…Paris...

People say they love Paris, I didn't mind it, but I don't think Paris liked us…

Monday May 26

Our flight went smoothly,  we are starting to get the hang of it now.  But after we got off the flight, we were really confused, yet again another language that we didn't understand.  We didn't know what to do next.  We talked to the help desk for a good 15 minutes trying to figure out the best way to get to our hotel.  We figured that it was metro, because they strongly urged us not to get a taxi.  

Metro.  I have learned to dislike you already.  We couldn't find out how to buy tickets, where to buy tickets, how to get on the metro, where we need to be on the metro, and so on so forth.  Struggle bussing!  We found our Texan friend, whom we met before the flight, and she had to go on the first metro with us.  Thank goodness because we needed all the help we could get.  We met a nice frenchman too that helped.  He took us to our second platform.  This was so stressful, but he helped.  Once we got off is where we really fell apart.  We had no idea where we were going.  Nothing was in english.  We must have looked extremely disheveled because someone came up to us to help.  She was sorta helpful.  We really needed someone to take us directly to the metro.  After 20 minutes of searching we found the right one.  We were standing right by the doors along with about 50 other people.  I was about ready to scream, cry, and cut all of the people around me.  It was really rough.  

We finally make it to our final destination, except we had no stinking idea where our hotel was.  We tried looking at maps but to no avail.  Nothing.  We then found a guy that was loading a truck. He helped us.  It was past two fires and on the left.  We made it to our hotel!  Not too sketchy either.  

Next on the list, food!  We went to the restaurant next door even though we couldn't read anything on the menu.  We sat down and they brought us a menu on a large board.  The owner couldn't speak English.  She had another worker who was younger come help us.  We all got hamburgers because that was the only thing we could really recognize.  These were like ground beef.  You could see the individual grounds.  They had eggs on them, but they were really good.  And they should have been because they were $20 in USD.  As we were leaving, an old man started taking to us.  He told us a lot about his life.  He grew up in France and has a home in Canada.  He showed us a picture of his house in Canada several times, it was blurry, but he was really proud of it.  He told us he was a Free Mason and that his lodge was near by.  He also talked to us about politics.  He said that he would have voted for Romney. Ha!  Then he told us to thank our grandparents for him because America helped France after WWII.  So, thanks Grandmas and Grandpas

After that lovely dinner and conversation, we headed need door, back to our room to sleep for the night.  

Tuesday May 27

We set our alarm for 7:20, and we didn't want to get up for that.  It was really hard because we were so tired.  But we knew we had to because we needed to get to our bus tour.  I put on a short sleeved shirt and had my rain jacket because it was supposed to be 66.  

We had a what we thought was a free breakfast at our hotel that was a buffet style with croissants, cereal, toast, and other things.  I had a nutella croissant.  YUM!

We asked the guy at the desk how to get to where we wanted.  It took him a good 20 minutes to tell us exactly where we were to be going.  It should have been a 5 minute walk to the metro station, then get on the metro, then exit the metro for another 5 minute walk to our destination.  Sounds easy, right?  Wrong!! We were so stinking lost.  We asked for help 2 times to find the station.  Once at the station, we had to buy tickets.  To be cost conscientious we bought the 10 pack.  Or attempted to at least.  We walked up to the machine prepared.  Everything was in french.  It took us a while to find the english setting.  Then once we plugged everything in, it wouldn't accept our cards.  We had to go up to the window and ask the lady to help us buy our tickets.  

Once that was done, we made it onto our M3 route.  We made it to the other side safely, only to be confused on how to get out.  Literally we walked all over the metro trying to find out how to reach land.  It was hard.  We had to ask for help then too.  On land, I had the map and thought I knew where we needed to go.  We went the opposite way of what I thought after asking some people who didn't even speak English.  When we figured out that was the wrong way, by yet again asking another person, we turned around. 

 Around 10ish we finally make it to our bus.  We walk in to exchange our vouchers for tickets.  They send us to our bus.  We hand the driver the vouchers and she can't do anything with them.  The machine is broken down.  Awesome.  We are really ticked at this point.  It takes about 30 min before we can even get on the bus and take off.  We start the tour.  Our first stop was the Louvre.  Just to make sour crappy day better, the Louvre is closed on tuesdays.  Really Tuesdays?!?  We then notice that we have been stopped at this stop for a while, more than a while, like 20 minutes.  We go down to investigate to find another couple yelling at the driver telling him to get on the road.  Apparently the machines were broken down so they couldn't sell more tickets.  The bus was full, so I don't know why he was even trying to sell more tickets.  Whatever.  After about another 10 minutes we get on the road.  

