Breakfast was at 8 and we were leaving at 8:40. I only gave myself about 10 minutes to eat so I was definitely chowing down. I ate some frosted flakes, cheese, ham, and some toast. I took a chocolate muffin and banana to go. We walked to the train station and jumped on a train for about 10 minutes. We switched trains and stayed on this one for the next like 7 hours probably. We got comfy and then endured the ride. Luckily, I had downloaded some Netflix, so I was able to keep from going crazy. The last hour I just looked out the window and saw some amazing scenery. I didn't know we would be passing a coast so when I saw blue waters, I was a bit surprised. It was a welcomed surprise though. The scenery was so diverse and wonderful that I wrote down some of the things I saw. The wildflowers along the track and out in their fields were orange and purple. The prettiest wildflowers I have ever seen. There were random castles nestled among rolling hills and farms. There were a lot of sheep and grazing fields, but also, a lot of hay fields. Most of the hay had been harvested and baled. Some farmers were still out in their tractors and in their fields. The farmland is so hilly here. It is rather beautiful because you can see the fields in their entirety hanging on the sides of hills. There were families getting out of their cars ready to hike the coastline. The coast had short cliffs dropping into the ocean but also hills that sloped into the ocean as well. There were seagulls in the fields and flying above. One farm had a U.K. flag on a pole which caught me off guard because I am so used to seeing American flags on farms. I guess I was expecting to see our flag instead. There were also sections of pine tree forests dispersed through the hills as well. Pine trees are my favorite kinds of trees. Second is the willow tree. There were also a lot of golf courses here and there. The buildings in towns are all the same style and are all close together or connected. Most of them have at least two chimneys too. It is quite the scene with all the same roofs and colors and chimneys. Picturesque for sure. We finally made it to Edinburgh and we walked to our hotel. We only had a few minutes before we had to walk to the Elephant House for our dinner reservation. The hotel is sooooo nice. By far the nicest thing we have stayed in. It is extremely modern and clean and fresh. I love it here. None of us want to leave. We walked down the royal mile to the Elephant House. All of the buildings are old and and beautiful. We didn't have time to stop and take pictures tonight but I can't wait until tomorrow when we get to explore Edinburgh. The Elephant House is a place where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter series. I ate a chicken pie with mashed potatoes and some chocolate fudge cake. It was quite satisfactory. I was stuffed. After dinner, we went to walk around the town and shop some. We saw a lot of scarves, kilts, bagpipes, and scottie dogs. When I was little I had a lot of scottie dog themed clothing and one of my favorite stuffed animals was a scottie. So it was so fun to see so many scotties! Also, the Watson family has Scottish ancestry so there were a lot of Watson family history books and items with the Watson family seal on them. That was cool. Growing up, I never saw my name 'Jencie' on any of those cool name items so it was fun to see my last name somewhere. There was also this man playing the bagpipes on the street so we stopped to listen to him awhile. We went into a few jewelry shops too to look at their rings. It was a fun relaxed night in Edinburgh and I can't wait to explore so much more tomorrow. When we came back to the room we did some homework and planned some more free travel (still stressful, yay) and then finally could go to sleep.

Fun Facts: The train ticket checker said cheers to me today and I wasn't sure how to respond but I loved actually getting to experience a real cheers greeting. The showers in the U.K. all have like half a glass door so I'm not sure how they keep their floors dry with all that open air. The shower gel they provided smelled like pine trees (which again, is my favorite) so that was perfect. Hannah gave her number to the bagpipe guy.

Shoutout: SARA DENTON! I love you! I got to FaceTime my bestie today and it was fabulous. Thanks for catching me up on your life and listening to me ramble about how much I love the U.K. MISS YOU!