We arrived in Edinburgh by coach at 9.00 p.m. and we met our host families.

On the following day, we went to visit the Georgian House where we had a guided tour; then our teacher Mrs Ciceroni mysteriously got the keys to Charlotte Square Gardens, so we had lunch on the garden’s benches among “a host of daffodils”.

Every afternoon we had classes with three different teachers, Sue, Kate and Sarah, at two different schools: the French Institute and the University of Edinburgh, where the most famous sheep in the world, Dolly, was cloned.

On Friday, we explored the weird alleyways of the Old Town, we went to the Writers’ Museum and then we went on the ”Oor Tour” during which Grahame, a Scottish singer and performer, told us about the history and legends of Edinburgh, playing his guitar and singing some traditional ballads like “Loch Lomond”.

Saturday was a very special day: in the morning we walked along the Royal Mile and we visited Holyrood Palace, one of the queen’s houses, with the throne room and the royal bedchambers. In the afternoon we had some spare time, so we went shopping and we bought some presents for our friends and relatives. Then we went with our teachers to the tea-room at the National Trust for Scotland where, like true ladies, we had a traditional cream tea with scones. At 6.00 p.m. we went to a popular bookshop called “Waterstones” and there we spent some time reading books for children. Then, we took the bus and we went to our first Ceilidh! We discovered that Ceilidh is like our disco but the musicians play traditional Scottish songs and everyone can learn how to dance. We enjoyed it a lot. At 11.00 p.m. we returned to our host families by taxi to get ready for a tiring but fantastic Sunday.

The next morning we went to the huge Edinburgh Castle. We had a guided tour around haunted prisons and towers and we saw enormous guns and the queen’s jewels. At noon, we had lunch in a big park near the National Gallery of Scotland. In the afternoon we took a bus and we had a bit of a sightseeing in the marvellous Scottish countryside. When we arrived at the legendary Rosslyn Chapel, where one of the “The Da Vinci Code” scenes takes place, the guide told us a story about the church: someone says that the precious Templar treasure with the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant lies under the chapel’s floor, but it can’t be taken because there are some graves which cover and protect it. The only way to find it is to compose some music which will make the Chapel’s floor open. The following day, we went to the National Museum of Scotland where we retraced man’s life from the origins to contemporary ages. In the museum we tried on some 18th century clothes and we saw a lot of different discoveries, pictures and monuments.

On Tuesday, we had school for the whole day and then we got a certificate. In the evening we said goodbye to Edinburgh wandering around Princes Street’s shops. On the 24th of March we sadly left our host families and the city of Edinburgh and we returned to Italy with amazing memories.