Monday morning, I traveled with the USC members from my Group (Hilary and Vanessa) by train to Scotland. If I you didn't pick up on the fact from my trip in February, I simply ADORE train travel, as I find it much less stressful than plane travel, and much more scenic. While waiting for our train at King's Cross, we made the obligatory Muggle pilgrimage to Platform 9 and 3/4, where wizards board the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter series. Sadly, I was unable to make it through the Muggle (non-magical person)-proof wall.
Once in Scotland and settled in our hostel, we went to Edinburgh Castle. Although we only had about an hour and a half there, we got some great photos and managed to tour a good chunk of the grounds.
We wandered about Edinburgh afterward, looking at the various monuments and gardens before meeting up with the rest of the USC students and our host. Dinner was at Jimmy Chung's, a Chinese buffet (we've discovered our host has a weak spot for Asian food--don't worry, we had more traditional Scottish food later in the trip). Some of the USC students are studying in Edinburgh, and they took us around to some of their favorite spots after dinner. This included a folk music cafe called the Royal Oak, a trip to eat fried Mars (Milky Way) bars (which were actually quite edible), and a stop at a Jazz bar, where one member of our group broke out his saxaphone and took part in a jam session.
Photos of Edinburgh can be found here and here. Next stop, the Highlands!
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ReplyDeleteThanks! :)