Our first stop was in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. After a late flight out of Newark, we landed in Edinburgh at roughly 7:30am. This was my first experince flying for such a long period of time and I couldn't wait to strech my legs and see what the city had in store. Going through customs was one of my favorite memories from this first day. As I stepped up to the podium, the immigratin officer looked at me and then my passport and asked,"This your first time abroad?" I nodded yes and he replied," I'll make sure to give you a good stamp then." With that I went through the gates, picked up my luggage and began my adventure. 

We were picked up by big vans and we brought to the Sheridan Grand Hotel in the middle of Edinburgh. The hotel was right across from the opera house and the castle was visable from the breakfast room. Our rooms wern't ready at 8am so we got to put all of our luggage in storage and Mom and I went out for a nice walk along Princes Street, the big shopping street in Edinburgh. 

The little allyways of the city boasted shops, cafes, and larger department stories. I had my first brush with Primark and Jack Willis in Edinburgh, stores I would continually visit during my stay in Britian. 

Our Tauck trip officially began with an opening reception where we met our fellow travellers. At the welcome dinner we were serendaed by bagpipes and then I had my first taste of haggis, a Scottish delicaciy. Although I was aprehensive about eating the sheep innerds but suprisingly the delciacy wasn't bad. 

The next morning we set off on our tour of Holyrood Palace, home to Mary Queen of Scots. I being the huge history nerd that I am soaked in all the gradeur of the palace and was especially excited to see the spot where the Queen's Advisor David Rizzio was murdered in an elaborate plot. We then hopped back on the bus and headed to Edinburgh Castle. The views were spectalular and I was very excited to see the stone of scone and all the royal jewels. 

After our visits to the two palaces, we were given free time to walk around the Old town and the Royal Mile which streched from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace. My mom and I stopped in the World's End pub for a refreshing pint and a nice meal of fish and chips. Expoloring the city and being able to walk around amongst it's locals was a wonderful feeling. I felt like I had finally imersed myself into a new culture, something I looked forward to doing before leaving the states. I was very sad to leave Edinburgh and during my last breakfast looking out on the Opera house and to the castle sittig on top of the hill, I knew that Scotland's capital had captured my heart.