First off Happy Mother's Day Mom! Today is the English Mother's Day and I'm sorry that I didn't get you anything!
Wednesday we left for Edinburgh (pronounced Edin-b*r*a, *rolling the r)! I was looking forward to a couple days in Scotland because I'm obsessed with clans, kilts and bagpipes:D (oh and you know one of my favorite actors is from Scotland)
It was a very long train ride to Edinburgh and I definitely felt it! The train seats aren't very comfortable because they don't lean back like a plan seat and it's impossible to find a good position to sleep in. But we managed to make it through the 5-6 hour train ride by playing cards, eating snacks and reading. We finally arrived and I stepped out of the train and it was love at first sight.
I'm not even sure how to describe Edinburgh more than it looked like I had stepped out of fairy tale! The buildings were old and well managed and the entire city was placed on top of hills and right next to the ocean. While it was more grey and cold than London, I loved it!!! I think if I had the chance to come back and study abroad I would be more than happy to spend an entire semester there.
Anyway, the rest of the day was just a day to explore because it was already halfway over. We found the Elephant House,
this is of course where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter. The store was filled with lots and lots of Elephants of all shapes and sizes and in the back room they had a couple of pictures of JK Rowling sitting and writing. I'm really glad that we went during the "off season" because during season, there is usually a line out the door waiting to get into The Elephant House. The entire bathroom was filled with tons of graffiti about Harry Potter, to JK and funny little quirks. There was a sign on the mirror above the toilet that read "Ministry of Magic This Way" and had an arrow pointing to the toilet. Another sign on the toilet seat read "Watch out for Moaning Myrtle" and many message written as Thank You's to JK. The food was really good so we ended up going back for dinner our last night there!
We walked around some more before heading back to our flat that we were staying in and then Dad and I headed out to join a Haunts Ghost Tour. It was pretty cold so we made sure to bundle up really well before heading out.
The tour wasn't that exciting to be honest, although we were able to see the catacombs underneath the city which have been there for more than 200 years. And let me tell you, that was very true. It smelled really bad in those rooms. While I didn't find it scary, two girls in our group would jump and scream every time.
The next morning we did our typical walking tour of the city and was able to learn some of the history or Edinburgh! So here's your daily history lesson by Tessa!
This here is known as the Merekat (or Market) this used to be the center of town back when the city first started. A lot of the public executions used to happen at this spot, in fact if you were caught speaking treason, they would nail your hand and tongue to the building (it used to be wood) and after a day they would remove the nail from your hand, but cut your tongue out and leave it there. However, this was a time when the King (don't remember which one) was away from Scotland and those who supported him were labeled "traitor". But when he came back, he rewarded those who had spoken up for them. This is also the spot that any major news was read out from. Because of the distance between London and Edinburgh, it used to take 3 days for news to arrive, so it would always be late. Even with technology nowadays, they keep up the tradition and still announce the news three days later! So they will be making an announcement sometime in April when the new child of Kate and William is born.
While it may not be a very big city, Edinburgh has it's own Walk of Fame! As you can see from the picture below, when someone is placed on the Walk of Fame they get their handprints placed in the ground and from what you can't see clearly is that they put your name and year on there as well. The handprints you see below are JK Rowling's. Her year on the stone is 2008. Our guide assured us that even if we weren't born in Edinburgh we would be able to make the Walk of Fame all it took was two simple steps: 1. Move to Edinburgh (pretty easy) 2. Create a project that changes the world. There are only 7 different set of handprints on the Walk of Fame as you can see how hard it is to get onto it!
This building is the City Counsel. And while I won't talk about them in general, I will talk about the national animal of Scotland. The national animal of Scotland is an Unicorn! Now you might ask me: do the Highlands of Scotland hold more than Nessie in their mythical hills? The answer is no. For hundreds of years it was the King's decision to what the national animal would be. When Scotland finally got it's own government in 2008 they let the people take a vote to what the national animal would be. There were some normal animals on there such as a type of hawk, a deer and some other options, I don't remember them very well, but the last animal choice was an unicorn and the people decided to just stick with it.
