An Irish goodbye is when you leave quietly without saying googbye. It's like slipping out the back door without telling anyone. I'm kind of a huge fan of them and have been giving Irish goodbyes my whole life. I hate the act of saying goodbye.
Had to get up at 5. Have I mentioned it gets light out very ealy here? And the sun goes down very late too. Anyways, I popped a couple Tylenol and packed the rest of my stuff before going down to breakfast of muffins and bread.
Maria wanted to say goodbye to everyone and was bummed when she found out we wouldn't see most of them ever again. I explained to her we were giving them an Irish goodbye. She didn't get it so I explained what an Irish goodbye was and then she felt better about it. Our taxi arrived and we left.
Our cab driver was cool. I kind of wish he had been our tour guide instead of that lady we had that one day. He talked about how shitty Catholics had it back in his youth and how corrupt the police were. The ride cost 20 pounds. I left his cab hating the British.
We arrived at Belfast International and it was seriously easy getting in. I stress airports, I don't know why. Everything was smooth as could be. I fell asleep on the flight and missed my first glimpse of Scotland as we flew into Edinburgh. I tried to take some selfies but I look gross. Every picture was a "yikes" and I had to delete it. I took a couple at the airport.
We caught the bus and paid like 3 pounds to ride it to a stop near our hotel. I found our hotel, called Hotel Ritz and were able to check in early at 10. It looked unassuming and indistinguishable from the outside.
But inside? I LOVE THIS HOTEL. It's just so pretty. It just has so much character. We had another room key that was an actual key, was told curfew was at 11 (say what) and our room was on the third floor. There were no lifts. That was rough but I was so impressed by the hotels interior that it made me like it more.
There's plush carpet everywhere and classy wallpaper and high ceilings. It reminds me of a Wes Anderson movie. Our hotel room was nice I thought. It had these window I could climb onto and watch people walk below.
The shower had no water pressure but whatever. We had to leave to do laundry. Our front desk lady/bartender (a lot of hotels I've seen this trip have their front desk right next to the bar, or the front desk is the bar) gave us directions and we were off. It was a short walk and we had a lot of stinky clothes.
I had never been to a laundry place before. I'm learning and growing so much this trip. It cost like 5 pounds to do my laundry and it took almost an hour and a half. While we waited we got food across the street where they make the bread fresh everyday. I got a spicy chicken sandwich for 3.50 pounds.
It was really good and I was surprised by that. The portions were so small though. But I was so hungry I was down to eat a family size bowl of spaghetti so maybe it was normal size.
We got our laundry and went back to the hotel. It took us a while to get ready but then we left to go to Scotland's National Museum. On the way I got more food, a cheese and chicken panini. I was so hungry and I just wanted to chow down on a big meal but Maria didn't want to. I don't remember the price but I thought it was reasonable or else I wouldn't have got it.
It was a long-ish walk to the museum. Maria was really tired and wanted to nap but I wouldn't let her. We passed a lot of great scenery.
The National Museum of Scotland was closing in under 2 hours and that sucked. They had 7 floors and I wanted to do every one but instead I focused on strictly Scotland history.
I found a nice souvenir for my Camin but couldn't find an employee to tell me the price.
And I saw a clarsach which is a wire harp. Only 3 are surviving and 2 were here.
And I found a map of surnames and spotted mine and Ian's middle names and Camin's name.
And as per usual with me going to museums, I wished Cam and my dad were there. There was a botanical garden on the roof that we went to as well. I wasn't super into the gardens because we had a great view of Edinburgh.
We left to find an ice cream I wanted to visit. On the way we got distracted by a crepe food cart and I got a pear crepe and Maria had a dark chocolate and coconut. Hers was better. But mine was really good.
Then we tried finding an ice cream store I wanted to go to. It's called Mary's Milk Bar. We had a hell of a time trying to find it and passed it twice. Eventually we doubled back and were able to track the place down.
I had a pistachio honey ice cream and it tasted like pistachio (which sounds obvious. But it really tasted like pistachio. Different flavor than the pistachio nut ice cream I enjoy back home).
We walked back to the hotel and I stayed in the bar where the wifi roams free. I hung out for a couple hours and went upstairs where Maria was sleeping. I read a book before deciding to go out by myself. Then I realized it was 10:30 and "curfew" was at 11. I don't know what curfew means, but whenever we leave the hotel we have to turn in our room key and then pick it up whenever we come back. It's weird but we had to do this at the hotel we spent 1 night in in Ireland. So I went back to the room and went to sleep. Lame.
