Weekend in Scotland

 View from top of the castle

 Interesting...

 Just shooting a cannon...

 Some mummies at the museum

 Our hostel

 Loch Ness (no Monster...)

 With David Hume

 With Priya

 With a piper (and Jenna)

With Kate and Jenna

This past weekend, I visited Scotland with my roommates Jenna and Kate (Luke, my third roommate, stayed behind in Dublin). We flew into Edinburgh on Friday morning, walked around the city all day, then took a day trip to Loch Ness on Saturday before flying back to Dublin on Sunday morning. It was a very fun (and very exhausting) trip!

After arriving around 8:00 Friday morning, we first visited Edinburgh Castle - which, conveniently enough, was literally across the street from our hostel. The castle was very impressive, and offered a beautiful view of the entire city (and, thankfully, the weather was cooperative). After exploring the castle, we moved on to the National Museum of Scotland; some notable sights at the museum included Dolly, the first cloned sheep, and a T-Rex skeleton that took me back to my childhood.

Once we finished looking around the museum, we met up with my friend Priya - who is studying abroad in Edinburgh this semester - and ate lunch (clearly the most important part of the day). In the afternoon, we toured Holyrood Palace - the official home of the Scottish monarchy - and walked around some scenic areas of Edinburgh.

That evening, we went on a "Ghosts and Ghouls" tour (ironically, I have yet to experience a Gettysburg ghost tour). Although I didn't see any ghosts, I did get to hear some cool stories and drink a free glass of wine - so I would call it a success.

After a soothing night of sleep in the luxurious Castle Rock Hostel, we were off to Loch Ness (with a few stops along the way). The bus driver was full of information - although I missed a lot of it, because it is apparently physically impossible for me to ride on a bus for any length of time without falling asleep. I did wake up in time to see Loch Ness, but - unfortunately - the "Monster" did not make an appearance. That's what I call false advertising...

When we returned after roughly 12 hours, Edinburgh was overrun with Frenchmen. The Six Nations rugby tournament has been going on for several weeks, and France and Scotland were scheduled to play on Sunday. The French seemed fairly confident in their chances - and rightfully so - but, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), we would not be around to witness their celebration the next day. By that time, we were back in Dublin, relaxing after a long weekend and preparing for another week of classes.