Edinburgh Endeavors

We recently went to Scotland where Dale's brother Alan met up with us. When we first arrived we got to spend an all too short afternoon with Krystle in Edinburgh. We started the whirlwind tour by walking down the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a nice little area of downtown Edinburgh with lots of shops, bars, and restaurants.

We all were hungry from our flights so we stopped to grab a pint and some pizza at Brew Dog. Brew Dog is pretty popular in Sweden so Dale and I had tried most of the beers before but we still found some news ones. 

Once we were full and refreshed we continued walking around town. We saw the statue for Greyfriars Bobby, a dog who spent 14 years at his owners grave after his owner died. Now that's a loyal dog!  

We briefly looked inside Greyfriars graveyard, which is right next to Bobby's statue. The cemetery is supposedly haunted but we didn't experience anything unusual. However, J.K. Rowling apparently got some of the names for the Harry Potter series from walking around the cemetery. In particular, we spotted a McGonagall and Tom Riddle.  

To continue the Harry Potter moment we went around the corner and popped our heads into The Elephant House which is the coffeeshop J.K. Rowling frequented while writing the first Harry Potter book. 

The coffee shop overlooks George Heriot's School, a private school which was supposedly an inspiration for Hogwarts. The school overlooks the city and really does have quite the resemblance to Hogwarts. You can see the school in the top of the picture below.

It also wouldn't be Scotland without the obligatory bagpipe players. I didn't find it so endearing to find bagpipe buskers all over the place but I do enjoy listening to a good bagpipe now and again.

Next we stopped for dinner at The Tailend for fish and chips with mushy peas. It was delicious!

We ended the day watching the US vs Japan Woman's World Cup soccer match. Even though the US lost we had a great time. We said goodbye to Krystle for now but we know it wont be long before we see her beautiful face again!

I walked back to the hotel with Dale and Alan through Calton Hill and got this great picture of Edinburgh Castle and the city at night. It was a great day in the land of Harry Potter!
Love Always,
Matilda