Not impressed with the tour or Paris quite yet

Finally actually seeing Paris, but we are not pleased at this point.  We wanted to start the tour at 9:30 and it has been an hour and a half since then.  Notre Dame was the first place we decided to stop at.  We took several pictures and then headed inside.  It was free, so why not.  It was really pretty.  Stained glass and sculptures everywhere.

Back to the bus we went.  We listened for a while and then we saw it, the reason we came to Paris--the eiffel tower!  He kept teasing us by literally driving around the entire lot that the tower sits on.  Just let us off the stinking bus!

Finally we were set free and we could approach the monument.  It was huge.  I just had to go up.  We went for the line to go up.  The line was really long.  It took 30 minutes before we could even buy our tickets.  Then we had to go through security.  Once through security we had to wait until we could go up the elevator that was sideways.  Woohoo!  This took us to the second floor.  We took some pictures then entered the line for the Summit.  This line took even longer.  Almost 45 minutes.  And it was freezing.  I was so cold in my thin rain jacket.  Not cool robert frost. 

We reach the elevator for the summit and I am so excited.  This takes you straight up to the top.  We reach an inclosed area near the top, then you could climb a few additional stairs to get to the very top.  Of course I did that.  Amazing.  We were so high up.  I took lots of pictures.  It was really fun, but also really cold.  

We had to wait in line yet again to take the elevator down to the second floor.  Once at the second floor, I was fed up of waiting in lines, so we walked the rest of the way down.  Yes, it took a while, but it was faster than the elevator.  At the bottom we walked to both sides and took pictures and got souvenirs.  

Back boarding the bus to finish the tour.  We finished and then headed to find food.  It took us a while to find a place that was cheap enough to eat at.  We find a pizzeria and stop there.  I had some excellent ravioli.  After dinner, we had to have dessert.  I wanted a real french dessert.  It took a long time and a lot of walking before we found one.  I got an carmel eclair.  I couldn't eat it on the street because we were heading to the metro.  I stuffed it in my purse and we were on the move.  We are finally getting the hang of the metro now.  We easily move about back to our hotel.

Wednesday May 28

Our last day in Paris. We planned to get up at 7:00 to make it to the Louvre a little before it opened. Like all of our plans in Paris, this didn't work out like we expected. 

7:30- Lindsey calls my name and asks if I heard the alarm go off. Nope I had my ear plugs in because it was really noisy. It was 7:30. Awesome. We hurried up and got around and try to pack. We then head downstairs for breakfast. 

This is when our nice hotel guy told us that breakfast cost 12 euros. Really?!? We got that yesterday morning and no one told us! Sweet. We left because we didn't want to pay that again. 

We reached the metro. We are basically pros now. We get on and off were we need to. We are even able to walk to the louvre from the metro without getting lost. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves. That was until we rounded the corner and saw the longest line we have seen yet in Paris out of the Louvre.  Imagine Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster line, but for art.  

We got there at 9:05 and it opened at 9:00. After several minutes pass, we realize that the line isn't moving. I see a sign located near us. I hop out of line to see what it said. It said expect delays of opening. Sweet. After another half hour I  see a security guard. I approach her and ask her when it would open because we were on a tight schedule. She said that where we were at in line should get in by 10:30. An hour wait. We decide that it would be fine to wait. 

This must happen a lot because they have a sign for it

At 10:15 the doors finally open 1.25 hours after they said they would open. The crowd cheered. We moved a lot in the line. We were finally on the last rope to go in and the line stops again. To top it all off it is raining.  We are all so thrilled, but we wait some more. The fast pass lane are the only people actually going in. I'm ticked! Finally at 11:00 we got in. We bought our tickets grabbed a map and headed out on our quest.

Trying to keep dry

We wated I hit some of the most famous works. I was plowing through the crowd trying to get to the Mona Lisa. We finally found it. In a small room suffounded by hundreds of people. I got my pictures and ten we tied some other corridors. We found some interesting works, but since we spent 2 hours outside in line, we only spent 1 inside looking. It was a very fast trip filled with lots of rude people.

