As usual.. it's the people

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Edinburgh, time was short.. the weather was a little miserable (to be fair), but the company was great, and the city is really beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful I've visited.. or maybe I'm being a little biased due to the awesome slope soaring sites 😊

Anyway, I only had a few days here. On the first morning everyone was dressing up like Santa and running round in the freezing cold with a couple thousand other Scots for charity. Arriving the night before, I missed the santa-suit boat, but was more than happy to go down to the town centre to lend an appreciative eye 😊

It was really too cold to spend much time at all outside, but the people in the hostel I was booked into more than made up for it. It's amazing how people can make a place.. it was really more of a commune than a hostel with a lot of long-term guests (5 months) and people relocating to the city. All this cold meant people had to hang out indoors a lot, talking, laughing, drinking, and just generally have a good time - not much personal space, but plenty of open minds 😊 We even managed a giant all-hands-on-deck Kiwi style roast on Sunday night.. mmm.. Pretty much everyone was either Kiwi or Aussie - it can be a small world, but i was stunned when I bumped into Tim, Sophie's old flatmate from varsity!

It seems there's heaps to do here, and while the mixture of a bitterly cold wind and rain/snow showers severely limited the time one could spend outside, I managed to make it to some great vantage spots.. I always feel really claustrophobic in a city 'till I can find a decent spot to stand back and take it all in (nice photos eh 😉 ).

From Edinburgh I took the bus down to Newcastle to see Pete and Carly.. It's so good to finally catch up with "family" and share some of those stories that never quite made it to the group e-mails 😊 They've put up with me for the last couple of days, tomorrow I start the long trip back to Krakow in Poland. It's sad to be leaving so soon, I've been looking forward to hanging out here for a long time.. But! we've had plenty of time to already start planning next year - it's going to be good fun! 😊

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Photos

The Scottish National Monument
Would you believe that (as rumor has it) it wasn't finished as it was going to be too expensive.. ah those Scots! ;)

Another Kiwi roast
At the Armstrong-Hall's UK residence ;)

Where's Wally?
Kiwis "Reprazenting" in the top right. Soph, you might recognise the eyes?? the beard seems to be a recent addition - bit of a trend :)

Santa enjoys a post-run refreshment
Brodie's amazing atmosphere

.. still atop a very beautiful hill
(Calton Hill)

.. a very beautiful, but cold hill
:)

Comments

[zoe]

i think brodie's was where my mate theresa lived for a while. it looks very familiar!! edingburgh would definatly be one of my fave cities!! xoxo

[Ol_boss]

Yeah, it's a cool spot :) .. and I hear only good things about Glasgow too - so exciting! :) You never filed in the Flixter survey! how am I supposed to know if we can choose videos together when you come to visit!??

[Sophie]

Timaaaah
GOLD! :-)