The World of JK Rowling

First off, over the years I have really become a Harry Potter fan. Jake and I started a tradition where during the month of October we try to watch all the movies. Before I was pregnant with MK we were also able to go to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios, which is awesome if you get the chance to go. So this past weekend when we traveled to Edinburgh Scotland with my mom and sister I literally felt like we stepped into the world of Jk Rowling. Edinburgh after all is where she wrote the first two books and you can find evidence of this through out the city.

Our first stop when we arrived was Elephant House a coffee shop near the Royal Mile. While JK Rowling was writing her first and second books she would go inside, buy a cheap cup of coffee and sit down to write. She found it cheaper than paying her heating bills at home during the day. The back window to the building looks out towards Edinburgh Castle which I think looks very similar to Hogwarts. There is also a prestigious private school named George Heriot's School with four houses and four towers near by, that could have also contributed to the inspiration for Hogwarts School of Magic.

 See how awesome this view is of the castle....

 Inside the bathrooms there is tons of graffiti with commentary about Harry Potter. For years each night the staff of Elephant House would paint over any graffiti customers left, however recently they decided to accept it and leave it alone. They even lent us a sharpie so that we could join in on the fun.

 Looking out of the back window underneath the castle there is a beautiful cemetery where you can find names to some of characters from the Harry Potter books. I was most interested in finding the grave of Thomas Riddle aka Tom Riddle aka Voldemort. I put Jake and my sister to the task of finding it. We scoured the grave stones and after making our rounds through what I thought had been all of them. We heard Heather yell... I FOUND IT!!

 After all our Harry Potter fun, we decided to take a break and hike up to Arthurs Seat. Its a short hike with a beautiful view of the city at the top. Jake hiked with the baby the whole way and then once at the top wanted to be adventurous with some pictures getting pretty close to the edge. This isn't the first time he has done this and even though I trust him... I don't trust the rock underneath him or the high powered wind blowing us every which way. So I become big, angry momma bear and freak out. Thankfully Jake decided a cool picture wasn't worth the anxiety attack it would have given me.

 This is the view from below, gorgeous!

 On our way home we walked the Royal Mile which looks an a like how I picture 'diagon alley' would be. It has cool little ally ways lining the street with little shops that you could just get lost in. We also picked up my mom who was doing a bit of shopping and saw this beautiful double rainbow.

Day 2 we checked out Edinburgh Castle. It holds tons of  museums and information about the history of Scotland. The Castle it's self is amazing, it was built on a dormant volcano and is a lot grander than anything I've seen thus far in Ireland. 

The Scottish guards were also there which apparently is rare. They only occupy the castle when either the Queen is in town or the government is in session. Lucky for us they were holding government meetings on the weekend. 

 This was one of my favorite parts... a sweet dog grave site for the dogs that had served their country.

 My two favorite people :)

 There were rites in the city as we left the castle. The Scottish Football Cup Final was the night before and the Hibernian's (Edinburgh's home team) had won after a loosing that's lasted over a hundred years. The team rented a tour bus and drove through out the city thanking all their fans. We got a little glimpse of the action.

 Because the streets were so crowded we walked up to the National Monument on top of Calton Hill. The view was amazing!

 The monument was suprisingly really large and in charge. It was hard to scale the steps however, Jake made it up and then helped me. MK hung out in the grass with Heather but felt deserted and made sure we knew she was upset about it.

 Jake let me stop by Anthropology to get my "fix" since we don't have one here in Dublin. What a good man!

We ate dinner at a silly little Italian place we found walking to the train. As my mom put it "the pizza at the hospital tastes better than this". So not the best meal to end on but our tummies were filled and we still had the most wonderful stay in this beautiful city.