Scotland

I just got back today from a weekend in Scotland! We arrived on Friday afternoon. We spent the evening wandering around the Old Town as the sun was setting. We had a late lunch/dinner at a restaurant where I can say I truly had a delicious cheeseburger that met and exceeded my American standards of what a cheeseburger should be. Once it was dark, we went on the “City of the Dead” ghost tour. It began at St. Giles Cathedral, which used to also be some kind of military residence and prison. Edinburgh has an incredibly dark and sad past especially surrounding fear of witches (little girls being tortured and killed) and a difficult time transitioning from a town to a bustling medieval city. At one point (according to the ghost tour guide), Edinburgh had a wall build around it that was supposed to protect the city from the English, but the wall was only two miles by a half mile with a population of at least 100,000 living inside. Consequently, there was nowhere for building to go but up, so Edinburgh was filled with wood houses up to twelve stories high with one central fire chimney running through the center. The city government soon realized these chimneys needed to be swept, so they went to the local orphanages and bought a bunch of three and four-year-olds. A chain would be dropped down the chimney; the child would be tied to it at the bottom and then pulled (kicking and screaming) up the chimney. Voila! A swept chimney.

On the ghost tour, we also went through a cemetery where J.K. Rowling supposedly would come on her lunch breaks and work on the Harry Potter series. The Elephant House café is credit with being where she wrote the first book, but because she was so poor, she could not afford to eat there every day. Often she would pack a lunch and eat it in this cemetery. Over the cemetery wall, you can see a big boarding school with tall spiral towers that is supposedly the inspiration for Hogwarts. Also, in this cemetery are graves belonging to Potters, Malfoys, McGonagall and even a Thomas Riddle.

On Saturday, we were up early to go to Edinburgh Castle. It is an impressive medieval castle and fortress that is the Scottish equivalent to the Tower of London. Like the Tower of London, the Edinburgh Castle houses the Scottish crown jewels, but their crown jewels are nothing compared to the English collection. Inside the castle is a cemetery devoted just to the dogs of military personnel! I thought it was really touching that it even existed, especially as some of the dogs’ graves date back to the seventeenth century. I counted 21 dog graves in total. After the castle, we bought of souvenirs and headed for the Scottish coastline since Edinburgh is really close to the water. I loved going down to the beach! Even though I am on an island, rarely do I get to see water that is so much a part of my life in Seattle. For dinner, we had Chinese food, which I found to be ironic. The Chinese buffet was topped off with dessert at a place called Chocolate Soup… yes, chocolate soup. My memories from Saturday night are filled mostly with Scottish whiskey.