Goodbye Glasgow, Hello Edinburgh!

What a day it has been!  This morning I awoke for my last morning in Glasgow.  Madeline and I went to her favorite breakfast place for our farewell meal.  Then she helped me find my way to the underground and to the train station!  The underground is charming -- you must be thinking, "How can a subway be 'charming'"?  Well, after riding the New York subways, it indeed is.  First off, the route of the subway is only one big loop; the inner and outer loop.  The platform is very short and the tube is very small.  It is almost miniature.  It was strangely... charming.


Once I arrived in Edinburgh, my relative Spedding was waiting for me at the station.  "How exactly is Spedding related?" my dear readers may ask?   Well, you will have to find out in tomorrow's post, as I am not sure myself.  Spedding is an adorable older man who is a concert pianist I found out!  He was playing away in the other room while I drank my afternoon tea.  He is the strong silent type.  Anyways, he drove me to his lovely house.  It was built in the 1860s!  Here is my room:

Later on, Spedding dropped me off at his son James' house.  James is a hippie-musician-vegetarian type.  He had long, shaggy hair and a full beard.  He spent an hour talking about the spiritual experiences he has had with birds in California.  I met his "partner" (as Spedding called it) - a Pakistani lady who is studying at the University of Edinburgh.  I also met their two flat mates-- one I really liked named was named Bee, who was sitting at he kitchen table sewing a corset together.  She is studying costumes at the Art University of Edinburgh.  Bee invited me to a craft night she is having with her friends tomorrow- I think I will go!

James and his lady friend took me out to a Sudanese restaurant called The West Nile.  We shared hummus, beans, vegetables, baba ghanoush, pitta bread and some other foods.  Here they are:

James and his girlfriend 

After dinner, his girlfriend took off to go study for an exam, while James took me to his favorite hangout: The Forest Cafe.  As soon as we arrived, only three words came to mind: "Hello Santa Cruz!"  It was like being back at school.  There were hippies and weirdos and poets and musicians sitting around and being artsy.  I felt right at home.. ha!  Outside the cafe we talked to James' friend-- a man dressed in a kilt and vest... with nothing under his it.  He had a hat on with feathers hanging out and a long beard.  He was holding a ukulele, on which he played us a song he wrote.  Inside, we listened to a poetry reading by a man who read about McDonalds taking over the world.  I soon became tired, and Spedding came to pick me up.

A little reminder of Santa Cruz: a poetry reading at the Forest Cafe in Edinburgh