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:: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 ::
okee just a few things to mention. things here aren't giving me total culture shock. but there are a few things to note about my experiences in edinburgh:
1. this keyboard is really really weird. there is a £ where the # belongs, and the " are where the @ is.
2. all prices, cds, restaurants, etc, seem to include this huge 17% tax. which sucks but when i buy £5 cds that is already including the tax so they really ARE £5. and no one tips much.
3. there are a million buses and taxis here. and no one is a friendly driver. they speed up when you cross. but i am STILL walking everywhere because i am cheap and want to get sexy legs.
4. fries are chips, chips are crisps, underwears are pants, and pants are trousers?
5. scots eat nothing chips, pizza, and beer.
6. people here are really pretty nice and cozy. i haven't met anyone from here that i don't like yet. the waitresses were frustrating me w/ slow service but we kinda figured that they were doing it on purpose cuz they maybe thought we needed lots of time after eating to just chill. i guess we dont' drink enough w/ the meal so we are too sober for them. i am used to people asking if you want dessert asap and shoving the receipt at you and waiting for you to leave. but here it's like they don't even care if you pay. you could sit there all night before they'd bring a receipt. and maybe that is a good thing. unless you are on your way to perform open heart surgery.
7. i dont' know if this was a common practice world-round, but here at the univ of edinburgh in the early 1800s, dr. knox of the school of anatomy paid grave robbers and murderers (unknowingly?) to bring him bodies for his lectures. this involved a lot of poor homeless folk, as well as some still-living buried bodies. i had heard of this before, but i'm not sure if it was regarding scotland. can anyone tell me if this happened elsewhere?
monday we got up pretty early, and headed to sir walter scott's tower. but first we HAD to stop to get burger king. but this was different. they had an indian special. jalfrizi burgers, or something, and crazy onion rings. i will fix the spelling when i edit this from home. it was... interesting... then we climbed up this 200 foot tower to the top. the wind was trying to blow us off, but we got some crazy arsed pics. just wait til i link them. and we could see the entire city, it was amazing. that was my favorite part of the trip by far. other than mamma's yummy pizza. on the way home we passed the national gallery, and we stopped in to look at some beautiful landscapes, castles, and portraits of men in kilts (and to warm up). i even saw the first van gogh that i have ever liked (olive trees?). then mike had to go work on his project so i went out on my own. it was more fun than i thought it would be, cuz i was in an adventurous mood and finding all sorts of different parts of town. and i did some souvenaire shopping for presents (wink wink). just before heading back i found this italian restaurant, which i took mike back to later that night. ti amo's. they had pretty good food. the minestrone soup was great. the weird thing was they put pine needles in my pasta. i was eating a christmas tree. we each went home to have a watermelon bacardi breeze, then we accompanied mike's flat mate, dan, to the blue note, a local jazz pub. we were there like two hours but the band didn't even start until a bit before we left. they had technical problems with the keyboard. but the atmosphere was pretty chill (too bad i was tired), and i had this yummy archers schnapps w/ raspberry (like a wine cooler, 5.4%). then home and to bed. well i went to bed. mike went to the lab to do more on his project. and didn't get back til like 7am. poor guy.
today is tuesday, and we got up at about 11 again. well i did. then we headed to the trainstation to check out glascow, which was about 55 min away. the trip was really nice, i saw a lot of houses and farms and countryside. abandoned ruins of buildings and castles. i enjoyed the trip very much. there we had lunch at ANOTHER italian place. their minestrone was nothing compared to last night's, but i had this yummy brie and honeyham sandwich. glascow had TWO gaps (edinburgh only had one, and no i didn't go in), tower outlet, virgin megastore, urban outfitters, and TGIFridays. we saw the bank of scotland - that is home to angela, mike's woman who rides the magic flying swan on the commercials. they also had another FOPP which somehow convinced me to buy two more cds. i dont think i mentioned my first trip, but i have now acquired six new cheap cds. some used. a bunch of great dance/trance remixes of sarah mclachlan songs, fugees the score, duran duran's greatest, ace of base's hits of the 90s (ok shut up - i really like this cd!!!! ), rem's new adventure's in hi fi, and monty python's meaning of life soundtrack. oh yes i'm the bargain shopper. most of these were not more than £5 (which includes tax as i mentioned). - i really want jamiroquai's funk odyssey if anyone wants to get me a present any time soon!!! but it wasn't on sale...hehe). on the train back i made mike play word scramble games w/ me. kept us busy for a while. well tonight we are supposedly going back to medina. i haven't been there since last week, and i really wanted to revisit. the one w/ pillows and bean bags all over. romantic lights. not that i want to be romantic there but it's just chill. i'll let you know... : )
:: meggy spilled the "beans" at 2:03 PM [+] ::
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:: Sunday, March 10, 2002 ::
i did some editing on my last post of edinburgh happenings but not much....
ok saturday ended up mostly as i said it would. mamma's pizza was delicious, we all agreed. we had this garlic tomato, extra cheese, and pepperoni w/ spicy sauce mmm soo good. then we went back to mike's flat and played asshole (drinking game) and i had gotten my hands on some watermelon bacardi breezes and IrnBru/vodka for the occassion mmmm. everyone was acting the fool and it became a little too hard to play the game so we headed out to espionage. that place was packed, and dom somehow created a 'scene' by trying to play it cool w/ a bouncer after going through the wrong door. no he didn't just say oops sorry bout that, he said 'i have to be sick' so the bouncer followed smooth dom to the bathroom and then out the door. we found him outside waiting to get back in. fortunately we did not want to go back in. maybe a different night.
but they didn't have a cover so that's cool.
then we went to three (fat) sisters and the music there was kinda cool, 80s, but it was hot and sticky and everywhere was a meat market. so we headed to nichol edwards. i was having a 'down' night so i up and left. it was a cool pub but i was ready to call it a night.
now is sunday, and i slept in til 5pm today. saaaad. mike was at work and i woke up when he got home. then we headed across town again (on foot) to 'the sizzlers of scotland' (really it was much better, but pricewise), wetherspoons, where you go up and order food/drinks and give them your table # and they bring it to you. then we got ahold of dom again and headed to the underground vault ghost tour. the vaults are really above ground now but they are still pretty cool. i was scared until this guy jumped out at the end and REALLY scared me, at which point i was angry at being scared hehe. but i thought it was all interesting and creepy fun.
i wanted hot apple cider but mike brought me here instead. grr
heh oh well tomorrow i'll let you know if i can get my shop on!
:: meggy spilled the "beans" at 5:13 PM [+] ::
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