Edinburgh Dream Land

After St. Giles Cathedral and a quick drink at a pub, we headed back to the hotel to change our clothes for the evening. We had already decided we would visit the castle the following day first thing in the morning, so there was really nothing to do but have fun and enjoy our time. We got a bottle of wine from the hotel bar and took it out to the patio, where we enjoyed a long talk over the full bottle. We discussed what we had seen, where we had been, who had been there before us, and what to do next. We talked about food, about drink, the differences between the UK and the US, and all the times I wasn't able to understand what people had said to us. We were both dressed rather nicely and were both quite hungry, so finally we put the cork back into the bottle and gave it to the bar to keep for our return.

We wandered into a pub not far from the hotel for some food. I norally have an incredible fod memory, but for the life of me I don't remember what it was I ate. That could be partially due to the fact that I'm not completely certain of what it was. I knew that I couldn't pronounce it, and in fact Robert ordered it for me. I believe it might have been chicken of some sort, but I remember it was quite good.

Things started to get fuzzy after that. We went from pub to bar to pub, finally ending up in a little place just across the street from the hotel where we shared multiple bottles of wine. By the time we stood up my head was swimming like an olympic athlete in a kiddie pool. I'd never seen anyone drink as much alcohol in my life as I did the Scots that night while still being able to find their way home, or even be able to stand up. Finally the pubs all closed and we were sent on our way. We went back to the hotel, where I decided I had enough, and promptly passed out to sleep soundly until nearly noon the next day. I personally had never had so much to drink in my life. I knew I should be afraid of the morning effects, but I was too drunk to care. I had never in my life known that feeling.

"I've always been proud to say I've never been drunk," I thought to myself, "but I can forget about that now..."

In the morning I woke myself up moaning. It echoed between my ears like a gong being struck time and time again. I felt my heart pounding just behind my eyes, causing them to feel as thought they would pop out of my head if I lifted my eye lids. Somehow I struggled to wake up not long before there was a knock at the door. Room service was delivering breakfast.

I was famished! I felt as though my neck had been cut and I hadn't eaten for days. The cart was wheeled into the room, I got out of bed and rushed over to the table and lifted the lid, and nearly lost what few contents I had in my stomach. The smell of the full Scottish breakfast overwhelmed me. As much as I loved mushrooms, they were the absolute most appauling things I had the displeasure to lay my eyes on in that moment.

I steadied myself and took a breath. Still very hungry, I swallowed my sickness and dove in head first. Robert and I were both feeling the same way. It wasn't long before the food had vanished completely, leaving several empty plates free of even a smear. Scotch Poriadge Oats seemed very much like Oatmeal to me, but better. The Haggis, black pudding, sausage, beans, toast, eggs, mushrooms and everything else tasted like pure heaven to me. My head still pounded, but nothing could get in the way of food!

Finally, with overly full stomachs, Robert and I struggled to pack our bags. We needed to load up the car and check out of the hotel before we could go to the castle. I sat and relaxed a minute, nursing my throbbing head, while Robert went to check out. Just as he got back, he grabbed my camera up and took a photo to forever remember : my first hangover.

I couldn't wait to get to the castle. My camera had a nearly full charge on it and I was ready to go. My head had a hard time catching up to me though, so Robert introduced me to something called Resolve. In the United States, Resolve is a cleaning agent, potent enough to kill someone if they were to drink it. In the United Kingdom, it's one of the most brilliant hangover cures known to man. I don't know if I would have survived the day without it, looking back on that day now.

TO BE CONTINUED...