Back to London!

Yesterday was our last day in Edinburgh. We had breakfast at 8 like the day before, and then had until 10:30 to be out of the hotel. We didn't have any real plans for the day, just free time until we had to meet at the train station at 4:30. I blogged and got my pictures uploaded and such while I still had wifi and before I started forgetting everything. We packed up and left our bags at the lobby and were off. Nobody had any real plan and we were all pretty tired from the day before.

A bunch of us ended up at the St. James shopping mall and wandered around for a while in there killing time. It wasn't anything too exciting, and I didn't want to spend any more money. We left after a while and headed off in search of a restaurant for lunch. About six of us or so ended up back by the castle sort of, and found a cheap cafe for lunch. Got a mozzerella and sundried tomato ciabatta which was pretty good. All of the group ended up congregating back together at a Starbucks- I wandered off on my own (didn't want to spend my time in Scotland sitting at a Starbucks like I could do anywhere at home), found an awesome street vendor selling gorgeous jewelry. Chatted with the guy a lot and it was really fun to hear his perspective on the states and our staying in London and such...it was my first real extended conversation with a local and it was really awesome. Bought a few pieces of jewelry and he gave me awesome deals because I was so friendly, it pays to chat with people :)

Got a cappuccino and kept wandering, and ended up finding an AWESOME vintage/retro feeling little boutique kind of store...I spent forever in there. Bought a really awesome black and white print of Edinburgh that I'm so excited about. I've been on the lookout for good art things as souvenirs, I just love having it as opposed to trinket things that I'll never do anything with. Found some gifts and cool cards and postcards and such...I bought things three times from the lady because I just couldn't leave and kept finding more treasures!

Our group went through more shops together and had fun exploring for a while. Amanda and I reached our limit with shopping and left the group to go take pictures at the Olympic rings (the torch went through Edinburgh either today or maybe tomorrow?) and then sit in a beautiful huge grassy park area and chat about life.

Scotland is just so gorgeous, even in the crappiest of weather. I love it so much and can't wait until I can go back and visit again and explore more.

Sitting at the park was when I pulled my camera out of my bag to find that the screen has a huge crack in it :( Such a sad discovery and I have no idea how or when it happened because I had taken pictures like five minutes before we got to the park and it was fine...it didn't affect the screen at all visually, so I'm hoping it will hold out and not get worse. Looks like I'll be saving up for a new camera after this trip!

We had to go back to the hotel to grab our bags (mine were way too heavy...I was wishing for luggage on wheels) and head to the train station. We all met up and boarded the train. I wasn't at a table this time, but I was sitting by Amanda by chance, which was great!

The train ride home was a LOT less exciting than the train ride there...I was tired but couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep, couldn't read or I would feel sick, etc. Ended up editing all my Edinburgh pictures so I could re-upload them to Facebook and doodling/writing letters and listening to music, but it felt like the ride took forever.

Got back to London about 10 ish! It was raining here too...so fun.
Did some homework until midnight, skyped Kyle again (for longer this time, yay!) and then finally got to bed, but didn't fall asleep until after 2 :(