Scotland!

            We arrived in Edinburgh on Monday at 9:30 in the morning, after waking up at 4:45 at our good pal Frankie’s who so graciously let us stay with him. Once we landed we caught the bus to Edinburgh, which took well over an hour to get to the city center. Our first order of business was to find food since none of us had eaten all day. We found a nice, cheap place called Café Royale. Zeke and Rich promptly ordered two breakfasts each. After our delightful breakfasts we made our way towards Arthur’s Seat, a large hill that overlooks the city of Edinburgh. Along the way we passed the Queen’s Official Residence in Scotland, which is beautiful, grand and stunning, as well as The Scottish Parliament building, which I think was designed as an elementary school art project.

            Once we arrived at Arthur’s Seat we began our climb to the top. After several moments Rich stopped us so that he could disrobe in public, for neither the first nor the last time on the trip, and put on shorts. About half way up a steady rain picked up.  We got to the very top and enjoyed the view. As the rain picked up I began to complain incessantly. We took a different path down and stopped at a church from the 13^th century that is now mostly destroyed. The view was great and it was a peaceful break from the rain. Evan was particularly taken by the peacefulness of the church and took a few minutes of solitude. Meanwhile Zeke threw rocks down the hill and Rich tried desperately to think of movies other than Bruce Almighty that Morgan Freeman has been in as part of the six degrees of separation game.

By the end of the hike down we were all soaked and wanted nothing more than to get to our hostel to change into dry clothes. We flagged a taxi and shortly thereafter arrived the Lighthouse Hostel. Rich quickly plodded on into the hostel with his wet clothes and muddy feet and was promptly reprimanded by the owner of the hostel. We quickly learned that the hostel owner was quite O.C.D. and required that we wear slippers at all times. After changing into dry clothes we made our way to visit Edinburgh Castle. After a nice walk to the castle we realized that it was closed for renovations and instead walked along the Royal Mile, which is filled with old and beautiful sights.

The next day we woke up and rode the bus back to the airport to pick up our rental car. We made our way up and started talking to a man named Kad who used his thick Scottish accent to throw us off our bargaining game. After being sufficiently nickel and dimed by Kad, we hopped in our cute little VW Golf and headed off towards Fort William. Part of our being nickel and dimed was that there was an extra fee for every driver, and so with that I am now the sole driver for the next 9 days. With great power comes great responsibility. A few minor hiccups aside I think I’ve done quite well at adjusting to driving on the left side of the road.  On a related note, apologies to the dump truck that was leaving the Smelting Plant didn’t mean to be driving there.

 On our first day in Fort William we went to Glencoe, a picturesque valley. We went on what was supposed to be a three-hour hike but after about an hour and a half we had what Evan would describe as “lovely weather” or what Scottish people simply call weather. The rain was just enough to be annoying to me and ignite some more complaining. We went to the end of the trail and went back. Along the way three members of our crew sustained injuries, but the most nimble, strong, and handsome of us survived without a scratch. As we walked back in the valley we could hear a man playing a bagpipe for the tour groups that were there to take pictures.

Today was our second full day in Fort William and we hiked the highest mountain in the United Kingdom, Ben Nevis. Before the hike I was a bit apprehensive, as we had heard that the hike would take 7-9 hours and would require extensive hiking/climbing experience. It didn’t help that the person at the visitors’ center told us that there would be rain in a few hours, lowering the visibility, and that there is over a meter of snow at the top. Come to find out the lady had no clue what she was talking about. We hiked all the way to the top in two and a half hours, encountering maybe 3 inches of snow at the most. It also did not rain once. It was an amazing view at the top once the clouds cleared out and there were several monuments and shelters. We started to walk back down the mountain after Rich tried unsuccessfully a few times to perform a handstand at the top of the mountain. After about an hour and a half Evan had to sprint to the bottom on account of an “emergency situation.” The rest of us reached the bottom with only slight bumps and bruises and only one fall of any real note.