Wait. This does NOT look like the Hogwart's Express. Wait. The inside does NOT look like the Hogwart's Express. WAIT. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE WERE EXPECTING. Well maybe I should only speak for myself. I had illusions of grandeur, clearly. No magical John Williams music tinkling mischievously in the background, no witch selling Bertie Botts or chocolate frogs, no one wearing capes, no dementors, nothing! I just sat there! No magic! Poop!
But it was an old steam engine called The Jacobite which was cool. I guess. Okay yeah that's cool.
Most people did NOT get these cool compartments. There were only a few. But that was the only Harry Potter-y thing about it all.
And then the train stopped. And our leaders said "Go get lunch! And be back on the bus!" So we ran away to get lunch. And almost everyone got fish & chips. It was a lot of food! It was also pretty good.
Nomz on the bus:
AND THE PLOT THICKENS:
Our bus broke down. The wheel fell off. We went careening down a hill and we were about to smash into a bridge built by the Romans in 1289AD but the troll that lived there ran out and caught us, nearly killing himself in the process. He was really brave. But he survived and so did we. So we waited for a new wheel. It turns out that the troll was Hagrid's brother. Small world.
But actually, we just had to sit there for over 2 hours.
At first, sitting there was fun, because we got out of the bus and frolicked. Here's a picture of our sad bus:
And here I am frolicking:
BUT THEN
we were rescued by a new bus. And we got to stop for coffee and nomz and go on a little hike to see all of this amazing beauty:
Bridge in HARRY POTTER:
Can this be real? Does someone actually live there? Wow.
I can't get over the colors. I really can't.
In case you are wondering what I am doing, I am not taking a picture. I am holding a wizarding wand and I am poking it into the air!
We had a quick stop to see the ruins of a castle... to bad we didn't have more time... but our bus incident really put a damper on things.... In fact... we were supposed to go on a BOAT RIDE on the Loch Ness but we couldn't do that anymore. I was really disappointed about this.
That night at the hostel, we got to try some Scottish food... Oh gosh. On the left is haggis, and on the right was some stew thing? EW EW EW EW EW
I look demonic and I don't know why.
No. I couldn't eat it. I just couldn't. So I went and got a banana out of my bag and ate that for dinner instead.
Dessert was delicious though! Oats soaked in whiskey mixed up with cream and raspberries!
That night we learned some Scottish dances, but I only participated in the first one because after that I was way too dizzy from all of the spinning in circles it involved...
