Day 2 in Edinburgh

I slept in today (I haven't been getting much sleep) and spent the first part of today alone exploring Edinburgh. I took my time enjoying Edinburgh Castle and tried lots of new food. I'm in the cafe at my hotel right now, and listening to the Pussycat Dolls version of "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire that everyone's been talking about over here.Person:

I offered to take a picture for this guy and his friend while on the Argyle Battery in the castle. He wanted to take a picture with me, too. I had many interactions like these with other tourists as I explored the castle, often without having the benefit of a shared language.

Place:

The hotel I'm staying in is called Malmaison and is part of a chain of high-end hotels around the UK (Pat was able to get us a great rate since his company uses the hotel regularly). The building that houses it is very close to a river that leads inland from the Firth of Forth, and was built in 1883 as a Sailors' house (kind of a hotel for sailors from what I can gather). It's right on the river in the part of Edinburgh known as Leith, and used to be a major part of the port before ships got too big to come into water this shallow.

Food:

I can't choose just one food today, as I tried many new things. I had an Irn-Bru, which is a Scottish soda and one of the few sodas worldwide that outsells Coca-Cola in a particular country. I also had vegetarian haggis, which was really delicious (vegetarian food in general is much easier to find in the UK). I also had a flapjack, which is kind of like a dessert bar made from oats and sugar. The one I had was covered in caramel fudge (yummm). For dinner I had a nut loaf, which is a common vegetarian dish here. It's basically a vegetarian meat loaf that's been covered in puff pastry (as I mentioned before, the British have a penchant for this). This one was served with a savory blueberry sauce. I capped off the night with a recent and unlikely Scottish classic: deep-fried Mars Bar! Amazing.