On Monday, Erin and I left Dublin and headed onward to Edinburgh, Scotland.After riding three different bus for two hours, we finally found the Priestville Guesthouse. Now, if you are ever going to go and visit Edinburgh, you must stay at the Priestville Guesthouse. I felt like I was spending a week at my grandparents house. The room was great and Colin (the owner) provided us with tea and biscuits in our room everyday. When we arrived, they gave us maps (which we much needed) and a map they had made with suggested restaurants to go to. The Guesthouse even had a video library, where we watched Seven and Happy Gilmore (it down poured one night). Also, since Erin and I could never finish our huge Continental breakfast, Colin turned our rolls into cheese and butter sandwiches for us to eat later on - he even did this the we left so we had a snack on the train, so sweet!
On our first day in Edinburgh, we did a New Europe Walking Tour. I would highly recommend this tour (and a huge thanks to Kelly for this recommendation). The New Europe Walking Tour is a three walking tour (free but tip based), which brings you throughout the city of Edinburgh, pointing out all the sights. I saw the Elephant House where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, Edinburgh Castle, St. Giles Cathedral (where Sean Connery was knighted), and much more. We stopped outside this one pub called Maggie Dickson Pub, which has an interesting tale attached to it.
Maggie Dickson was a women who was deserted by her husband in the early 18th century. As a result, Maggie left Edinburgh and moved to the countryside where she started working at an inn. Not long after, Maggie fell in love with the Innkeeper's son and she soon became pregnant. However, Maggie concealed the pregnancy successfully, for if the innkeeper found out she would be forced to leave. Maggie concealed the pregnancy until the baby was born. Yet, sadly, the baby was stillborn, so Maggie decided to continue hiding the baby's existence by disposing the body in the nearest river. This plan would have work, except for the fact that two men saw what Maggie was doing and brought her back to Edinburgh to be arrested and tried. What was Maggie arrested for? Not adultery (since she was still married to her husband when she had the affair), not for disposing a human body down a river (for it was illegal), but for concealing the pregnancy. Maggie was found guilty and hanged. After the hanging, she was pronounced dead and her body was brought to the local cemetery. However, her body never arrived to the cemetery because during the journey, the driver heard a knock coming from the coffin. When the driver lifted the lead, out popped Maggie, quite alive. Since Maggie could not be tried for the same crime twice, she was free to live. Maggie was also freed from her marriage - since "it's till Death do us part", and Maggie was technically dead.
Our second day was spent walking around the city doing a ton of sightseeing. As we were in the National Museum of Scotland searching for Dolly the sheep (who we did eventually find), we chatted with a really nice museum man who told us the man sight we had to go and see was the Rosslyn Chapel. So, the next day, after searching the internet and finding the right bus routes, we headed to Roslin. Roslin is a beautiful village and the chapel is gorgeous. The architecture within the chapel is absolutely exquisite. The chapel was a major feature in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, and was used as a location in the movie. Supposedly this chapel not only holds the holy grail, but also the ark of the covenant and the real stone of destiny. The chapel was founded in 1446. Within the chapel there are many symbols connecting to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. Also, within the chapel are so carvings of Indian corn (maize). However, the chapel was built before Columbus technically discovered America, so how did these carvings come to be?
Overall, my trip to Edinburgh was absolutely fabulous. I would have loved to spend more time there and would love to go back. 
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