Day 131, 17 May: Antics in Edinburgh

Bus Station Backpackers Hostel, Edinburgh, Day 131. Antics in Edinburgh

It was quite a late start to the day, but the five of us (remember Nick is one of us) were refreshed by the time we set out. After a coffee shop stop, we braced ourselves for the winds and rain of Scotland and decided on a restaurant called The Filling Station for lunch.

      It should’ve been named The Starving Station. I am not kidding. We waited forty-five minutes for a single morsel of food to come to our table. And our server never checked in on us. The only good thing was the survey at the end. Nick and I had a field day, but after the ‘Did the server welcome you with a smile?’ crap (which we begrudgingly said yes too), we got down to the no, no, NO, SERIOUSLY NO, OH MY GOD NO. And it was nice to put that anger onto paper. Nick did the checkmarks and I got to write the ‘Is there anything else you would like to say?’ bit. I think it ended with this: ‘This place does not have good service. At all.’

The Table Offerings

      There were good moments during the waiting period: Vito did his ungodly hitchhiker’s thumb twist—and then Nick showed us he could do it too. At one point, I got a camera shot of Vito looking like he was eating his napkin, but let’s be honest, that was the closest thing to an edible substance on our table for the longest time.  Oh, and after I demolished my plate and was still hungry, I received offerings from each person: a salt shaker, pizza crust, a sugar cube, coleslaw, and a squirt of ketchup. I ate most of it.

      Next part of the day was spent indoors, specifically in the Edinburgh Dungeons. Nick somehow was fated to be the first of our group of thirty tourists, wandering around in the darkness until the next actor, I mean guide, led us to an eerie room where they unravelled a haunted story of murder and sin, and then cursed us to go on to the next room. Best part: the vertical roller coaster ride at the end and the labyrinth of mirrors on the way out.

      We roamed around as we tend to do when we travel. Came across the Royal Mile, walked through Closes (I learned what they were the day after this), stopped at a few stores. I thought about buying a kilt as an occasional costume but decided against it. I just wouldn’t wear it enough for the twenty- to thirty-pound Scottish garb to be worth it. In one store I found a Scottish family clan book rack, which made me look for my girlfriend’s surname. Frazier…’Fraser’ as it is in the Scottish way…not there. It was missing. As if to compensate, Edinburgh did let me see a store named ‘Fraser Hart’. I smiled.

Vito-Joe Antic #1

Vito-Joe Antic #2

      Now for the daily antics of Joe and Vito: #1 they started imitating the cute gestures of a slow loris (for a better understanding, here’s a youtube video to explain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpV7L--cQ8s) and Vito raised up his arms and everything. #2 Back on the Royal Mile, Joe got the idea to start pointing—Vito also pointed—at the sky while asking each other ‘what the hell is that?’ Yes, nothing was in the sky, but heads turned as they walked by. Street humour at its best. #3 Ah, but now there was a third antic that all of us boys joined in on: paparazzi attack on Caitlin. We all pulled out our cameras and Caitlin started running down the street. From all appearances, it looked as if she was a celebrity in the street. We laughed while doing it.

Vito-Joe Antic #3

      We heard at the coffee shop that there was an Underground City to Edinburgh, but we decided that a tour wouldn’t be worthwhile going to at this hour. Instead, much to my surprise, we did a 5-minute sweep through the Museum on the Mound (on the Bank of Scotland and the history of money here) and then walked over to the National Portrait Gallery where Nick and I were enthralled by the excruciating detail in such works as Friedric Church's Niagara Falls from the American Side (1867) and in another room a Still Life with Lobster and a Three Graces marble (traditionally the graces are portrayed with their faces turned away but this was a more close-knit, sisterly portrayal of them).

I had some fun posing with this wooden
Tin Tin before we left.

      We prepared back at the hostel for the night ahead, went out to eat on the Royal Mile (we all tried haggis—it was interesting but definitely not bad), and then headed off to our planned activity of the day: the pub crawl. It really was fun. It was the last night with all of us there—Joe and Vito go off to Barcelona tomorrow—and we definitely made it memorable. 5 pubs (one was called Frankenstein—it was based off the movies, though, not the book), spirits at every place, karaoke (we left before my solo song and Caitlin’s too—dang it!), and we ended the night at a club. ‘Twas a good night.

Me, Vito, Joe, Caitlin, and Nick during the Pub Crawl