Edinburgh

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Here is a really quick take on my trip to Edinburgh:

So I met my friends John and Grant at the bus station in St. Andrews. From there we bussed it straight to Edinburgh, which is an amazingly beautiful city set in a valley. This makes the approach really cool because the bridge that leads in to Edinburgh proper looks down on the whole city. Its a cool effect and really gives you a snapshot of the whole city. The first thing we did once we arrived was to find a restaurant as we were all very hungry. After walking around the city for around 30 minutes, we finally decided on a small bar tucked into an alley. At this point we would have picked anything we were so hungry. But it turned out that the bar had one of the best menus in town. I ordered a lamb burger with a mint-creme sauce--my friends were less adventurous and had normal burgers.

After the bar, we made our way around the city, eventually ending up at the National Gallery of Scotland, a huge museum of art that is entirely free to the public. We wandered around the many masterpieces for about 2 hours before realizing that we should probably see the town before it got too dark. We next headed to the Edinburgh Castle, which cost $13 to get into, but was totally worth it. The castle is set up on the top of rocky hill and was built to withstand the most violent sieges. I have a couple pictures of the many cannons and fortifications that decked the walls, which I will post later on. The Scottish Crown Jewels are stored in the castle, and are really just as unimpressive as the English Crown Jewels, if my memory is accurate. Maybe it was because the room was dark, but they didn't seem especially opulent or rare and splintered and cracked in places. I mean I know they are 500 or so years old, but they are the Crown Jewels! You would think they could be preserved for posterity.

After the castle, we did what the only absolute must on my agenda from the very beginning had been: go the the Scotch Whiskey Tasting Experience, a museum/tasting room that lets you sample and teaches you how to appreciate good Scottish whiskey. As soon as you pay, you are taken on a barrel-ride (in a real Whiskey barrel on rail-tracks) through the history of Scottish whiskey. After, you receive a sampling of the various whiskeys from the four whiskey-making regions of Scotland: the highlands, the lowlands, Speyside, and Islay.
From there, the tour takes you into a vault packed with the biggest collection of Scotch whiskey in the world--over 3200 bottles or something ridiculous. The tour sends you on your way with a special Scotch tasting glass to appreciate Scotch in the proper way.

Following the tour, I purchased a bottle of Glenlivet whiskey from the Speyside region.

That is all I have time to write now. I will write more if I think of anything else.

Staten