The next morning, feeling a bit better, we were off. Heading to Scotland and his heritage Ped was dressed quite nicely in his kilt. Our first stop was Hadrian’s wall. It was built under the Roman Emperor Hadrian’s Rule in 122 A.D. to keep the Pics in Scotland out of England. It is 73 miles long and winds around the countryside. It has over the ages been a place to gather/loot stones from for other building projects, but is now protected. Even though it was built almost 2000 years ago, it is still very impressive. Once again I find myself being awed by the Romans and I haven’t even been to Rome yet. After the wall came our morning “wee wander” his time to a lovely waterfall. I love the exposure to nature on this tour.

We arrived at Edinburgh, Scotland in the middle of the afternoon and Ped took us all on a tour in the bus. Quite an impressive city. Lots of old buildings and it’s built on a large hill which at the top is, of course, the castle. The Royal Mile in the old quarter is the main road and has been since the city was established. Around this road, the city was built. After getting our fellow travelers checked into their hostel for the night, we decided to go on an early ghost tour before meeting up with the guy that we had decided to couch surf with (see below).

Anyway after wandering around the royal mile, we decided on Auld Reekie Ghost and Torture Tour (Auld Reekie was Edinburgh’s nickname when it had hideous sanitation in the 15-17th centuries – more on that below). We met at their starting destination and were a bit startled to see only 2 other people and the guide. But no worries, four was the minimum needed for a tour and we were off. Our guide was of course dressed in black to play the role and talked of how the city began and basically over the centuries became overpopulated, as did alot of other cities in medieval Europe. One of the major problems seemed to be that the city was landlocked by a large defensive wall that was built to keep out the English. It did not allow the city to grow outward, so people tried to rectify this by having the buildings grow upwards. Apparently Edinburgh was one of the first cities with medieval versions of skyscrapers where the tenement houses would span over 10 stories high. The first few levels were stone and then after that they were wooden. The buildings were all very close together and only a small footpath called a “close” separated the buildings. Even to be rich in these situations would be dirty by today’s standards but in those times, life was much worse. To be poor meant sharing these apartments with many others (20-30), and remember, there was no indoor plumbing. This was the dark ages, for some reason we had forgotten all that ancient Rome had to teach us about sanitation. All waste, be it kitchen scraps, urine, poo, vomit, etc. was collected in a bucket and then twice a day hurled out the window by one of the kids after screaming “gar de l’eau” to land in the center of the street where gravity then allowed it to “flow” into the Nor Loch (one of the lakes at the bottom of the hill – today it is a park with flowers! hmm I wonder why). The Nor Loch also just to let you know was where the drinking water came from. Can anyone say cholera and typhoid? Anyway add that to the fact that as time went on the buildings started to become dilapidated and start to collapse into one another and left many homeless and you have a hideous social structure. Edinburgh to try to solve the homeless problem in the 17th century then decided to make homelessness illegal and then the poor were forced to live underground in vaults beneath the city buildings, under the streets, with even worse sanitation and no lighting. Crime and disease was rampant. A curfew was strictly enforced at 10 P.M. and the police then herded all the homeless back underground. Per our guide (and remember I don’t know how much she is exaggerating for effect) the average lifespan after entering the vaults was 18 months for children and the elderly and 3.5 years for average “healthy” adults. She also spoke of some of the fears that circulated at the time and how Edinburgh was one of the leading cities in the hunting, torturing and slaughtering of “witches”. To be accused of witchcraft by a mob was basically a death sentence. They would torture a “confession” out of you and no matter what you said, you were basically thrown into the Nor Loch with your thumbs nailed to your kneecaps (or so she said) and if you sank you were innocent and if you floated you were a witch and were then retrieved and burnt at the stake. How lovely! So after all that wonderful talk we then spent 30 minutes (30 minutes too long if you ask me) wandering around the dark vaults beneath the city where supposedly lurks the South Bridge Poltergeist. Of the three chambers we entered they just kept getting spookier and spookier and our guide just kept talking louder and louder. I saw no ghosts but was very happy to be back above ground enjoying a cider at a pub when the tour ended.

After that excitement, went to a Mexican restaurant, yes a Mexican restaurant in Scotland shocked me too and I would have sworn I was in the U.S. had it not been for everyone around me eating with both their fork and knife at the SAME time. Anyway, after dinner went to find the flat of Steve L. He was a Kiwi now living in Edinburgh who had agreed through couchsurfing to host us for a couple nights. He was great fun to talk to and had this soft and wonderful bed that I sank into and slept for what felt like forever.

