Scotland - Part 1

On saturday our two day trip to Scotland began =)
First idea was to start at 7 am. Which was then pushed back to 8 am. (Really good idea!) I woke up a little bit late again but got ready just in time for 8 am....  when Hanna called me and told me they still needed some time. XD Totally okay with me ;-D At 9:15 then they picked me up and off we were to Edinburgh!
I was still very tired and sitting in the back of the car with two others was very comfy and warm and I fell asleep pretty quickly XD
I woke up shortly before the border when we took a little break =D Afterwards I managed to stay awake and ejoy the view =) I have to say Scotland is beautiful! And there are sheep everywhere! Really anywhere you look you see a sheep XD It was very funny and a source of great distraction for at least 30 mins when we always found new sheep =)
After driving some more and me dozing of again (bad me! I should stop the habbit of faling aslep anywhere I am) we arrived in Edinburgh.
While driving through the city looking for a parking space we already got a good first impression of the city and just enjoyed the view. It contrast to Preston Edinburgh has kept many old buildings and could easily be the same 100 years ago (with some adjustments of course ;-D).
After parking the car right inside the old town of Edinburgh we stopped by Starbucks for a coffe for Hanna and a hot chocolate for me =) (have to wake up somehow XD).
Our first stopp was on a bridge so we could get a look at everything around us =)

physicists and a computing students... of course we found the science festival XD

Hanna our personal Starbucks commercial XD

After the bridge we decided to walk to Edingburgh castle to see why people keep saying it is so great.
We actually went the right way but instead of walking straight through we let ourselves be distracted by lots of things.
I kept stopping to take some pictures, Olli did the same, Hanna and Otte looked around everywhere and Andy proved his knack for disappearing XD But alas, we found him again =)
The city was really beautiful and we jsut explored some side alleys and then went back on track to the castle =)
On our way got a little flyer for The Potter Trail! Of course I went on it and will tell you more about it later on =)
Further down the street we saw the Witchery and an invisible person across from it *__* I've many street artists around europe but this one was one of the best!
Shortly before the castly we saw a highlander with a huge sword! Really, the sword was as tall as Andy O.o

more about this will be explained later =)

awesome invisible person!

well... the sword is taller than Andy XD

And then... you would think we arrived at the castle... well we were right in front of it when we decided to step into the Royal Mile Armouries. It was a very good decision =D
Inside they had beautiful swords *__* Sadly I was not allowed to take any pictures of the sord but they were magnificent! They even had Frodos sword Sting, the Witch Kings (or Saurons, not quite sure there) blade, a Urukhai blade, Aragons sword and a little shikai Zangetsu from Ichigo XD It was realy good!
In the basement they had an old manufractur to make the fabric for the kilts they sold. It was all done very nicely.

the new way to wear a kilt amuses me to no end XD

After walking through the building and finding everyone again we finally went to the castle!
Sadly we couldn't really go into it as you have to pay for entry but we walked around a bit and went into the parts that were open to the public =D
I thinks it is a really nice castle and it feels special somehow. Really weird to describe and maybe I just watched to much Merlin and read to much Harry Potter XD

view from the castle walls

the view when leaving the castle

After leaving the castle we just walked around the city and got distracte by some funny shaped mirrors XD
The boys were fascinated by the mirrors that shortened and elongated their legs XD
While walking around we were surprised by the most interesting weather... A short but intense hail storm with the sun still shinging and a rainbow at the end of the street O.o All of it lasted only 10 minutes or so ... Scotland is weird XD

if you look closely you can see the rainbow =3

Following the unplaned shower we kept walking around taking in everything while being surrounded by the sound of bagpipes. Yes it is true. In every street there was a man or woman standing in a kilt playing on a bagpipe! It was awesome!
After walking around the Greyfriars cementry (I have no idea how we ended up there O.o) we stopped in the Greyfriars Bobby Pub right next to it and got something to eat =D
Hanna and I got some Haggis for a starter... we were really worried but what we got didn't really look like Haggis and tasted great XD Oh and Hanna had her fist Guiness =D

The Haggis

Walking around the city afterwards was very funny as everyone got excited by something else XD
In the end we ended up on the other side of the bridge and right in a gang fight or something O.o Well... there wer 20 or something teenagers running around waving sticks and threatening the other teenager....  I didn't know whether to be afraid or just amused as they looked quite comically XD
We then walked back over the bridge and Hanna and I split off from the others to join The Potter Trail.
It. Was. Fantastic! I loved every minute of it =3
It started of with our guide giving each of us a wand so we could hex the street lights to work in our favour ( though he admitted the the hex might take up to 2 minutes to work XD)
We then walked into the Greyfriars cementry and he showed us the grave of William McGonagall the worlds worst poet and maybe the start of Professor McGonagall ;-D
We then saw the school that might be the starting point for Hogwarts. Why? Well it looks pretty similar, also has a house system with four houses and these have nearly the exact same colour as the Hogwarts houses.... Pretty big clue, don't you think?
After visiting Voldemorts grave (well at least Tom Riddles) and many other places (Diagon Alleys model, the cafe Rowling wrote the first book in,  and others) we came back to our starting point and heard a funny story about the possible real life snape who tried to bewitch a girl to love him... I won't tell you how it ended as that is the interesting part ;-D

my beautiful wand =3

After the tour we gave the guide a tip as he was doing it absolutly fantastic and went back to the car to meet up with the boys and get going into the highlands!
Hanna was the one driving for the night and I was on stand by if she had to take a break. She was driving really well but there was one scene which was really funny XD We were just driving through a small alley in Edinburgh when this cab came around the corner. Hannas schock reaction was to try to evade the cab by moving to right side, which is the wrong lane here. The cab driver had to be so afraid XD He looked shocked enough that someone would get onto his lane XD But Hanna reacted great and got right back into the right lane and nothing more happened =)
We then drove to Pitlochry to get to our hostel for the night. We found it, checked in (the owner was a German!) and wnet ot our room. Lucky us got a 8 person room with just us 5 in it =)
We then planned our next day (to go to the Dog Falls and the Lochs there) and got ready for bed. 
Hanna then put on the three question marks XD ("Die Drei Fragezeichen", for the germans) and I fell asleep after 5 seconds or so XD Actually it were 5 minutes but no more. From stories I know that the others listened to at least 2 more storys of the "Drei Fragezeichen" and some even watche a movie..
Well, I was out like a light and the second day of our trip will be told in the second part of my report =)


Love
Thym