Warm As Toast

...but not really.

This weekend I ventured up to Scotland with Jasmine. We headed to the train staition about an hour after I finished up my meeting for my upcoming group project. Naturally I was in a rush because I needed to pack and make something for me to eat because I hadn't eaten in hours. I also really wanted to use up the last of my bread before I left because I didn't want it to be moldy when I got back. Bread just goes bad way too fast. I should probably consider refrigerating/freezing it. However I got everything done and we were about to head out the door when Jasmine realized that she forgot her reference numbers that would actually allow her to pick up her train tickets. It was quite an essential thing to forget considering she had the entire day to get ready. Also it took her forever to get them so we basically had to speed walk to the train station. Of course when we got to the station more problems arose. The train was already there and for some reason we couldn't get the self service ticket machine to work and that is the only way you can pick up preordered tickets from the station. Later I realized I had been using the wrong card, but the machine was telling me that the card could not be read not that there were no reservations associated with the card. Thankfully the train operator was nice and he let us hop on the train without tickets. We had to change trains in Leeds anyway so he said we could just get our tickets then. Of course we still had to rush through the Leeds airport because Jasmine couldn't find the confirmation number for the first train trip. Very unprepared, but we made it and that is what counts.

The first part of the trip we spent in Edinburgh. We got there at about 10 pm, but our hostel was right across the street from the station. It made things easy...or it would have if we hadn't of walked all around it without noticing it. After being a bit travel weary we just grabbed a bite to eat at Pizza Express before calling it a night. It wasn't until the next day that I really got to appreciate the beauty of Edinburgh. No wonder it is the capital. It has this beautiful taste of the old with a couple of quite modern buildings.
The first day we just happened across The Royal Mile, which is  famous tourist mile that connects the Edinburgh Castle to the Queen's residence in Scotland. The streets are cobblestone and are lined with statues and churches. It is very picturesque!
We didn't actually go into the castle because it cost too much, but the outside was gorgeous. We hiked up a hill that stands out from the city and offers a great outlook over it all. It was definitely worth the effort, but it definitely made me realize I need to workout. I am embarrassingly out of shape. Also once you walk up onto a hill out of the protection of the buildings, the wind can be quite fierce and cut right through your clothing. However it definitely felt like Scotland on the top of the hill. Of course after climbing down we realized the best thing to do would be to get a bite to eat  some place warm so we ran into a pub and ordered some steak pies. I have definitely become a fan of that meal.
As the day went on it only got colder, but most of the sights were outside. The only place we actually went into was the National Museum because it was free. However, it was mainly filled with art that I am not a huge fan of. Too many realist, religious paintings. On the plus it was a nice relief from the cold.

 That night we hopped on a train to Glasgow. I wish we had spent more time in Edinburgh because honestly Glasgow is just another big city. Also the first night there was such a trial. Jasmine had booked the hostel for us so she had gotten directions from Google Maps. It ended up taking us 40 minutes away from where we needed to be. We got off the train and had no idea where we were. I had to call transportation information and they told us how lost we were. The last train back to Glasgow was about to leave so we had to rush to rush to catch that. Thankfully the conductor was extremely helpful and gave us detailed instructions to where we were staying. Even better was that once we got to the hostel we discovered that we had been upgraded to a private room for no extra cost. Normally I like sleeping in a dorm, but after that night and the fact that I was getting sick a private room sounded perfect.
The next day was an improvement in Glasgow, but how could it not be. We decided to just sleep until we awoke so we had a nice, relaxing, late start. Then we walked to the city center and realized just how close we were to it. Those directions were so wrong! We spent the day just walking around and going in a couple of free museums. Unfortunately we were still  so tired from Halloween and the trip before that we decided to call it an early night. We stocked up on junk food and watched E.T. Honestly it was a good night. We I feel under the weather that is really all I want to do.

The next day we thought it would be fun to hop on one of those sightseeing tours before we headed back to Bradford. It turns out that the ticket is good for 2 days and you can hop on or off whenever. Important information to know for later. It could reduce transport costs to sights in other cities so I will definitely try that again in another city. We didn't even have enough time to hop off anywhere because of our train. We sat  in the open upper section of the bus and got a great view of tons of places. We also got to listen to a beautiful Scottish accent in the historical commentary. Everything started off great, and then I realized just how cold it is when you aren't walking. I was wearing two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, two shirts, a jacket, boots, gloves, a scarf, and a hat. Despite all of that my toes and knees were burning from the cold. Too add to that I started sneezing like crazy. I just could not stop.
I did find some places I would visit if I ever came  back. I would definitely check out The Gallery of Modern Art, the Glasgow Science Centre, and Glasgow University.

After all that getting back to Bradford was a breeze. It took a while, but nothing went wrong. All I wanted to do was crash when I got back, but for some reason I got a second wind and Skyped with my family. It was a shame to leave Scotland, but I guess I did have to go to class. I will miss the accents though. Scottish accents are definitely better than English accents.