So after the Lake District (which is just breathtakingly beautiful), we went up to Edinburgh. I was a bit irritated that we didn't have anything specific planned for being in town, but that was fine. I was a bit disappointed by our accommodations at the bar/hostel (yes, on the street sign, it has "bar" in front of "hostel"), but that was fine as well. Then I went trudging around town, admittedly a bit tipsy, looking for an ATM when I found that the town has a freakin' kafrillion steps, and we were at the bottom of them.
As most of you probably know, I have a tricky knee. It's usually pretty okay as long as I don't stand for a long time or walk down a lot of steps. Oddly enough, walking *up* steps makes my muscles sore, but my knee certainly does just fine. I believe there's actually more stress put on your knees by going down stairs, but whatever the case, I've found that if I have to go down more than a few flights of stairs, my leg will start swelling.
Our hostel, as I mentioned, is at the bottom of... well, kind of a gorge. We're right next to the train tracks which cut through the middle of the city. So I go up one side of the city (only 20 billion steps), and I wander around and take a bridge to the other side of the city. Yes, the gorge we're staying in is so deep that they bridged it over. After being asked directions by very unfortunate tourists (I actually think I did direct them the right way!) and being serenaded by two elderly and VERY drunk scots, I find an ATM and set about finding my way home. I could go back the way I came, but I'm now on the same side of the gorge as my hostel is on, so I figure I should just start walking downhill and I'll find it eventually. Yeah. My options are to take a street which seemingly curves away from the direction our hostel is in, or try to go down a "close". The one I opted for is called "Fleshmarket Close" (and yes, I giggled like a maniac at that one), and as you can see in the picture, it's basically just an alleyway with steps. Steps that go down, down, down. It actually worked out okay and I was within about 200 yards of the hostel when I came out on the bottom.
However.
At this point, I was feeling fine. I hadn't quite walked off all the alcohol and I wasn't feeling any pain. I stopped drinking and just hung out with everyone in the bar area of the hostel then went to bed. Unfortunately, when I woke up, my knee and ankle were both huge and as painful as one might expect. I had another day and evening in Edinburgh and then we were to take the train 1/2 way home, stop at a city called York for a couple of hours, then continue on to London. It was at that point that I just cut the proverbial gordian knot. Instead of puttering around the city the next day, I went to Rosslyn Chapel (the masonic thing and the holy grail thing, blah blah blah), then hopped on a train and came back to London. Instead of sleeping with 12 other obnoxious people, I slept in my own bed in the flat. Instead of spending the entire next day traveling, I spent it at the Imperial War Museum, Harrods, and an antique book seller's place. Even better yet, I still had 3 free days in front of me with no flatmates in sight. They've all gone to Rome. HA!
So, all's well that ends well, right? They left an enormous mess in the flat, but they're gone and I have some peace. The train fare was a small price to pay for an extra day alone!
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