Exploring Edinburgh

We knew we wanted to take advantage of a full day in Edinburgh before we leave on our road trip around Scotland. We had morning tickets booked to visit the Edinburgh Castle. We spent about 2 and half hours at this interesting castle. It provided great views of Edinburgh and of course, just like many other things in Scotland, it’s steeped in years of history! At the top of the Royal Mile, this castle has been around for hundreds of years and been involved in many historical conflicts such as the Wars of Scottish Independence and the Jacobite Rising. It’s now the regimental headquarters for the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. It was pretty cool seeing the grounds, the old prisons (for prisoners of war), the room where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to her son, the eventual King James I of England, and the 1 o’clock gun – which was fired every day at 1:00 pm except on Sundays, Christmas, and Good Friday – so that nearby ships could make sure their watches were set to the correct time. Even if we have satellites and advanced technology to tell time now, the gun is still fired at 1:00 every day!

After we wrapped up our visit at the castle, we grabbed a quick lunch then speed-walked over to the Scotch Whisky Experience in order to make it in time for our tour there. They had video guides in BSL and ASL, so that was neat. I started out with the ASL guide, but then my device stopped working and they gave me a new one in BSL… luckily there were subtitles and I can follow along decently with BSL even though I don’t fully know the language. This tour was neat – it took us through the steps that are taken in making whisky, then we got to do a tasting and see the world’s largest collection of scotch whisky. The whisky I chose for my tasting comes from the Speyside region of Scotland, while Kiley chose a whiskey that hails from the Lowlands. This was a neat experience, and the video guides helped us enjoy the tour a lot more than we would have without! I definitely still need a chaser with my whisky though…

After having our wee drams, we decided to walk to the National Museum of Scotland to check it out. On our walk there, we passed by the Elephant House, the coffeehouse where JK Rowling spent time writing the first Harry Potter novel before it exploded into worldwide popularity. There was actually a fire there and it’s under repairs – they have another location currently operating on Victoria Street, which we visited after the museum – but it was neat to see where it all started for those books.

The National Museum of Scotland had free admission, and I had heard it was a good museum to check out, so we figured why not. Alongside a national history of Scotland, it has science and technology, world history and culture, and art. Pretty big museum! We didn’t see everything, but what we saw, we enjoyed! I appreciated how interactive the science & technology areas were. We were also able to visit a rooftop terrace and see a view of Edinburgh from up high… but ironically, going back down one floor actually provided a better view of the city, due to the rooftop terrace having flowers and other plants partially blocking the view.

After getting our fill of the museum, we figured we might as well go check out the most photographed street in Edinburgh, Victoria Street. It’s also allegedly the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books. As someone who grew up reading these books, of course I had to go check it out. Victoria Street has a very fun, colorful vibe to it! We wandered the street a bit, checked out a couple of shops, and enjoyed the sights.

We stopped in a convenience store to get a drink, and Kiley decided to buy a can of Irn Bru, Scotland’s “national” fizzy drink… it’s not bad! I thought it had an interesting blend of orange and perhaps cream soda flavors… No one actually knows what the actual recipe is except for the company itself of course, so I guess I’ll just keep on guessing.

As we were walking away from Victoria Street, I noticed we were right in front of Greyfriars Kirkyard. I apparently can’t resist a good cemetery … so we went inside to check it out. Maybe this is morbid, but I enjoy old cemeteries and how helter skelter the gravestones can be laid out. I think the gravestones and memorials from hundreds of years ago are so much more elaborate and interesting than they usually are today in the 2020s. The Kirkyard is also allegedly a place JK Rowling would go to get inspiration for character names in Harry Potter, and we did find Thomas Riddell’s gravestone (aka Tom Riddle/Voldemort in the HP books). They actually created a new path to the gravestone because apparently many a Harry Potter fan has made the pilgrimage there and all of them were ruining the grass… or at least I surmised from the signs they had up in the area.

After checking out the cemetery, we decided to go back to the hotel for a little bit and figure out dinner plans. While backing up my photos, I was looking up restaurants online and found that a pub across the street from our hotel had pretty good reviews and some Scottish fare that sounded appealing, so that was dinner sorted. We walked over there and had some very delicious cider along with our meals. I had a beef & ale pie – beef and roasted veggies in a brown gravy with a pastry topping, like a deconstructed pot pie, and fries. Kiley had a hot dog (sausage) with crispy onions on top. It was very good food, I ate way too much. While we were finishing up our meals, we noticed that Scotland was about to play Switzerland in the UEFA Euro football tournament, so we decided to stick around for a little bit and watch part of the game. I typically don’t care about sports AT ALL, but we wanted to check out the general vibe of the pub on a game night. It was fun. After we finished our drinks, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night!

Tomorrow morning, we’re picking up our rental car and starting our road trip around Scotland! Wish us luck as we learn to adapt to driving on the left side of the road… I already have a little bit of anxiety about it, but I’m sure we’ll be fine!