Arrival in Edinburgh!

---

So I'm here in Edinburgh safe and sound! I was absolutely exhausted after a red eye flight Tuesday night, and I ran all day yesterday on pure adrenaline. In true traveler spirit, though, I stayed strong and did some walking around the city. It is soooo beautiful here! All the buildings are super old and beautiful, and the city is small enough that you can walk from one end to the other in no time at all. It's so different from Toronto, too...there's a rule about how tall buildings can be, so there's nothing higher than about five stories! The castle is visible from almost any point in the downtown area which is amazing, and you can see the hills in the background on one side and the ocean on the other.

My cousin Robbie is great and has been an amazing host. It would have been better if my feet didn't fall off the end of his couch, but I guess that's my fault for being so tall, right? Today we walked up Arthur's Seat which is this incredible hill right in the middle of the city, and the panoramic view from the top was incredible! You can see the entirety of Edinburgh from up there, including the castle and the palace and the beautiful ocean surrounding the city on two sides. It was quite a work out, though! Both Robbie and I were pretty done after, so we grabbed a drink at Starbucks (yes, their are even Starbucks in Edinburgh!) and planned on going to the Museum which is free and has Picasso and Monet paintings (I know, right?) but we were a little late and it was already closed. I think we might go tomorrow instead.

The only tough thing so far has been understanding what everyone is saying. I think I've had to ask people to repeat themselves like a million times already. I thought I would be somewhat acclimatized since my family is British, but apparently not. I've already gotten quite a few exasperated looks from people after asking them to repeat themselves more than once. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to adapt, cause I feel a bit like I'm a foreigner even though I speak the language! This doesn't bode well for my trip to Portugal...lol.

Tonite I'm having some of my cousin's famous leek pie and drinking rum and cokes...apparently that's like the national drink here or something! Oh yeah, and I tried black pudding. If you don't know what that is I'm not telling you because it was disturbing enough putting it in my mouth let alone talking about it after.

Arriving in Amsterdam on Sunday for some party times, but first I get to meet my new little cousin who's only three months old! Will keep safe, I promise 😊 Talk soon...miss everyone already like crazy! xoxo

---

Photos

The Whisky Shop
This is for all you whisky lovers out there! You know who you are ;)

Arthur's Seat
Yeah, we walked all the way up to the top of this!

Robbie & Ruins
This was some sort of abbey or something in like the 15th century. I love how old everything is here!

Bobby's Bar
This is the statue of a dog named Bobby who, local myth has it, stood on his owner's grave for twenty years after he died. Scottish folklore is filled with similarly depressing tales.

Comments

[Mark]

Lighter
I have your Ibiza lighter. I used it to smoke your cigarettes.

[Meghan]

Hey hey! Sounds like you're having a great time! I know what black pudding is---you impress me, Brenna Keatinge! Henry kept saying our whole trip that he was going to try it, but (conveniently) we never found it.... I think he was just talking trash :) Good luck understanding the Scots, that is a battle that will never be won. My only tip is that when they say "ghettos", they actually mean "girls"---that is the only word I ever figured out after hanging out with a Scotsman for three months when we were in Australia---besides that we pretty much had to rely on gestures :) Keep up the travel blog so we can all live vicariously through you!!! xoxo

[Jenna Valleriani]

bam
hey, that castle, I use to live there. I forgot to tell you.... my bedroom is in the west wing, room 3958, check er out.

[Sarah]

Awesome Photos!
Hey! Your photos are fantastic - what a beautiful place. Sounds like you're having a great time, but be sure to get some rest so you can keep it up... LOL. xoxo