Had to get up at 5. Have I mentioned it gets light out very ealy here? And the sun goes down very late too. Anyways, I popped a couple Tylenol and packed the rest of my stuff before going down to breakfast of muffins and bread.
Carbs everywhere.
Maria wanted to say goodbye to everyone and was bummed when she found out we wouldn't see most of them ever again. I explained to her we were giving them an Irish goodbye. She didn't get it so I explained what an Irish goodbye was and then she felt better about it. Our taxi arrived and we left.
Our cab driver was cool. I kind of wish he had been our tour guide instead of that lady we had that one day. He talked about how shitty Catholics had it back in his youth and how corrupt the police were. The ride cost 20 pounds. I left his cab hating the British.
We arrived at Belfast International and it was seriously easy getting in. I stress airports, I don't know why. Everything was smooth as could be. I fell asleep on the flight and missed my first glimpse of Scotland as we flew into Edinburgh. I tried to take some selfies but I look gross. Every picture was a "yikes" and I had to delete it. I took a couple at the airport.
I'll be the judge of that.
We caught the bus and paid like 3 pounds to ride it to a stop near our hotel. I found our hotel, called Hotel Ritz and were able to check in early at 10. It looked unassuming and indistinguishable from the outside.
But inside? I LOVE THIS HOTEL. It's just so pretty. It just has so much character. We had another room key that was an actual key, was told curfew was at 11 (say what) and our room was on the third floor. There were no lifts. That was rough but I was so impressed by the hotels interior that it made me like it more.
There's plush carpet everywhere and classy wallpaper and high ceilings. It reminds me of a Wes Anderson movie. Our hotel room was nice I thought. It had these window I could climb onto and watch people walk below.
The shower had no water pressure but whatever. We had to leave to do laundry. Our front desk lady/bartender (a lot of hotels I've seen this trip have their front desk right next to the bar, or the front desk is the bar) gave us directions and we were off. It was a short walk and we had a lot of stinky clothes.
I had never been to a laundry place before. I'm learning and growing so much this trip. It cost like 5 pounds to do my laundry and it took almost an hour and a half. While we waited we got food across the street where they make the bread fresh everyday. I got a spicy chicken sandwich for 3.50 pounds.
Spicy chicken
It was really good and I was surprised by that. The portions were so small though. But I was so hungry I was down to eat a family size bowl of spaghetti so maybe it was normal size.
We got our laundry and went back to the hotel. It took us a while to get ready but then we left to go to Scotland's National Museum. On the way I got more food, a cheese and chicken panini. I was so hungry and I just wanted to chow down on a big meal but Maria didn't want to. I don't remember the price but I thought it was reasonable or else I wouldn't have got it.
A reasonably priced panini
It was a long-ish walk to the museum. Maria was really tired and wanted to nap but I wouldn't let her. We passed a lot of great scenery.
A very Scottish picture.
The National Museum of Scotland was closing in under 2 hours and that sucked. They had 7 floors and I wanted to do every one but instead I focused on strictly Scotland history.
Then why did you vote against independence
I found a nice souvenir for my Camin but couldn't find an employee to tell me the price.
Why won't they sell me this.
And I saw a clarsach which is a wire harp. Only 3 are surviving and 2 were here.
Clarsach
And I found a map of surnames and spotted mine and Ian's middle names and Camin's name.
And as per usual with me going to museums, I wished Cam and my dad were there. There was a botanical garden on the roof that we went to as well. I wasn't super into the gardens because we had a great view of Edinburgh.
We left to find an ice cream I wanted to visit. On the way we got distracted by a crepe food cart and I got a pear crepe and Maria had a dark chocolate and coconut. Hers was better. But mine was really good.
Pear crepe!
Then we tried finding an ice cream store I wanted to go to. It's called Mary's Milk Bar. We had a hell of a time trying to find it and passed it twice. Eventually we doubled back and were able to track the place down.
Found it.
I had a pistachio honey ice cream and it tasted like pistachio (which sounds obvious. But it really tasted like pistachio. Different flavor than the pistachio nut ice cream I enjoy back home).
We walked back to the hotel and I stayed in the bar where the wifi roams free. I hung out for a couple hours and went upstairs where Maria was sleeping. I read a book before deciding to go out by myself. Then I realized it was 10:30 and "curfew" was at 11. I don't know what curfew means, but whenever we leave the hotel we have to turn in our room key and then pick it up whenever we come back. It's weird but we had to do this at the hotel we spent 1 night in in Ireland. So I went back to the room and went to sleep. Lame.
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