the journey ends. {scotland archives}

This was the coldest morning yet. Of course we didn't realize this in our castle suite, but once we loaded up the car to get ready to go we knew. Unfortunate, as this was the day we had slated for viewing two castles on the coast. Sea breezes? More like arctic gale winds! The two castles we saw were Dirleton and Tantallon. Dirleton had some intricate gardens, it was very pretty. I'd like to call it charming, but that seems wrong some how. Tantallon was formidable. This bad boy juts out right over the sea. Standing on the top felt like daring death; the winds were so strong it was not hard to imagine being blown off and dashed on the sea-battered rocks below...The worst the wind managed to do was steal the breath from my lungs and knock me around a bit, thankfully. I reckon that castle was a bit more cozy when all the walls were still up.

As we drove back to Edinburgh, warming up in our little rental car, I had an Irn-Bru soda to drink. It's "Scotland's own fizzy drink." Not bad, it kind of grows on you. It's orange, but tastes more like carbonated Hi-C than typical orange pop. We stopped in the town of Haddington for lunch and also to mail some post cards. Thankfully the postal employees were friendly and dealt with our ignorance to their postal system graciously:) As to lunch, I totally was digging the soup du jour with crusty bread combination. It's a restaurant staple, and oh-so-good. We ended up heading over the Firth to stay at a hotel in Dumferline (the peacock town) as most of Edinburgh's were booked for the night. We stayed at another Holiday Inn, situated across the street from an ASDA and a Homebase (think Home Depot) and I had to smile as it reminded me of our own mega-store match-ups back home. For dinner we ate at a Mexican restaurant, just to see their conception of it. It was actually realllllly delicious. I had tequila-shrimp fajitas. Yum. As per usual, we got lost trying to find our way back to the hotel.

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We got on our hotel early today, our final full day in my ancestral land. We stayed at the Quality Inn right by the airport, which was a fantastic choice since we had to be at the airport by 7a.m. the next morning! This accommodation was secured at the Dumferline Holiday Inn before we even checked out. (I love how we get on top of the hotel thing by the last day only.)

We decided to spend the last day in my personal favorite place; the Edinburgh city centre. There was some sort of Easter food fest lining one of the major streets, which was a bit too crowded to explore much. We did get some nice things at the shops of the centre though, including, of course, Starbucks bevvies. We went to Subway for lunch, just to test the UK vs. USA version. USA came out on top. Though UK scored points for almost automatically putting lettuce, tomato, and cucumber on the sandwiches (what all restaurants refer to as "salad" by the way.) That saves time during ordering. We lunched in the Princes Street Gardens, where they were busily preparing for a BIG Easter play, including live animals. We actually overheard a woman asking a man if he'd seen her donkey. Thankfully, I suppose, he had. We went back to our hotel for the rest of the day, where we decided to have "tea time," including shortbread (Scotland's famous for it--and for good reason). We pretty much just chilled in the hotel for the rest of the afternoon and evening, watching TV, reading, taking advantage of free internet. We even ate dinner there (gross).

Afterwards, I went out for a smoke and a tall, skinny guy came out to bum one off of me. He was French. He asked if the hotel sold cigarettes. I said no. (Less than an hour later, Jordan pointed out a cigarette vending machine in the lobby...oops!) Awkward silence ensued...but he broke it nicely by saying thanks before returning to the hotel.The twilight was gorgeous that night; just one streak of light over a hill in the distance...so peaceful. Even with the airport so nearby. That night we watched a presumably popular British show "Ants and Decs Saturday Night Take Away" which is really, really funny. Then Jordan decided we should get some room service dessert. Now, I don't like waffles. I don't know why; I just am not a fan. UNLESS they are the Edinburgh Airport Quality Inn's "warm belgium waffles with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup." WOW...such a warm, cakey, syrupy, carmelized waffle, with a scoop of premium vanilla ice cream...garnished with a small tomato (because of it's gold, papery leaves) and a strawberry (perfect palate cleanser)...Literally delicious beyond any expectations. Yum. After finishing that bad boy, I pretty much passed out into a sugar coma/sleep for the night. Which was good anyway, since I'd have to get up early for the next day's flight.

(and thus ends the re-posting and archiving of my past Scotland excursion. thanks for revisiting with me!)