April 2, 2010
We finally got some much needed sleep and enjoyed breakfast at the pub in our hotel. We left early (9:00) to meet our tour guide at St. Andrew's Square (he's the patron sain to Scotland). We enjoyed a three-hour walking tour of this small but extremely beautiful city (200,00 less people than Seattle), ending with a tour of the Edinburgh Castle. Leading the tour was a wonderful Scottish Nationalist Morag (which, she informed us, means "princess").
We walked through Holy Rood park, wandered through one of Edinbugh's many cemetaries, and saw monuments for Sir Walter Scott, Adam Smith, and Robert Burns (the national poet of Scotland). Old Edinburgh is beautiful, if not a bit tourist-y, though we were a tad bit upset by their skipping of the one-o'clock gun (because it was Good Friday). We got the see the Royal Crown Jewels (2nd oldest in Europe) and the prison (with a Revoluntionary War Era drawing of the American Flag etched into one of the doors).
After the tour, we split into somewhat smaller gtroups, though ours still had seven, and wandered down the Royal Mile in search of lunch. We eventually found the George IV Bridge which lead us to The Elephant House, our goal. It is rumored that this is the place where JK Rowling wrote on the famed papker napkin to being the Harry Potter series! This trip is turning into a bit of a Potter pilgrimage, which wasn't our original goal, I promise.
After lunch, a couple of us peeked into the drawers at the table we were sitting at and they were stuffed full of notes on napkins, receipts, maps, scraps of paper. Some were random, some drawings, some poems, some letters to JK, Ali even found a "letter" meant to have been written by Harry himself while on holiday in Edinburgh with Ginny and the kids. We all contributed a note and I stole one I particularly liked. I also took a napkin and pasted it into my journal with the hopes that it brings me the same literary luck it brought good old Jo.
We wandered some more, read Richard III aloud, and decided to attend a Good Friday service at a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian!) just down the street. The service was lovely and we stayed for hot-crossed-buns, tea, and conversation after. Everyone was quite friendly. One girl about our age invited us out to a pub for dinner with some of her friends and her. It was lovely to get to know some people our same age. We stayed up late and were proud to beat jet-lag once more.
Hopefully Saturday brings more sunshine!
Dear Heidi,
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter!
It's wonderful to get a little snapshot of what you've been up to on the other side of the Atlantic. I hope that in the whirlwind of fun adventures you are able to sit back and savor each moment. I walked into class today and scanned the room only to disappointed that you weren't there. We miss you over here, but I'm sure you're having so much fun that it's worth being away. If you get a chance to put some pictures up I'd love to see them. In the mean time, have so much fun exploring more of the world!