Edinburgh: Days 1 & 2

Edinburgh has been absolutely amazing so far. We like it even better than London. It just feels a lot more homey here for some reason. The first day here we didn't do too much because we were traveling for most of the day. The train from London took about 5 hours, but it was all through beautiful countryside so it wasn't actually so bad.

After we actually arrived, we checked into our hotel and were thrilled to discover that we have a toilet in our room (even if the shower is almost on top of it). Our hotel room is pretty close to the old university, so it's a really nice area as well. After checking into our hotel and having lunch at a cute little coffee shop, we met up with one of my good friends who happens to be interning for the Scottish Parliament. We climbed to the top of Calton Hill and got a good look at the amazing city.

It was absolutely beautiful. On one side, you see this old city, and then if you look a little ways either direction, there are these incredible green hills. I love it. This picture is Greg standing on the unfinished national monument on top of the hill. Apparently, they were going to build a replica of the Parthenon, but they ran out of money.

Later that night, since it was our one year anniversary, Greg surprised me with reservations at a very fancy restaurant on the top floor of the Scottish National Museum. The food was delicious (though we weren't really sure what exactly we were ordering) and our table had a great view of the castle.

The next day (today), we had breakfast at that same cute little cafe. It was our favorite breakfast yet in Europe. Scones and hot chocolate. Yum.

Needless to say, we will be going back tomorrow for more. After breakfast, we walked over to the castle and took a tour. It was great to learn about the history of such an old building.

After our tour, we had lunch at The Elephant House, which is where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter. I guess there's a cemetery right outside the window with the grave of Tom Riddle (although I think it's actually spelled Riddel). Pretty cool though.

After lunch, we walked what's known as The Royal Mile, which is the street that goes from the castle to the palace where the queen lives when she comes to visit Scotland (which is really only about once a year). There were a lot of fun tourist shops along the way, but the palace was the best part. Again, there were a lot of great stories, especially about Mary Queen of Scots, who we think is actually an ancestor of Greg's.

It definitely makes me want to read more about her (Desi, I might have to get the name of that book you were talking about..)

It's been an incredible two days and we're so excited to spend tomorrow with one of Greg's good friends driving around the countryside. Scotland is amazing!