The Mona Lisa in all of her glory

We left at 12 and made our way to the metro. We have the metro almost mastered now. It takes us no time at all. We look for some lunch and stumble upon this little sandwich shop. It was kinda like subway. We put our order in at a computer and then they made it. I got pasta. It was good. 

Once back in our hotel. I asked for the key to our room. The lady at the desk was rude and told us that our room had been cleaned. I don't care if it was cleaned we needed to get our stuff. We were eventually let up but we couldn't touch anything. Stupid. We packed the rest of our things and headed down to the lobby. There we waited for the taxi and paid for the hotel. I think we got ripped off because she didn't understand what I was saying. 

Our taxi arrived. It was an Asian Frenchman. We couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand us. Lovely. 

I really can't say that I am going to miss you Paris.  Bring on London!  Ta and Cheers!

Hello Krakow!

Sunday May 25

Oh my!  Another early morning to catch our flight, but this time I had to wake up at 3:15.  I wouldn't even call it sleep, it was more of a nap.  On top of waking up early, I had to pack for the trip and pack up my entire room!  The University won't allow us to keep our belongings in our rooms while we are gone.  So at 4:00 a.m.  I am lugging a 50 lb suitcase down that awful spiral staircase.  Then we had to go to the security office to get the key for the room for our bags.  A security officer took us to the room, we dropped our stuff, and then we went to wait on our taxi.  

He just left us outside the airport.  We had no idea what to do, so we headed in.  We found the check in station.  We checked our one suitcase and then saw what our bags had to fit into. Of course my bag didn't fit into that tiny little bin! Luckily I was able to make it work by rearranging some things.   Next we had to go through security. That took a little bit. I was the first one to go through. It beeped when I went through so they had to pat me down. Lucky me. When safely through security we stop at Starbucks for breakfast. I had a chocolate swirl. Yummy. Then there was 2 hours of waiting… and only 30 minutes of free wifi.  The struggle was so real.

Finally, our time came to board the plane.  It was one of those board outside.  We loaded in the back of the plane.  Then we discovered that we were in the absolute last row of the plane.  Not bad, except that we could not lay our seats back.  I slept anyways--not much, but at least I got a little.  

We landed in Krakow and boarded a shuttle to take us 100 meters to the airport.  It took us about 10 minutes to get that far.  On the shuttle is when it hit me that we were not in Indiana anymore, or even Liverpool for that matter.  Everything was in a different language.  That is the point where I thought what the heck did I just do.  We walked around dazed trying to find the signs to where our luggage was.  We finally found our suitcase and then made our way outside the airport.  We didn't know what to do so we just waked up to a taxi.  He took us.  We told him where we were staying and off we flew.  Krakow is really pretty.  Our driver was really nice.  He talked to us and asked us questions.  We arrived at our hostel.  We asked him if he would take us to Auschwitz.  He said yes.  We checked into our hostel and then went back to his taxi bound for Auschwitz.

The ride was an hour long, but luckily our taxi driver was chatty and friendly.  He talked about how his uncle was a prisoner at Auschwitz, Birkenau (Auschwitz II), and another concentration camp in Germany.  He survived only to be killed in a drunk driver 8 years after liberation.  He was hard to understand at times, but he told us several stories.  He taught himself english, so I couldn't complain too much.  I was entertained.  

As we neared auschwitz, my inner history nerd started geeking out. This is the place that I have seen on history channel and always wanted to go. Now I am actually going to see it. I knew we were getting close when I saw old train cars and tracks. We finally arrive. I am in awe. There is a quiet and eerie tone to the place and I couldn't wait to explore it. 

Our taxi driver talked to the ticket people in polish and got us on an English guided walking tour. That turned out to be 4 hours long. I didn't mind at all. Before we started the tour we grabbed a pack of chocolate wafers because we were starving. 

Camera at the ready, the tour takes off.  Our guide is very knowledgable and had a lot to say at each stop.  I really can't even describe how neat it was to actually be there.  Even though the locations were kept original, I still couldn't imagine thousands of people being there and dying there.  It was a great experience.

 "Work will set you free"

Their beds 

Bathrooms

A portion of the gas used in the chambers 

Glasses 

Parts of the crippled  

Their luggage with their names on it 

The crematorium  

Then we headed to Birkenau (Auschwitz II).   This was 167 acres!  It was huge.  Millions of jews were executed there.  This was the Women's and children's camp.  This was especially eerie because the sun was shining and birds were singing, but all around us was barbed wire fences, ruins of crematoriums, and train tracks that took millions to their death. It was a great experience being able to visit both sites. I would highly recommend it if you are ever in Ploand.

