Edinburgh!

Maria and I are here! We're actually sitting in the lounge right now on her laptop. We're going to go see OotP tomorrow in theaters with Kate and also another Leaky person, Marie. We need to find a theater and time.

Anywho, I'm still having troubles adjusting to the time difference. I fell asleep last night around 10:30pm, which was good because I needed to be up around 5 am this morning so Trevor could take me to the train station (2-3 minutes away from their house) on his way to work at 6am. Well, I woke up at 2 am! One reason because I had to use the restroom (I didn't give in to it - LoL) the other because I had slept 4 hours - a normal nap time for me. I was starting back to sleep and about a half hour-45 minutes later my cell phone goes off. I kind of ignore it and check after it stoped and it said "Borders." I was thinking that work knows I'm in the UK so they shouldn't be calling me then I thought of all this stuff that maybe was wrong. I decided to ignore it anyway and get it when I was more awake. Well an hour later (almost asleep again!), the phone rings AGAIN and it says "Borders" so I decided to pick it up since they called twice. Well...I get this recording from Jim Dale reminding me to pick up my book tomorrow and to press 1 for how to pick up my book. I was NOT thrilled. I ordered the special edition and the regular edition so they called me twice. I almost thought they'd call me again because I ordered the audiobook too, but they didn't. Anyway, I fell back to sleep for a bit, but ended up waking up on my own close to 5am again and just decided to get up then.

I got to the train station and waited about a half hour. I was glad there were other people getting on because I don't think I'd have known how to get on. LoL First off, Heckington's station is so small they don't have a real crossing gate. A guy comes and moves these "fences" into place to block the road off and moves them back to clear the road. Anyway, the train came (2 cars) and it looks like BART, but it's much nicer inside (more like an Amtrek type). The thing is, you have to push a button to open the door. They don't open automatically. I didn't know that. It's the same for when you get off too. I paid for the fare on the train and had issues with my lovely GBP. I couldn't find a 50p, so I gave him £1, but accidentally put one back and it was just one of those "dumb foreigner" moments. :P At Grantham (30 minute ride) I got my tickets from there to Edinburgh Waverley. They never checked tickets the entire time I was on it. The train was nice (much bigger) and it took you along the country (absolutely amazing, when I could see it (lots of trees along the track)) and even along the coastline when you got closer to Edinburgh. The coastline reminds me a lot of Monterey, except it's not as rocky. I didn't sleep on the train at all, so I'm a bit knackered at the moment, but fairing well. The ride ws pleasant and that's the important thing.

I got to Edinburgh around 11:15 am and saw signs for Waverley Bridge and Princes Street. I had put directions on my cell phone and thought I could use them from Princes Street since that's where we're getting our book from and all that. Turns out, I couldn't. Lucky enough there's the tourist information booth close to where I came out and I found another map along the way and figured it out. I got to the hostel without getting lost or having to turn around. I was amazed! Turns out, now knowing where I was supposed to go, I skipped over the Waverley Bridge and went to the next road (further away) to Mound. It meant I went a lot farther, but oh well. After checking my stuff into the hostel, I walked back to the train station since Maria was coming in soon. I walked around, went into Waterstones, went into the tourist place again, into a few shops, saw the Balmoral hotel (where Jo finished writing the books), and walked along North Bridge. I eventually made it my goal to find Waverley Bridge and when I did, I noticed the bus from the airport stopped there and after 5 minutes of waiting, Maria showed up! It was perfect timing. We walked back to the hostel (all up hill, did I mention that?). We dropped off her stuff and met Moriah and Marie (Leaky people) so we could meet up with some more Leaky people for lunch. We went to the At World End tavern. There was 8 of us in this small pub. It was kind of funny. The food was pretty good.

After lunch, we walked back to Castlerock so we could check in. We switched from a 4 bed to a 3 bed room, which saves us money and the lady said the room was much nicer anyway. Well...we like our little (it's little!) room! It's on the top floor (3rd floor) and it has a VERY nice view of the castle and a sky window that opens up and we can actually see over and out across the way from the hostel. It's nice. It's the "Matrix" room. I must admit, it's a wee bit scary walking up the stairs and hallway to the room. The floorboards aren't the straightest and creak and (I'm sure) one felt like it gave or shifted underneath my foot, but it's still a nice room and excellent location.

Well, I should go. We need to look up movie times, walk around, and then meet up for dinner at 8:30 with the Leaky peeps again. Most of them are taking an overnight train tonight for London.

Oh, I almost forgot, last night Kate's family and I went out for dinner at the Tally Ho pub. It's in the country (the countryside in the UK is AMAZING!) and it was fun. Nancy, Kate's oldest, drew me a picture of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. :) Ellie was a bit cranky, but Kate has two cute girls.

Last thing. The buildings in Edinburgh are really cool. You just don't see buildings like these in the States and it's a got a city feeling too. So it's just different. I'll probably end up taking loads of pictures and (yes, Kristi) I did take pictures of our little hostel room and the view from it! I should have taken pictures of Nancy's room (it's also cute). Maybe I'll do that Sunday when I go back to Kate's.

All for now.