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On Friday I caught the bus to Motherwell in Scotland to see John and Frances - my wallet won the battle over the cheap but 9 hour bus ride or the expensive and only 2 hour train trip - so I was very glad to see the back of that bus driving away! It was lovely to be met by Frances - and strange to think of how long ago it was that I was last here, many of my strongest memories from our trip to Europe are from Scotland. On Saturday John and Frances took me to New Lanark, and then out for a lovely lunch before stopping for some icecream on the way home - the scenery around Motherwell is just beautiful, and it was actually hot!
Sunday we drove into Glasgow to pick up John and Frances' son Chris, and then had a fabulous lunch for Jenny's birthday. It was a lovely afternoon - although strange to see Ben and Kier who in my head were still young boys, towering over me!
On Monday I headed up to Edinburgh for the night, a nice, quick train trip this time! I did one of the free walking tours, which was brilliant, and a bus tour as well as visiting the Castle. I was suprised by how beautiful Edinburgh is with all of the old stone buildings and monuments, and the history is fascinating! It was really late by the time I made it back to my hostel, and I was delighted to discover that the person sleeping under me was a massivly overweight, old, hairy man who had decided it would be nice to sleep just in his undies... After struggling to get into the top bunk (apparently they don't believe in ladders for bunk beds in the UK) it was the icing on top when that particular gentleman began sounding like a motorbike, snoring that continued the whole night long... not a good night for me!
After deciding to be a little adventurous and order vegetarian haggis for breakfast (I did say a little adventurous!) I was rewarded with feeling horribly sick and realising that peanuts were obviously a key ingredient in faking haggis - fortunately I found a pharmacy and started feeling better after some drugs (next time I will be sticking to pancakes as usual!). I spent the rest of the day at one of the museums, where they had this amazing exhibition on the history of Scotland, although a little confusing in layout I discovered after a man who worked at the museum came over and offered to show me the right order to view it in (it was sectionned into hunting and gathering, religion etc instead of chronological order) and then proceeded to walk me through the entire exhibition, pointing out his favourite bits, telling me how they found various pieces and some of the controversies over the meaning of some sculptures and etchings - a free, private guide! I was fascinated, but unfortunately only had another hour before having to catch my train, so couldn't see the rest of the museum!
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