Falling in love with Edinburgh.

Yesterday, I saw the most gorgeous city I have ever seen. Edinburgh.

The Old Town of Edinburgh

To get to Edinburgh, my flatmates and I woke up early and headed to the bus stop. We waited a while but only one bus showed up, and not one that would take us to the train station. After a while, we noticed a sign saying the bus stop was closed and that we should go to the car park outside Cottrell Building to catch it. We got there and found a pipe with cardboard attached with the words bus stop. As there was no list of buses, we waited there until we realized none of the buses into town were stopping there. We wandered about and found a second pipe with another cardboard attached saying bus stop, once again, with no list of buses. However, a bus into town stopped there shortly after and we hopped on.

Fifteen minutes later, we were inside the train station, waiting in a long queue to buy our tickets. Donald waited in the line with a ticket vendor at the end, while Saori and I queued for the electronic ticket agent. He got his ticket really quickly, but our line was moving super slowly. Saori moved into the queue for real ticket vendors, but was next in line at the same time as I was next for the electronic vendor, so we each stayed in our own lines. She came running out with her ticket, while the couple in front of me fumbled with the machine. By the time I got my ticket, it was 11:06–the same time the train was supposed to depart. We ran down the steps onto the platform and press the button to open the doors. They did not open. Instead, we watched the train drive away, and waited half an hour for the next one.

We finally got on the train, and took the hour-long journey to Edinburgh. Within minutes of exiting the train station, all anger was forgotten.

Right outside the train station.

It was like something out of a fairy tale. The streets and buildings were just radiating history, and it became easy to visualize the city in its medieval state. Most of the city is considered heritage sites, so owners are not allowed to change the appearance, and the government apparently spends millions of pounds every year keeping the city beautiful. And it really shows.

We wandered about and found our way to a Starbucks on the Royal Mile, where a free walking tour group was assembling. We joined in the tour and were in for an amazing three hours.

Tour guide Andra from New Europe showed us around in a very entertaining and informative tour.

Our tour guide was a woman named Andra from Toronto, who took a double major in history and drama at McGill University. She was incredibly bubbly and energetic, and quite funny, telling us stories about the history and modern day life of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle, built on top of a dead volcano.

She explained the names of the buildings we saw, laughing about how self-descriptive they were. For example, there is an artificial hill created by dumping a mound of earth, so they call it the Mound. This trend continued throughout the city, making it quite easy to remember what each area or building looked like.

We walked through the old town, saw the statues of Adam Smith and David Hume, stopping to rub Hume's big toe for good luck. Apparently this began as a way to get luck in academics, and so many people have rubbed it that they have had to replace the big toe.

On the Royal Mile is the Heart of Midlothian, which represents the heart of the former council area, where an administrative office used to sit, as well as a tolbooth prison, where many people were executed. Now, people apparently spit on it for good luck, and avoid walking directly on it. The tour guide said it is always obvious who is a tourist because they will walk across it. Instead of avoiding this spit-covered part of the ground, she said she sees many people sitting inside the heart to take photos, and has seen multiple marriage proposals on this heart.

Standing in front of the Edinburgh Writers Museum. I felt such a connection with the city. I plan on visiting again and again.

Close to the Writers Museum is this old-fashioned burglar alarm. Residents of the city would build their steps with a trick step on the way up to their house. They would know which one is not a real step and would avoid it when they climbed up and down the stairs, and they would alert visitors as to which one they should skip. However, the trick step was a different number on each house, so strangers would not know which one was a trick. Someone who was trying to break into the house would run up the dark stairs and trip, causing them to fall down the stairs. This would hopefully create enough noise to wake the owner, who would assess the situation and either push the intruder out the door or attack them. The tour guide laughed at its simplicity in comparison with the sensors we use today, but advised the group to avoid this security method so that they won't get sued by the intruder.

We saw George Heriot's School, which is often described as the real-life Hogwarts, where students are grouped into four houses. It is visible from the back window fo the Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of the series. We weren't able to go inside the school because of weekend activities, but hopefully I will be able to take a closer look when I visit the city once again.

Directly in front of the school is Greyfriars Kirkyard, which is known to be one of the most haunted sites in Edinburgh. Apparently Rowling would peruse the cemetery when faced with writer's block and find  names for characters among the graves. In the cemetery is a grave for a Thomas Riddell and one for a William McGonagall. I'm going to have to go back and visit these graves some time.

On one side is the stone for Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier who belonged to a Edinburgh night guard. His owner, John Gray, died of tuberculosis in 1858. The dog apparently spent the rest of its life, 14 years, guarding its master's grave. The tour guide said its statue is the most photographed statue in Edinburgh.

After the tour, Saori and I headed to the Elephant House for dinner and dessert. It was surreal, knowing we were eating in the very cafe where Rowling began writing Harry Potter, surrounded by a city full of her inspirations. All over the store are articles about elephants, as well as photos and articles of Rowling. On the window, it says "The Birthplace of Harry Potter." But my favourite part was the bathrooms, which had walls filled with messages to Rowling.

I ate a delicious sandwich of chorizo with mozzarella and pesto on ciabatta bread, while Saori had apple pie with ice cream.

The Elephant House: Birthplace of Harry Potter.

Saori and I had a great time here. Definitely will return for a cup of tea next time I'm in the city.

On our way back to the train station, we found a busker putting on a very entertaining performance!

He was quite funny, and performed dangerous tricks. He juggled machetes, doing tricks such as throwing them behind his back or under his legs while juggling. He swallowed a 20" steel blade, and lay down under a bed of nails, while a very large man stood on top. He put on an amazing performance.

From there, we headed back to Waverley Station, arriving just in time to take a train back to Stirling.

All in all, it was an amazing day, and I even found an cute Scottish bear to add to my collection!

I absolutely adored Edinburgh, and I have a new dream: find a summer or winter break job in Edinburgh.