Finally in Scotland

Yesterday Sami and I woke up at an ungodly hour. Plans for a quick breakfast and some tea and coffee were shot as we rushed out the door. I kept searching for a post box to mail off the postcards I have—no such luck.

We took the bus to London, and with a couple hours to spare before our train departed, we hoped to check out the museum. We grabbed some sandwiches and made our way to the National Gallery. And here's the video for what happened when we got there.

I had a bit of a miscommunication over money with one of the vendors. (I'm still learning the currency.) Unfortunately the Cadbury ice cream wasn't worth the hassle.

After that we took the train to Edinburgh. That's Wales in the morning, England for lunch, arriving in Scotland sometime in the evening.
"What did you do today, Vicky?"
Oh, you know, took a train ride through the United Kingdom—rolling hills dotted with sheep on my left and the North Sea to my right.

Around 6:30 we arrived in Edinburgh. After checking into our hostel, we decided to grab dinner and find the cemetery ghost tours that Sami had talked about doing. While looking for a restaurant, we happened to stumble upon one of the tours right as the guide was about to start.

After paying our dues, we struck up conversation with another student, Liz, who happened to be abroad also. She's from Australia and since she was going solo, she decided to hang with us. Safety in numbers and all that.

The guide was very entertaining, telling stories about the people who'd died in the underground vaults beneath the city and in the haunted cemetery. She told us that people who've gone on these tours are sometimes attacked by the spirits, leaving with scratches or tales of being shoved around. All kinds of horrible things could happen, she warned us.

One of the scariest moments of the tour happened when she started leading us down into the vaults through the alley ways. As I was turning the corner, she jumped out. Of course I shrieked like a girl, and then I immediately asked her what was wrong with her.

She did this throughout the tour to others but, unfortunately, I was expecting each one, so I wasn't terrified like her other victims. I survived the tour without be attacked by pissed off spirits. And, in fact, one of the more interesting stories was about Greyfriars Bobby. 

Bobby was a terrier who stood every day at his owner's grave until he died. Although he isn't buried in the cemetery (laws do not permit animals to be buried with humans), he has a headstone on the grounds and a statue that sits outside the gates. Apparently it's the most photographed statue in the U.K.... I contributed to this statistic.

After dinner on the walk home, Sami said, "I'm going to do something weird, but you're going to have to follow my lead."

I asked her what she was going to do.

In a funny voice she said, "I'm going to spit on this heart shaped stone."

And she did.

After she spat on a stone on the sidewalk, I followed suit. I didn't really question why; I simply felt like taking part of a local custom. Something about help finding true love or something along those lines. I might look it up later, if I remember.

Today was a pretty relaxing day. We first went to the museum after having breakfast in the cafe next door. I am so very grateful that Sami took me. There I saw a painting I had only seen in history books. When I had taken a painting course, one of the assignments was to find a mentor painter to study, a painter whose work inspired us and captured our attention. El Greco was my mentor. Beautiful paintings done in almost crass strokes, yet the deliberate detail that's present screams anything but sloppy. I never thought I would see An Allegory in person, but I did. And it made my day.

We finished our day out with a movie. Yep, the movie I'd been waiting to see. The movie that I had to see for the first time in Scotland—Brave.

It was a good day.