good talk

Landed at Gatwick, took the train to Victoria Station and bought a bus round-trip to Edinburgh, left from the nearby station, arriving at 8 A.M.  I hadn't been in Scotland in 28 years, was overdue.  Went to Holyrood Castle, the Queen's residence in Scotland, for a week a year.  Begun with the Augustinian Abbey in 1128, which ruins are there, and built-on over the centuries, many of the Scottish Kings are buried here.  In 1566, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, burst-in with others and dragged her Secretary, the Italian, David Rizzio, into an alcove, in which I stood, and they stabbed poor Rizzio 56 times.  Across the street is the Scottish Parliament, and I sat in the Gallery as it was in session.  In the gift-shoppe you can buy (Scotch is whiskey and Scottish are people) bottles of Scotch Whiskey and other liquors--I asked the lady, is this appropriate (Scots), and my query seemed to make her uncomfortable. St. Giles Cathedral is the center for the Church of Scotland, and the fiery reformer, John Knox, would preach hell and brimstone, and was buried there in 1572.  Went to Edinburgh Castle, a fortress overlooking, begun by David 1 in the 12th Century, there's a lot to see, with the Scottish War Museum, and the Scottish Crown Jewels, and more, it's really neat.  I was at the Univ. of Edinburgh, went to the Scottish Mus. of Modern Art, the Scottish National Gallery has a diverse collection, the National Museum of Scotland is large and impressive,  with much of natural-history and other things. Sort of across the street, I went to the Elephant House, a nice cafe, and sat at the same table as did J.K. Rowling when she wrote "Harry Potter."  As you've gathered, Edinburgh is well worth-visiting.  Lots of non-Scots there, from the bus station I went to their Visitor's Center, and they found me space at a big hostel.  Scotland is expensive, and I didn't want to spend all that money for a room, and I like to mix with people.  It was 28 pounds (42 U.S.), to be in a 4-person room, and another 4 pounds for breakfast, the groaning buffet-table, and I had haggis for the first-time, a Scottish National Dish, it's cooked sheep-intestine, oh, it's real good.  My room had 2 bunk-beds, and a bathroom, I had a lower-bed, the upper was from Sardinia, and the other lower-bed was from Japan, both were "19" and very-cute girls.  Now, this wouldn't have worked as well had it been instead, many of the male-members of the TV Media, a girl would wake-up in the middle of the night with him straddling ...I saw the way you looked at me... ...I know what you want... ...You're insane... ...Get away from me...