Tartan what?

The epic continues, this time in Edinburgh Scotland. Dana and I were tired, and it was rather late, when our bus pulled into the city. Thankfully, a nice couple on the bus were kind enough to all but take us to our hostel (up and over this gigantic hill). They were a bit surprised that we arrived literally a few days after the biggest party Edinburgh has all year (New Years-- prices hiked too high for our meager savings), but the guy assured us that the party is overrated and much too overrun with tourists to be any good these days. First impression of the city: gorgeous. Dark and old, but really beautiful.

The hostel we stayed in wasn't too bad, but our roommates weren't the most considerate. The asians were up early and took hours to get ready. The italiens talked and talked and talked, even though other people were trying to sleep. So much for common courtesy. Usually it's the Americans who are obnoxious...but it was a hostel, so you can't really be surprised.

The first day of our stay in Scotland was blessed with a lovely blizzard. The snow was falling in clumps to the ground, and it didn't all melt right away. SNOW! Don't get me wrong, I've seen snow many times in my life, but I haven't seen it all year, and this was my first snowfall since last winter. It was wonderful. On the tour bus the guide (a lovely man of about 70) said that Edinburgh hadn't seen snow like that in over 10 years, so it was quick the treat. The only bad part about the change of weather was the cold which I do not miss.

The next day we continued our aimless walking, this time poking into the Childhood museum (pretty much toy blast from the past) and the Scotland museum (with audioguides!). It was there that we learned what this mysterious "tartan" was (a word found all over the city). Apparently tartan is plaid. name of the material used to make kilts and the like. It was a big discovery nonetheless. I would have felt rather silly if we'd gone toThat's it. It's just the Scotland and returned still unaware of what that was. This was also the day of utter exhaustion, so we decided to chill for the night at a little pub around the corner from our hostel. It was cheekily named "Half Hanggit Maggie," after Maggie Dickson who was hanged but didn't actually die (I guess that's the note by her name found in the official documents way back when). We also had the most delicious curly fries this world has to offer. It was magical, almost as magical as our game of MASH (in which I am married to Colin Firth--not bad-- but am housewife with 6 kids....).

Okay well that wasn't as informative as I had planned. I loved Edinburgh, really I did, but it was over a month ago and my memory is a bit rusty. It's also sad to write about adventures with Dana when Dana is gone. I miss you chica. Thanks for the fabulous trip!