To Be A Son Of Scotland

The next leg of my journey took me to Edinburgh in Scotland.  I took a train from Dudley into Edinburgh, which was a long trip, but worth it all the way.  Once I got into the station, my good friend from summer camp, Rachel, was there to meet me.  Her family had kindly offered to allow me to stay with them for the week while I was there.  Her family was absolutely lovely, and it was so fun staying with them. 
The next day, Rachel and I traveled into the heart of Edinburgh to look around.  First we went up the Royal Mile and then went into Edinburgh Castle, which is one of the most impressive castles I've been in to date.  It is set upon an ancient volcano core, and when you look at it, you can see how it inspired JK Rowling's vision of Hogwarts.  (She is from Edinburgh)
There is also a tradition at the Castle where they fire a cannon at 1pm everyday.  We got to see it, and I had the intention of videoing it, but my camera battery died literally as the soldier went to fire. 

Later on, we met up with Bryan, who also has worked at summer camp, and Paul, who is a new recruit and is at camp as we speak.  We went out for a pub quiz, and after much grief, we ended up winning!!  Not only that, but we had a chance to guess the code that would open a safe that contained 2 bottles of liquor.  Well, turns out we guessed that one correctly as well!  So in total, we won £20 credit, a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bottle of Jägermeister.  Not bad, not bad at all.

The next day I went into Edinburgh alone to simply walk around and explore while Rachel was in class.  I got some great views of the castle and was able to take in my surroundings.
Later that night, Rachel took me to the beach, where she said there were lots of good views of the setting sun.  She was correct!  It was amazing!  I got some nice shots, and we found a flagpole that resembled the pole at camp.  We decided we'd come back another day and get a photo with it as if it were ours!
Stirling was the next order of business! It is a very historically important place, as this was where the Battle of Stirling took place.  If you have seen Braveheart, the battle is featured in it.  William Wallace fought there against the British, and we even got to see his actual sword!  We were also able to venture into Glasgow for an afternoon, which was a lot of fun, even though Rachel isn't particularly fond of it.  Nevertheless, it was a good day.

Eventually we did get back to the beach, and this time the tide was low enough that we could walk to an island that is only accessible at low tide.  Apparently, people get stuck there all the time and have to call the Coast Guard to come and get them!
After we went over there and successfully made it back without becoming trapped, we took our photo with the flagpole, and then headed home.

Before I continued my journey onto Spain, the Watsons were kind enough to take me out for a meal by the Two Bridges.  We had a great time, but for some reason, everything that Mrs. Watson ordered came out wrong!  She found a snail in her peas, her chicken was pink, and here apple pie was cold.  It became one of those things where we were all laughing because nothing seemed to be going right for her!  It was all in good fun, though, and was a great way to end my time in Edinburgh.