No, we're not jetlagged!

Actually, surprisingly enough, we're both doing alright with the whole jetlag thing. Although, by the time we got home last night, we were pretty zonked, so we hit the sack before posting anything. Yesterday was...oh, how to put it so you won't all be horribly jealous and shun us for the rest of our lives...reeeeaaallly cool. It started out with Alyson and Alan picking us up at our hostel and driving us to Parliament where we got an insiders tour (even sat in an MSP's office). We learned a lot about the Scottish Parliament and about what Alyson spent the last five months doing, which was fun. Really fun. After that we had a walking tour of Edinburgh City. Once again, with Alan there to tell us the history and Aly there to tell us what was worth seeing and what we could pass by unrepentantly. We saw Edinburgh castle, from up close and afar. We walked up and down many fascinating and famous streets, particularly the Royal Mile. St. Giles Cathedral was beautiful. We also spent some time in a kilt weaving factory, which was really cool (but severely lacking in both MacBean and MacNeil merchandise). We walked around a bit more, stopped by the Scot Monument (commemorating Sir Walter Scott) and watched the hundreds of people packed into the park enjoying the rare day of sunshine. We had to fetch Alan's car then, so it wouldn't be locked in the Parliament parking garage. We went to Aly's flat to chill for a bit and watched Talledaga Nights. When that was over, we went to the Meadows, which is a lovely park right across the street from our hostel, to have a bbq with the YSA in Alyson and Alan's ward here. It was fun to meet other people our age here, although very few of them were actually Scottish! Lots of exchange students. I have never seen such things in the US, but here they have these ingenious portable barbequers that are just charcoal in a metal dish thing that you set on fire, and you can take it anywhere! Brilliant, I say. We went grocery shopping with Aly and Alan after, and bought a movie to top off the night (Boy in the Striped Pajamas--somewhat traumatizing). We got home after one, and were pretty exhausted, but it was definately a good day of exploring the city! Alyson said we saw most of the major sights, which was nice to hear.