FREEDOM! (May 15th)

I was heading to Stirling today to check out the castle there and to see the William Wallace monument. Despite the movies numerous historical inaccurasies, there really was a person named William Wallace and he's known as the Gaurdian of Scotland.

I ended up sleeping in a bit, which I didn't think was a big deal at the time.  I went by a little convenience store to get some flapjacks....it was actually the exact one we went to the night before when I tried some of Sam's...I pretty much thought about it all night cause it was AMAZING!  Now flapjacks aren't synonymous with pancakes, like in the States.  They're pretty much sugary oat bars of deliciousness.

So I grabbed a few and caught the noon bus to Stirling.  The ride took about an hour, but honestly it could've lasted all day and I would've loved it.  The scenery of Scotland is what I came for and it is just remarkable.  The rolling green hills, Highlands monopolizing the horizon, is just a truly amazing sight to see!

I got into Stirling and didn't really know what to do, so I hopped on my first sightseeing bus of the trip and enjoyed the views of the city.  There a recorded audio commentary during the ride, so I learned a lot of cool things about the city.  We went around near Bannockburn, where Robert the Bruce defeated the English in the year of our lord, 1314.

I visited Stirling castle next, which was quite a site to see.  Like Edinburgh castle, it was perched up high on an outcrop of rocks overlooking the city.  I took a tour for the first hour and a half I was there.  It was lead by one of the best tour guides I've had to date...partially because he spoke with an awesome Scottish accent, but mainly because he was very entertaining.  He wasn't a typical tour guide because he really got into talking about the information and he committed.  Much better then most tour guides I've seen recently.

The most interesting thing I saw was the spot where Mary Queen of Scots was crowed at the tender age of 9 months.  It was said that the crown slid right over her entire body because she was so small:)

I felt very rushed after the tour though, as I had only 15 minutes left to just explore the castle and check out the views before the next bus came.  I would've just gotten the next one, but I was very pressed for time because my return bus home left at 6 and that was the last one of the day.

So I was left with only about two more hours in Stirling.  So I caught my bus and it lazily meandered through town and finally out to the Wallace monument.  Since it took so darn long to get there I was in a pickle.  I only had about twenty minutes to spend.

Should I spend the 6 pounds and sprint up the 250 stairs or should I save the money and just go on home?

It was a tough decision, but I decided just to go home seeing as how I didn't want to get stuck in Stirling for the night.  Oh well....

I caught my buses and got back to Edinburgh without any problems.  That night Sam cooked up some bangers (brats) that was really good.  Kaylie had to work on an essay, which then actually turned into just going to bed, so Sam and I went and grabbed a few pints.

The beer was good, though I don't think i'll ever get used to room temperature beer...just not as good as cold beer.

One more pint at an Edinburgh townie bar and then it was off to bed for me.

Lazy Day (May 14th)

Today followed a somewhat similar path as yesterday.

I spent the morning just lounging around Kaylie and Sam's flat. It's nice to just be able to relax and not be forced to do anything. Too many hostels require you to be out of the hostel by 10 so they can clean or have to get up for breakfast on time.

Nope, today was a very lazy day and it was much needed.

I went and tried to snap some photos of places I saw on yesterday's tour, still trying to work out the problems I was having with Sam's camera. I managed to get a few good shots though, which is really all I needed.

I had a traditional Scottish lunch of rare foods found only in this neck of the woods. My burger and fries was quite good as I polished it off with a cold "coke", I think it was called.

The sun was just finally starting to shine when I got done so I decided to head back to St. Princes green, where I layed down and enjoyed the spectacular view of the castle once again. It fit my lazy and relaxing theme of the day.

I find that Scotland is very much like it's neighbors to the south, the Brits. The pubs and food choices are very similar to one another. And as I've hung out with Sam, who has acted as my English tour guide on many occasions, I oftentimes forget that I'm not in England...a blasphemy that I'm sure many Scotsman wouldn't be happy to hear.

But at the same time, this is very much Scotland. There are men dressed up in kilts and playing bagpipes on street corners for spare change. The pubs are often filled with performers playing traditional Scottish folk tunes, where a lot of the patrons clap and sing along with the singer.

Kaylie and I grabbed a coffee at the restaurant that she works at, Harvey Nichols. There are some really great views from up there. And the sun was shining which was nice, however, by the time we got done we each had half a sunburned face, which was not nice. Probably should've switched sides on the table about half way through.

For dinner, Sam's friend, Luke, joined us for steak night at one of the local pubs. It was an insanely good deal where we got a steak, chips, and a beer for a little over 4 pounds each. Granted, the exchange rate makes that not as good of a deal, but for Scotland it was phenomenal. I had a tuna steak, which I had never had before, which was absolutely fantastic. I decided not to get the sirloin as I'll be home in a few weeks and have my fill of it the first night I am back.

