Day #77 in Orvieto (Edinburgh trip!)

May 10, 2013 – Friday

On Friday morning, the three of us went to Snax for a Scottish breakfast! Laura and I got the traditional veggie breakfast, which included a “tattie scone” (a potato thing), hash browns, a egg, some tomatoes and mushrooms, a veggie sausage, and beans. It seemed like they just put one of everything on a plate but it was really good! After Snax, we made our way to Arthur’s seat because it was a beautiful day and Arthur’s seat was one of the things on our to-do list. As we made our way up to the top, it was SO WINDY and my scarf was blowing everywhere, my hair was in my face, etc. But we made it to the top (it’s only a 20-30 minute hike) and touched the highest point on Arthur’s seat, took a few pictures, and then made our way back down!

I’ve missed iced coffee a lot since I’ve been here (although there’s definitely a lot of great things to eat/drink, I do miss Dunkin’ Donuts). So Kelly brought us to the next best thing – Starbucks. I got the iced coffee I’ve been dreaming of and although it tasted a little bit different, it was still so good and cold and refreshing. Starbuck’s in hand, we made our way to the Greyfriar’s Bobby Cemetary. Greyfriar Bobby was a little Scottish terrier that is like the mascot of Edinburgh and there’s a whole story about him. But we went to the cemetery because JK Rowling came up with the name “Tom Riddle” in Harry Potter because of one of the gravestones in this cemetery! So we felt kind of weird just wandering around, but after a few minutes, an older man (we found out later that his name was Wallace) came up to us and asked us if we were looking for Harry Potter stuff. He was in charge of the cemetery and said that anytime there are younger people walking around, they usually want to see the Harry Potter stuff. So Wallace gave us a tour for half an hour, showing us where JK Rowling came up with Professor McGonagall and then name Tom Riddle! Wallace told us that JK Rowling comes back to the cemetery every year and he walks around with her. She used to teach at the school that’s behind the graveyard, and she based Hogwarts off of that school (according to Wallace).

After the random Harry Potter tour, we walked to the Edinburgh Castle but didn’t go in, saw a wedding party on the street where all the men were wearing kilts and there were bagpipes playing, and walked into a few shops. For lunch, we went to “Rotato” which is a place where you get a huge baked potato and then put different kinds of things in it! It was so good. I was a little worried that Edinburgh wouldn’t have any good food (not sure why I thought this) but it was so nice to have some different kinds of food other than pasta – although I do love pasta.

We then went back to Kelly’s flat to take a nap because we were worn out from our eventful morning. At 7ish, Kelly took us to a “celidah” which is a Scottish dancing event. She’d never been before and we didn’t have any idea of what it would be like. Pretty much it was like square dancing in middle school because the band would call out directions and then you have to switch partners, promenade, etc. But most of the men were in kilts and it was Scottish music, obviously. Although it seemed a little bit weird at first and I wasn’t really into the step-dancing thing (Kelly and Laura both took Irish step dancing when they were younger), it was pretty easy to just listen to the directions and hop around aka polka. I have a ton of pictures and videos from the event! Sometimes boys would ask us to dance and sometimes we would dance with each other, which was also fun. After the celidah (which ended at 11), we went to Palmyra, the sandwich place that we went to the night before, because I was obsessed with the falafel sandwich. At home, I have an unhealthy addiction to Trader Joe’s Veggie Burgers and the falafel sandwich at Palmyra tasted JUST LIKE A VEGGIE BURGER. I had no idea what falafel was but it’s like chickpeas and other stuff. So good. Even though I had just had it the night before, it was even better the second time! I should’ve taken a picture of the sandwich but I ate it too fast before I even had a chance to think about taking my camera out. 

On the way to Arthur's seat

At the top of Arthur's seat!

Kelly and I tried to take a cute picture but it was so windy

Where JK Rowling borrowed the name "Tom Riddle"

View from the cemetery

Hogwarts (kind of)

View of Edinburgh from the Castle

The Celidah!

Dancing with Laura (notice the men in kilts behind us)