The entrance to Birkenau 

 A train car that brought the people in

The end of the line 

 Up to 11 people on each level of the beds

The bathrooms.  200 people could use them at a time.  They each got 5 seconds in the morning and at night. 

One of the crematoriums that was burnt down 

Memorials and a pond with ashes

We ended the tour back at the beginning, and our taxi driver is there waiting on us.   He gave us some ideas for good restaurants and good food choices.  He dropped us off in front of a restaurant.  

It was so cute.  The restaurant was outside in the outside of a market square.  We couldn't really read anything on the menu, but I got meat dumplings.  It was the best thing I have eaten so far.  It took forever for bill to come and they didn't split it into 4 parts.  They also didn't give us our change.  I think we were just as confused as them.  

We immediately went to an ice cream shop after that.  I had fudge and vanilla.  Two scoops because the exchange rate is amazing here.  Then we found a market around town.  We walked and saw dancing.  I got a chocolate covered banana.  Delicious.  We sat outside until the sun went down.  Then we made our way back to the hostel.  

Let's talk about the hostel for a second. First off, it was called the Pink Panther. It was a tall skinny building. We had to climb all the way to the attic to get to our rooms. I kept hitting my head on te ceiling in our room No AC+ long pajamas (to avoid the sketchy bed) + 80 degree day= one hot night. Bit at least it was only 1 night. 

Monday May 26
It was a hot night.  It took me forever to fall asleep.  I woke up several times during the night, but it wasn't too bad.  After I woke up, we got dressed and headed out to breakfast.

We wandered around for a while before we found something food.  They had "American Breakfast".  Me, starving and wanting something normal decided that would be a good option.  It included pancakes, an omelet, yogurt, and cornflakes.  When my plate arrived, I was less than amused.  The omelet was the best thing on the plate.  The pancakes tasted weird and were thick and small.  I guess it was fine for breakfast.

My still water 

Breakfast

We walked around and shopped until it was time to eat lunch.  It took us a long time to find a place.  Lets just say the meals in Poland went downhill as the trip progressed.  I decided to have a hot dog with fries.  Not a huge fan, but it was food.

Hot dog and fries…

Poland was great!  I just wish we would have spent more time there.  Our hostel was in a great location, the weather was fabulous, and so was the atmosphere.  I think Krakow, Poland is a must see.  

Next stop, Paris!  Ta and Cheers!

British School System vs. Miss Hartman; Round 2

I finally got to go back into the classroom today.  Just like the first time, this time was also interesting and a learning experience.

My teacher that I am working with was actually in the room when I got there this morning.  That made me a little happy, but also a little scared.  She screams a lot and has a voice that really carries.  Apparently in the mornings, the class goes through this routine where my classroom teacher says "Good morning students" and the students reply "Good morning teacher".  Then she told them to tell me good morning, so I had 30 little children staring at me and in unison saying "Good morning Miss Hartman."  Then she yelled out in front of the class "Someone get Miss (me) a chair to sit on!"  I was perfectly fine standing and wandering around the classroom, but I didn't want to question her on it.

She leaves and another teacher comes in.  It is now time for our health lesson.  Their health lesson was a review of a section they had done before, which was drugs and alcohol.  I was a bit surprised that this would be taught at such a young age.  I don't remember learning about this in third grade, but this school does a lot of things differently.  All of the students were very knowledgable, and I learned some things from the lesson, like you can drink here at age 15 if you are with your parents and pubs can serve you alcohol at 16 with your parents.  Also, you can buy cigarettes at age 16.  After health, we went to PE.

The PE teacher gathers the students around and tells them that they are going to play.  He has a thick almost irish accent, so I think he said 'grab football'.  I was trying to think of this in American terms.  So I'm like ok…maybe touch football.  Thats when he brings out the soccer ball.  Duh football here means soccer.  So then I am still confused 'grab soccer'.  Then he gives them further instructions to sit on their bums and scoot around like crabs.  Apparently, he was saying 'crab football'.  My initial thinking was way off!  It was actually quite humorous watching all of my students scooting around on their bums playing soccer.

He brought the students back into the classroom.  He has them create their own word search.  Thats when I notice a little girl crying.  I head over to her.  I ask her what was wrong.  And honestly this was all I could think of.