This is the St. Giles Cathedral and the statue of some English King (sorry I don't remember his name). But some important factors on this little area. The place where I stood while I took the picture used to be a graveyard. When Edinburgh was an inclosed city, there was only so much room for a cemetary, so they stacked the bodies as much as they could. Our guide told us that it became so packed with bodies, they could only dig a foot or two before hitting new body. Because the graveyard was on a hill if there was a large storm the night before, it was more than likely the rain would wash away the first layer of rain and bodies would be exposed. Isn't that a lovely story? Lets see...the statue you can see is actually made of lead, which is a very soft metal, so after several days of tough Scottish winds, parts of the statue start to move. After the first couple of months of having the statue placed, they noticed that the King began to slide off his horse or his head would fall forward to make it look like he was sleeping. So every once and awhile they have to go in and fix these issues on the statue.
There is a cemetery close to the Elephant House called the Greyfairs Graveyard while the headstones are really large and old, you'll notice some interesting names placed on these stones. One would be the name McGonagall another would be Tom Riddell, these are real headstones and are most likely the inspiration that JK had for naming her characters such names! Our tour guide told us that people leave tributes in front of Tom's grave which he wasn't very happy about because what kind of idiot leaves tokens at the grave of the Dark Lord? I hate to break it to these Death Eaters, but He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gone and forgotten! Haha, this guy was real and his daughter is apparently buried here as well.
After our walking tour we decided to browse some of the many Tartan and Cashmere shops that are a plenty in Edinburgh. During this time it proceeded to start raining and SH headed back to the flat while Mom, Dad and I decided to get a bus to the Rosslyn Chapel (as seen in The Da Vinci Code, which I still have yet to see). It was a very long trip and I took a nap to avoid getting carsick on the bus, but it was a very pretty chapel, unfortunately I was done listening to tour guides so I just looked around the chapel while Mom and Dad listened to the tour about the architecture about the building.
On the way home the rain was still falling hard and I took another nap. We finally got off the bus and hurried back to the flat to avoid getting soaked (which didn't happen) we then headed out to find some dinner! We headed to this placed called The Filling Station, which looked like a pub, but was actually a really good restaurant. We finally got the chance to try some Haggis, I'm not going to spoil and tell you exactly what it is, you can Google it, but it wasn't too bad, just kind of spicy and I wasn't expecting it! I had nachos (yes completely not Scottish) and a side of mash (mashed potatoes) while the nachos were still pretty spicy, I really really liked the mash!
Friday morning I slept in a little later and caught up with my family when they took off to go do some shopping. We met my aunt MF and her daughter LF at St. Giles Cathedral and I was SOOOOO happy to see them! We walked around with the intention of going to the park, but ran out of time and went to lunch instead and then walked them back to their car! I'm really excited because in two weeks I have the opportunity to stay with them for a couple of days at their house in Scotland! I can't wait!
After leaving MF we went and explored the castle and while we didn't go all the way inside, we were able to get a wonderful view of the rest of the city from the courtyard!
Next to the castle they had an old Tartan Mill that you could sit and watch different types of Tartan fabrics being woven and there were quite a few. They also had scarfs, jumpers, fabric, and different kinds of clothing.
This was one of the dresses that they had on display in the Mill. This is a silk dress that you could purchase off the dummy for over £2,000. And while I did love it! I didn't love it that much! Afterwards we walked around to the Grassmarket where they had a beautiful china shop that sold tea for one sets, mugs and teapots! They had this cute sign posted on one of the walls in the shop:)
For dinner we went back to The Elephant House because it was just that good! And then we headed back to the flat to pack and get ready for leaving back to London!
Saturday was another boring long train ride back to London. I was having problems with my shoulder the entire week, so sitting in one position was really painful. But we made it back and once the family was checked into the hotel we headed to Borough Market for real this time! I think they really enjoyed it:) I mean, who wouldn't? We then went and bought some tasty British chocolate that they could take home with them and then we went out to dinner at the crepe place in South Kensington! afterwards, it was time to head back to the hotel and say our goodbyes! While I wasn't sad to see them go at the time, I did feel a little put out this morning.
But I'm happy that my mom will be back in a few short weeks so that we can explore the English countryside! I'm glad that they had the opportunity to come visit while SH has his Spring Break! And I can't believe it's already halfway through March!
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