that if I want to book with them I would have to find someone with a UK card to book it. At this point I was so angry I just hung up, but I still needed to figure out a way to get to London. I used the kiosk and bought a National Express ticket, which I have
Maid of the Forth bar
Just to prove there is alcohol no matter where you are in the UK.to print out. I went to the tourist office and paid for some internet time and got online to print my ticket and then discovered that I had accidentally booked for the next night not today! I am absolutely fuming by this point. So I make another call this time to National Express and they changed the ticket (for a fee of course) for me.
After I finally got all of that sorted out, I started to walk to the castle because I had not seen it yet. The castle is on top of ancient volcanic rock and the city is built up to it and around it. My knee was still giving me a lot of trouble, especially after being stepped on in the dungeon. I got about ¾ s of the way to the castle grounds entrance (still a lot of walking to get to the actual castle) when I decided that if I was going to do any walking in the next week I needed to stop. So I jumped on one of the tour buses to see some more of the town. I had two hours to kill before I need to be on a
Rail bridge over the Forth
Just to prove there is alcohol no matter where you are in the UK. train to go to South Queensferry for a boat ride I had booked. Part way through the tour we stopped at Dynamic Earth, a science museum that was included on my city pass. I hadn’t really been too interested in going but it was there and might be worth a look. It was probably one of the coolest things I did! The first room you go into is all about space and time and then you are put into a time machine (an elevator) which takes you underground and while you are going lots of pictures and drawings from the past are flashing by. After you “land” you are taken to different rooms by costumed guides. One of the rooms was the ice age—it was very cold and the entire room was made to look like you were in a glacier. Each room was incredibly well done. You really felt like you were back in that time. I think the coolest room was the dinosaur room. While I was in there an astronaut and a dinosaur came strolling through arm in arm. There was a rain forest room that I really enjoyed—it actually rained in there! Another neat room was
the future room. You sit in what looks like a planetarium, but then you are strapped in and you start moving around. (There are 3 sections of the seating area and each spun independently of the others). You were then told a little bit about conservation and population growth. (All of the videos were done in very interesting ways—meaning NOTHING like a school video). We were then asked a series of questions about how to control population growth and conserve resources. You could answer each question with a set of buttons in your seat. After everyone voted the outcome was “applied” and time fast forward to show the likely outcome of our decision. It was very interesting to see how different decisions could mean a population boom or decline. The museum took longer than I expected since you could not go at your own pace, so I missed my train.
Instead I got some lunch and then got the next rain for the next sailing. Once I got to South Queensferry, I started to walk towards the water and stopped to ask a man directions to the port. WEEEEEEELLLL I ended up walking all the way across the town.
I finally gave up once the sailing time had passed. I started down a path I had not taken yet and surprise, surprise it led to the port! I was able to get on the next sailing. It was pretty neat to go out and around the islands. Several of them have underground bunkers that were used during WWII. One has an old abbey and is still kept up for visitors (the cruise I was on did not stop at any of the islands). Another landmark is the Firth of Forth Bridge, the first bridge made of mostly steel. I got to see some seals in their natural environment. Even saw some baby seals! Mostly it was just very relaxing and I got to rest my knee. After landing I decided to follow a couple people and see where they were going. There is apparently a public footpath that leads straight to the train station (takes about 10 mins). It goes through some woods so it was very pretty.
After getting back to Edinburgh, I got some dinner and then headed to the Ghost and Gore tour. Some parts of the tour were the same as the previous night
but there were new parts that were quite interesting/gross/funny. A particular funny part was about the clan wars. One of the actors had the armor and weapons of the time and was showing how they would be used. The items included a shield, sword, and a dirk. The use of the three items was in a particular order and rhythm. Of course there were many not very veiled innuendos to the rhythm method and the effectiveness of the rhythm method. After the tour I wanted to take a picture with the guides and the clan guy offered to let me hold his dirk but I told him my husband would probably not like that!
I finally made my way down to the bus station to get on the bus to London. On the bus I met four guys (two from Portugal and two from Spain). They are all teachers and spend every summer traveling together. They don’t want to be teachers forever but it is the most conducive to long periods of traveling. This was the only trip I have not been able to sleep! Every other bus and train I fall asleep so quickly. I managed to nap
a little bit though. We stopped twice to change drivers and have a stretch. On the first stop I found out that my credit card was no longer working and the ATM did not accept my debit card because it wasn’t part of the Cirrus network. So no food for me!! Fortunately I was able to use my debt card at the second stop. I had not been able to contact John and let him know I was coming in on a different bus, but I did not think it would be an issue because it arrived earlier than the previously planned bus and went to the same station. After I got to the station, I waited and waited and even asked several men if they were John. I finally figured out that MegaBus stopped a block down and not in the main station. John wasn’t there either. My phone wasn’t working because I had not had access to an electrical outlet to charge my phone. I managed to find a payphone but couldn’t figure out how to dial the number. I finally got someone to tell me how to dial the number. John gave me directions to get on
the underground to meet him. I finally got to him a little after 10 and found out that the bus I was supposed to be on had broken down and was delayed by several hours. My feet really hurt from carrying around all of my stuff for 3 hours. I had some lunch and a shower before we headed out to see Othello at the Globe Theatre. It was absolutely incredible. It is amazing how much can be conveyed with very few props and minimal backdrop changes. We stood in the commoners’ area to watch the show. The Globe holds about 2000 people (700 in the standing area). After the play we went home and I didn’t really do too much. Basically ate and then went to sleep!
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