Birthday Weekend!

The view from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle. All the red and white barricades are Princes Street. The whole street is
under a ton of construction. The park is part of a really big park between Princes Street and the Royal Mile.

My friend's birthday is April 10, and mine is April 16, so we decided that this past weekend we would go into Edinburgh to celebrate. We both booked a night in a hostel that Arcadia gave us vouchers for. On Saturday (not the unlucky Friday the 13th!) we headed to Edinburgh on the 10:30 train. It took about an hour to get there, and then we just started walking around. We headed to the hostel first. We were too early to check in, but they had a luggage room where I was at least able to leave my backpack. Our first stop was a bakery to get something to eat. I got a chicken pie, and it was pretty awesome. On our way to the bakery, we passed a man wearing a top hat, a cape, and carrying a walking stick. Then we set off for Princes Street and Edinburgh Castle. On our way down Princes Street, we came across a street performer. His face, hair and hands were painted a very metallic silver, and he was doing to the robot to the song played from the stereo in front of him.

On the bridge over to the Royal Mile, there was a massive tent set up that said 'Bang goes the theory' on the sides. Megan and I decided to check it out, and we found ourselves in the middle of a science fair in an inflatable tent. It was more geared towards little kids, but it was cool to see all the experiments that were running. It reminded me of being a little kid going to things like that with my parents. And here I was, celebrating my 19th birthday, standing in the middle of a science fair in Edinburgh.

The 'Invisible Man'...with a really large torso.

Once we were finished checking out the science fair, my friend and I continued across the bridge to Edinburgh Castle. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I went to Edinburgh Castle with my family, but the weather was frigid, and we spent most of the time doing our best just to keep warm. On the way up to the castle, we passed a man dressed as William Wallace, complete with the blue face paint. He was taking pictures with tourists, and then started waving at people with one of those fake hands you see at Halloween. We continued on to the castle and toured it, more thoroughly than I had been able to when my family visited. It was pretty cool to see it again, but we didn't stay long.

We headed back down the Royal Mile to stop at some of the shops. I got a few souvenirs, and we headed back to the hostel to check in. On the way there, we passed an 'Invisible Man.' It was a man in a suit, but the shirt and jacket were pulled up over his head, and then he had a hat and sunglasses suspended above the suit. A little ways further down the block, we came across a double decker bus that had just married decorations on the front. We sat in square for a while, and even saw the wedding party come out to take their pictures. While they were talking their pictures, another wedding party went into the building. I have no idea what the building was, but apparently it's a popular one for weddings! Finally, we headed back to the hostel and I had my first experience checking myself into a hostel. My friend took a nap, and I did some crocheting I had brought with me. A couple hours later, my friend and I headed out to find somewhere to eat.

I may have taken a creepy picture of the wedding party.

We wandered down the Royal Mile, looking for a cheap place to eat. We settled on Subway. It's the first time I've had Subway since I left the States, and I have to admit, it was nice to have a little taste of home. While we were at dinner, I noticed an older gentleman up the street who was wearing a strange assortment of clothes, topped off with a red three-point had lined with a gold trim.

We went for a walk after dinner, and ended up walking around the back of Edinburgh Castle. It was a nice walk, and there were some cool views too. At one point, I thought it was really cool because on my right, Edinburgh Castle stood on the top of a massive slab of rock. On my left, the neighborhood was a very modern neighborhood, very similar to neighborhoods I've walked through in Philadelphia or New York City, or even in Allentown. I was struck by the stark contrast between the very old, historical Scotland, and the very new, albeit a bit rundown Scotland.

Happy to be sheltered after walking through the rain!!

Then, it started raining. And we were far from any shop we could take shelter in. It took us about fifteen minutes walking in cold rain and wind before we got to a souvenir shop. We went into the shop just to get out of the weather. I ended up buying an umbrella with the Scottish flag as the design. And of course, after I bought that, it stopped raining! By that point, it was around seven o'clock, and already the city was closing. Shops everywhere were locked for the day, and only restaurants and pubs were open. I can't get used to the feeling of being in a major city on a Saturday evening and having the city feel very, very dead. My friend and I headed back to the hostel. We were going to go out to a pub to celebrate our birthdays, but after being rained on, we were soaked, and I couldn't feel my fingers. We ended up going to the bar on the ground floor of our hostel.

The view of Edinburgh Castle from behind.

That night in the bar, my friend and I wanted to just hang out and have a few drinks. We ordered our drinks, and then I ordered french fries and my friend ordered onion rings. When my friend ran up to the room to get her driver's license, an older gentleman came over and started talking to me. He thought I was Irish because I coated my chips (not fries, my mistake!), so when I said I was American, he started talking to me. When my friend came back down, he continued talking to us, and was later joined by his friend. They talked to us for a while, about how they had built the hostel, and there was a well with dead babies in the bottom preserved just outside the bar. And then it came up that I was German, and the one guy started going off about how much he hated Germans. To top off the night, I mentioned it was my birthday and the one guy offered to buy me a drink. I'm still not used to having strangers offer to buy a drink, so I declined. He called me a pussy and then he and his friend left.

To say the least, it was one of the the weirdest days I've ever experienced. We saw a lot of strange people, and experienced way too many weird situations. Although I'm happy to say that it was one of the most interesting social experiences I've ever had.

After the rain cleared, I just thought that the way the sun hit the castle made for a spectacular view. 

A tout a l'heure!