Edinburgh

I find that each time I travel to a new place, it's my "new favourite" but I honestly think that Scotland will always be one of my favourite places no matter however many new places I travel. This may be due to the fact that it strongly reminds me of Canada - not just from the beautiful scenery but also because of the friendly people. We stayed in a hotel-apartment in Holyrood on the end of the Royal Mile which is scattered with beautiful old buildings. One of the notable buildings is the Scott Monument, the largest monument in the world dedicated to a writer (Sir Walter Scott.)

Scott Monument

We had been told we were extremely lucky as the weather was gorgeous and sunny during our stay, which is rare for Scotland in the autumn.

Scotland is beautiful in the autumn

Princes Street

St. Giles Cathedral

During our walking tour we stopped at this heart on the street, called the Heart of Midlothian (on the Royal Mile.) We were told visitors who don't know about the heart often find it romantic, but once we heard the story behind the heart we realized it is quite the opposite. Our guide told us that people often spit on the heart because hundreds of years ago a prison stood on the site where people were executed.

The last stop on our walk was at a graveyard, Greyfriars Kirk where we heard a cute tale about the famous Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrior who guarded the grave of his owner, a night watchman for 14 years.

Greyfriars Bobby

The Greyfriars Bobby pub with a state of the pup

Greyfriars Kirk 

John Cray - the owner of Greyfriars Bobby

Edinburgh is also know to be where Harry Potter author JK Rowling got her inspiration and wrote most of her books. While in Edinburgh I made it a priority to find the cemetery where she got the names for some of her characters, and the coffee shop, "The Elephant House" that she spent hours at while working on her novels.

This is the school that Hogwarts is partly inspired by - the four columns represent the four houses in the book (Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor) 

Thomas Riddle's Gravestone - the villian Lord Voldemort 

 Our last day in Edinburgh was spent gathering some last souvenirs and walking up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. It had an amazing view of the city.

Edinburgh Castle

Inside there was a weaving mill which showed how to make the tartans