Let Her Run: Exploring Edinburgh, Part I.

Yesterday was QUITE the hectic day of travel. Started off by departing from our homes in Luxembourg City with all of our things, going to school in Differdange, and then taking the train BACK to Lux City to catch our 1:11PM train to Paris. Now we feel like old pros at this train (it's the one we took to Paris for my birthday weekend, and will be taking again in 5 weeks to meet my parents).

I packed a lunch but Alex decided to be the first to test out the train food! He went with "la formula," which allowed you to choose from a selection of drinks, sandwiches, and cookies for a 3-part meal. (He shared his cookie, it wasn't bad.)

Like our cigarette packages in the United States, the French have warnings on their food packages in regards to your health. I thought that was pretty cool.

"For your health, avoid eating foods that are too fatty, sugary, or salty."

We then had to navigate the Metro to get to Charles de Gaulle Airport. This was tricky. In the end, it all worked out and we made our 5:40PM flight, which actually took off behind schedule.

The flight was an hour and twenty minutes, and we actually gained an hour when we got to Edinburgh.

We had a 1 hour bus ride to our hostel, so the first thing to do was to change our currency so we had appropriate bus fair.

I brought a salad for dinner but was PARCHED after the flight so when we saw a frozen yogurt shop (just like the ones in Ohio like Orange Leaf and Menchies!) that sold one of my favorite drinks (bubble tea) we ran right in there.

Just like Orange Leaf!

I had my classic mango bubble tea but instead of unhealthy tapioca I had slightly less unhealthy bursting bubbles (like the orange and pink ones they have at Orange Leaf, if you're familiar). I don't usually drink anything other than water and sometimes coffee but this was a perfect refresher after 8 hours of non-stop travel.

We finally got to the hostel, which was a VERY nice upgrade from last weeks bed bugs situation. It seems very clean and our only complaint is that it's chilly at night but I don't really feel like I can complain about anything as long as we have a roof over our head's and no bed bugs.

When we woke up we headed back to a supermarket and Starbucks that we'd seen on the way from the bus last night.

After a stressful week I felt entitled to a fancy coffee and biscuit for bfast. (Note: One would think that if this cost $5.50 in the US it would be 5 pounds here. Nope! 3.50! So it converted to a similar price in the end. The pound is worth 1.80 USD right now...it's awful.)

Next we went to the super market to stalk up on food for Alex. This is the first thing I saw...

I got my typical daily banana and then spotted THIS amazing combo (KitKat and PB) and decided to take it for a special treat later on. Peanut butter + my favorite candy bar is a double win. (Also that kind of KitKat is called "chunky - that's not referring to the pb. Creamy all the way!).

Alex found an apple blueberry tart...a mixture of all his favorite things! I also lost count of how many pains aux chocolats he had. He was in heaven in that market.

Next we went to Arthur's Seat and hiked up it. This place is said to be the site of Camelot and was created by a volcano. It was about 1 mile from our hostel and we strolled over after our super market expedition.

It took maybe an hour to walk up this thing. I fell in the mud 3 times. In a row. I didn't care that I was all muddy because I was so excited to be here! But I was a bit sad when I got back and remembered that I only brought 1 pair of pants for a 1.5-week trip! Luckily I brought some skirts and things for museums and theater but I have to find a way to make my pants less muddy in the mean time.

The view from the top...AMAZING.

This afternoon/evening it got sunny and we decided to run around the park that's by University of Edinburgh. There were SO many people out...cyclists, babies, moms, runners, walkers, old, young, etc. The university is right down the street from our hostel (our location is GREAT in my opinion; so close to everything we wanted to see).

I've been running by myself a bit this week but it was GREAT to finish it off with 5-5.5 miles with the best running buddy of all :)