No, this isn't about some woman in London. Or even a bunch of them. Rather, I've left Inverness and took the train to London. It was about four hours to Edinburgh and another four to London, and the time flew by. A lot of the rail ride was literally at the very edge of the coast and there were too many beautiful views to bother with pictures. I did try on a few occasions, but it wasn't pretty. I got to reading my Lonely Planet a bit, and also my Star Wars novel that I brought it along. A new one by Timothy Zahn. The sooner I finish it, the sooner my backpack is a little less crammed. I'm thinking of sending some stuff home, but we'll see. I have too much, that is clear. Packing to get out is a big headache. I really haven't found use for the sleeping bag yet, for example.
Anyway, train to London, arrived King's Cross about 10:30 Sunday night, and found that some of the lines were already shut down for the night. It wasn't too big a deal to catch another one to my hostel in Earl's Court, but it would be nice if there were something other than word of mouth posted about this. I made a passing joke about it to a girl standing beside me and got completely ignored. I felt like telling her that I certainly wasn't talking to her because I thought she was attractive in any way. If there were any ulterior motive, it might've been pity. But really, I was just being friendly. So she can be the London ho, I guess. For now at any rate.
I got to the hostel and checked in no problems. I'm in a room four flights up, which is how I will maintain my robust physique. That and little chocolate muffins. I'm rooming with four guys from Australia (sorry, that should be 'stralia). Four quite loud guys. Two of whom I interrupted on their last night with some Canadian women by sheer virtue of being in the room when they came in from the bar. I offered to leave for a little bit but once they came in, there really was no way to extricate myself. So I'm sure they love me. Though they certainly seem nice enough and probably a lot of fun, too. They just don't sleep is all. I had to plug in my iPod. Oh, and I'm pretty sure that one of the guys did sound effects for Jurassic Park. You should hear this man snore. It's unlike anything you've ever heard. Sporadic and then roaring. But that's it for today. Tomorrow... the Star Wars premiere.
Another change in plans, I stayed in Inverness today and skipped over Glasgow, because my bus got here too late yesterday for me to even get to the Loch. It's a small city, 40,000 people or so, and not much to see, so yesterday, I just kind of walked around and looked at stuff. I checked into a phone (because it'd be nice for calling home and booking hostels) but apparently there's no reasonably priced way to do that.
Last night we went out to a pub called Hootenany's with Celtic music downstairs (a really good time) and some decent though not good rock bands (put it this way, they had piano but also a wah-wah pedal). We didn't stay for the headliners, Girl Said No, but saw their soundcheck and weren't really impressed anyway. We wandered out of there and into a pub that was in a tiny close (what they call alleys here). There was a 50-something year old guy was playing Dylan, Cash, and other covers, and he did a really good job of interacting with everyone too. People there were in good spirits. And man, oh man, you should've seen this Spanish girl dancing.
Anyway, today I was up early (6AM) because I had a jet-lag fuelled four hour nap the night before, and then I went biking up to Loch Ness to see Ogopogo's cousin. I'm rooming here at the Eastgate hostel (pretty nice, £10/night) with a couple of Germans and so the three of us undertook this undertaking. It was a 29-mile bike up into the mountains, which gave some amazing scenery and a nice look at the smaller communities in Scotland which reminded me of Greek villages a little.
Needless to say, I was NOT in shape for this largely uphill venture, and I felt bad because I was behind my German counterparts for most of the ride. My legs will be nice and sore tomorrow. It took us about four hours to get to Drumnadrochit where Urquhart Castle is, and while it is easily the most pain I've experienced in a long time, it was worth it for the views. I hope the pictures do it justice. However, with it having taken so long, and mostly with the three of us being so tired, we knew we'd never make it back before nightfall, ESPECIALLY with the crazy highway that we had to ride on for awhile. No shoulder at all, and the cop/various drivers got rather ticked at us riding into traffic, though the cop did understand the point that we could at least see who was coming at us. Nonetheless, he made us switch sides. So, without digressing further, we were very lucky to run across a nice bus driver who stowed our bikes in the luggage area against policy. Largely because the bus was empty.
