Robert Burns and Other Tales (Searching for Nessie) Pt. II

I know it's been a bit longer than usual since my last post. I thought I'd wait until the next Burns' Supper to update. Since last week, not only have I attended another Burns' Supper and ate more haggis (yum), I also went up to Loch Ness with my flatmates and some Italians, and I might have found my favourite restaurant in Edinburgh. Let me tell you now, Loch Ness and the Highlands in general are GORGEOUS. I'm not kidding, it's ridiculous. I'll start with that then.

We got up early early Saturday morning. The sun was just coming up when we left the flat. That's how early. It's always rather strange walking through a city that early, especially on a weekend, because nothing is going on and it's just beautiful. We had decided to rent a car so we met up with Chiara's friends at the train station to get the car. Let me tell you, the driver was the boyfriend of one of the Italian girls studying in Edinburgh. He did not speak any English beyond "Thank you" and "Your welcome". The whole time, Chiara or Selene (his gf) had to translate the GPS (or SatNav as they call it here) for him. He also had never driven on the left side of the road before. It was an interesting experience to say the least but we made it there and back in one piece!
We took a long, scenic route to get there, which took us to the West coast of Scotland and up from there. We went through the Glencoe mountain range, which is apparently the narrowest mountain range in the UK. Interesting fact, I guess. I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Chiara, my flatmate from Italy

I didn't know the sky could be that color!

Chiara was running for some reason. It was really pretty boggy here

Sign in Gaellic and English

The sign shows what everything is that you're looking at. But I'm pretty sure it was mostly in Gaellic. Helpful...

My flatmates and me. From L-R (Wendy, Chiara, me, Dianna)

So these are all pictures from the lovely drive up. We had a great time and all packed big lunches so we shared with each other and generally just had fun despite being cramped up in a car that just barely had room for all 7 of us. It took about 4 hours to drive up to Loch Ness from Edinburgh, so we got there around 1 pm. Again, I can't really describe how beautiful it was. The clouds came and went all day, so the light was wonderful all day.

Urquhart Castle

Chiara and Wendy

Part of Loch Ness. It's 23 miles long, so I couldn't really get all of it

Part of the castle ruins

The sun started going down around 4 so we decided to head home so it wouldn't be dark the whole time we were driving. I'm pretty sure we got back to our flat after dropping off the rental car and everything around 9. I would really suggest going up to the Highlands to anyone. The scenery was far beyond what my expectations were and it wasn't tremendously cold. I think maybe it would be better if there had been more sunlight, so probably going in March or April would be better.

Now for Burns Night pt II. Yes, it was a week after actual Burns Night, but no one really seemed fazed by that. Of course, I forgot my camera, but I'll just describe this one. The dinner was set up by Exchange 360, which is a society for exchange students, both on exchange at University of Edinburgh, and also students from Univ. of Edin. who have gone on exchange elsewhere. There were probably 10 tables set up for all of us, each with a few bottles of wine for us to share. I went with my friend, Katie, and two of my flatmates, Dianna and Wendy also went with, so we all sat together. Also at our table were a Norwegian girl, a German guy, and a French girl. They were all here for the year and lived in the same building. New friends maybe? Anyway, we had a nice band playing Scottish folk music as we sat there, and after a while, the haggis was brought out as a student was playing the bagpipes (not particularly well I might add) and the proper Address to the Haggis was given (better than the first Burns Night I attended where they couldn't remember any of it). We also had proper neeps and tatties this time. Overall, possibly a fancier version of Burns Night than last week, but I'm not sure if that means I actually liked it any better. I really should have brought my camera though.

Well, I'm sure you're wondering what restaurant I found, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Today, Katie and I got lunch at Red-Box, which is a noodle bar close to campus. It was only £7.50 for me to get 4 AMAZING dumplings, a noodle-box, and Sprite. I will be going there for lunch from now on. It was absolutely delicious. It is also Chinese New Year, so I had dumplings that Wendy made for dinner. Good thing I love dumplings I guess.
Until next time!