Last Adventures in Scotland

I just want to share with you how cool the money is here in Europe! its really colorful and all different sizes- oh and we uses LOTS of coins here too! This morning I got up and packed everything into my backpack. I met up with my friend Sean and we went on a walking tour of Edinburgh. Our tour guide Andrea showed us and told us a lot of cool things.

I will show you some pictures of things we saw… =)

Andrea told us about the witch burnings that happened in front of this churchat this place…
It was also a place of public humiliation for those who broke the law.
She told us about how people would protect their houses from burglars by having a trick step like this…Different houses would have their trick step in different places so they would warn their guests and friends, but if an unwanted visitor came in then they would trip over is and cause a lot of noise and wake up those sleeping in the house.
Great views of the streets and building…the famous-

And of course…
The Edinburgh Castle!
Stopped by and got lunch at this shop….oh so good!

We went to...and the graveyard in Greyfriars. We were told all kinds of stories and information…
there are lots of important/famous people buried thereWe were told about people who were body snatchers. and they would dig up the graves and sell the dead bodies to labs and medical schools...so sometimes people would have their loved ones, or important people buried with cages around their graves like this...that way the body would be protected.
there was a man who worked at Greyfriars and he has a dog, an old faithful dog...cant remember much of the story that went along with him...but he was very trusted and loved and he was also burried there and has lots of gifts and things left behind for him at his grave...

We ended our tour at this park
Here Andera told us this awesome story about how some college kids decided that they would steal the coronation stone from Westminster Abbey and bring it back to Scotland where it belongs…the 3 students weren’t too bright and went though quite a process to try and get it. They underestimated…or actually didn’t even think of how heavy it was going to be and ended up dragging the corination stone inch by inch to the car, losing their keys along the way somewhere in
Westminster Abbey…then they ended up breaking the stone in half. Yeah not very smart! But it was quite a story! (once again sorry my details are lacking)
After the walking tour Sean and I walked around Edinburghthen we walked by…
Here they were having a shindig of sorts, lots of military peopel dressed up and music going...
I saw two soldiers walking by and asked them what was going on. They said that they were practicing cause the Queen was coming the next day. Pretty cool!

Sean and I then went on a hike up to Arthurs Seat. Which is this small mountain/largish hill that overlooks Edinburgh.
I found out a cool story about Authur’s Seat on Sunday at church…
Parley Pratt was the first missionary in Scotland. When he first arrived he climbed to the top of Authur’s Seat and dedicated the land and asked for God to help him convert 300 people right away so he could start the church in Scotland. So now when missionaries first arrive in Scotland the first place that they go is up to Authurs seat and they dedicate their time there for their mission, and it is also the last place that they go when their missionary service time is finished. This was pretty cool cause it reminded me of my mission. We got to do the same thing but in the Sacred Grove.
After Sean and I got a 99flake (that is what they call an ice cream cone that has a little stick of chocolate in it.) and we stopped by a little shop and I bought a Scotland zip up hoodie.
I wanted to go to the Edinburgh Castle and Sean had already been, so we split up and planned to meet up for dinner later on. I stopped by this really cool church that was just down the street from my hostle
This is the same church that they had the witch burnings in front of.
Inside of the church...

– I was told that this was one of only two places where you could see an angel playing the bagpipes. So I went in and was able to look around and in this chapel room there were really cool intricate carvings in the wood and that is where the angel playing the bagpipes was.
I went up to the Edinburgh Castle – it was 5:00 and they were closing…SAD DAY!! Can you believe that?! Who closes at 5 pm! I thought that it would be open at least til 6 or 7. So I didn’t actually get to go into the Edinburgh castle, oh well.
I ended up walking around the streets of Edinburgh a little longer and just exploring a bit. Taking photographs and exploring:
this is what the roundabouts looked like.

I went back to the hostle and picked up my things and then went to meet Sean. We went to a pub where we heard they had good Haggis. There were certain things that I was told were a MUST to have while in Scotland! Haggis was one of them. So we went and had Haggis for dinner.
It was actually really good. (do you know what haggis is...? i kind of think i do...haha, maybe its best to not really know though.)I was also told that a fried mars bar was another thing I had to have…but I honestly tried to find it at a number of different places and I couldn’t find anywhere that sold them. Which is funny cause some people would say that you could find them everywhere and others would say that they really aren’t that popular. So I didn’t end up being able to get one – sadly enough.
So it turns out that Sean and I were headed back to London at the same time and it just happened that we were on the same bus back to London. So we were able to go and find the bus stop together and I still had a friend for the bus ride down.
A bus was the cheapest way back to London from Edinburgh…defiantly not the most pleasant way, but the most cost effective. So that is what I opted for. The bus ride was long, and all through the night, We arrived back in London at about 6 am to the Victoria station. I got a ticket and made may way down to Gary’s house. Gary is a friend of mine from BYU who is from Kent which is about an hour train ride from London. Gary picked me up from the train station and brought me to his house.