Ethereal Scotland

Day 1: Friday - 6th April

5:15 am:
Woke up hurriedly and was getting ready..Our cab was due in 15 mins!
Damn it, hadnt even packed..rushed through all my stuff...took everything i could think of would be useful,ran down to the kitchen, took all our snacks. My roomie was all set and waiting for me..
She had just 1 bag and i had 3...pls dont ask me why!!

i have no idea somehow whenever i travel, i always seem to have more bags than others. And mind you this is inversely proportional to my ability to carry bags :D :D

Anyway, with help from everybody, loaded all my bags, and we started at 5:45 am,
It took us close to 45 mns -1 hr to reach London Kings Cross station.
We hurriedly paid up and me dragging all my bags, ran to the counter to collect our tickets..

6:50am:

Platform 7: We are searching which coach to board. Sigh!
We just got into one of them, and in those cramped coaches, we were searching where should we sit,
There was no seat number on our tickets, and no TT to help us.
Somehow we travelled from coach to coach in search of our destined seats. Well, we didnt find any.

7 am:

Train starts with a sligh jerk and then in full speed we head to Edinburgh. And we are still
standing in the aisle waiting for our rescue angel. :)
We waited, waited and more waiting...

7:45 am:

My roomie is giving me stern looks, what on earth are we doing here! I wanted to give the same looks to someone else. But when you organize you can curse no-one but yourself :P
Sigh!

8am:

The coach adjacent to where we were standing, a tour guide was explaining things to his people. He was heading towards us.So finally assuming he is our rescue angel, we pounce on him and ask where are our seats. He was flustered, wondering if we were part of his tour. And then after seeing our tickets, he tells us our 1st breaking news!
We have basically booked a ticket for which there are no seats... Aila!! what a revelation...and where are we supposed to sit..
he says...anywhere where it's nt reserved. And in the easter weekend..which seat would that be...well it happens to be on the floor next to the toilets... :'( :'(
So now, my roommate and me are shocked for our lives!!
After 10 mins, my roomie asks me, "Do you mind sitting down on the floor". As a proud peacock i said, "Yes i mind"..
lol
Little did i know, in 1/2 hr time, i was the first among us to sit down :D :D
we literally looked like beggars, eating bun and stretching ourselves on the floor. lol...
but in retrospect now, my roomie and me had ultimate fun coz of this :) :) if not we would
have probably just dozed off in our seats :)

10am:

We start hunting for seats as a lot of people board off the train in Newcastle.
Then finally we got a couple of decent seats and an awesome view from the train. Nature is at its best in Scotland. It's like God started painting and he just couldnt stop and kept creating wonders and wonders all around.
On one side, the lush green lawns stretched until your eye can see and on the other side, the
rock and sea culminate in a view your mind can never forget. It was just mindblowing to say the least.

We just enjoyed the view and the serenity of the place. It was interesting to see the number of sheep and cattle they bred in this region. Every land was filled with cattle and sheep.
And each looked well fed and bulging :)
Each landscape looked just out of a screensaver or a movie clip.

At 11:30 the train finally reaches Edinburgh Waverley station.
Woah! Did they say it would be cold...It was freezing! :)
Then we scramble our way through the station and through the city. A typical UK weather, it started drizzling. I was searching through my map printout which way to head for our lodge. And finally after much exploration we discovered it. Was a good 10-15 mins walk. Our first glimpse of the city, felt historic for starters. We could see the castle in a distance.

Dragging our bags in the midday mist and historic city set the tone for our trip.
We then relaxed a bit in the room, got ready and set out the world called Scotland!
The only rescue to us was the mini map of Edinburgh :)

As we started walking around, we saw the city buzzing to life...there were shops for one and all selling from silver jewelery to kilts to pubs, coffee bars et al..
As we strolled along the Royal Mile (sounds familiar to those who have read Da Vinci code??)

we saw varied people and even varied events happening around us. Looks like, Edinburgh is famous for a history of dungeons and ghosts and their mystic stories. All around us we could find people marketing their show, potraying to be the best in Edinburgh.. Interesting is the least i could say.

En route we also saw the St.Mary's cathedral, an extremely old piece of historical monument, which is considered sacred. 2 days before Easter, i would assume, it would be a pretty big deal at the church. Though we didnt venture in, coz we just wanted to get a feel of the city first.
Around 4pm, we had roamed quite enough to know where is what :)
We then headed to the National Museum of Scotland.
A wonder in itself. I have never been a big fan of museums, but this was something else. Each floor had a story to tell. A civilization unfolding in front of us.. Nature mimiced at its best. It will remain in memory as something wonderful for a long time to come.

We then had dinner at Subway which happened to be our staple food for the next 3 days to come :) And then headed back to our room for a sound and peaceful sleep. A good rest for our tired legs :)

End of day 1 :)