At the Elephant House....

Yesssss, the place where J.K. Rowling scribbled down the beginnings of Harry Potter and Hogwarts on paper napkins! Haha, I swear, Harry Potter things are following me around England and Scotland, haha. I'm really not that obsessed, just happened to stumble upon this place the other day. It's a really cute cafe and has internet access so woot woot. Anyways, it's cold and rainy in Edinburgh today which was fine by me because last night was a late one so it's been nice to just relax today. Yesterday I checked out the Botanical Gardens and they were so so pretty...it was warmer out too so I really enjoyed just walking around and basically getting lost there. Took a bus down to the beach too to check it out (Portabello Beach) but it was nothing to brag about. It was actually kind of dirty but it could just be because it's the dead of winter and the beach hasn't seen anyone but a few occasional walkers in months! I liked it nonetheless because it was salt water and sand :) You could see over to Fyfe (sp?) because the water is actually an estuary, not the actual North Sea. But it was a pretty afternoon so just being outside was enjoyable. Came back to the hostel to do laundry and get some dinner and met a few people in the lounge area. I also met my roomies from Chile who were just finishing up their vacation all around Europe as well. They had been gone for a month and just kept explaining how tired they were! Made me nervous that I'll look as rundown as they do! The hostel hosted a pub crawl last night so I met up with everyone downstairs. We had a group of about 10 and I had SUCH a good time!! Met some really great people...a few from Canada, New Zealand, and even Southern Cali, haha. It was a really fun night...went to about 4 different pubs and ended up at a club where I killed my legs even more and danced, haha. We all got along really well though and took so many pictures (haha go figure) so Ill have to post them soon on here. We decided at 3 a.m. to meet for breakfast the next morning because greasy food sounded so good at that moment!! So Victoria, Chad, and I had a Scottish/Irish breakfast at a pub across the street this morning...including black pudding (which I'm pretty sure is clotted blood....never again). It's been rainy here today so instead of the hike I wanted to do up to the hills overlooking the city, I went to see Juno instead, haha. I had wanted to see it before I left the states but it was a perfect rainy day thing. AND the chance to relax my legs! Not sure if I'll go out tonight....I'm going to try and do the hike tomorrow before I have to check out at 10 and wouldn't be able to get up if I have another night like last night :) Flying to Dublin tomorrow around 2 so I'm ready for another change of scenary. Can't wait though, Ireland was the place I've been looking forward to the most (and of course Italy....for the food). Next time I'll write will be from there so here's to hoping I make it there okay in the little Aer Lingus plane!
OH and I heard from Andrew Bishop in Paris (he used to work at the good ole Outback with us) and found out he might be traveling a bit with me...most likely to Interlaken and possibly to Barcelona. It will be fun to have a travel buddy! He just found an apartment in Paris and offered to let me crash there while I'm in the city. That would be great because of course Paris is another crazy expensive city! So that's exciting.