As I thought, I would not be able to check into my hostel until later in the afternoon. This meant I would not “actually” check in until after the Edinburgh rugby match I planned to attend Saturday night.

Since the Hearts match versus Hamilton kicked off at 3 pm and I could not check into my hostel until 1 pm there was no time to wait until 1 pm and then head off to Tynecastle Stadium. I wanted to hang out in a pub before the match.

The guy at the front desk of the hostel said getting to Tynecastle Stadium was an easy but long walk. Since I had some time I decided to walk. However, I ended up walking towards Murrayfield since there were signs for that stadium and not Tynecastle Stadium.

Pre Game
The Roseburn Bar was on the corner in the direction of Murrayfield. I decided to stop in there for a snack and ask directions to Tynecastle Stadium. All the pub had to eat was a tiny pasty which cost £1 – a good deal but not a great meal. The servers at the pub pointed me in the correct direction for Tynecastle Stadium and I was on my way.

Obtaining Tickets
It was about a 15 minute walk to the Hearts stadium from Roseburn Bar. I first went to the box office to see how much tickets were for the match. Since the cheapest seat was £16, I bought a ticket from the ticketing center rather than try to find one from a ticket tout.

Pre Game Part 2
After buying my ticket I checked out both pubs directly in the area. One was Robertson’s Pub and the other was Tynecastle Arms. I preferred Tynecastle Arms since it seemed more like a pub you would expect to find in Scotland. Another thing to note is I now truly understood why the Gastropub was a “new” invention in the United Kingdom. The pubs do not serve any food! At the Roseburn Bar I had a tiny pasty that tasted fine but was more of a snack than a meal. The other pubs did not serve any food.

The Game
This was the first Scottish Premier League game I have attended. The stadium was much smaller than most of the English stadiums and only 13,025 people showed up. However, there was not a lack of excitement as Hearts scored two goals within two minutes in the second half and Hamilton scored a goal five minutes later.

The best part of the stadium (or worst part for some) was that there was no scoreboard at Tynecastle Stadium. Everyone needed to keep track of the score and the time themselves. No hard feat in soccer, but definitely peculiar.