Megan Goes to Leeds: My journey to Scotland.

Haiku-a-day:

Mar 25^th

Tourists walk through streets

of towering buildings with

roads on top of roads.

Mar 26^th

Little Bobby sits

atop an old gravel mound.

Master won’t return.

Mar 27^th

Long journey back home.

Chatter buzzes around me

close yet far away.

***Today's***

Mar 28^th

A room constructed

of clothes hanging off of walls

smells of lavender.

Edinburgh, Scotland, land of beautiful hills, fuzzy sheep, tall buildings, and of course, men in kilts! We left Leeds on Friday morning at about 8:30AM. We were told the journey length would be about 6 hours. We made it there in pretty good time, by 2:00PM, checked into our hostel, and set out into the city. The first things I saw when driving into Edinburgh were the giant hills a short ways outside the main part of the city. My first urge was to climb them, so that's what we did! My friends and I started off for Arthur's Seat. It was quite a hike, but well worth it. From the top of Arthur's Seat you can see all of Edinburgh. We were up there a little while before sunset (it had taken us a short bit to unpack in the hostel, eat, and climb the hill), so the lighting was stunning. I would love to live in Edinburgh just to be able to climb Arthur's Seat every day.

When we were done with the great hill, we were hungry and decided to roam the city for dinner. And roam we did. For about an hour! All 5 of us were indecisive and unwilling to pay £10+ for one meal, so that made things sort of difficult. We ended up going with a very lovely Italian restaurant very close to our hostel that had absolutely delicious pizza. I've already eaten dinner, but I could be hungry for that pizza anytime! After tipping off the meal with a little gelato, we went back to the hostel to get more layers of clothing (better coats, shoes, etc.) because it was getting rather nippy outside. We ended the night with a trip to a pub where the theme for the night was the 60s, so you can guess the type of songs they played!

We awoke early the following day, ate breakfast in the hostel, and headed downtown to find the Belmoral Hotel where JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter. You should be aware that this trip was filled with Harry Potter! After taking a few pictures of and in front of the hotel, we walked through a park, saw the Scott Monument (very old and gothic), then spent a shore while in the Nation Portrait Gallery of Edinburgh. We could only be there for about 15 minutes before it was time to head back to the hostel for the free tour they were giving beginning at 11:00AM.

The hostel's free walking tour was great! Our first stop was in the Greyfriars Graveyard. This is the graveyard where JK Rowling got some of the names for her characters in Harry Potter. Tom Riddle and McGonagall, being a few. From here, she would also have been able to see (quite easily) the boys school where, back when the city was walled off because of the plague (?), the people inside the walls thought that the school (which was outside of it) was teaching the boys magic.

The first feature pointed out to us about the graveyard was Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby was a skye terrier who was devoted to his master, a guard of the graveyard. When Grey died, Bobby sat on his grave. The pup was only 2, but had formed such an attachment to his master that he remained guarding his master's grave for 14 years. For the first two years or so he was kicked out of the graveyard, as dogs were not allowed, but he would always find a way back. Within the first few years he was allowed in and given a title. This gave him rights. Bobby could legally vote; a dog given the voting right ages before women. He died when he was 16 and a year later a statue of him was erected. Post script: Greyfriars graveyard also possesses the most haunted place on earth. There is a little courtyard area that was gated because so many people would come out of it with scratches or would faint when they were leaving, or would hear voices, etc. There is only one ghost tour in the city that allows you access, but it cost a lot of money, so we went with the free ghost tour. More on that to come.

The tour went on to point out the Elephant House Cafe, where JK Rowling first started writing Harry Potter, the Hume walk on Calton Hill, where "Edinburgh's Shame" sits, the Scott Monument, and other touristy places in the city. With about 20 minutes of the 2 hour tour left, my friends and I broke away to go eat lunch at the Elephant House Cafe. It's pretty expensive considering the portion size they give you, but at least it's good quality food. I had been told to look at the bathrooms in the restaurant, so after we were done eating, some of the girls and I went in to check them out. There were three stalls, normal from the outside, but spectacular from the inside. This was not because of great decoration, but because soooooo many people had gone in and written their names, favorite quotes, letters to JK Rowling, etc., on the inside of the doors. Also, one of the toilet seats was covered in pictures from Harry Potter movies. As you would expect, Roxanne, Leah, and I left our own marks on one of the doors. If you don't understand this or can't picture it, just scroll down and look through my pictures.

Once finished with lunch, we headed over to the Edinburgh Castle. We got a "free" half hour tour of it which was nice. I had always wondered what it would be like to live in a castle, and now I pretty much know! We toured the royal apartments, the great hall, POW camp, war memorial, war museum, and general grounds.

By the time we were done with the castle, we were spent. But the day was not over yet. We headed back to the hostel to take a break for an hour or so before heading out to dinner. We ate at a simple falafel and kabob place close to the hostel. It was delicious. They had a TV in the place, so we watched the British version of Wipe Out while eating. It was great! Food eaten, drinks drank, it was ghost tour time! Our guide was fantastic. He had a great accent, perfect clothes (perfect as in old, torn, looking the part of someone who lived about a hundred years ago), and his props and jokes were hilarious. After the ghost tour, we stopped at an ice cream shop on the way home where I had the best peanut-butter and chocolate ice cream I've ever had. I loved it so much that I had some the next day as well! YUM!

The next day, Sunday, we got up early again, ate breakfast at the Elephant House Cafe (it was one of the few places open at the early hour of 9 or 9:30AM!), then headed back to the Greyfriars Graveyard to take find and take pictures of the graves from which JK Rowling got some of her character names. We had been unable to find them the first time we were there. I would also like to insert the fact that Rowling lives in Edinburgh, but we were unable to find her as well. Anyway, after finding Mr. Thomas Riddell and Mr. William McGonagall, we went across the street to the National Scottish Museum followed by a return trip to the National Portrait Gallery. This being our last day in Scotland, we also made sure to spend a lot of time shopping! Out of all the time spent shopping, however, I only ended up with a magnet and I scarf. My goal was to find a necklace as well, but the neat celtic ones were £17.50 at least. Unwilling to pay $28 for a necklace, I didn't get one.

The last leg of the trip can pretty much be summed up as: finding snacks for trip back, getting lunch, retrieving luggage, and boarding the bus home. I love Edinburgh. It still amazes me how tall all the buildings are. Unbelievable. And there were streets on top of street! I am also happy I was able to see kilted men playing bagpipes all over the place!