Tomorrow, I'm taking a train down to London, 1:30 to 9:30 or something to that effect. The plane is £40 more expensive and I'm in London for five days already, so I'm not in a particular rush, plus then I get to see some of the countryside. And it beats the 14 hour bus ride, thank-you.
I'll be in London for five days, and maybe I can upload some pics there. See you then!
I decided sometime this afternoon, between breakfast which featured, well, a bag of chips, a Red Bull, and a double scoop of ice cream, and lunch, which was a slightly more healthy honey maple ham sandwich, that today was my last day here. I might have the chance to see more of England later, but I probably won't be coming back up here. So tomorrow, I'm heading to Inverness and the infamous Loch Ness, possibly hitting some other small town too. I'm taking the bus, because it's miles cheaper. Edinburgh->Inverness->Glasgow costs me £10 (they have a pound sign on the keyboard!) whereas the train is £42. After my day in Glasgow, I'll take either a train or plane back to London. Oddly enough, planes are cheaper here, so even though I'd like to travel through the countryside, I'd rather not pay £85 to do so. I've seen plane tickets for £35. Weird.
Anyway, today was mostly hiking. I'll update this with pictures when I get to a computer where I can do that, but I took a hike up the Salisbury Craig and then to Arthur's Seat. It was quite a long journey, all said, and my knees in particular are weak as kittens. Malnourished kittens. Who've just run some sort of kitty obstacle course. After a big meal and some wine. With turkey. And an overdose of sleeping pills. Yeah.
But, it was still well worth it. It gives a spectacular view of the city and I got some nice pictures from there and met some locals. Who, I should say, are a lot more attractive and less red-headed than previously thought. There are quite a few nice looking girls just walking by on the streets all the time. I hate to say this for fear of Scottish reprisals (tarifffs, trade interference, etc), but I am shocked.
I came back and met one Mr. Andrew MacGregor for a couple pints and some Scotch scotch. An extremely fun guy to hang around and pretty knowledgable about the town, too. He was rattling on facts as we walked from pub to pub, starting at Cloisters, and apparently, his dad, Stuart, started the whole folk music revival (i.e. Celtic music) here in Edinburgh and had more than one bar named for songs he wrote. We stopped at one of them called Sandy Bells and they had the sheet music on the wall as well as pictures and newspaper clippings, Andrew looks like his dad so much that customers were insisting that he was, in fact, Stuart.
After I departed from Andrew, I went out clubbing, but sadly none of these young women whom I'd been noticing on the streets the past two days was at any of the places I went. Or was there but with some other guy. But it was fun, I saw some (poor) live music, a bar with five stories and a different theme for each. And bouncers who don't bounce.
That's my story tonight and I'm sticking to it. G'night over there.
Well, it's really day one, but it started yesterday. Yesterday at 8 AM. It's now today at 1 PM. And I really didn't get any sleep the night before. So three days. I thought for sure I'd sleep on the plane, but nope, I sat there with my eyes closed, and that was as close as it got. I must be congested badly because it felt like the blood vessels in my eye were going to explode on each landing.
Anyway, it's only noon here (5:30 AM back home I think) and I've got a day of exploring Edinburgh ahead of me. I'm not sure yet what I'm doing tomorrow. After seeing how beautiful Scotland looked from the air, I've pretty much decided that I want to see the north before I go down to London, but I'm probably meeting Andy (from FB.Net) tomorrow for a pint, so we'll see... Edinburgh, incidentally, is beautiful, really a gem. Castles and mountains and old stone buildings, immaculately clean, it's one of the nicest European cities I've been to. We'll see if that holds up once I start exploring a little more.
Well, I'm off. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm here and not going to be home for sometime, and I'm starting to get scared that it might never really sink in. Or it might take a few more days to get used to the idea. And some sleep. Speaking of which, I'm at Brodies' on High Street for anyone wanting to keep tabs. 9 pounds/night, seems pretty nice even if I do room with 12 people. :)
OK, now I'm REALLY off. I'll have pictures and stuff when I have more than just a few to upload, probably I'll do that from London.
