Shake Bacon Crown!

On Tuesday night we decided to be totally daring and go out at night. So we went to the pub across the road, where I learned that alcohol is so expensive that I could have bought two slabs of chocolate for the price of my drink. The drink in question was actually quite nice, but given the choice, I'll take the chocolate, thanks. Cath joined us later, and we hung out on grubby sofas at the hostel until late.

The next morning, I shook Ro out of the sleep of death (for a minute, I was genuinely concerned he might be in a coma), then got to feel particularly badass as I went about drinking tea (from a glass, stirred with a knife), drying my hair (hand dryer), and opening chickpeas (hacked with a knife).

I am the Bear Grylls of the youth hostel.

Cath joined us for the free walking tour, led by our cuter-than-a-guinea-pig guide, Andy, and we had a great time exploring the city.

Because what's cuter than nailing an Australian to the Mercat Cross?

After the tour, we escaped the rain in a coffee shop in New Town for a while, before Cath had to leave us, whereupon Ro and I went exploring in New Town. We felt incredibly adventurous, although this may not have been strictly accurate, since we only adventured downhill. Then again, Frodo would totally have taken a bus up Mount Doom if he'd been given the option, so it still counts. Since we can't resist shops which sell interesting food, we had a look around a health store which turned out to sell vegan millionaire's shortbread (OMG). As life is too short not to eat delicious vegan food, I bought some, and have since eaten what may be called, by some people's standards, "too much". But I am a happy vegan, if an increasingly spherical one.

We also found the Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful (and Ro got to touch a squirrel! And then disinfect his hands), but we didn't have much of a chance to appreciate them because Prince Philip made it start raining again, so we had to dash for the bus, which was, by some happy chance, the right one.

We assumed the weather would clear up a little for our grocery trip, but it only got worse, which meant that we got back to the hostel soaked and freezing and fit for nothing but drinking tea in our pyjamas for the rest of the evening.

This morning, we did laundry, like the responsible adults we are, following the perfectly clear instructions on the washing machine:

1. Smile and rejoice with fireworks!

2. Not you, excludey.

3. Stick person pilates.

4. Push various buttons.

5. Balance a coin on a toothless crocodile.

6. Water + flower! Hooray!

1. Shake bacon crown.

2. Don top hat!

3. More pilates... But no snails.

4. Move shirts to other side.

5. Finish pilates.

We met up with Cath again, and went to Calton Hill, where the fake Parthenon (the National Monument) is, together with a whole lot of pretentious Greeks-style buildings. The best part of the Farthenon is that it only got half built before the city ran out of money.

Awkward.

But the view is lovely.

The terrifying clicking noise as it pounces on you could be the last thing you ever hear.

After picnicking on some vegan haggis and choc-cherry vegan tiffins (OMG) from the Baked Potato Shop, we went to the museum, where we had a totally awesome time pressing all the buttons we could find. We may have had slightly too much fun with the buttons, because we got kicked out at closing time before we'd managed to get through even half the exhibits.

Whatever. It was totally worth it.

Fish camouflage game! Ro and Cath made their fish get eaten by sharks. Mine survived.

Does the fossil have... a beard?

My very own fossil rubbing! Ali, age 22 and a half.