It was our last day in Edinburgh, so Nicole and I only rested for a short while before getting out the door. We left the hostel and wandered to the campus of the University of Edinburgh. Nicole also became really excited when she saw her favorite supermarket from Germany, Lidl. We went inside, it was all right, a very basic (and affordable) place to get groceries.
Soon afterwards, we ended up at the Royal Museum right a few minutes before it was to close. But we didn't waste our time... we quickly found Dolly the sheep (the first mammal to be cloned).
The museum then closed, and Nicole and I continued to explore. Edinburgh is full of small side streets and alleyways that beckon you to just see what's there.
We walked back into the New Town, seeing more shops, restaurants, pubs, and men in kilts playing bagpipes. The city was definitely more alive this Saturday afternoon than it was when we arrived early Thursday morning. We walked by the Hard Rock Cafe and I mentioned that I was getting hungry. Nicole suggested (unexpectedly) that we go to the place with the deep fried Mars bars. I enthusiastically agreed!
Apparently they specialize in deep fried everything. So, this being my last meal in Scotland, I ordered deep fried haggis. It didn't taste as bad as I anticipated. It was basically a sausage with oats stuffed inside. A heartier and somewhat improved sausage actually.
After finishing my haggis and chips, we had a deep fried Mars bar. It was, well, greasy. It pretty much tasted how you'd imagine it... chewy inside and battered and deep fried outside, a form of instant death, but definitely not the way I'd like to go. I wasn't that impressed with the taste. It's good to say that I'd tried it at least.
We then left, thankful for functioning arteries, then we walked around some more around the New Town, taking in the sights, sounds, and people of Edinburgh as the sun went down.
We walked all the way to the western side of the city, gazing at the Georgian architecture of the houses and catching glimpses of the castle set ablaze in the warm orange glow of the setting sun. We pretty much ran out of things to do, so we eventually just sat down in the plaza next to the national museum. And we took jumping pictures.
This continued for a few hours, as our bus wasn't supposed to leave until 10:30. So, at 9 PM, we went back to our hostel to wash up and pick up our stuff. We made our way to the bus station, getting there at 10.
It was at this time that my stomach sank to the floor... and it wasn't because of the fried food from earlier.
Our bus ticket listed "21:30" as the departure time. I thought nothing of this, having placed my trust in Nicole that our bus left at 10:30. But 21:30 means 9:30. I checked the time and saw that is was 22:00 ... I looked back and forth between the ticket and my mobile phone, trying to process the information. But the truth was clear: We had missed our bus.
To be continued...
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