So. (buttons)

Say it out loud. It makes more sense.

Story 1-I LOVE THE WEST WING. I JUST DO. I am absolutely head over heels in love with Josh Lyman, played by Bradley Whitford. I just love him.
He's adorable.

Moving on.

Story 2-a semi brief recap of day 2 in Scotland. However, not all that brief because once we got on the train, things weren't so interesting.
Lara and I woke up and hiked into town to do the hop on/hop off bus tour to ensure that we saw stuff. Namely Edinburgh Castle cause it's on a hill and totally awesome looking.

So we saw some stuff, like where Sean Connery took his acting lessons, the Scottish residence of the Queen when she decides to stop by, and a Museum of Childhood, started by a guy who doesn't even like kids.

But Edinburgh Castle was totally awesome. It's up on this hill and is fortified like whoa. There was a siege there for a couple of years by this guy who was holding it for the "true" Queen, Mary Queen of Scots, back in the 1500's. He lost and got executed. A common fate for people back in the day it seems.
Scotland is also the home of the oldest Standards in the UK, and they were lost for a while too. Apparently during some sort of attack they wrapped them in a linen cloth and dumped them down the King's privy. And then forgot for a while.
It's unclear when, but at some point they were moved to a chest where they were found in the 1700's or so. Totally sweet.
We also saw the One O'Clock Gun, which fires everyday at 1, except Sundays. It started back when watches were incredibly unreliable, and so everyone could set their watch by it. Now, I don't know how the people who were firing the gun knew when it was 1 in the afternoon, but it's a good story nonetheless.

We saw St. Margaret's Chapel, which is the oldest building on the site. It dates back to the early 12 century, and she was Queen of Scotland. She is said to have died of a broken heart after hearing that her husband was killed a few days earlier. She was quite ill, apparently, and just died. The people of the castle lowered her body down, which is super impressive if you see the photos I will try to post. She died in 1093 too.

The castle sits on top of an old volcano that erupted millions of years ago, which also gives it a super fabulous position over the city.

Here are photos.

Lara and I got to the train and rode it for a while. A fairly uneventful train ride, both of us felt ill at alternating times. Which kinda sucked. We also weren't too sure of the location of our hotel in London, and this super nice guy next to us looked it up on his internet phone, which I thought was really cool. Sometimes I feel that wouldn't happen back in the States.

Whatever. It was really nice of him. Our train also got delayed a little due to signal problems, which our train manager explained to us at every opportunity he got. I thought it was funny. But the nice thing? We totally made up the time once we got to London. In fact, we were early getting in.

So Lara and I got our Underground on to our hotel, which was super close to the Paddington Station. And we got for a steal. Unfortunately neither of us ever had the forethought to take a picture, but it was a posh place for sure.
Flat screen tv, big bathroom, water in the fridge, fresh flowers on the desk...probably cost way more than the 50 pounds a night that we payed.
Oh the internet. How I love thee.

Anyway. That was day 2. And it was a whirlwind, just as I told you. The bus tour, the castle, the train ride-all kind of a blur.
But an awesome blur.

(sidenote-the parents are here which means I'll be home soon. weird)