Castles, Cliffs and Harry Potter

Scotland is wonderful. If I could go anywhere again that we have gone so far, it would be Scotland! Good thing because we are spending 9 or 10 days hiking through it in April!

Early Friday morning Luke and I walked to Uni met about 45 other U of L students also going to Edinburgh. We loaded up two huge coaches and set off around 9 am. We got to the Hostel at about 2pm and checked in. It was actually really nice and the beds were cozy if a little creeky.

Luke and I and some of our friends set off to see the castle and walk down the Royal Mile. It was such a gorgeous day! There was even a bagpiper! I loved its so so so much. There were a ton of shops ( I got my sisters each something very Scottish. Be excited, you two!) After that we went to the top of Calton Hill, which had a national monument on it and beautiful views. On the way we happened upon a rather ghostly graveyard.

After walking for hours we were starving so we went to a very authentic Scottish restaurant...

Delish :-)

Afterwards, because it was getting dark, we decided to find a nice place to sit and have a few drinks. Luke wanted live music so we got a computer pass and looked up the top rated Jazz bar. We found one that was very popular named The Jazz Bar (wow.) and went. I got a lovely Bailey's and hot chocolate and Luke sampled some local ales. Yum again.

By 10pm we were both so tired. We have been getting up earlier lately and so early bed times are a must.

The next morning we met up with our friends and ate breakfast in the cute hostel kitchen. They had a nice little selection of carbs and juice. Then we all set off in search of the Royal Gardens. We got to it after about an hour of walking and wandered around inside for a few hours. It was again such a beautiful day! The garden had wonderful views and it seems like Spring is finally here!

For lunch we went to The Elephant House which is where JK Rowling started writing the first Harry Potter novel. I'm not the biggest fan of Harry Potter by any means but it was interesting seeing the environment where she came up with her ideas. The Edinburgh castle view out of the window was strikingly similar to Hogwarts... I got an elephant shortbread and some lentil soup. Luke decided against the haggis calzone in favor of a the tomato and mozzarella one. So Scottish.

Nice and full we went off window shopping until we had to go take a little nap. We went to Greyfriar's Kirk and the place where his dog was buried. Some of the graves were from the 1700's. This got us all prepped for our ghost tour that night!

After a nice little nap our little group met near the castle and we went on an historic ghost tour! We went down into the vaults underneath the city.  There was even an active coven down there... Entirely terrifying although nothing supernatural happened. Afterwards they gave us shortbread and whiskey :-) That would keep me coming back.

We went for a late dinner at an "American style diner" cafe in one of the side alleys. It was so good! THEN bed time.

Our last day was yet another gorgeous day! After breakfast we hiked to the top of the bluffs which hang over the city. There were amazing views, even though they are not anywhere near as tall as the ones in the highlands. Luke and I decided to go down the precarious way. My arms are still sore from the climbing! Good conditioning for our upcoming hiking extravaganza.

After another pizza we decided to spend our last 3 hours walking to the piers. We got there with no time to spare and had to turn around pretty much immediately to make it back in time for the coach. We found two little kittys who wanted to join us in the US I think. We had to pretty much run away to keep them from following us :-)

Well, not much happened after that other than loading up and driving back. We've been spending the day today recovering and solidifying our plans for April. Its going to be a busy last 2 months!

Luke's sweet video posts coming soon