Edinburgh

This city was by far the best part of Scotland.  How often can you walk out your front door and be greeted by a castle.  It was definitely an awesome city, how can it not be with a with a castle in the middle of it.  That being said
you think it would be hard to get lost considering reference points don't get much better than that.  But once again leave it to me and I'll find a way (obviously not the right way).

So I walk out the front door of the hostel and turn right (1), get some dinner, leave, turn right again (2) to find booze but don't find any so I turn right again (3) down a bust street and find a place.  For those not paying attention I've taken 3 right turns, "The hell with walking back that way, I'll take another right to complete the circle and end up back on my street."  Makes perfect logical sense, but only when streets actually go straight; suddenly I feel like I'm back in St. Catharines for the first time... which basically means I'm F'd.  So after I realize my logic isn't working (because I've passed the same Vietnamese restaurant twice) I decide to cut my losses and retrace my steps.  10 minutes later I'm back at the same restaurant, "Maybe it's a chain restaurant?" look inside, "Nope, same family... and they're finished dinner and on to dessert now."  And they're staring back wondering why I keep walking by look in on them.  So those two roads didn't work, "The hell with it lets try this road." 10 minutes later I really have to go to the bathroom (#2) so I pick up the pace and can't anything.  Turn a corner and of course the same restaurant taunting me, only this time I'm gonna get the last laugh.  So after a couple Avril Lavigne songs (they were playing her cd, not very authentic I thought) I say good-bye to the family in the front window and leave with a solution that can't fail.

So 45 minutes later I've walked around the whole castle, "Fuck this was a stupid idea, at least I haven't see that Vietnamese place." I finally give up and flag down only the second cab I've seen all night and tell him where I have to go.  He tells me, "That's not too far." I reply,"I don't care I just want to get there."  He turns 2 corners which took all of 1 minute and costs me 4 pounds, "Thanks asshole, you could have told me where to go rather than just saying it wasn't too far.  So I've officially been had for the first time on my travels.

My last day in Edinburgh I go on a free walking tour.  It lasts about 2 hours (ironically the same amount of time I was lost).  This tour took me everywhere I'd already been only this time I was being told what I was seeing and each time we walked past something I'd seen was like a kick in the nuts to realize how close I was the entire time.

And it you're wondering, the answer is yes, we did pass the Vietnamese restaurant.