March 25

We woke up this morning and were pleased to have strong coffee, muesli with dried fruit, and yogurt. Total step up from corn flakes and room-temperature whole milk which frequents the hostel breakfast lineup. Maggie was brave enough to try Veggie-mite (it was promptly spit out in 4 seconds flat). We bundled and hit Edinburgh. It was fuh-reezing, but we managed to walk around all of the main sites. We saw the Elephant House--the cafe were JK Rowling began writing Harry Potter. The bathroom walls were filled with fan graffiti thanking her for her work. I was touched by one father's note about how JK gave his children the gift of imagination. In hindsight now, I'm bothered by how it was written in the women's bathroom (?). Every store and restaurant drew me in with their craftful logos and colorfully painted facades. I said, "That store looks cute!" enough times to be considered annoying. Maggie got an awesome jean jacket at a vintage store before we stopped in at the free Scottish National History museum more out of coldness than curiosity. By this time, we were defrosting and hungry, so we knew there was only one remedy: soup. I have had great luck using TripAdvisor for restaurant recommendations--I have found that having a place or activity in mind, as opposed to just "wandering" makes for more pleasant traveling. Union of Genius came highly recommended for its hearty, healthy soups. They had very limited seating, so we people watched to wait for one of the two tables to open. But, once we were served our trio of soup and bread samples, the wait for a table didn't matter. Tomato and red pepper, leek and potato, and curried coconut sweet potato with wholemeal, olive, and poppy breads. Hit the spot in all kinds of ways. We then regrouped at the hostel and made plans to grab Mexican (it had been too long) and go to a comedy club. Mexican dinner was mediocre. I decided to try ceviche--something I had seen plenty of times on Top Chef, but never actually tried. It was fine, but I left wishing I had ordered something warm and cheesy. The comedy club was having their Monday beginner's night event, boasting over 10 acts. We went into it knowing it would be hit or miss. I ordered some cider (adult apple juice and I really enjoyed it) and got ready for the show. We were pleasantly surprised! Some acts were laugh out loud funny, some were clearly, um, learning the art of comedy (that's P.C., right?), some had such heavy accents we had trouble understanding! The three of us had a great time; the laughs were definitely worth the 2 pound cover charge (Russell, you would have loved it here). The highlights in the acts included a choreographed dance to a song mashup and stories about penguins at the Edinburgh zoo.