Between the crying and accent, I really couldn't understand a thing she was saying.  They all kind of mumble too, which makes it even worse.  I let the PE teacher deal with her and I went around helping the students create their word searches.  They could choose any topic they wanted.  The PE teacher came back and started helping a little boy work on his about birds.  The PE teacher asked "Miss do you know any birds?"  Do I know any birds???  Really?

I immediately say Cardinal.  I am given blank stares from the PE teacher and the student.  You know like 'Chirp Chirp'.  It is like I am speaking a foreign language.  They ask what kind of bird it is.  I say a red one.  It is my schools mascot and our state bird.  

After lunch it is time for their maths lesson.  (No, I did not make a grammatical error there, they put an 's' at the end of math.)  It is equivalent to 3rd grade so I was thinking multiplication, but these students are really advanced for their age, preschoolers at the school are writing full sentences, so of course the lesson was over division.  I quickly scrape together any information I have about division before I head over to help the students.  I walk around for a little bit observing before I dive into helping.  All of the sudden I hear her start screaming at this kid in front of the class.  "Pay attention.  You got every single one of your questions wrong yesterday!  Listen and you might get one right!"  I felt bad for the little boy.  She then had me go sit by him to make sure he wasn't misbehaving.  

He had absolutely no idea what to do.  I start helping him with his long division.  Once I started, I actually remembered how to do it.  I start explaining the problem 48/3.  In order to explain division I had to use some words that apparently they don't know, like subtraction.  After I guide him through the first problem and then look over at him and for the second time today gave me the deer in the headlights look.  Awesome!  I came to teach in the UK because I though I would be able to understand them and they would be able to understand me, and so far today I have been 0/2 on helping students.  I try helping him again on the next problem adjusting some of the words I use.  He kinda gets it now.  I tell him that he is doing a great job and to keep working hard.  He gives me a big smile and his whole face lights up.  I don't think he gets praise much in that class.  The teacher yells too much.  He shows all of his finished problems to the teacher.  She asks "What have you done here?  What is this?"  Dang it!  I just knew it was my fault.  They do division a little differently here and I just helped him do division wrong.  Well I really don't know how to do division another way, so I was sent to the hall to work on a bulletin board.  I tried to help all of the students I could.  Some actually liked my division better! Ha!

Well, every day is a learning experience and today I learned a lot.  First, that my teacher yells way too much, probably from her lack of procedures, rules, and classroom management.  Second, just because I an in the UK and the people speak english, it doesn't mean that I will actually understand them. Finally,  division should be taught the same way everywhere.  

Now off to prepare myself for 3 different countries in 9 days!  Ta and Cheers!

Oy! It's Edinburgh, Scotland!

Warning:  This is going to be a long post

Friday
I'm not normally awake at 5:00 am, but in order to catch the train to Edinburgh, I had to be.  We took a taxi to the train station, the cabbie reminded me of the cabbie from Sherlock A Study in Pink-- a little unsettling, but we made it.  We got there early, and lucky we did because the train had been rescheduled for an earlier time.  Two trains, 4 hours, and lots of sheep and scenery later, we arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Holy cow!  This place was beautiful.  Old buildings, brick roads, and rolling hills (which came back to haunt us later).  We (Karli, Lindsey, and I) left the station and started for our hostel, except we did not know exactly where it was.  We asked for some help from someone that looked official, they weren't much help, so we headed in their general directions.  Amazingly enough, we arrive at our hostel, drop our bags off, and head for lunch.

Church converted into a hostel (Where we stayed)

We had one food place in mind:  Elephant House- The Birthplace of Harry Potter.  We didn't really know where that was either.  After wandering around for a little bit, an elderly gentleman came over and helped us.  He was very nice.  After a long walk, we finally made it.  It was a very good lunch.

People wrote Harry Potter quotes all over the walls in the bathroom

Climb Arthur's seat was the next item on our agenda.  It sounded like a fabulous idea.  We turned the corner and then saw the volcanic mountain we were about to climb and we were a little worried, but we were ready to conquer it.  

Honestly, these photos don't do it any justice.  It was huge!

We finally get to the base of the hill and we see two paths, so we decide it would be a good idea to follow the crowd and take the path with the stairs instead of the dirt path.  This path started off fine, and then we reached the steep part.  At some points I would say that we were climbing at least a 45 degree angle.  We reach a flat part and we feel accomplished at how far we had come.  

