Rest in Peace Traveling Peanut Butter

We woke up early and had a traditional Scottish breakfast. Colin, the owner of the B&B we were staying at, gave us a taste of haggis. For those who are not aware of what haggis is, it is a well-known Scottish dish that is basically a mixture of spice meat and sheep organs. Yes, sheep organs including the brain, the intestines, and the heart. And I tried it. It wasn’t bad. It really just tasted like ground beef with a few chewy bits mixed in.

After breakfast we visited the free National Museum of Scotland where we looked at stone carvings, jewelry, and other items once owned by the Vikings and the Romans who lived in Scotland. They also had live musicians playing in one of the rooms. It’s quite nice to walk around a museum with live music playing! The museum is gigantic and we quickly ran out of time to see everything for we had other plans for the day.

We walked a block down from the museum and went to the Elephant House. This is the birthplace of Harry Potter!! J.K. Rowling sat in the back of this café and wrote the beginnings of Harry Potter on a napkin. It is also voted to have the best coffee in Edinburgh. We had quiche and a latte, along with a chocolate caramel bar. It was amazing to be sitting in the same spot that J.K. Rowling sat in when she was inspired to write. The café’s window looked onto an excellent view of the Edinburgh Castle. When we first arrived in Edinburgh, Brittany mentioned how the castle reminded her of Hogwarts. Once we discovered that J.K. Rowling first started writing Harry Potter in this café we then realize that maybe the castle was an inspiration for Hogwarts. Look at the pictures below and decide for yourself!

After we ate we got on a bus and went to the Edinburgh Zoo. Of course a simple act of just sitting on a bus has to be eventful for us. These 3 teenage boys on a bus next to us made obscene gestures towards us. Brittany and I just put on our sunglasses and looked straight ahead since we are obviously too cool for them anyways.

So the question I’m sure that is on everyone’s minds is why would we go to the Edinburgh Zoo when we live next to the World Famous San Diego Zoo? Well, that’s because San Diego doesn’t have a penguin parade, much less any penguins at all. Yes, Brittany and I traveled by bus to go see a penguin parade. It. Was. Amazing. They have people line up along the pathway and then just open the doors and the penguins decide if they want to come out and parade or not. We got a good amount of the little penguins. They walk so quickly that the parade was over before I even realized it. But it was so much fun to see them walk right in front of you, without any glass or fence in between you and the penguin. After the parade we stayed and watched the penguins being fed and admired the King Penguins who were all so gorgeous and shiny since they are getting ready for mating season.

While we were looking at the penguins, the announcer said that you can adopt a penguin. I thought it was going to be tons of money so I wasn’t even going to ask about it at first. But we soon found out that prices started at only 40 pounds. So after walking around the zoo a bit, we went to the reception and I filled out all the paperwork and handed them my credit card. I am now the official owner of a real penguin!!! And they are going to put my name up outside the penguin exhibit!

After buying myself a penguin, Brittany and I left the zoo and went on a hunt to try and find her boyfriend a souvenir that has his family crest on it since his ancestors are from Scotland. We soon discovered that his clan is categorized as “old and rare” and therefore could not find ANYTHING. After going into many different shops and asking everyone we could find, we followed a lead to the bottom of a basement where we finally found something. Of course I cannot mention what we finally found, since it’s a surprise. But it felt like a treasure hunt and we were so happy when we finally found something.

We returned to our bed and breakfast to pay for our stay since we were going to be leaving early the next day. We had a nice chat with the Colin’s wife about our trip to Europe and how we’ve been friends since we’ve been 8. We headed out to dinner and had a 3 course meal at an Italian restaurant. And on the way back from dinner, we took a different route to get back to our bed and breakfast so we could take some stunning pictures of Arthur’s Seat.