May 9 - Edinburgh

Where did I leave you all?? I think it was my last night in Dublin. Oh yeah, that was it. So I left the internet cafe and wandered around a bit more. I stopped in to grab some grubb at a restaurant called the Elephant and Castle, as it turns out, there's one in NYC with the same name that is owned by the same guy. I don't think the one in Boston is part of the same deal. Anyhoo, pretty chill place, and I took down the Elephantburger, and Mom, before you bug out, it wasn't elephant - it was their signature burger - bacon, cheddar, tomato and sour cream. I'm sure both of you that are reading this are surprised I took down a bacon cheddar burger - especially one that sounds so healthy and nutritional... Then it was pint time. One thing that surprised me about Dublin, however, was that the beers were relatively pricey - perhaps it was because I was in touristland, perhaps that's the going rate, but anyway I was a tad surprised. Roughly 5 or 5.50 euros (almost 7 bucks or so) for a pint - so Mom, I spent 11 euros total on beers in Dublin. Wink wink. At this point, I set a 10pm curfew for myself, as I knew I had an early wakeup call to get to the airport for my flight to Edinburgh.

After trying to walk off the Ellyburger, which didn't work, I decided to try to drown that damn elephant. Drew McLaughlin told me he got his first pint in Dublin at the Palace Bar, so I walked down there and had a seat next to a sober 65ish Irish man. We were chatting and it somehow came up that I was from the US....and he said that 1 of his 10 kids lives in Jersey. He then tried to rattle off where the other 9 lived, and unless 3 of them are currently living in Jersey, well, let's just say he had a memory problem. I couldn't have more than 1 beer with the guy because the unintentional humor level was off the charts. So I walked down a ways and stopped off at the Auld Dub, and then down to the Temple Bar in Temple Bar, which was a great spot. Packed with people (ie. tourists) and bumping with live music, so I felt at home. At this point, I blew right past my curfew, and surprisingly, I didn't really care all that much. The Guinness were too good, and it was my last night in Dublin, so it was an easy decision.

I made the flight a-ok, so it was cool. Though I didn't get to see any of the famed Irish countryside in my relatively short 2 night stay, I had a total blast in Dublin. I was a little surprised about how many non-Irish people were around Dublin - but perhaps that was due to the area and pubs I was in. However the people were all very nice, the city was very clean and incredibly walkable, so I was able to see everything that I planned on with ease, and it was an overall great time. My favorite 2 parts were inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was simply amazing, and the pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar above the Brewery, because of the astounding view of the entire city.

I arrived around 8am in Edinburgh yesterday, and my awesome cousin James met me at the airport to escort me into the city. We got back to his place, dumped my pack, and went for a walk around the area of Edinburgh where he lives (Tollcross). Then we walked to another area called Grassmarket and got some lunch. After that, he had some work to do , so I took a little catnap to refresh after a short night's sleep from the prior night. We then went back into Grassmarket and had a nice dinner and a couple beers and called it a night.

Woke up this am and walked down to a very cool green market in the shadow of the Edinburgh Castle to get some supplies for dinner (which James is currently cooking and smells awesome). Then we took off for a tour of the Castle. And just want to say that I was very surprised at the Castle. I had thought that, perhaps naively, it would have just been a tour of an old stone castle, but it was so much more. Yes, it was an old stone castle, but it was essentially a gigantic museum with 25 different rooms/exhibits to explore. In addition, there were breathtaking views (not Seinfeldian breathtaking) of Edinburgh and other monuments and parks, as well as Arthur's Seat. I highly recommend it to everyone. After spending close to 2 hours wandering through the castle, I walked the Royal Mile down to Holyroodhouse, stopping in the High Kirk of St. Giles, which was amazing and the museum of Edinburgh on the way. Also with some uber-touristy moments of busting out the camera. This is when I, the adopted Floridian who is used to flat land and warm weather, got to soak in the Scottish culture, literally. It decided to piss rain all afternoon, so I got to wander the hills of Edinburgh in a cold, biting wind with steady rain. Wahhh me. Stopped in for a pint at the World's End pub, and then James and I walked down to New Town and up Prince's St. Got back here, and James started cooking! So it's been an awesome day - James has been an incredible host and even better tour guide, so it's been a lot of fun. We're going to take a walk up Arthur's Seat, and then hit the Scotch Whiskey tour tomorrow, which should be another great day!