Edinbugger and Weegies etc

Hey all!

It's a fine Glasgow afternoon out there....a bit rainy, cloudy, very windy, and I'm overheating inside the EasyInternet cafe. They really turn the heating up in this country. 'Quick! It's dropped 2 degrees! Crank up the heating to 38!' Yet they all say they live here because they like the cold. And it's boiling hot inside. Not whinging, just a quirk I've noticed! ;)

The good news is my ear problem is clearing up nicely. Thursday was a write off, but on Friday I forced myself to get out of bed and onto the bus for Edinburgh. I was a bit dodgy on the bus and after, but walking around Edinburgh on such a beautiful day as Friday was, I couldn't help but rally.

Edinburgh is one of the prettiest cities in Britain. We stayed in a backpackers (Private room - I was so NOT dorming it in my state!) off the Royal Mile, which is the main street in Edinburgh. The big f***-off castle is up high on one end, and the street flows down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the other end.

The castle was great - huge, with big guns, an old chapel dedicated to St Margaret, old prisons, military barracks, and even a wedding taking place up on top! Well, the photos anyway! I think the bride quite enjoyed posing with Japanese tourists for photos!

Friday night we went on a ghost tour, which took us into Greyfriars prison, and into the 'Black Mausoleum' so called because it is reportedly the home of a poltergeist! Of course, being the most unmagical person I know, nothing happened! But a man did jump out at us, yelling 'Boo!@ quite loudly. Most of the people on the tour were young American girlies, so you get the idea of the scream that followed!

Saturday we couldn't get into Holyroodhouse - apparently because they had a royal visior. Holyrood is the official residence of the Queen in Scotland, despite the fact she stays at Balmoral. I was disappointed, as Holyrood is most famous as the home of Mary Queen of Scots. Mary wasn't the cleverest young monarch about, but the various exhibitions tend to skip over the dodgier parts of her life!

We went on another tour, this time into vaults under one of the town bridges, where merchants used to manufacture their goods for sale in their shops on the street above. You can just imagine the working conditions down there - with horse urine and dog poo used to work leather skins for example. The guide used the fab term 'an eclectic aromatic experience', which I thought was quite appropriate!

We wandered around some more - oh yeah, I should mentioned we've been shopping. I went a bit mad in H&M, a fabbo and fairly cheap clothing chain over here. And Greg bought himself a wonderful jacket - it's black and crushed velvet looking. It's very sexy.

I should mention it was Greg's birthday yesterday, so everyone say happy birthday! We bussed back to Glasgow last night and had dinner at Wagamama's with Debbie and Eoghann. Greg received a Warhammer computer game from Eoghann, who is also somewhat of a computer geek! We had to of course go back to his place and play it!!!

Today we've got the fun task of packing. We've picked up so much along the way, we have to somehow cram it into bags!

I realise i haven't mentioned much about the previous week on the road.

Here are some quick highlights!

Lake District - Wordsworth's house (one of them!) and a really bloody cool and interesting bobbin mill!

Peak District - caves! Caves with water in the bottom, so you have to go through them on a boat!

York - a really groovy ghost tour, and the so-bad-it's-good York Dungeon. York is also a gorgeous city.

Hadrian's Wall - it is very wall-y! Not as tall as it once was, but still impressive. We also saw two Roman forts built along the wall, which were impressive!

Going right back to Wales - geez - Beaumaris Castle, Conwy Castle, Cardiff Castle and Castell Kock (both built/refurbiushed) by the same mad Scotsman who was one of the world's richest men back in the 1800s and loved fairytales and bizarre architecture!)

That's about all....thanks to everyone who's been posting comments - really great to hear from Christen back at the news desk!

Love to all.....bring on Budapest! Nats