Edinburgh is Everything

Edinburgh is our new favorite place!  How can you not love a city full of misty mountains, castles, towering Gothic church spires, and the sound of bagpipes wafting through the air?  It's almost like something out of Harry Potter, we said.  Little did we know how right we were but more about that later...

As we were leaving our hotel yesterday to take in the sights of Edinburgh, it began misting heavily, as it does in Edinburgh - and everywhere else in Scotland I'm told.  I was hoping that it would stick to misting and not a hard rain when the following conversation took place:

Me:  "I hope it doesn't rain hard enough for us to get soaked.  We won't be back to the hotel until late tonight and it would be miserable to be wet all day." 

Mark:  "You know, I can't believe that neither of us thought to bring an umbrella."

Me:  "WHAT?!  I agonized over whether or not to bring umbrellas!  I finally decided to go with the ponchos because they would be lighter, cover more, and leave our hands free!  So, yeah, I thought about umbrellas."

Mark:  "Oh."

Me:  "So do you want to put on one of the ponchos that I brought?"

Mark:  "Nah."

Lucky for Mark I didn't have an umbrella or I might have hit him with it!  Hmm, that gives me an idea...  I think we need to incorporate the birthday spanking tradition into wedding anniversaries (husbands only) and/or Fathers' Days.  He would have qualified for a lot yesterday since it was our 10th anniversary AND Father's Day.  ;)

Later in the afternoon, after we'd taken in Calton Hill, Edinburgh Castle, and many other amazing sights, we headed towards Greyfriars Kirkyard. As we turned a corner, the streets there were winding cobblestone affairs, with shops literally on top of and right next to one another, and all kinds of different things displayed outside to lure shoppers in.  I actually said, "This reminds me of Diagon Alley."  Shortly after that, we happened upon The Elephant House, which proudly proclaims itself to be "The Birthplace of Harry Potter," because that's where J.K. Rowling began working on the first book.  And as we wandered through the Kirkyard, we caught the tailend of a tour and found out that many of the names in the Harry Potter books were taken from gravestones in that cemetary, including McGonagall, Tom Riddle, etc.!  Not to mention the private school right behind and visible from the Kirkyard, George Heriot's School, which is basically the model for Hogwarts.  Yep, totally in love with Edinburgh now! :)

The backside of Edinburgh Castle, 

visible from the area where J.K. Rowling used to hang out!