Scotland: THe first, the biggest, the best

That was the mantra of our tour guide all weekend. It was hilarious; everything he talked about was either invented by a Scotsman, or a Scotsman perfected it. He was awesome though, and knew everything there was to know about both Edinburgh where we spent Friday, and hte Highlands, where we spent the rest of the weekend. He wore a kilt the whole time too! WE've herad true Scotsman go commando underneath, but didn't want to ask.

Our hostel in Edinburgh was SO great. Clean, comfy beds, a huge common room, and an awesome view of Edinburgh castle right outside the window! We got there in the pouring rain after a 5 hour trainride on Friday morning, and went on a guided city tour with Mike. We saw where the old gallows used to be and heard about all of the city's most famous, and infamous, inhabitants. One was a dog named Bobby who is one of hte only recipients of the keys to the city because he was so beloved and lived in teh streets after his master died. Also, about how it used to be a gated city and "the smelliest city in London" because of all of the people crammed in. There is a really cool heart shaped monument built into the ground outside of the cathedral too. It's where the prisoners were kept, and they were so often poorly treated that the heart is a reminder to treat people well and to not tolerate cruelty. Everybody is supposed to spit on it when they walk by. We saw Parliament, where the decision was made after SO much fighting to stay away From the English to form the "United Kingdom", statues of Adam Smith, all kinds of stuff. Also at the cathedral, we saw remnants of the punishment for smaller crimes. If it was big, you of course got hanged. But for lesser crimes, you had your ear nailed to the church wall, and you weren't allowed to have anyone help you get it off. People would come by and spit on you until you finally ripped it off of the wall, and there are a ton of rusty nails stuck in the wall still today.

In the afternoon, we went to the National Scottish Museum and walked around for a little bit. We saw the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book, and did some touristy shopping also. Friday night we went on a pub crawl around Edinburgh, which was SO much fun. The boys in our house were also in the city, and met us there. We went to 5 different pubs, and a club at the end. There were some interesting characters to say the least, and I swear I can't understand a word that most Scottish people say, but it was hilarious and we were all together, which is always good for a laugh.

I'll add the rest tomorrow i'm too sleepy :)

Things we learned:
-"Botched job" comes from a Scottish dude named Botch who built a really important bridge, only to have it fall down immediately
-The Campbell's still have the reputation of being the meanest clan in Scotland - there are still some places where they won't let you in the door if your surname is Campbell
-The huge fight scene in Braveheart actually took place around a river, it was really integral to the battle, but isn't shown in the Mel Gibson version
-You have to be really tough to live in Scotland; everyone looked like they could drink you under the table, and the weather nearly always sucks. They were all so nice to us though, and were genuinely interested in everything we had to say.