edinburgh, scotland

okie finally at long last.. i managed to settle myself long enough to start typing away and start this entry.. sigh
anyway, once again. long over-dued.. :S its always hard to get the ball rolling.. after isnt so bad.. i hope..
anyways so ya.. went off to tour around uk area this time round together with brussels and amsterdam. this time round only managed to visit the capitals of the countries.. kidna wasted especially for ireland and scotland.. but oh wells.. :S

so then tuesday evening.. set off to the train station where i took a night train to stockholm and then change train to nykoping and then a bus to skavsta airport.

the bunk beds in each cabins in the night train.. kinda cool that they managed to squeeze 6 beds into a single canbin (3 on each side.. top, middle and bottom) lucky me got the top.. teehee...
met this guy studying music at pitea (this town not very far from lulea) so kinda started talking and all.. and he was the one who was like "experienced" in night trains tho its his second time taking it.. cus like the remaining 5 of us (a family of 3: mom with 2 kids and this swedish girl) were like LOST.. and he was the one who set up the beds and all.. chim? i noe.. but dunnoe how to explain.. but ya..
so then rite.. kinda cool cus the family of 3 board the train at a later stop.. so like when they board.. the husband was like standing outside the window.. and he SANG for the wife.. so sweet rite? tho for the life of me i couldnt figure out wad song issit? but sounds like some ballad of sorts.. with his deep alto/tenor voice.. *swoons* (note: he's like african american and like 40-ish..) cool la..
so then after, the train ride passed rather uneventfully...

reached edinburgh bout 8-ish at night and so i went to the hostel.
met this canadian girl named amber in the dorm and we started talking.
so after we went downstairs to the in-house bar and had a drink.
so like cus amber came like a day before me and had made frens with the people in the hostel cus they had some sort of party the day before so like this guy who worked as a chef there came over and joined us.. he's called jeremy from canada also.
so like after, we went off to jeremy's cousin's pub and had another drink. then he was telling us bout his travelling experience and all.
after tt we popped by yet another pub and had another drink.
so then like by the time we got back to the hostel, i was kinda like drunk cus they drink REALLY FAST and i had to drink fast to catch up too.. so. like.. drunk.
so went back to the hostel. went to the toilet and puked.. -.-
first night in edinburgh. how eventful -.-

next day went for this walking tour thingy.. not bad kinda fun.. so like this canadian girl called patsya came over and talked to me.. then we kinda cliqued so like hanged out during the whole tour. :)

so then this monument above used to be located in the middle of the marketplace.. so like it is where thieves were being punished via nailing their ears to the walls of of monument and the thieves were made to stay nailed to the monument for i dunnoe how long. both as a warning to others and also to like embarrass the thieves la. so like the thieves were easily recognised after by the scar on the ear.
okie.. this thingy above is actually a statue ordered by king charles the second for himself. he is like as disliked by the people as his father king charles I. so then the problem with this statue is that cus he wanna look majestic and all so the builders kinda made him bigger.. but its kinda backfired cus it only managed to make the horse look like a donkey instead. and then like cus his outfit was that of a greek. and his time was that of in the 1600s (i tink) so like a bit off and look like he's off to a fancy dress party. and also there is not saddle nor stirrups on the horse so look kinda stupid.
so then during that time the people would go around and say "look that's out king in a fancy dress riding a donkey". so like of course kind charles the second doesnt like it and ordered this crowning ceremony every year whereby a young boy would be chosen to go crown the statue. but then thing is that the crown is made of something heavy whilst the statue is made of iron (or soemthing that is soft) so like over time, it created holes in the statue resulting in the statue being lopsided. so like then ppl would go round saying "look that's our king wearing a fancy dress riding a drunk donkey" so then the king of course not happy, so like he ordered the statue to be drained. but then thing is that the ppl went to drill holes on the UNDERSIDE of the horse. so then it looks like peeing. so ppl goes round saying "look that's our king wearing a fancy dress riding a drunk donkey which is peeing"
lol
okie above is like the dirtiest cobblestone in the whole of edinburgh. it is located outside a building which used to be the place where ppl goes to pay tax.. so like in that old old long-gone building, there is like a heart at the entrance and soo ppl will spit on the heart when queuing to pay their taxes.
so then the building's gone, but ppl still continues the tradition of spiting at the heart. for good luck apparently.

