This morning I got up at around 6h45. We were staying at a guesthouse just outside of Newcastle, in Whitley Bay. I showered, washed my hair and got ready for the day. Then at about 7h45 I went downstairs for breakfast. I got the “cooked breakfast” because that was included in the accomodation rate: beans (I don’t eat), sausage x 2 (I don’t eat), egg (though it was sunny side-up and I usually like them cooked on both side I ate it), bacon (though it seemed more like ham with texture/look it was saltier, I ate it), pieces of toast and orange juice. It was alright… Then at about 8h30 we were off to Scotland!

We drove and drove and arrived at the border of Scotland at 10h. Then we drove some more… And arrived in Edinburg around 12h. We found the hostel after getting good directions from a tourist information near the major road. It was just tricky really finding the Crescent the hostel was on! I entered the hostel and there was a cute cat sitting in the middle of the reception hall, looking at the door/incoming visitors, welcoming us it seemed! So cute! My aussie friend checked us in while I patted the cat. Then we transferred our luggage from the car to the luggage room. Found a parking space. And were off to the city, by bus. There wouldn’t have been any parking for the car in the city.

The bus was 1£ and it was a double-decker, my first time in one! It was quite neat. Then arrived in the middle of the city we all split up. My aussie friend went somewhere, his family off to the castle and I wanted to go see the Camera Obscura first! So there I went. It cost 5.50£. I explored the place a bit… They had fun stuff on the different floors. And on the top floor the camera obscura! It was neat actually seeing one as I learned about it in one of my classes at Concordia. This one was built in 1853.

Then off to the Edinburg Castle. It was quite expensive to get in 10.30£. It was pretty. I joined a guided tour which was also informative. But the castle I’d seen the previous day in Conwy was more fun. This Edinburg Castle is much more touristy. And crowded. And big. The Conwy one was better because I could roam wherever I wanted. This one no. Still I guess it was worth the visit. Though I would lower the price of an entry ticket!! I also got hungry so I had a chocolate muffin and a hot chocolate for 4.10£. I kept bumping into my Aussie friend’s mom and aunt… They were also touring the castle at the same time as me!

Then I went down the hill. On Rose Street I saw a photo shop. I am running low on memory card space (2 x 256MB cards full, on the 128MB now) so I thought I’d bring one of the 256 MB cards to them to burn the pictures onto a CD. I paid 5£ for that. And then I went to the nearby Easy Internet Cafe. I then saw they also burned photos to CDs for even cheaper! Grrr! But oh well! I got a 24h Internet pass for 3.50£ (1 hour was 2£ so!).

So after the Internet cafe I went back to the Golden Mile near the Edinburg Castle. I walked along that street trying to find nice gifts for people back home. In the end I did! Then I walked back down the hill towards Princes Street, orienting myself using the Castle on the hill. So Edinburg is quite easy to navigate in that way! At the HMV I bought the live Stereophonics CD for 9.99£. It’s crazy… Here in Scotland they have their own paper bank notes, the Scottish £. It’s the same value as the English £…! Then I came back to the Easy Internet Cafe. I installed MSN Messenger and chatted a bit. I also watched the news bulletin from Radio-Canada (using their Zap Media). It’s awesome.