August 2, 2019

I started the day at class, where I got a good chunk of work done on my final paper, and then went to lunch with friends at Bush House. I had to eat quickly, though, so that I had time to go home and get my luggage and then head to King's Cross to catch my train to Edinburgh. I got to the station quite early so I was able to grab some coffee before getting on the train. Once we started boarding, I was surprised to find that I had actually bought a flex ticket, which meant that I could get on any of a few different trains to Edinburgh, but also that I had no assigned seat. Since I didn't want to wait for a later train, I got on the same one I had planned on taking, but there were no available seats so I had to stand/sit in between two cars. There were probably about a dozen other people in the same situation as me, though, so it wasn't weird. On the train ride I finished my draft of my final paper for class (YAY!) and then got to relax the rest of the way. Our train was delayed about half an hour, so I arrived in Edinburgh later than expected and had to scramble a bit in order to make it to my walking tour for the night. In addition to being delayed, it turns out that my hotel is about 3 miles outside of the city. So in the name of time, I had to Uber to check in here. I dropped off my bags and turned back around immediately to catch a bus and walk about half a mile to my tour. I was a few minutes late, but I didn't miss anything too important and I got to jump right in for the remainder of the tour! It was a really fun time, the guide was dressed as a ghost and played the part of a spirit who had lived in Scotland in the 1800s. It was very informative but also funny and, at times, scary. They set up jump scares where another member of staff would jump out at us from behind a pole or alley in costume and scream at us. It was really fun! The jokes and delivery from the guide reminded me a lot of Ryan, too. After the tour I pretty much headed straight back to the hotel because it was already about 11 pm and I have a tour bright and early tomorrow!

On the left is Adam Lyal, the spirit tour guide, and on the right is the mad monk who often jumped out to scare us.