A day in Edinburgh!

 WARNING: Lots and lots of photos ahead. 

This morning Hella and I woke up the usual time to get ready in time to catch the train to Edinburgh. As I was washing up, Richard came into the kitchen for breakfast and told me that Edinburgh is the only city that he would willingly live in, which was really wonderful to hear. I was already very excited, but to hear that from someone like Richard was really encouraging. So then after breakfast, we gathered our things and walked down to Kinghorn rail station. I was just getting my change back from the lady at the ticket office when the train pulled in. She told us that if we hurried we could catch that one. Sure enough, we ran across the bridge to platform 2, hopped on the train, and found seats just in time. It was absolutely perfect; foreshadowing for the rest of the day. 

The  train ride took about 40 minutes. The whole time I listened to Of Monsters and Men and watched the landscape wizz by. First the breathtaking beaches of Kinghorn and Burntisland, then the busy suburbs of Edinburgh. Before I knew it, we were pulling into Edinburgh Waverly station. Right away, seconds after stepping out of the station, we were met with the sound of bagpipes. There on the corner was a man dressed in a full traditional kilt outfit playing the star wars theme on the bagpipes. Scotland indeed. 

Right away, the sights were incredible. Stone buildings of every size, shape and architectural style lined the horizon. Houses, cathedrals and church steeples, all made from dark stone.

We joined the flow of people on the sidewalk (most of whom looked equally tourist-like; backpacks, cameras and gawking faces) and soon we were on the Royal Mile. The first thing we found was Edinburgh castle. It reminded me very much of the Citadel in Quebec city.

View of Old Town from the perch of the castle.

Edinburgh Castle

After taking pictures of the castle, and deciding not to go in because it costing 16 squid (as Ali G would say), so we began to down the Royal Mile. Picture time:

The Royal Mile!

Working our way through the crowds and other tourists we slowly made our to St.Giles cathedral. It was free, so we went inside. 
 

St. Giles cathedral

Inside. (yes I paid the 2 pounds for a photography permit....)

Once we had finished exploring inside the cathedral, we came upon a few stalls with people selling all sorts of neat crafts. A street performer was doing something with fire, and a large crowd gathered, making it difficult to pass. But we then found the Two Skies design booth and Adam. It was funny seeing him in a city setting rather than the rural tranquility of the farm or tree house.

We found Adam's jewelry stall on the Royal Mile.

We chatted with him for a bit, he suggested a few places we should visit, and we continued on our way.

Stereotypical red phone booth of the UK. So cool though...

We had no real plan in mind, so we soon found ourselves wandering towards Calton hill, a wonderful view point to see the city. We made a quick detour in the Old Calton burial ground:
 

Old Calton burial ground.

I love graveyards. There is something so cool about them. Also, I learned the German word for graveyard from Hella, which is Friedhof (pronounced freed-hof). It literally means peace yard, which I think is really nice. It is also really nice to have my own personal German to teach me words. :P

Anyway, then we left the Friedhof, crossed the street and walked up Calton Hill. 
 

View of Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill.

Arthur's seat panorama

 

View from Calton hill back to Old Town. Stupid cool...

Once again after spending quite some time up on Calton hill enjoying the view and taking photos, we came back down and finished up the last section of the Royal Mile.

Love these building so much. Makes me wish I was good at drawing, then I would draw them. At least I can take photos!

How cool is this clock tower?

As any good touristy area, the Royal Mile was absolutely filled with gift shops filled with tacky stereotypical crap for people like us to buy. I can't even tell you how many kilts I saw yesterday, both on display and on actual guys. But it was A LOT.
 

We took a right down a small alley way, passed this strange modern building (see photo below) , and ended up across the street from the path to Arthur's seat. All of our decisions yesterday were very serendipitous. And we were very lucky with the weather. 

We crossed the street, almost walking when a car was coming because I am still confused by the "driving on the left" business, then began the path to the top of Arthur's seat. After only a few minutes of climbing, the sun made it very warm and it became quite a workout. All the while as we climbed, I snapped photos. And watched with jealously the people on the return trip back down. It was so hot... but the view got better and better as we made our way up the path.

Some ruins by the start of the path.

The path as we got closer to the top. Check out that bird!

View from the top!

Edinburgh castle from the top of Arthur's seat.

There were tons of other people at the top, and Hella got asked twice to take a photo of some people. We sat down, had some water and enjoyed the view. It was totally amazing. The coolest part was that across the water, we were looking right back at Kinghorn. These past couple of weeks I have been always looking at Arthur's seat from that side, and then I was looking back the other way. Next time I see it, it will be a good feeling to think, "I have climbed that."
 

Once we finished our hike to the top, we returned to the Royal Mile and stopped at a Starbucks for a snack. I got some fancy coffee thing that tasted great and had me bouncing off the walls for the rest of the afternoon. Starbucks is a dangerous place for me now that I really like coffee... 

So we relaxed and watched the people walking by on the street as we ate, enjoying the chance to sit and rest. Once we had finished up with that, we began the shopping portion of our day. We popped into a few of the tacky tourist shops (which got less and less sketchy the farther back up the Royal Mile we went) and any other shop that caught our eye. 
 

The classy side of touristy stores on the Royal Mile...

The sun was out and the buildings looked so so cool. 
 

Love these phone booths!

HARRY POTTER!

So after checking out the shops along the Royal Mile, as well as adjacent streets, we decided it was time to visit The Elephant House. For those of you that don't know, this was the cafe where JK Rowling wrote some of the first chapters of Harry Potter. It is pilgrimage for Harry Potter fans all over the world. It is a place to come and pay homage to where it all began. I was so beyond excited as we were crossing the street, hardly believing I was actually there.

"The birthplace of Harry Potter." :D !!!

So we went in and went into that bathroom. This was by far the coolest place in the whole place. The doors, the walls and even the ceiling were covered in writing. Quotes from the book and thank you's to JK. I spent a long time reading all of them, feeling such a sensation of comradeship and unity. All these different people from all over the world came to this one place all because of a book. It really is a powerful thing. Harry Potter; bringing people together. So, naturally, I added my own little thing on the wall. Thank you JK Rowling for making my childhood great and inspiring me to write and be creative.
 

Haha...

AMEN.

Best bathroom stop ever!!!

The we left and continued on our way, still high from the thrill of being at the Elephant House. I'm pretty sure I didn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. We stopped in a little convenience store and got some British "sweets". Yum!
 

We stopped in a few more shops and began to  follow the road that skirts the castle. This route lead us past another cool graveyard, several astonishing churches and a peaceful little park with many cool statues. PHOTO TIME!

Just checking...

Pretty neat war memorial.

how I feel when I travel.

Here comes the sun!

Barbour...yes we are in the UK.

It was around 6 by the time we made our way back to the train station. We sat in the little park next to it for about half an hour, just watching the late afternoon light illuminate the horizon of old stone buildings. It was incredible. The dark stone bathed in warm golden light. My camera battery had already died at this point, so that's the best description I can give you. Anyway, it was a nice way to enjoy our last hour in Edinburgh. 

We caught the 7:09 train back to Kinghorn where we walked back to the farm. By the time we got back it was about 8. Diana gave us some leftovers and we spent the rest of the night eating Kinder chocolate and editing photos. We were absolutely exhausted, but very satisfied with a wonderful day of sightseeing in Scotland's capital.