Tags: Auld Reekie,Couchsurfing,Edinburgh,Ghost Tour,Hadrian's Wall,Scotland,South Bridge Poltergeist
Categories: Becky Blogs, Couch Surfing, Haggis - Full Monty
2 Comments »

We decided that London and the U.K. would be our next stop. We had already delayed it twice. We were supposed to go there before Paris and then after Paris, but plans changed. We still wanted to go, but as the weeks went by we both realized that it was getting colder up there, and since I hate the cold, well it was now or never. As we started planning, I had a bit of a freak out when I started to understand how expensive the pound is. 1 U.S. dollar is only 0.50 British pounds. So, half of our money was being eaten away the longer we were there and the more we spent. Our Eurail tickets for the trains that we had for the rest of Europe also did not work in the U.K., so we had to approach it all a bit differently. We decided to try to couch surf a couple times and also do a bus tour package for transportation so we could see more of the country up into Wales and Scotland.

Arriving in London was also another of those surreal moments that I keep having in Europe. Riding into the city on the bus from the Stansted airport (which is 1 1/2 – 1 1/4 hours away from the downtown area!), I saw the London Eye and Big Ben poking above the horizon. All around me were the double decker buses, the little red phone boxes and the classic black London cabs. It was just like in the movies.

We basically went straight from the bus station to the underground to find our gracious hosts. Ryan and Natasha, 2 lovely people from Toronto who had been loving in London a few months, had agreed to let us couch surf at their flat for a few days and also had invited us out to a dinner on the town. But, this wasn’t just any dinner, it was a dinner where we ate in total darkness. How cool is that. At Dans Le Noir, we ordered in the lobby while there was still light, but it was only a basic description, like no seafood, or meat only, or strict vegetarian, etc. You still have no idea what they are going to serve to you. That is part of the fun. Our server, Nadine, who was blind, led us, just like on the picture, to our table. She then presented us with the water and wine that we had to figure out how to pour for ourselves in the pitch blackness without getting it everywhere (Poor Ryan lost some of the wine on the table). When dinner was served, I tried multiple times to use my fork, but as I did not have sight to guide me I was never sure if there was anything on the fork and multiple times it ended up in my mouth with nothing on it. In the end I gave up and just used my hands. After dinner you are led out and the servers let you try to guess what you ate. It was a very interesting night. I found myself really feeling for the sight impaired. I found myself straining to see light, or constantly checking to make sure my glass was still there and I wasn’t going to spill. I really appreciated sight. As an aside, the restaurant apparently has cameras everywhere in the eating area to make sure everyone is staying safe and you are instructed not to move or get up without assistance. I wonder if anyone has ever flashed them before they knew they were being watched? I bet they have some stories!

Tags: Couchsurfing,Dans Le Noir,London
Categories: Becky Blogs, Couch Surfing, London
No Comments »

Chris had mentioned this website before we left for our trip called couchsurfing.com where total strangers can surf to find other total strangers and then spend the night on their couch. I was abhorred. What? You want me to spend the night with a stranger who could rob us or beat us or rape us? Are you insane? BUT, as the weeks have rolled by and I see our dollars wasted on crappy hostels, I thought what the hell. Plus, we had met some couples along the way that had talked about it and had great experiences. So, still leary, I went to the website. I have to give it to them, they calmed my fears. All my questions were answered. I set up a profile for us. It was kinda like EBAY, people rate each other after couchsurfing experiences and the more positive responses from other members, the better you look as far as hosting, or being hosted.

So, our first couchsurfing experience was in Munich. The Hostel rates doubled after the first two days due to Oktoberfest and were well out of our budget. Daniel took us in (along with 4 other poor hotel-less/hostel-less souls). We stayed with him for two nights and had a wonderful time. He trusted us with keys to his flat and offered up his computer and kitchen. We were also very lucky in that we were the only couple that we got the blow up mattress while others got the floor. He was great fun to talk to regarding travel stories. It truly gave us a positive opinion of the couchsurfing network along with fostering a sense of companionship amongst different nationalities. We are so gonna do this again!

Tags: Couchsurfing,Munich,Oktoberfest
Categories: Becky Blogs, Couch Surfing, Germany
2 Comments »