Hamish McHaggis

Edinburgh was a fun-filled weekend: haggis, Highland Cows, climbing mountains, Cullen Skink, Stewart Monarchs, kilts, and ghost stories. From Thursday night to Sunday, I spent hours and hours wandering around the city, taking pictures, and eating like mad.

My favorite dish was easily Cullen Skink, a Scottish adaption of clam chowder with haddock instead of clams. It's creamy and thick and warm, which was important when you're coming in from the cold Scottish weather. I also loved any combination of venison, like the venison and steak pie. Whoever thought of putting delicious meat and broth in a flaky pastry was a genius.

I loved the castle on the hill-- I spent a few hours wandering around inside and outside. After the castle, I walked down the Royal Mile, stopping for cream tea on the way to climbing Arthur's Seat.

Although it took about 90 minutes to climb, the views were 100% worth it, and we watched the near-sunset from the top of the rock. We took the easy, flat-ish path back down the mountain, and spent the rest of the night groaning about our ass muscles and how tired we were.

Saturday was an all-day trip through the Highlands to Loch Ness. I was seated next to a French family (of COURSE) in the van, so I spent about 8 hours explaining what was going on to them and spying on their conversations. Unfortunately, I didn't see Nessie. We went out to a strange club filled with slutty girls and short, sort of stereotypically working-class, British-looking men.

Sunday went by pretty quickly-- I walked around New Town and quickly decided I prefer old fashioned Scottish architecture to darkened Georgian surrounded by a busy high street. More Cullen Skink for lunch, and then I spent a few hours enjoying good old cable programming before I grabbed the train back to King's Cross.

I would absolutely go back sometime in the near future-- mostly to see the heather growing purple on the landscape. It's supposed to be amazing.