Edinburgh

After spending forever putting my pictures on my computer, I sorted through all 340 of them and picked out the best ones to put up here...and now I don't want to look at them for another day. In the meantime I'll try to make a list of everything we did because people keep asking and I want to say "A LOT!" but I'm not sure how...

FRIDAY NIGHT:
-Took 3 hour train to Edinburgh, arriving around 6:15 PM.
-Tried to find hostel. This was very difficult, as the map implies that certain roads intersect, when they don't really, because one is 100 feet above the other one.
-Wandered around...north? south? one of the sides of the city taking photos.
-Walked up to Edinburgh Castle.
-Walked to other side of the central gardens that divide the city.
-Walked up the hill with all the classical monuments and wandered there for quite awhile.
-Walked halfway down shopfronts and opted to turn back and enjoy milkshakes at Burger King.
-Returned across bridge and found City Cafe for some real food (sweet potato soup and bruschetta).
-Found bar with live music. We liked the bar, except for a lingering not-good smell that permeated all of it, so we went back to the hostel.
-Talked with the other people staying in our same dorm room for about an hour.
-Went to sleep around 1:45.
-Woken up around 5:30...repeatedly...because our new friends' phones kept ringing and they were sleeping too deeply to wake up and turn them off.
-Fell back asleep for a little while maybe an hour later....

SATURDAY
-Woke up at 8 and enjoyed a breakfast of cereal and mini croissants at the hostel for 2 pounds.
-Began walking, turning towards what looked like gardens.
-Arrived at enormous lovely park and wandered for quite some time.
-Became confused and frustrated at none of the street names matching up to our maps.
-Realized that we had turned the wrong way at some point...this was a different park.
-Walked back up to original starting point.
-Walked to St. Giles Cathedral and explored.
-Went to Edinburgh Castle and explored for a couple of hours.
-Enjoyed lunch of fish and chips.
-Walked to museum and looked at exhibit of Turner paintings.
-Walked around gardens at center of city.
-Attempted to enter some more cathedrals, but they were closed for the day.
-Walked all the way back up to hostel.
-Enjoyed peppermint tea (which is bliss) and cookie at Elephant House cafe and stared dazedly into space in our profound painful exhaustion.
-Walked back to train station.
-Took 2.5 hour train back to Lancaster.
-Went to pizzeria on campus for dinner.
-Returned to my room, threw everything off of my bed, talked to friends online for an hour or so, and went to sleep.

I woke up an hour and a half ago and have not done anything other than eat breakfast and look through my pictures...so now it is time for laundry. Sigh.
Tired!

Here is the view out the window from my new room!