Where did we leave off?

When traveling, it’s always a pleasure to get to talk to people outside of the regular tourist zones. Today marked what is definitely our most social day so far on this trip. For two introverts, sparking up a conversation with a local is a somewhat difficult barrier to break.

That takes us to this morning. We left our rented room in the morning and ventured forth to our train station. Our train to Edinburgh left from Kings Cross station, made world famous by the Harry Potter series. The station has a little Harry Potter shop, with a statue of a luggage trolly disappearing into a wall that you can pose for a picture next to.

Our train left at 11:30. We shared a table with two English people who were getting off at Darlington, then with a man who was getting off at Newcastle. At the table across the aisle from us was an older woman heading to Northumbria, and an older couple whose destination I forget.

The woman was charming, we think her name was Alma. She had talked with the couple at her table until they left, then turned to chat at us, which was more than welcome. She talked about how much trouble she causes wherever she goes: flooding at the Victoria Station, delays on the rail we were on, and some others.

Another older man got on and sat next to her, he was clearly very diligently on his laptop, taking notes on a sheet of paper. When talking with Alma, I brought up the Brexit vote. The Brexit vote (vote for Britain to Exit the EU), the man chimed in, complaining his pension was already down significantly. Another man on the car who claims to work in politics also chimed in, talking about how pensions were going down anyways. He didn’t claim a side, but it went to demonstrate how nuanced the situation was. Even still, every person we talked to either were opposed to it, or did not claim a side. I guess we’ll see how it went in the morning.

After Alma and the politician left at their stop, we talked to the man at Alma’s table. He had apparently retired a few days, but still had a few things to finish up. He acted as a de facto tour guide, showing us the various castles, cliffs and islands off the right side of the train.

Upon arriving in Edinburgh, we quickly found our hostel after walking up an unexpectedly long close (alley-like pedestrian walkway) with several flights of stairs. We’re staying at the Castle Rock Hostel, which is at the bottom of the rock the castle was built on. Very possibly the nicest hostel I’ve stayed at. They have various lounges, depending on what kind of time you want. At this moment, we’re in the “posh lounge,” where a fellow traveller is playing piano. There’s also a “movie lounge,” where they play movies at 6pm and 9pm, and a “good vibes lounge,” that forbids computers, shoes, and has several guitars laying out.

For dinner, we went to the nearby sandwich shop Oink where they make roast pork sandwiches with some kind of sauce and dressing. I had an applesauce / haggis combination that was incredible. Jessie skipped the haggis in favor of onions and sage, which was also formidable.

In the evening we walked around Grassmarket, then around the Princes Street Garden, and then up to Calton Hill for the best view of the city. From the top, you can see all of the royal mile: Arthur’s Seat, a giant mound of land adjacent to the queen’s residence in Edinburgh, all the way up to Edinburgh Castle. The rest of the city is visible from here too, the view reaches all the way out to the bay.

We returned just in time to group up with other people staying at the hostel for a bar crawl. Following the crowd, our first stop was the Frankenstein Pub, a Frankenstein themed bar that boasts “1818” in all of their branding. As the first edition Frankenstein had just came out in 1818, I doubt it has been there for that long. Regardless it was an interesting bar that even hosts movie nights. Along the way, we met two Danes, an Australian, an American, and an Englishman. They were all a pleasure to talk to, but the introverts in us got the better of us, and led us home.

All in all, a fairly successful day of being social.

-Ray