I love Scotch. Scotchy, Scotch, Scotch.

Weekend 22! Edinburgh, Scotland

Friday, January 16^th

                We got into Scotland and hopped on the convenient double decker bus towards the city center once we arrived in “Edinbruh”. After getting off at the main train station we wandered our way up and over towards our airbnb in New Town, just outside of the University of Edinburgh. We took a nice tour through the campus park (The Meadows) before arriving at our rented out room of a very nice and new apartment complex.

                After dropping our stuff off, we made our way to a cute pub up the road for a nice cider…in an Irish pub. The pub was neat with a balcony/second floor surrounding the first floor’s stage area. The décor looked like an old stone church turned into a bar. After a nice Irish cider we went next door to get some dinner (Japanese). Not the best Scottish foodie experience at first, but it was good nonetheless.

                After dinner we moseyed over to the train station to pick up the one and only Katie!! We went back to the airbnb and planned for the next day!

Saturday, January 17^th

                We got up nice and early only to find the café we wanted to eat at was closed for another 20 minutes, so we made a tour around the neighborhood. It was definitely visible that J.K. Rowling got her Diagon Alley inspiration from the cute, crowded, medieval streets of Old Town Edinburgh.

                We went back to The Elephant House café to eat a lovely Scottish breakfast and tea with the same view of the Edinburgh Castle that inspired J.K. Rowling to write Harry Potter. Pictures of the napkin she wrote on were on the walls of the café.

                After a really good breakfast (gastronomically and aesthetically pleasing!) we set off for the Edinburgh Castle. We got a nice little outdoor free walking tour of the castle from a really charismatic and knowledgeable guide before we wandered the campus. The castle is a conglomeration of a lot of different buildings that Scottish royalty have added onto over the years. The oldest standing building was the tiny little St. Margaret’s Chapel, built in the 12^th century by Margaret’s fourth son, David I.  Other buildings we saw in the castle were the one that housed the Scottish Royal Jewels, the National War Memorial, the Royal Palace apartments, the old prison, the military prison, the Royal Scots Museum, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum, and the National War Museum. We also stopped inside the Great Hall for a nice little Renaissance music lesson and show. Some guy in costume showed us about 5 or 6 different instruments and played a little melody on all of them.

                We ended our tour of the castle museums with the 1 o’clock cannon fired (at 1 o’clock!).  After the castle we had to warm up and get some lunch, so we stopped by the restaurant attached to the Scotch Whisky Experience. All of us got a nice warm meal with a whisky drink to top it off. Katie and Stuart had a little glass of a smooth but strong Scotch and I had a hot toddy (whisky, hot water, honey, lemon, and spices).

                After lunch we went across the street to a Tartan tavern of sorts. This was like a mini factory and mall that made different plaid fabrics used for kilts and scarves. I even found a Kennedy tartan (it wasn’t very attractive so we didn’t get it….green, red, yellow, and purple).

                After the Tartan factory/mall thing we made our way down the Royal Mile to check out St. Gile’s Cathedral and The Real Mary King’s Close. We stopped to see if we could get a tour of the old Close or alley where the Plague really hit Edinburgh. The Close is underground present day Edinburgh. We decided against the tour and went across the street to book a Hidden and Haunted tour for that evening.

                After the Close we made a pit stop at H&M to get some warmer winter gear then headed back up to the airbnb to warm up.

                We went to mass at a church near by the apartment and then headed back towards Old Town for dinner. We found a cute little Scottish Pub right on the Royal Mile. Stuart had some bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes) and I had some haggis stuffed in chicken and wrapped in bacon. Haggis is the tradition dish of Scotland. I’ll let you look up what’s in haggis…

                After a nice warm dinner we made our way to the meeting point for our Hidden and Haunted tour! The tour guide was wearing a long black velvet cape and caught all our attention by screaming suddenly while telling stories. She started with the story of the public executions outside St. Giles Cathedral then moved on to The Real King Mary’s Close. After that we stopped in a Close and heard a revengeful story of a divorce in the 1800s (or so). Finally, we made our way to the Vaults. Since Edinburgh had a wall around the city, the city grew vertically. The Vaults are old rooms under a huge bridge that connected two sides of town. Pretty much all the space below the bridge was taken up with brick arched rooms where store keepers kept their stock. Eventually it got too flooded and the black market and body snatchers put up shop in the vaults.  

                After the tour we were decently awake from the animated stories so we stopped at Greyfriar’s Bobby pub for a drink and some live music. The artist (Graeme E. Pearson) was very talented and played guitar, banjo, ukulele, and harmonica.

                After that… it was bedtime!

Sunday, January 18^th

                We didn’t wake as early on Sunday, but still went out to breakfast at a café right next to The Elephant House. The café we went to this morning was styled as a Parisian bakery (go figure).

                After a nice warm breakfast we went behind the cafs to see what the Greyfriar’s Bobby was all about. There was a little Skye terrier monument and a plaque on the wall of the pub we had drinks at the night before. Apparently John Gray, a night watchman for the police of the city had a little puppy who accompanied him for two years before he died in 1858. The dog never left his graveside for the next 14 years until the dog died. We visited the dog and John’s graves in the graveyard behind the pub and café. The dog was buried just outside the graveyard (as it was only for humans), but not so far from John’s grave.

                After a stroll through the graveyard, we went across the street to the National Museum of Scotland. There were a lot of cool animal and interactive exhibits in the museum. There was also a nice new addition to the building that went through Scotland’s history, which was pretty cool. We spent a lot of time in the museum as it was pretty big and interactive.

                After that we picked up our things from the airbnb then headed towards the train station for a quick little American styled lunch (burgers and chicken tenders!). We had to say good bye to Katie at the train station then we got on another double decker bus back to the airport. We did sit at the top level in the front seats to get the full effects of driving on the left hand side of the road, from the second level perspective!

               

This will probably be our last blog post as this weekend is our final weekend in Europe and we are just hanging out in Paris, exploring the places/museums we haven’t yet and taking advantage of the semi-annual soldes (sales).

À bientôt (see you soon) !

Stevie and Stuart