There and Back Again

I just finalized the logistics of my return, mostly the part between the bus ride and the plane ride. I feel terrific as a result. Now I've just got a few hours and half a suitcase to fill. I already had my fortification meal, the rest of my various viands thrown together with pasta. That was done early to give it a chance to settle before I drag bags. And the bus station is only two blocks away, the bus leaves me two blocks from the Tube, which takes me directly to Heathrow for three pound fifty—oh, oh, it’s so great to have this all figured out. I hope nothing horribly derails it, but even if it does, I’ve got a several hour buffer.

Alright, calm down, tell stories. I made my final forays into Edinburgh today. First I spent several hours in the National Museum, mostly just wandering. It’s a heck of a museum, but I had taken some decongestant (just to be clear) that made me feel kind of spacey. That cleared up by the time I got to the fourth floor. “For my safety” they closed the rooftop garden, which was alright, since I’ve gotten some great views of the city already.

I looked hard for an exhibit or sign or note about the college kids who stole the Stone of Scone from Westminster, but couldn’t find anything (but it’s a big museum). Looking for the name of the stone just now on Wikipedia, I found what I was essentially looking for.

After the big museum, I walked up near the castle to visit the Scotch Whisky Experience. I’ve tried a few Scotch whiskies while I’ve been in the UK, and a couple were like nothing I’d ever tasted before, so my curiosity about them carried me to this quasi-museum. The normal exhibit, which is like an over-21 It’s A Small World (you ride along in a barrel), was closed for renovation, so all I and my four fellow tourists got was a PowerPoint in their corporate meeting room. This was good enough for me: We got to hold some peat, see pictures of distilleries at work, and have it all explained to us by a charming Scottish girl. Then she led us through a brief tasting. I know others have done this with wine, but I got to do the whole swirling-and-smelling-and-sipping thing. I tried to stifle my smile when she described noticing about ten different flavors in the two whiskies we tried. (I have a hard time taking that so seriously as some do. Only one flavor had affected me greatly in my few tastings prior to this: campfire. A few of the distilleries on the island of Islay [“eye-la”] go all out with the drying of the malt over peat, and the final product seriously tastes like a peaty, earthy campfire.) Anyway, they gave each of us a free glass that I will try to bring back in one piece.

That was the end of my tourism for the day (the first museum was a long time). I finished my Christmas shopping (oh! no, don’t get too excited), then came back to the hostel and did the rest of the stuff I already told you about.

I guess this is the end of my trip. Many of you helped make it happen, either through financial or moral support, and I am very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very grateful. So grateful that I actually typed out each of those twenty veries. I hope my connections are all successful so I can come back and thank you in person.

Thanks for reading this blog. I might write on it a few more times if I have more to say about my trip, and I’ll probably keep the username and password just in case I get lost abroad again.