EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Edinburgh, Scotland

We arrived at Kings Cross St Pancras at 7.30am in the morning to catch our train to Edinburgh for the World Cup quarter final Scotland vs All Blacks. In a short time there were All Black jerseys everywhere and the atmosphere was building quite nicely. What we didn't know was that the train we would eventually be catching was stopping off in Newcastle and that they were playing Westham that day in football, so the train ended up being packed with rugby and football fans. The other thing was that they didn't have our trains platform displayed yet so everyone was watching the boards and listening for the announcement and when it finally came there was a huge mad sprint to get seats (as they are not reserved unless you have First Class ones). I ran ahead of Olivia and got us a couple of seats in a carriage that was mostly rugby fans and we settled in for our journey. If all went well we would arrive with about an hour to spare to get to the stadium before kick off! Of course British transport being what it is this didn't happen. Our train ended up being delayed for an hour on the tracks because of a fault on one of the lines which meant that all the trains heading North had to to use ONE BRIDGE! Talk about useless! This gave us time to chat to the people on our carriage and share a beer or two in the process. One of the guys that we met was a man named Victor who turned out to be a doctor. When we asked him where he practised he said Palmerston North Hospital, (talk about small world!) Olivia laughed and asked him if he knew Ken Clark (his boss) and he said "Yes I do." She laughed and said' "Well it's a small world isn't it because he is my father!"

It ended up that the train was so delyed that there was no way we were going to make the pre-match proceedings like the anthems and haka and probably even the kick off. It was really disappointing as I had always wanted to see and hear the Scottish National Anthem being sung at Murrayfield and now we were so close but yet so far! When we finally got to the station there was a mad rush as people jumped off the train and started running towards the stadium. Olivia was so nice and said that I could take off so that I didn't miss much of the game and she would come along soon. Eventually I found my seat and the game had started! The worst thing about this game was that the All Blacks were more like the All Greys as they were wearing their alternative strip and it was so difficult to tell the two teams apart!
Olivia went off at half time to get us some beers and didn't come back until the game was almost over because the stall where she had been queueing for about 25mins closed just as she was getting to the front and all the people had to go elsewhere! ONLY IN THE UK!!!!!!!! At least we won this game though!

After the game we met up with my cousin Charmaine and her husband Ty and it was great to see them. We also ran into a whole lot of people from Wellington. Our friends Trevor, Barrett and Jared joined our group along with Dr. Victor. We all went on a bit of a pub crawl back towards Edinburgh and there were Kiwi and Scottish fans everywhere. Further down the road we caught up with Guy (who is Charmaine's sister Waitaha's partner) and his brothers as well as what seemed to be the rest of New Zealand.

Trevor and I left the others and took mine and Olivia's things back to the apartment where we would be staying the night and then met back up with everyone at a pub called 'The Scotmans Arms.' It was just off the magic mile (basically the centre of Edinburgh), full of locals and it was awesome!

Whilst we were in there we met a couple of local Scottish lads and someone mentioned to them that I missed the Sottish National anthem at the game and had been so looking forward to it, so they started singing it and the whole pub joined in. It was incredible.

Later on the night we met the publican who was your stereotypical Scottsman with a big beard and kilt and he got up on stage with a set of bag pipes and played for about half an hour including another hearty rendition of 'The Flower of Scotland.' There was also a one man band guy with his guitar and eventually I asked him if I could have a go and played a couple of songs for everyone to sing along to.

The next morning we gingerly got up and went for a 'Scottish breakfast.' We found a pub on the magic mile and when it arrived it was worth the wait - haggus, black pudding and all - delicious!Then Olivia and I said farewell to everyone and went and checked into our hotel as we were going to be staying one more night so that we could have a look around. On the way we stopped off at Footlocker to get Olivia some new shoes and something warm to wear. We got a really nice thick 'hoodie' each and were sorted. We managed to get a great deal on lastminute.com and our hotel was really beautiful. Once we had checked in we went for a walk around Edinburgh in the drizzle and got ourselves an amazing jacket potato for lunch, it was soooooo good, especially on a chilly overcast day.

Ater that we caught one of the many hop on hop off bus tours around Edinburgh and went up to see the famous castle which didn't disappoint.



From the castle we got back on the bus and finished the scenic tour.

After a quick shower and change of clothes we met up with Dr. Victor for dinner and went to a local Indian restaraunt that had been recommended by our tour guide earlier in the day. It was in an old Church and was stunning. The cool thing about the restaurant was that although it was unlicensed you were able to go to the pub next door and get something to drink and all you had to do was tell them you were eating at the restaurant and you could take it back with you. When we ordered dinner Olivia asked for a particluar curry and the waiter said, "Oh no you don't want that one as it will be too spicy for you. You should have this one instead." The three of us were totally shocked! "No I want this one," was her reply, "as I like spicy food." Again the waiter insisted that it would be too spicy for her and offered her an alternative. What a cheek! Anyway once that was all sorted we ended up having a very pleasant dinner and evening (Olivia got her original choice and it was perfect for her!).

The next morning we had our 'Scottish Breakfast' at our hotel and then went into town to check out an 'Andy Warhol' exhibition at a local museum. Olivia was so excited about it as she had studied him at school and University. It was an amazing spectacle and we bought ourselves a Marylin Monroe print on wood as a momento. After some more sightseeing we checked out of our hotel and met Dr Victor at the train station for our return journey back to London.