also, in scotland there's like this football team called hearts. heart of midlothian. (dunnoe whether u guys noe not cus i dont) so like everytime before the match, supporters of the opposing team will spit on the heart.
AND the climax. there ws once when like one of the tour guide was like giving a tour, he saw this guy kneeling in the heart and proposing to his gf.. lol.. reomantic...
so like scots will walk around the heart instead of walking on the heart.. :)

okie.. spot the trick step.
apparently it used to be an old scottish burglar alarm. cus like at night, if burglars come into the house they wouldnt know about the trick step and hence will trip and fall, hopefully to their death or if not make big enough a noise to wake the whole household up. so like if guests are invited to the house, the owners will go "watch out for the (insert no.) step" and ppl will count will climbing up the stairs and know..
smart hor?
but then thing is that there is not longer any trick step in scotland liaos cus apparently there's this law that allows anybody to sue the homeowners if they were injured in their homes. even burglars. so like the burglars, if fall and hurt himself whilst stealing stuff at ur place, he can sue u.. so like ya.. no more trick steps.
the ingenuity of the ancestors...

maggie dickson.
apparently her husband left her so like she had to go and find a job. so then she went into the town (or whatever it was called back in those days) and like she found this job at an inn and she had an affair with the innkeeper's son, had his child. so since she is like this lone woman, she had to hide her pregnancy, which she managed to and gave birth to a child. but then cus the child was premature, it died somehow and like she had to hide the body. so she threw it away (i guess) but like the baby was found and it was finally traced back to her. so then she was charged, not with adultery nor hiding the death of the baby or whatever, but of concealment of pregnancy. so like she was found guilty blah blah and sentenced to death by hanging.
so like so was hung and pronounced dead.
so like on the way to the cemetery to get buried, there was knocking heard from the coffin. so like they open up the coffin and tadah! maggie dickson was alive.
and since she WAS sentenced to death and pronounced death and thus leagally dead, she cannot be charged with the same crime. also, since marriage vows are "till death do us part", technically she's dead, so like now she is free and single.
so then maggie dickson married the innkeeper's son and like he bought her the pub and they lived happily in there after.
so like apparently there are two reasoning as to why she was alive, first was like the rope was too long and like she suffocated and fainted after she jumped. then cus like at that time they didnt know how to check pulse so she APPEARED to be dead. so like they pronounced her dead before she really died la.
then the second reasoning which was kinda senseless was that the bumpng and knocking whilst transporting the coffin acted like CPR and resicated her =.= oh wells.. :S (shrugs)

Ok the statue of the dog above is that of bobby greyfriars. apparently this dog was bought by the caretaker of the cemetery called grey i think. but like about 2 years after he got the dog grey died of some illness.. TB or something. so like abnyways bobby went to grey's funeral and like after that, for his next 14 years of life, bobby sat by grey's grave and didnt leave at all.. apparently waiting for grey to come back to life. so like when bobby died, the ppl buried him near grey and like erected a statue to commemorate his loyalty. and like even now ppl still leave stuff at bobby's grave :) cool hor.

oke this place is where tt jk rowling first started writing harry potter. its a cafe where jk rowlings used to hang out when she was poor and jobless..

famous words of writers engraved on the cement near the writer's museum. :)
this is the arthur's seat. so like me, patsya and amber went to climb it.. :)

self service checkout counter at marks and spencer. cool hor.. first time seeing such stuff.. talk bout trust.
entrance of edinburgh castle.
this is some monument found at calton's hill.. looks like in greece or something.. :P
the authentic scottish pub i visited with patsya for our last meal before leaving edinburgh.

edinburgh was nice. pretty as u can see.. urmm.. capital of scotland. aha din know till i was there..
stories above were retold tales from the tour i had. cool rite.. real interesting.

onward to london.. :)))