We hopped around to a few different pubs after that and enjoyed some cheap beer....again, damn exchange rate not making it as good of a deal! But it was a good night and it's just so nice to be staying with someone who doesn't confuse Iowa with Idaho or Ohio.

It was a good end to my lazy and relaxing day.

Do it...and let the English see you do it (May 13th)

I woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to go on my tour of Edinburgh from a dream where I woke up 1o minutes before I was supposed to go on my tour of Edinburgh. Luckily, the tour meeting point was at the Starbucks a half block up the hill from where Kaylie and Sam live, so I made it in time.

This would be my last New Europe tour, as Scott and I had been to every city where they were offered, having only missing London because we didn't know about them yet. So I was hoping to end it on a good note by having a fantastic tour guide. When I got to the meeting point, there were quite a few people, so they split people up into two groups. One tour guide was lead by a guy who looked eerily like Legolas, though not NEARLY as attractive as that hunk, Orlando Bloom. And the other was lead by a very enthusiastic American girl from Chicago named Gaja (pronounced guy-ah) who was conducting her third ever tour.

Well I chose Gaja simply because she was the closer of the two. We began the tour and instantly I regretted my decision. She was the type of person who couldn't stop performing for the crowd and trying to make everyone laugh even though she wasn't remotely funny. Don't you hate that? PLACES!

We saw quite a few cool things on the tour: Edinburgh Castle, which sits on an inactive volcano, the sites of many witch burnings, and the coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book, overlooking the original "Hogwarts." Lots of really cool places to see.

I had borrowed Sam's camera so I could resume taking pictures of my travels, but only a handful of pictures turned out...something having to do with the shutter was causing all of the pictures to turn out WAY too bright. I did manage to get a few pictures along the way, but it looks like I'm somewhat cursed when it comes to cameras nowadays.

The tour ended right near a huge green space called St. Princes greens. It's basically two huge hills with a path going right between them where most Edinburgh-ers or ens come whenever it gets sunny out. The grass is pristine and is cut just like a putting green. The sun had just come out and warmed me up, so I decided to head to the hill where I eventually took a little snoozer. Gosh, I LOVE being on vacation.

I went back to Kaylie's flat and then her, Sam and I went out to eat and then had a few pints at various pubs. They had house beers at one of the pubs, though it was chilled to below room temperature so it was much better than the stuff Scott and I had in London.

The last pub we went to had a Scottish folk singer performing, which was really cool because most everyone in the pub claps along with the song and get really into it. Reminded me a lot of an Irish pub, but DEFINITELY not Mickey's or Paddy's...those are NOT Irish pubs.

After the pubs, the three of us went back to the flat and had a discussion about politics and religion and patriotism, etc. Kaylie and I both agreed that it was the first time we had ever had this type of discussion without a Duffy in the room. Though it was a DISCUSSION, not an ARGUMENT, so maybe it was different then the typical Duffy-incited conversation:)

My first day in Scotland was pretty darn good. I also think I neglected to mention that Kaylie's boyfriend is British, which makes the title of this blog a little more poignant I think.

If it's not Scottish it's CRAP! (May 12th)

FINALLY I am leaving Barcelona. I was there for quite some time.

But I'm a little older...a little wiser...and I'm finding sand in REALLY weird places.

The best part about today was that I was going to Scotland!!! My favorite place I've never even been too. I have to say, I think this is the part of the trip I've been looking forward to the most.

Because I was flying Ryanair, I wasn't flying directly out of Barcelona or directly into Glasgow. The reason Ryanair can make their flights so affordable is because they fly into airports NEAR the cities they are referring to...which meant that I had to pay to get a bus ride to and from the airports located about an hour away.

All in all though, travel was pretty smooth. On each leg of my trip I found myself plastered to the window looking at the beautiful scenery: The Pyrenees, the ocean, the Highlands. All of it was just gorgeous to see.

I resisted the urge to listen to the Braveheart soundtrack over and over again as I flew into Scotland...I'm saving that for later.

I got off the plane and found my train to Edinburgh, where I was going to stay my friend Kaylie and her boyfriend, Sam...which I am ETERNALLY grateful for a place to stay.
I had to change trains in Glasgow in order to get to Edinburgh, but I was a bit confused on how to do it because I had to walk to another train station a few blocks away. When I got off the train, a lady came up to me and asked me if I was going to the other train station. She overheard me ask the ticket taker guy where exactly to go and she insisted upon walking me about halfway to the other station to make sure I knew where to go. Such kindness...it was nice to feel the hospitality of the region so quickly into my time here in Scotland. I gotta say, it's a lot better than getting pickpocketed:)

I finally arrived in Edinburgh and I was a little heartbroken about having just spent about $12 on a crappy Burger King meal...ugh...but I needed food pretty badly.

