Day 2 - Edinburgh

Ok. Day two of Edinburgh. We basically walked through the city, checking out the sights and then went to Edinburgh Castle. That night the four of us went out for dinner to a really great restaurant where the waiter was kind enough to give us some ideas for our evening. He suggested a jazz club, a bongo club and a front-room pub. We went to the jazz club from the restaurant as he advised that the venue tends to get packed quite early. We arrived before the crowd so we were able to secure a good seat. We ordered some drinks and chatted while the band set up and the other patrons filed in. Once the band was going the place was jam-packed. We stayed for a set and then made our way to the front-room pub, called (yep, it really was) The Royal Oak. We walked into the tiny, livingroom sized pub and were greeted by an inebriated Welshman (the Scotland v. Wales rugby match was on that afternoon so the city was full of Welsh people) who tried to tell us that he was the bouncer and that we weren't allowed in, but after a few people told him to shut up we realized that he was simply slagging us. As we looked around, we noticed two men with guitars were singing traditional music. The crowd was told to hush so that they could be heard, but that didn't last long. We ordered drinks (Luke and Brent ordered a beer called Tetley's which, as the name suggests, is made with tea. They LOVED it). After about half an hour the inebriated Welshman decided that he was going to sing a few songs for us all. He belted out a few tunes and then proceeded to jump up onto one of the benches and flash his manhood. (I guess we shouldn't have been surprised, after all, everyone knows that you don't wear undies when you're wearing a kilt). Everyone thought it was funny/horrifying. Eventually he stepped down. After he was finished, a group of about eight Welshmen broke into song. Turns out they were a choir so, needless to say, the were fantastic. We basically spent the night chatting and listening to the patrons take their turns singing. Close to the end of the night the Welsh choir asked Luke to sing something so he and Brent belted out the national anthem with Sharon and I doing back up vocals. It was hilarious as some of the men in the choir actually knew the words and joined in! Great craic. One of the best nights we've had. Eventually the lights were turned on and we were sent home. We got ourselves back to the apartment and realized that we were famished so Luke and Brent walked up to Burgers and Beer where they were able to snag some poutine and a bottle of wine. We all tucked into the food while watching Dirty Dancing.