Edinburgh

This place is a great mix of historical and modern. The architecture is BEAUTIFUL! Some of these buildings are older than the entire States, so it's really unlike anything I've seen. I'm in Edinburgh now, and I have been able to work out with a fantastic Judo club here... some of whom are members of the Great Britain world team. I believe that one is actually ranked pretty high in the world rankings, so this place is pretty top-notch. It's nice going to practice with about 20 black belts, whereas in the States we're lucky to have 14 total people show up at all.

So far, I've just kinda walked around and enjoyed the scenery. The city has lots of hills, so it's pretty easy to get a good view of the city. I went to Edinburgh Castle, and it was pretty cool too... lots of war history in that place, including one exhibit in particular (I took a picture of it, but haven't put it up yet) which contained a Nazi German flag, a Japanese flag, and a katana all together (obviously from WWII). Pretty sweet.


Yesterday, I actually played a proper game of football (soccer) with the Judo club here, and I scored a goal! I haven't played a game in about 12 years, so it was lots of fun, but I wasn't very good. It's amazing how intense they get here about their football. Last night was spent again with the Judo club at a party (they just finished a series of tournaments, so they cut loose a bit, something that they only do about twice a year). It was great fun, then after the party we all went to a club downtown. I actually got thrown out after an innocent mistake of OPENNING, not even entering, the girls bathroom door... apparently that was enough to convict me of being a pervert and ejecting me. Anyway, the party was winding down, so no big deal anyway. Now, I'm going to do a bit more sight-seeing before Judo practice tonight, then maybe update a bit later tonight. Don't want to spend all my time at the computer though:) Cheers for now!

See more pictures here