Turten nd furten

Wow... What an uneventful set of two days...

So these past two days haven't been the most memorable, because there wasn't much I did. You can only get so far in the city by walking, and you have to take a bus anywhere else. But me, being the poor guy I am, am limited to basically a 2-mile radius so I don't get too lost. And you kinda start run out of things to do in the city center after a few days...

So yesterday, Saturday, I started off by checking out of the Belford hostel that I was in, and moved on over to the Royal Mile Backpackers. At least this hostel isn't a mile from the main part of Edinburgh...

However, even though this weekend was pretty uneventful, I had some spectacular food! Yesterday for lunch, I took a 3 mile round trip to find what is, according to Google, the best Fish and Chips in town. Naturally, I wanted to find out if that was true. So I walked over there and found something interesting...

Who would've thought! So that was pretty fun!! (There's nothing dedicated to him here. Across the street there was, but I didn't go. I was a man on a mission for Fish.) So I got my lunch, and walked back to the a Prince Street Gardens, where I've been eating a lot of my breakfasts and lunches. 

And you know, it was pretty good fish and chips. But wow there was a lot. Really good crust, pretty good chips. The only thing that ruined it was the squirrel that kept trying to take my chips...

So I went back to the hostel and Skyped with mom and dad! Wished dad a very happy birthday. I miss home a lot...

And I guess the Queen is in town and staying at a castle right down the road? That would explain the parade I saw beforehand...

I guess. Maybe. Or maybe that's just a Saturday thing in Edinburgh.

So at about 8:30, I decided I was hungry enough to go get some dinner. I looked around for a few places before I decided on Frankie and Benny's. They're an Italian restaurant, so I figured that would be a good place to try something new. (That is one of the purposes of this trip. To expand my taste buds.)

So I got this really good thing called Arrabbiata. It's super good. It's penne pasta with red tomato sauce, I think, but then with red, yellow, and orange peppers, and onions and tomatoes, and chili peppers. I don't know if I've ever had chili peppers before but wow.

Those are good. Pretty spicy though. I had to have quite a bit of water.

See how good that looks? Oh man I love it. I have to learn how to make it. 

So there was Saturday. My roommates are... Quirky... Two from Australia, one from Germany, another from California (but Los Angeles so the ugh part of Cali), one from Chile, and then one more where I don't know from. But they're all super nice. 

Alright so now comes Sunday. Today was one of the least eventful days I've had, even though I've still done quite a lot. But wow I spend money here a lot more...

So I started off getting breakfast at the Patisserie Valerie, a pastry and breakfast bakery. I got some hot chocolate. It was okay. Should've been warmer. But I also got Scrambled Eggs and toast, and a blueberry muffin and my oh my, it was so good. I underestimated how much I enjoy a warm cooked meal and not... Strawberries, apples, and milk for dinner...

So that was really good. I did some people watching, but nothing. Rey interesting happened. I mean, people ate breakfast and chatted.

Alright, now you might have to do some scrolling through a buttload of pictures, because next, I went to the Edinburgh Castle, like you do while in Edinburgh.

Was it worth it? Maybe. It did cost £17 to get in, so basically $25 for a 2 hour walk-around. I guess it was interesting enough to say it was worth it, but my wallet might disagree. 

But I did take a lot of pictures. 

So, yeah, I guess it was pretty cool. There were some really good views of the city, too. It is one of the highest places in the city, so you can get a pretty good view. 

(I'm sure this all looks really terrible on the website. The blogger app doesn't let me adjust the photos at all...)

So I got back to the hostel after wandering around for a bit. Walked over to the grocery store and picked up some food for breakfast tomorrow and dinner tonight. More scrambled eggs, I guess... Oh well. It's easy and healthy, so... Anyway...

That's where I'll leave you.  Tomorrow morning I'm waking up at 6 so I can leave the hostel by 7 so I can make the bus by 7:20 and then be at the airport by 7:50... To catch an 11:10 flight...

I like being very very sure that I know that I have enough time beforehand. I don't really mind being there for an extra 1.5 hours if it means that I have the security that nothing will go wrong.