Edinburgh

This weekend was my first substantial experience of traveling alone for fun, rather than with a group or traveling for work. I'd had a rather intense week this past week, and had heard from a number of people that this is the time of year to see Scotland -- the weather's decent and the crowds aren't quite as insane as during the summer.

On Friday afternoon, I took the train from Kings Cross up to Edinburgh, where I found the hostel that I'd booked for the two nights in town. I started talking with two girls who were also staying there, and the three of us decided to head out and find dinner. After walking through the Grassmarket and looking at a number of different places, we found an amazing French fusion place. Their venison special was phenomenal, and I have to admit that yes, I tried haggis as an appetizer. It isn't something I'd order frequently, but I figured I should at least try it since I was there... it was fried and served with potatoes... definitely a bit more refined of a way of trying it than in the more-traditional manner I saw at many places for breakfast the subsequent day. If you really want to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis

Saturday morning, I went on a run through a nearby park, and saw an incredible view of the city, sea, castle, and countryside. All in all -- phenomenal.

After breakfast at a local cafe, I took a tour of the Edinburgh castle, did a scotch whiskey tasting, found a streetmarket, toured the Scottish parliament building, and found a pub for some scotch and dinner. I tried a bit of the other side of Edinburgh life later that night, joining up with a group doing a pub crawl. Probably not the best way to keep up my marathon training, but I ended up having a blast with a rather wide group of people -- from 20-year-old students studying in Edinburgh to an asset management guy on a weekend vacation from London, to a few guys from Texas over here for a week.

Sunday morning was a bit more relaxed. I went to an Anglican church right in the center of town that I'd seen before and wanted to explore inside. After the service, I walked up to the top of a hill I'd seen but not climbed on the Saturday run. I'm now writing this on the train on the way back from Edinburgh to London, sitting on the floor between two cars. I guess I've learned my lesson about buying a train ticket on short notice and not purchasing a seat when I do so. Apparently flights would have been cheaper than the train, had I booked this trip more than three hours in advance of my departure.

All in all, my lessons from the weekend: Definitely get out and explore more like this. Just plan a bit more in advance to get a more-sensible and yet still somewhat affordable way of getting there.

My next stop for a weekend trip is likely to be Ireland. I don't yet know when or with whom, but I'm thinking it'll be after the Chicago marathon, as there are only two more weekends between now and when I travel back to the States for that.