How Protestant Countries Do Things.

Part 1: Belfast

Yes, Northern Ireland is a different country than The Republic of Ireland. Which means four things:

1. They are part of the UK and not the EU. So...they're loyal to British monarchs.
2. Since they're not part of the EU, I had to use pounds instead of euros as currency. So...no matter how low any prices looked, my American dollar was even more WORTHLESS.
3. Since they're loyal to British monarchs, the majority of the population is Protestant. So...there's kind of a beef between them and the Catholics.
4. Their accents are really impossible to understand once you're used to the Dublin accent.

Anyway, from what I understand, Belfast is a really nice city. However, I was there for a weekend with the lacrosse team, so all I actually saw was the bus station, the hostel where we stayed, a lacrosse field, and a few pubs. Ooooops.

It was fun though. A lot of bonding. A full Saturday of lacrosse from 10am - 3:30pm. After which many libations were poured, served, and consumed. It was grand.

Part 2: Edinburgh

The great thing about Scotland is that it's only an hour long flight from the Dublin airport. The sad thing about the Dublin airport is RyanAir airlines. Which are cheap. Though only at ungodly hours of the morning like 6:25am. This being the situation, my roommate/wingman/protective brother Joe and I decided to stay awake to wait for our 4am cab instead of go to bed and wake up at 4am. We did this by eating a normal dinner, taking a nap, and waking up at midnight to eat another round of dinner. I still don't know how we're not fat...

Anyway, our flight out went well, and we landed in Scotland, which had a warm friendly welcoming layer of icy snow on the ground. Awesome. Luckily, when we got into town where our hostel was, there wasn't anymore snow. But it was nippy. It reminded me of home (sigh). Unfortunately, check-in at Budget Backpackers Hostel (hahaha....story of my life) wasn't until five hours after we had arrived. So after having mild heart attacks, we ate some hostel breakfast (by that I mean we ate 5 croissants each) and ventured out to do touristy things (take pictures of landmarks to prove to our mothers that we did something in Europe besides drink).

We hit up Edinburgh's #1 attraction, the castle. It was expensive, but really worth it. The castle itself was architecturally impressive and the view of the city from the top was amazing (see pictures - I hate describing things). We even spent the extra 3 pounds for the audio tour, which was actually pretty nice. The castle also has the Scottish National War Museum (I could be making that name up) inside it, and the Scottish Crown Jewels were on display in the castle as well. I wish I was allowed to take pictures, but I wasn't, so I guess I'll have to describe those. Basically, just picture a sword so big that if you held it above your head for a minute, your arm would be useless to you for the rest of the week. And there was a crown encrusted with gems and pearls. And there was a scepter which was really small (because all your focus has to be on holding that ridiculous sword). And there was a rock. No, I'm not kidding, it's called the Stone of Destiny. It's been used at all the Scottish (and then British for obvious reasons...) coronations since at least 1057. Apparently medieval people thought the rock had Biblical significance, and why not just keep pretending and carrying on the tradition, right?

After admiring these "Honours of Scotland," we left the castle and walked a bit down the Royal Mile, which leads down to the palace. Things we noticed while walking this chunk of mile:

• A really pretty cathedral that had been turned into a cafe...I didn't realize how Catholic I was until I found myself mildly offended (it was Ash Wednesday, and I didn't sleep. I was cranky and not in Dublin anymore).
• A lot of stores with cashmere. I guess I'm a savage because I really had no idea that was like, a Scottish thing.
• The Elephant House Cafe, where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter (well...this one was just off the road, but I'm still counting it).

When we got to the point of whiny bitch exhaustion, we stopped at a Subway, hid our shameful American food in our jackets, and returned to the hostel. Still an hour too early to check-in. So after eating our shameful American food in the public space of the kitchen (and falling asleep with our heads on the table), we were finally able to get into our room. Where we slept until 6pm. FIVE HOUR NAP FTW.

After a classy dinner of frozen pizza and garlic bread from the convenience store (all a total of 5 pounds, so complete SHIT), we joined a group from our hostel for a pub crawl. I will not discuss the pub crawl....mostly because I don't really remember any of it. But I do know the drinkage was cheap because I still had money when I woke up the next day!

Like the Cork City pub crawl in Ireland, the Budget Backpackers Edinburgh pub crawl did not help me want to wake up and go sight-seeing. Actually, we slept until 3 the next day. Oooops again. But we were able to get out, drink smoothies, and check out the cemetery and the palace at the end of the Royal Mile, the queen's official residence when she stays in Scotland. As goes the story of my life (again), the palace was closed by the time we got there. But I saw some of the outside of it...(sorry Momatron).

The touristy highlight of this day was dinner. We dove in and tried the haggis, which actually doesn't look scary at all, and tastes better than it looks. I found it a satisfying meal, but to be honest, I really would not go out of my way to eat it again (I know, shameful American). After dinner, we once again joined the group for the pub crawl. Despite our pact to take it easy this time, we both ended up even worse off than the previous night. I guess the people we were with either found us very lovable or the drinks were just DIRT cheap, because people just kept buying us shots...rumor has it that at some point on the walk in between bars, I started screaming "GUYS I CAN'T SEE ANYMORE." But I don't remember that so I bet it's not true.

Anyway, we survived the night (by this I mean I didn't get arrested or try to fight anyone, and Joe did not get killed as a result of me trying to fight anyone) and by some strange voodoo we made it back to the hostel (I'm pretty sure God did not want to be involved in that sloppiness).

The next day was the day from HELL (see, I told you God had NO PART IN THIS). We made it to the airport in good time for our 12:40pm flight, and then got delayed FIVE HOURS because of "technical issues." Word to the wise - no matter how cheap they are, don't fly with RyanAir. I am telling you from personal experience, and the grumblings of the other veteran passengers, IT IS NOT WORTH IT.

We did eventually get back to Dublin. I missed Ireland. But I can't lie, Edinburgh knows how to get the craic on.