The Adventures of Joe Trap

Edinburgh, Scotland

My parents arrived here on Monday night, and we were off to Scotland on
Wednesday morning through EasyBus and EasyJet.  We got to our B&B at 2pm
and unpacked and settled in for a four day adventure.  On Thursday we got a
24 hour travel pass for the tour buses in the city and took them about three
times to get the full tour.  We also stopped at the Castle on the first day
and that pretty much summed up our first day there.  My mom feel in love
with the castle, and I'll admit It was one of the more impressive castle I've
seen.  The next day we went to the Museum of Scotland and learned the
history of the Scottish people.  I never knew how poor the Scots were and
how unifying with England by a Scottish King (James VI) was how it was resolved
after all the years the English tried to overtake the Scottish by force. 
The Money (still in Pounds, but with their own faces on the bills), Laws,
Education, etc. are all governed by the Scots, and the rest is by the English. 
We got tours of the free museum and the natural history one following it. 
After that museum I went to the Elephant House (where half of the first Happy
Potter Book was written) and had an amazing hot chocolate with Carmel.  My
parents went to the Natural History museum next door during this time. 

The Elephant House Cafe served me Hot Chocolate (where Happy Potter was written.

      The cafe was packed, and it was a small, locally
owned heartwarming place.  It was a little cramped, but compared to the
rainy, cold weather outside--that seemed perfectly suitable.  It was filled
with locals, not so much tourists...most of them were outside wandering the
streets or taking pictures of the buildings,  etc... After this short break
I went back to the Natural History museum and met up with my parents, and we
went to the surgical museum to try to get it.  It was closed because there
was graduation from the students at the university, so we didn't get a chance to
see that.  I was getting a little sick of seeing all these museums anyways. 
We shopped for a few hours on Prices Street and found some interesting Scottish
cookies. 

     Then we decided to call it a day since it was 6pm. 
I wrote in my journal for my BES course and watched TV.  Since the weather
was so cold their I was couching through most of the night.  On Saturday,
we went down to the Scottish Parliament and got to look through the main
visitor's lobby.  We didn't get a tour or any of that since they were in
delegation at the current time.  After that we had lunch and headed back to
catch our coach back to airport.  Quite a fun trip if you ask me, even with
the parents. 

Brighton, England

Me on the rocky beach of Brighton

     Last Saturday, Peter and I went to Brighton (50
miles south of London on the coast of the English Channel).  The trip took
two hours on the coach, and it was worth it for only 10 GBP return per person. 
That's quite cheap compared to the prices I've seen for flights and B&B's,
etc...  Well, after the two hour bus ride, we got into the town, and heard
the scraping sounds of the ocean moving the rocky coast around.  I've been
told it was a unique sound, and indeed it was! 

     We walked around the city, running into George IV's
Palace, many various shops, and tons of Jewelry stores as well.  After
walking around for about five hours and eating a mammoth hamburger at a pub, We
found a place called "American Bar and Grill" on a huge green banner.  At
this point we were desperate to have a rest and drink or two.  Well after
drinking through happy hour (which was a first for me) and a few mix drinks
later, we met a mate from Brighton who works in the IT industry.  He (Matt)
talked to Peter about American and British Politics (not surprising, since every
British person here has an opinion or two about Politics).  Then we talked
about what to do in Brighton, the numerous night clubs that play Trance, House,
etc..., his brief university experience in IT before quitting and joining the
workforce, etc.  The strange thing is that since public university's are
practically free (about $5,000) that a degree doesn't mean as much since
everyone has one.  Work experience seems to be a major motivator with
employers over here.  I don't agree that college is not important, I feel
that it is.  A Master Degree is highly regarded since you must be accepted
into the program and the admission fees are about  $20,000 a year. One of
the Matt's I work with is attempting to get his MA after his music technology
degree left him unemployed. But back to Brighton, the Matt we met was quite an interesting person, and now we have someone to
party with if we ever return.  Matt had to go buy some groceries, so Peter
and I went to a Chinese Restaurant up the street. 

     And I had the worst Sweet and Sour Chicken of my
life.  It was okay I suppose, but not what I would prefer to be eating
after happy hour.  After the food, I wanted to check out the Pier, and they
had tons of arcade games, casino slot machines, a European Mix of DDR!, coin
pushing machines that you win if you knock them off, etc...  Past the giant
casino and arcade, there were many rides the younger kids, and it was almost
like a little fair.  Kind of a fun place if I was 5-10 year younger. but we
both  enjoyed the arcade games.  Very fun!.  We went back to the
bus stop, which left at 9:30 pm (or over here it is 21:30).  The ride back
was long and dark and we were wiped out after our journey. 

# posted by Joseph Trapani @ Sunday, November 06, 2005