I followed Kaylie's directions and I found her place no problem. I got in and met Sam and couldn't stop thanking them both for the place to stay and for all of their hospitality...probably almost to the point of annoyance, but I was thankful for the place to stay.

We chatted a bit and we watched the last half of the Bourne Identity (awesome!). I had been wanting to re watch it because of my recent trip to Paris I had seen a few of the sites where they filled the movie. And ya know, I always thought Damon was a bit of a Streisand but he really kicks some ass in that movie.

The movie ended and it was off to bed. I had just fallen asleep when a thundering noise coming from the streets. The sound was of heavy horse...shook the very ground. It was the British!

Luckily, I brought my Scotland liberating sword from home. I quickly rounded up some locals and we sent those Brits home. I told them to tell their King that Scotland's brothers and sisters are theirs no more!

Attached is a quick snapshot taken of me after the battle.

FREEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

When in Rome...eh, Spain I mean (May 11th)

Today the sun was supposed to be out...just in time for me to get back to my beach side hostel.

I guess the weathermen weren't completely wrong because the sun was out...but the freezing cold wind blowing off of the Mediterranean was just too much to bear.

As I pondered what to do for the rest of the day, I decided to follow the phrase, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" for the rest of the day.

So I started it off with taking a nice long siesta. This is the great thing about not having any agenda whatsoever. No work to try to steal away from to catch some zzz's...just lay down and take a nap.

I got up when I felt like it and called mi madre on Madre's Dia (pfff, Spanish ain't hard). I also talked with Emily for awhile bringing the grand total of the conversations to $76.50...man it's expensive to call home. Oh well, money well spent...Happy Mother's Day again, momma!

Keeping with my Spanish theme, I headed out for a night of tapas and futbol. Now I was trying to be daring, so I ordered spicy meatballs, mussels, and fried squid, or sepia I think it was called.

The mussels, I thought, would be my safe pick because I've had them earlier in the trip at Chinque Terre. Well no, it was not safe as the crappy taste of these MUSSELS was too STRONG (that one's for you, pops).

The meatballs were quite good and I was glad I ordered them. It provided a bit of culinary sanity to my meal.

The squid wasn't my favorite. It was better then the mussels though, so I'll give it that. It tasted kind of plain and was kind of hard and chewy, like really thick egg whites that were cooked too long.

Luckily I had a gigantic beer to polish it all down with. And bread...lots of bread with oil.

The futbol game was alright, but it's just not the same as GOOD football. Too much punting.

Overall, my appreciation of Spanish culture isn't on par with my appreciation of the other cultures I've visited, but I'm glad I got to experience it. Now I know.

And who knows, maybe I have a better time the next time I visit:)

Rain, rain go away! (May 10th)

It really stinks when you decide to stay someplace warm so you can lay on the beach all day and work on evening out your burn...and then it decides to RAIN ALL DAY! Damnit! I guess skin cancer will have to wait...

Ok, so I didn't have nice weather here in Barcelona, but at least I had a really nice hostel for the weekend. Only having to share the room with 3 other people was quite nice, so I was actually able to sleep in til a decent hour. The rain was really coming down when I got up, but I was determined to enjoy my day anyway.

After polishing off some stolen muffins from my previous hostel, I set out into the city, umbrella in hand.

There's something to be said for traveling around by foot. You really see so much more when you aren't viewing the world through the windsheild of a car or the window of a bus. I put quite a few miles on the ole soles today again, but it was well worth the drenching I endured.

Barcelona is a pretty interesting city. I've lingered here for quite awhile and it really does have some amazing sites. I saw Barcelonas Arch de Triumph along with a mushy trailed park that had a mammoth Elepheat in it...not an ACTUAL elephant, but a sculpture of one.

I took a break from puddle jumping and relaxed in a coffee shop for a few hours sipping capuccinos reading my book. I forgot home good of a read Angels and Demons really was. It was really hard to put down and head back out on the town.

I passed by the Picasso museum, which was FILLED with tourists, and decided to skip it. Heck, I already knew EVERYTHING there was about him because I researched his life and his works for ~1000 hours because I'm such a dedicated actor.

I also ran into another huge market selling fresh food and decided to try some of the fresh cherries they were selling. Not bad, but I don't think they were very fresh and I was kind of disappointed that they didn't live up to my hopes.

Umbrellas don't cover EVERYWHERE on your body, so I my pants were soaked well above my knees by the time I got back to the hostel. I had wandered for about 5 hours and was exhausted and hungry. I cooked round two of my ravioli and enjoyed some spanish Simpsons, which I still thought was funny even though I didn't understand a word of it. It definitely loses something when you can't here the actual voices of the characters, though, so I stole away and finished my book.

Capping the exciting night off with some free laundry, I decided to live it up even more and head to bed. It was nice not to have to battle snorers for a change though, so I was pretty happy with that.

All in all, a pretty good day.