A Very-Harry Potter Weekend in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle

This past weekend was cold, rainy, and exhausting -- but totally worth it.  On Friday night I flew to Edinburgh, Scotland, to meet up with my friend Matt who's studying in Aberdeen.  (Note: the city is pronounced eh-din-burr-ah.)  It might have been stupid, but it was truly shocking to see that these people really do drive on the left side of the street.  It took me all weekend to get accustomed to looking right when crossing a street, and I nearly could have died several times!  So right away, even on the bus ride into the city, my experience felt rather surreal.

Matt brought along his Scottish friend Michael, and together we walked from the bus stop in central Edinburgh to his sister Kathy's apartment.  Kathy lived in a nearby neighborhood in a fancy apartment with a great view of the city, and she could not have been more hospitable.  Right away when we arrived, which was fairly late at night, she had set everything up for us and asked, "Can I get ya a cup o' tea, there?" like any normal Scot would.  We spent the night watching some amazing British comedy shows -- I was so excited to be watching TV in English and understanding everything.

I got a great night's sleep, seeing as the two boys accompanying me were extremely lazy like all college guys are.  Even having showered and eaten breakfast, I had time to listen to my Deathly Hallows audiobook while drinking tea and admiring the city from the big kitchen window.  (Don't judge... how could you go to Scotland and not listen to Harry Potter?!)  We walked through town along Princes Street, the central boulevard dividing Old Town from New Town, where every other shop was blasting bagpipe music and selling kilts and various tartan-patterned items.  We crossed over a bridge to Old Town and turned on the Royal Mile (surprisingly, a mile-long road connecting two royal buildings...) until we reached the Scottish Parliament.  Our design professors in Versailles had raved about this brand-new building, so I thought I ought to see it.  It was pretty ugly on the outside (and every Scottish person I talked to just hated it) but the inside was laid out in an interesting way.  Matt, Michael and I then decided to brave the cold and climb the Salisbury Crags, the beautiful cliffs on Holyrood Hill.  It was more of a mountain than a hill, and after climbing at least 900 feet up the wet, muddy hillside, we finally reached King Arthur's Seat.  Arthur's Seat is the highest point in Edinburgh, and legend has it that King Arthur established his dominion over the Scottish territory from that very spot.  The view was phenomenal: we could see downtown Edinburgh, the Castle perched atop another hill, and the Firth of Forth (the North Sea jutting inward) with hazy islands in the distance.

Holyrood Hill

View of the Firth of Forth from King Arthur's Seat

By the mid-afternoon, it was time to climb down the hill (which took twice as long as coming up, and resulted in all of my clothes being completely drenched and muddy).  We grabbed some food and headed over to the Odeon Theatre, where I could not contain my excitement, since we were finally seeing Harry Potter!  No spoilers -- but the movie was awesome, much more serious and intense than the others.  Afterwards, we went to a pizza place for dinner, and then Michael showed us Edinburgh's pub scene.  We sat next to a bunch of really nice guys at the first pub, and throughout the night I got to try some really good beer and Scotch.  (I still can't stand whiskey... but it was definitely better than usual.)  Late that night, we met up with Kathy and her friends, who confirmed my notion that all Scottish people are extremely friendly.  Along with Michael, they explained why Scottish people can't stand English people, which was pretty funny.  We grabbed some haggis on the way home, and I could not believe how good it was!  It sounds disgusting -- sheep liver, heart, and lungs mashed up with oatmeal and boiled in sheep stomach, then fried -- but it was the perfect antidote to the cold, rainy weather.  We happily finished our haggis and drank some more tea while watching TV, and I passed out on Kathy's comfy couch before long.

On Sunday, I was determined to get up earlier and see the rest of the city.  Michael slept in, so Matt and I set out for the most exciting part of the entire trip: our search for the café where J. K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series.  Along the way there, I literally did a double-take and stopped in my tracks when I saw the entrance sign for the Balmoral Hotel.  I literally swerved around and dragged Matt inside as I realized, in awe, that this was the place where J. K. Rowling finished the second half of the series (once she had real money).  It was super fancy, of course, and I wish I could have seen the statue upstairs where she famously scribbled a note when she finished Deathly Hallows in 2007.

After leaving and getting turned around on several little side streets, we finally found the Elephant House Café in Old Town.  The café was named differently a few years ago, but it was nonetheless purely magical to be in the place where such a wonderful story began.  We sat and had lunch in the exact same room where, years ago, Jo Rowling created the early Harry Potter books day after day.  By far, the best part of my experience there was seeing the view onto which the café looked.  It could not have been more inspirational for a series like Harry Potter: her table looked out onto a beautiful graveyard, dotted with eerie headstones, and behind it loomed the gorgeous Edinburgh Castle atop a giant cliff.  I felt like a loyal Potter devotee on a pilgrimage... it was surreal to be in a place where, really, one woman changed the history of literature forever.

Inside the literary landmark... the very tables where Harry Potter was written

The view out of J. K. Rowling's table's window onto the graveyard and the castle

Matt and I met up with Michael again for a free tour of Edinburgh in the afternoon.  Our tour guide was an Australian living in Scotland, and he was full of great stories about Edinburgh's history.  I really got a feel for how spooky the city is -- it's full of eerie passages, haunted buildings, and has lots of ghost stories.  We saw a private boys' school that might have very well been the inspiration for Hogwarts.  After that, we finally ventured into the Greyfriars Kirkyard, the graveyard overlooked by J. K. Rowling's old café.  It was a creepy but beautiful place, and I was giddy when I saw some of the graves our guide pointed out.  There was the tomb haunted by a poltergeist (apparently ranked one of the "Scariest Places on Earth"), the tomb of a McGonagall, and coolest of all, a headstone with the names "Tom Riddell Sr." and "Tom Riddell Jr." marked upon it.  Clearly, J. K. Rowling got lots of inspiration when wandering that cemetery.

The George Hariot School in the distance, inspiration for Hogwarts

Inside the Greyfriars Kirkyard

Tombstone of the two Tom Riddles!

Our tour guide took us to some spots that gave us amazing views of the castle, which really is Hogwarts-esque in the way it's perched upon the hillside, even though it's not in the Gothic style.  Finally, after a great story about Scotland's Stone of Destiny and how it's traveled back and forth between Scotland and England, the tour was over and it was time to head home.  The three of us packed up at Kathy's, thanked her as much as possible, and left to catch a bus to the airport.  My shoes were soaked through and I was absolutely freezing, but nothing could stop me from feeling exultant.  The weekend as a whole was fascinating; Scotland was just as beautiful as I pictured it, and the entire time, I felt like I was living a fairy tale.  I can't believe that people actually live there.  Seeing the seventh Harry Potter movie was fun, but I will never forget how awesome it was to see the places where that amazing story was actually created from the start.  Overall, I can't wait to return to Scotland -- because the food, the drinks, the landscape, and the generous people -- everything was too good to be true.

Walking along Princes Street

One last view of the Castle