Go the AB's!!! Edinburgh Saturday 22nd - Monday 24th September

The Hostel - and yes we did all sleep together in the room each in a lovely bunk!!!

Josh and I wondering the streets

On top of the lookout hill

Views of Edinborgh city - look at all the clouds

Church in the old town with the castle in the background

Town Square

All the pictures below are of Edinburgh Castle. The castle is located on the top of the hill of the old town.

Bagpipes being played in the town square We also went on a whisky tour that showed how to make wiskey and how to tell all the different types of scotch whisky - it was good fun - this is Josh doing a taste session afterwards. Louise and i thought it all tasted like fuel and wondered why that wasn't on the list of descriptions to choose from!

All dressed up in our supporters gear!

Getting ready for the game The crowd going down the street after the game

The game in action The Haka

The national anthems

A practice kick before the game

This weekend we went to Edinbrugh to watch the All Blacks play Scotland for the World Cup! What can I say, but what an awesome weekend. We arrived Saturday morning and did some sightseeing of Edinbrugh and went to the castle. Edinbrugh, has an old and new town but both places has amazing architecture and buildings, it's a really beautiful city. We went with Louise, Mike and Dave and another Louise. Accommodation was scarce and we were forced to stay in hostels, in bunk none the less and did spend the weekend comparing war stories. Mike, Dave and other Louise were in one dorm - with other strangers and Josh, Lou and I were at least in our own dorm! Bunk beds and shared showers aside, we defiantly did better than the others as they ended up with sick on their staircase both mornings! Sunday morning we headed out for a big breakfast and walk around the town before we headed down to the stadium, all dressed in our All Blacks gear. The stadium was packed with 67 thousand people. After our win 40 nil all 67 thousand people walked down the road - totally amazing! To top it all off some of the blokes decided they wanted to play a bit of rugby themselves as they went down the road, so for the entire stretch of road a rolling maul occurred, every time the ball got loose it would get kicked over the crowd and some large blokes would pick it up and on would go the maul, lets add that when the ball came our way, we moved out the way really quickly!!! There were some big guys in the maul! and some big bruisers the following day! After the game we headed to the pub and had a great evening. Monday morning was our last day in Edinburgh and we did a tour underground called 'St Mary's Close', it's the old streets of Edinburgh and houses from the 15th century, buildings have since been built on top, but the tour went underground and we walked along the old street, were informed of the plague and how all the street ran down hill to the north lock and at a certain time each night waste was chucked out the doors and flowed freely down the street! In the hope the rain washed it into the lock!!! Edinburgh was really beautiful, if not a bit cold but we had a great weekend and our getting ourselves ready to leave for Eastern Europe next weekend.

Estonia - Day 3 Sunday 9th September

The day began with a walk in the park around the walls of the old city. St Olaf's Church that Josh and Mike Climed up, they went up to the viewing platform at the top and took pictures looking down onto the city. The steeple View of the harbour

Look at the wall and towers that surrond the city More views of the city from the church. Catherine's Passage - a romatic street in Tallin. The fun run Today we walked around the outside of the walls of old Tallin and saw a fun run - the walkers all had hiking sticks! We looked around the shopping mall then flew back in the afternoon. We had a great time in Estonia and were very fortunate as it was sunny most of the time, with the temperature ranging from 15-17 degrees.

Estonia - Day 2 Saturday 8th September

The cathedral pictured below is on the left hand side of the picutre. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral - modelled on the Russina churches of the 17th century and completed in 1900.

Viru Gates - lower entrance into the old town. Thomas Train Town Hall Town square The streets were like this with lots of narrow alleyways/ pathways.

We walked along the top of this bridge - which is part of the wall around Old Tallinn, we walked in between two of the towers. The restuarnat we ate lunch at is he white building on the left hand side. Lunch at the medieval restaurant. Josh and Lou were having honeydew and cinamon beer in old fashioned mugs. It was really dark inside and only lit by candles so we don't have many good photos. Bridgettine Convent ruins Convent Graveyard Kadriog Palace

Today we walked around Tallinn and saw the sights. We went to lunch at a medieval themed restaurant, where the waitresses were dressed-up and you could only order themed food. Mike and I did well with meat soup, however, Josh was and Louise got a roungher deal as Louise did not enjoy her chicken and Josh decided that wild Boar was not for him! I don't blame him - not a pleasant meat! In the morning we had a ride around the city on Thomas the train! I think it was for kids - but never mind we had a great time. In the afternoon we went out to Kadriog and say the palace and where the president of Estonia resides. Then we went to Pirita, which has a beach and a harbour. We visited the war memorial and the Bridgettine Convent. The convent was guiltin the 1400's and had both nuns and monks living there. The Livonian war saw the russians ruin it int he 16th century. The picutres are of the original convent build in the 15th century. In the evening we ate a garlic restuarant, in which all the food came out with garlic in it - including the ice cream and creme brulee we ate for dessert! It was definatly an experience.