That was right before we realized the path we were on was not starting to go down…  We asked people on the path with us and they didn't know either, so we continued on the path.  This path ended back at the base of the volcanic mountain.  Oh sad day!  After a little deliberation, we decide to commit to the cake and take another nearby path.  This path wasn't as steep, but it wasn't a nice walk in the park either.  We had to take several breaks on the way up, and we even got passed by an elderly man on the way--that is how bad we were struggling.  We weren't in the best condition to be climbing either.  We all had our heavy purses and not the best footwear (Chuck T's, TOMS, and sandals).  The path is so steep, we think we reached the top on several occasions, only to be disappointed with another steep path slightly out of sight.  When I say "path" I am using the term loosely.  Sometimes it was just dirt, rock, or grass.  We made friends with an older couple on the path and we reached the top with them.  It was amazing!  The view was beautiful!

What goes up must come down. So after resting at the top, we begin our descent.  

Soon we realized that we took the hardest path to the top.  We choose very poorly at the beginning of our journey.  Little bitter.  At least we got to see the ruins of St.  Anthony's Chapel.

Even though our feet were sore, we had to keep trucking if we wanted to accomplish everything on our itinerary.  When we finally reached a street, we saw a commotion at the Palace, so we went to check it out.  It turned out that Prince Edward and his wife were staying at the Palace this weekend.  We watched the ceremony for a little bit.  

Camera Obscura was next on the list.  It was like a fun house.  We did have a lot of fun.  

We finished exploring the 6 floor building and went to get food.  I had fish and chips.  Sadly, it wasn't the best fish I had ever tasted.  By this time it is a little after 7 and our ghost tour didn't start until 9:30 so we killed some time in Starbucks.  One because it was absolutely freezing outside since the sun went down and two free wifi.  It was a great decision.  

Our ghost tour was really good.  The guide was a little crazy, but she told the stories well.  We went into the most haunted spot in Britain--the vaults under Edinburgh.  These were four stories underground.  After the tour, we summoned a taxi and headed back to the hostel.  This was the first time actually touring the hostel and seeing our rooms.  There were three of us and 2 rooms in two separate hallways, so we did the only logical thing- smushed two twin beds together and all slept there. I slept in the crack of the beds and sadly it was more comfortable than the dorm beds here.  

 In the halls of the hostel.

 Our room key

How we slept

Saturday

After a full day of walking yesterday, we were ready to ride on our bus tour.  First stop, the Royal Yacht Britannia.  It was really cool.  We got to see 5 different levels of the yacht.  The Queen donated items to be kept on the yacht.  We reached the sun deck and had the option for tea--heck yes!  I had some wonderful hot chocolate.  

 We hopped back on the bus to continue our tour.  We stopped for lunch and headed to the Edinburgh Castle.  Holy cow was this place massive.  There were several layers to the castle.

Next stop, St. Giles Cathedral.  It was beautiful.  Full of stained glass.  We sat there and listened to the organ for a while.  We shopped, ate, and tried to avoid going back to our hostel.  We camped out in Starbucks for awhile before it, along with every other store closed for the night.  It was still light out, so we walked to our hostel to waste time.  

Sunday

We slept 10 hours before getting up.  We had to check out before 10, so we packed up and headed to the train station an hour early.  We bought breakfast, I negotiated a deal for some muffins.  Then we sat and waited.  The first train was great.  We had plenty of room and we were sitting next to the others who went to Scotland.  

As the time neared to when we were supposed to be changing trains, our train was still going full speed ahead.  As it approached less than 5 minutes until our second train left the station, we all got worried.  As the train slowed down, we all stood up and flocked to the door.  The doors finally open with 1 minute left.  We hop off the train and check the ticker, our train was still here but at a different platform.  We could see our train about 500 yards in the distance.  We all immediately start running, yes, I RAN toward that train.  We could not miss it.  Again, we were making a scene.  8 American girls running to a train platform with our backpacks and purses bobbing with them.  As we approach we see the conductor stick his head out the window.  Thank goodness he saw us and didn't leave without us.  

Edinburgh was amazing!  We got to do and see many different things.  I would highly recommend this as a destination to everyone except people who don't like hills and a lot of walking.  We walked 9+ miles on Friday alone.  

Well Scotland, you have been great, now on to the next adventure.  Ta and Cheers!