One weekend in April, I walked to Kings Cross Station and took a train up to Edinburgh for a weekend trip on my own. After four and a half hours of the English countryside flying by, the Scottish coast came into sight and I arrived in Edinburgh. I spent the next day and a half walking around the city and taking several hundred photos of the old buildings and streets. It was a nice weekend to be in Edinburgh, and I loved the city.
The National Museum of Scotland
St Giles Cathedral
The Royal Mile and Cockburn Street
I headed to Calton Hill, which has several monuments at the top and a view of the city.
I went by Edinburgh Castle, although I didn't end up going in there. After everything else closed, I went to the Elephant House, a coffee shop that is around the corner from where I was staying and is known as a place where J.K. Rowling wrote the first book of the Harry Potter series. It may have been a very touristy thing to do, but I read
The Raven King
by Maggie Stiefvater and wrote for a couple hours while I sat in the back room with a view of Edinburgh Castle, like she supposedly did in 1995.
I started the next morning by walking down the Royal Mile to Arthur's Seat. I walked partway up one of the paths and didn't go all the way up to Arthur's Seat, but still had nice views of Edinburgh as I went in a loop.
Glimpses of Holyrood Palace and more pretty streets on the way back from Arthur's Seat.
As always, I ended up at an art museum, this time the Scottish National Gallery.
It was really nice to walk through the Princes Street Gardens, especially because there were flowers everywhere and the sun was shining, after weeks of spring stubbornly refusing to start in London.
Yes, more cute streets and nice buildings of Edinburgh.
