Days 2 & 3 in Edinburgh

So I ended off last post with my free walking tour. On that tour, they told us what haggis was. It's a Scottish dish that consists of taking a sheep's heart and lungs, then putting it inside a sheep's stomach, throwing in some oatmeal, then baking it for a couple of hours. Gross! I had to try it! So I found some haggis that was middle-range priced and ordered it. The only way to describe it was like mixing oatmeal with Styrofoam. I did finish it, but only with the help of the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes that came along with it. I'm looking forward to going to countries in Europe where they are known for there food. Places like Italy and Germany. But I'm also having a great time here on the island. After I finished the haggis, I explored Edinburgh a bit, then I found an awesome place to go hiking. That got me really excited, so I got to the top of this cliff like thing and saw a mountain-like structure behind me. I decided to save that for the next day. I also got a good view of the ocean. So yesterday, I got to the top of this mountain and found out it was actually a volcano that had erupted a long time ago, and that's what gives Edinburgh its hilly structure. Edinburgh Castle is right on the edge of this cliff, which is apparently one of the hills that was caused by this volcano. It was pretty cool. So I hiked back down the volcano and decided I wanted to go walk to the ocean. After about an hour and a half of walking in the general direction of the ocean, I found the ocean and spent some time there just looking around. I went back, and found a Scottish church that was having some kind of a service there. I sat in on the balcony and during the songs they kept talking about someone named Sam. I couldn't figure out who it was, and then I realized that it was the way they said the word Psalm. I chuckled to myself a little bit and just listened to the choir singing the "Sam 138." They were very talented, and I'm glad I went there. Today I went and visited Edinburgh castle, which was pretty cool, but a little disappointing. I hadn't expected it to be as modernized as it was. They had renovated a lot of it, and there was a bookstore, a gift shop, and two cafeterias in the castle. It was still cool though. I also visited the Scottish national gallery today, which had some more artwork by famous Europeans. I fly to Paris tomorrow, so more to come later!