It's a Penguin Life: Day 8: London/Edinburg

J and I said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Him to the airport, homeward bound. And I to the train station onto my next adventure, Scotland.

Great minds think a like. We did not plan it, but we both purchased TimBuk2 bags for this trip. We also both had black jackets and grey sneakers. (HTC Droid Incredible)

Old school keys. Good bye London flat, you were awesome.

Pulling out of King's Cross rail station. (Samsung TL225)

Homer? I saw handful of these power plants on the ride up from London. (Samsung TL225)

Lunch on the go. (HTC Droid Incredible)

When the train arrived, I had my GPS out and ready to navigate the 0.9 miles to my new apartment. But I had exited from the back side of the train station and became disoriented. I was headed in the right general direction, I quickly found myself overwhelmed by a giant hill. I stopped someone to ask them for directions. Funny how you can live in a place for a long time, but not know where a street is (or know it by a different name). It's OK, I have that problem when strangers ask me for directions.

Anyways, the nice man (later his friends would call him John) offered to drop me off at the street I was looking for. I was hesitant at first, but he was insistent. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. (He was.) We had to wait a few minutes for his friend. They had just finished attending a wedding service up the block. John and I chatted about Boston, Scottish history, and Braveheart. His friend showed up with two more friends in two - 2 gentlemen, a lady (Helen), and a red-headed boy (~8-10 years old). I wished I had taken a picture of them. One of the gents was older with a crazy beard. Helen was rocking fishnet stockings and one of those crazy British hats. We all piled into his tiny car with the boy crouched down and me holding the seat belt over my shoulder.

John drove wildly while everyone gave him shit. They joked about when the last time a woman looked him in the eye and trusted him. They were a blast! The best part had to have been when they were all pointing things out to me during the short drive. Imagine 4 people talking at the same time telling you what you should see and where to grab a pint. One of them said "You must go to the castle." Another chimed in with "But you've lived here all your live and you've never been." I wished that I could have hung with them all night. Our time together was short lived, but it's an experience that I will never forget.

After getting settled into my new digs, I pushed myself to explore Edinburgh with what daylight was left. I made my way down The Grassmarket, up Victoria Street, down the Royal Mile, and up Calton Hill to catch the sunset.