"Edinburgh" a Edinburgh Travel Page by lou31

I arrived in Edinburgh in the dark of night, it was raining and I was tired. I had just endured a 9 hour bus trip from Stratford. I negotiated the bus terminal and found the way out. A lift...straight up to the wet streets.
'OK now just look like you know exactly where you are going.' Somehow I think my dishevelled appearance, my large port and my heavy backpack gave me away. It took me half an hour of pacing up and down the street to finally hail a taxi. Add to this the hunger pains that were growing steadily it was not an exciting entry into this great city.

However I made it safely to the hotel and checked in. Not one to be daunted especially where food is concerned I took off immediately to find some sustenance. A desperate and at times a scarey journey led me to a rather sleazy looking chinese takeaway. Hot food in hand I set off for the hotel in the dark and rain. It was at times like this I berated myself for making bad choices. ' You idiot. Look at you. Alone and thousands of miles from home. Dark streets, rain and oh */#^%. Great, now I'm lost!'
Cutting a long story short I did make it back safely. And another bonus was that the food was rather good!

I spent 3 nights and two days in this city. The first day was very wet. That's OK, I just went shopping. Up and down Princes and High Streets. Well lots more streets than that. I still don't know half the places I went to. Got lost many times and found myself in some very questionable streets. And those stairs! Miles of them, or at least that's how it seemed.
After securing my much sought after ' Forsyth ' tartan scarf and other gifts and purchases I made my way to the Castle. More shopping, lots more walking and boy did I sleep well that night!
Day two saw a very bad start to a day that was suppose to be one of my holiday highlights. A day trip to Stirling. Sounded simple. Just get the nine o'clock bus there and the 4 o'clock bus back. All went well till a conveniently placed cash card machine at the Tourist Information Centre decided to die on me. Just after it took my card! I have to cut another long story short except to say I unsuccessfully sorted out the mess, cut my losses and took the 11 o'clock bus to Stirling.
The day however ended splendidly. See...things always turn out. I never did get that card back but I did get to explore Arthur's Seat. The sun shone obligingly for me and I spent a glorious afternoon and early evening traipsing it's paths and roads. The views were spectacular. It was a nice way to end off this visit to a city I didn't really appreciate half as much as I should have.