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The beginning of this adventure starts in Edinburgh, Scotland. We arrived March 28 and stayed 3 days, 2 nights. I had not even stepped off the plane yet and I already couldn't believe how beautiful it was. When flying in I saw snow just covering the ground below and the mountains surrounding. It was simply magnificent. I thought I knew what to expect when coming to Edinburgh, but I was completely wrong in a good way. On the East side of Edinburgh you have the North Sea and on the West side there are snowcapped mountains. Our hostel was in old town Edinburgh right underneath Edinburgh Castle. As expected the hostel is called Caste Rock. I had arrived later than Shannon, who got in really early that morning. She had already taken the guided tour so while she napped I went off to explore and take photos on my own. After about 3 hours I went to wake Shannon up and go out and do some more stuff together. We didn't do much walking with a purpose. We spent our time just exploring and see the other side of town. After awhile though it got pretty cold so we headed back. The next day we were up at 9 am and ready to go by 10 am. Even though it's a little unconventional, we started our day with the Scotch Whiskey Experience. It consisted of a barrel ride showing how they make the whiskey, an explanations on the differences between the whiskey from each region of Scotland, and then we got to choose one of the regions to try. I ended up picking the whiskey from Lowland. Which has a more fruity, citrusy taste. Shannon tried the Highland which is a vanilla based taste. It was nice because after the tasting you also got to keep your glass. It was a nice little souvenir. I must say though; I am not a whiskey type of girl. Even with the little bit of water added to it I just couldn't like it. Once we were done there we moved on to our next stop. Edinburgh has all their museums for free so we decided to due the National Art Museum. We walked around there for a little bit, but it really isn't that big of a museum so we decided to go into some of the churches. After that it was time to get our hiking boots on. We first decided to hike up to the top of Calton Hill where you get a great view of Edinburgh New Town. It was so pretty up there and the skies were blue with no clouds in sight. We obviously weren't the only ones who thought so because while up there we saw a bride and groom getting their photos taken. It was a perfect spot and everyone was being really nice in making sure not to get in their way. After hike number 1 we decided to go fill up on some McDonalds before doing the 2nd and longest hike. The next hike was over in Holyrood Park up to Arthur's Seat. That hike made the first hike feel like a stroll down the street. We had to climb up some rocks and the ground was always uneven. When we got to the top though it was ALL worth it! It outdid Calton Hill by far. You could see everything from New Town to Old Town and even beyond that. We also had timed it perfectly so that we would be there at sunset. We had brought our own little drinks to toast Scotland while we were up there. It was truly spectacular! We wanted to make this our tradition for each place. Before the sun fully set though we started heading back down to make our way back to the hostel for the night. When we got back we met our new roommates in our hostel who were all from America and study in London. While talking we ended up finding out that the girls and I all knew Dani C. It was such a small world moment. The last day we were in Edinburgh we did some more walking and photo taking. We walked to the National Museum where we looked at the artifacts and history from all over the world. We stopped at a hat shop and played around for a little bit before we headed off to catch our bus to the airport. Our next destination is Paris, France. Scotland was amazing, but I am excited to move on and see more of the word.
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