Today got off to a late start as I didn’t wake up until 11:30. JoHanna woke me before she left so I could say goodbye, but I went back to sleep until a hostel worker came in and threw open the windows (no exaggeration) and started vacuuming. I thought it was a little rude but I did need to get up. I showered for the first time in two days (overnight busses aren’t equipped with showers, believe it or not) and went downstairs. I did some work and some research looking for trips to the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness, but was unable to find day trips to both. There was a 3 day trip that left on Friday – the day I checked out – but it was full. Deciding that I would go do some exploring I stopped to ask the front desk some questions. The girl replied that you should always ring the tour company or hostel that says they’re booked online because they usually reserve a few spots/beds because they fear overbooking. Handy little travel tip!
The tour company said they’d need a little to check, so I went off to see the Diane Arbus (pronounced dee-an) exhibit across town. The girl at the desk looked at the way I planned on going and said ‘no no no’ and directed me another way that she said was shorter and much prettier. It would have been a lot shorter had a not gotten lost 3 times, but oh well. I found my way with some (ok, a lot) of help from Google maps and people on the street. It really was prettier, too.
I made it to the gallery with about an hour to spare and the exhibit was amazing! I love her work and this was a very large collection – two large rooms and a smaller adjoining room. I checked out the gift shop and bought her biography. Books here are rather expensive (I bought one the other day from the castle) but I did really want to read it. It’s been very good so far.
After the gallery closed I headed back into the city center (didn’t get lost this time) and stopped for some dinner. I made up my mind to no longer eat out as much (dinner was 10 pound – about 15 bucks) and then did some window shopping. Things here are very expensive, but the wonderful person at the front desk (I may start a fan club for her) told me where a vintage shop is and I plan on checking that out tomorrow. There is also, believe it or not, a Salvation Army just down the street and a second-hand shop across the road. I’ll look into those too.
I wandered the streets a bit before coming back to the hostel and found some promising shops to visit tomorrow.
When I arrived back at the hostel, they informed me that they had been able to book my tour! It was pretty expensive and didn’t include rooms (they’re reserved but I still have to pay for them) but it’s a 3 day tour that includes the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness plus a couple of other places. It means that I need to move some dates around, but that’s ok. I will visit Dublin after I visit Killarney which will probably make it easier to fly to Italy anyways. The plan now is to move my dates in Dublin to the 21st of June and then fly out. I get back from my tour on Sunday and will probably have to spend Sunday night here, but I’ll research that in a little while and see what I come up with.
After I found out I’d booked the tour I went back out to the grocery and bought some supplies for breakfast and sandwich lunch/dinners. It was half as expensive as dinner tonight and this should feed me for about 3 days! And I love sandwiches. I have 2 more days in Edinburgh and I still need to visit Holyrood, go shopping, and possibly hit the Royal Botanical Gardens, the National Museum, and see a showing of Peter Pan. I also really want to head up to Arthur’s Seat and take that walking tour but it’s been misting and rainy since I arrived. The weather is supposed to clear up on Thursday so I will probably save those and maybe the garden’s until then. It’s very strange, but almost all the shops and things close at 6 or 6:30, not like at home where the clothes shops and everything are open later. It’s also strange because this far north it doesn’t get dark until well after 10 pm. And I go further north on Friday I think I’m going to need some warmer clothes!
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