Its always great experiencing something for the first time. As we grow older and life takes on the constant hum of routine, we rarely get a chance to experience something new. Lucky for us, our travel to the UK has brought about many first-experiences. Two of those happened Saturday, March 24; We go to a new country, AKA Scotland AND we get to travel there on a fancy and fast train!

The day started too early, which is often the case in travel-mode. Gotta make the most of our time here! But 8:30AM (Eastern Standard Time ~2AM) still felt too early. It was a fine, cold misty English morn in High Wycombe. Our buddy Adam came home just as we were waking up. He is a professional poker player, so the night’s are his working hours. Hopefully he did well, but we were too slow to the draw and missed him on his way to bed.

It took us almost an hour to get ourselves up and make some breakfast. Jill is a freak and had soup with a piece of toast and melted Camembert cheese (which is becoming our dining standard because its so melty and delicious). OH hey did you notice I said, Jill, not Jake. That’s right, Jake is the one typing up this little ditty. Though Jilly did all of the pre-writing and post-editing…

We say Bon Voyage to London this morning in transit to Scotland! Before our departure, we packed the last of our things. One great thing is that our friends let us leave all the big luggage at their house, so all we have is small backpacks. A lighter bag means easier transport. And with just a few small snacks, we got out the door by 10AM onto High Street (aka Main Street in the USA).

We walked down to the local Tesco to pick up a few sandwiches and drinks for the long train ride. The streets were lined with people this morning. Tent canopies lined the walk, apparently its an outdoor market today. But we are on a time-limit and had to skip the fun going straight for the food. £5 for lots of snacks and lunch for two is a pretty good deal. Then we made a b-line for the train.

After our week in England, we feel already like expert train riders. Our first train will take us to Marylebone Station in London, where we need to transfer to the Underground on the Brown and then Blue line, ending at King’s Cross. THE King’s Cross (YESSS HARRY POTTER!!!!). From there we will catch the long train to Edinburgh.

Kings Cross is a HUGE station and much more modern than any of the others we’ve seen. Naturally, we had to see if we could spot platform 9 and 3/4 and the obligatory visit to the Harry Potter gift shop. (note: Harry Potter stores are ALL over the UK). The long line of tourists marked the spot and we merely walked by thinking how silly it would be to stand in line and pay £9 for a photo opt of the platform sign and trolley sticking out of the wall.

By the time we found our train, we had only 10 minutes to board so we kicked it into gear. Upon entering, it was VERY reminiscent of the HP movie (which is really the only time we’ve seen King’s Cross). Our train, called The Flying Scotsman was pretty large. It had several compartments, and we booked the “quiet compartment”. That means no babies, no cell phones, no loud chatter or music! They need to do this on more mass-transit (think how much more pleasant an airplane ride could be?!). We were lucky with our very own 4-seater section with a huge table and great large window to watch the countryside pass us by.

And here we sat for 7+ hours enjoying the ride.

We were completely transported into Harry Potter mode. Remember when Ron and Harry go off to Hogwarts for the first time and the lady with snacks comes by asking “Anything off the Trolley?” Yes, this happened to us but there weren’t pumpkin pasties or every flavor beans. Just sandwiches and chips.

There were 6 stops along the way north. The rolling hills, farms of sheep and small villages were so cool. Its amazing how quiet this train is, not just the compartment but the whole thing. You can barely hear anything which is great. It wasn’t until Newcastle that we picked up passengers that were a bit louder and filled our car. It was fine and the beautiful views make up for it. This whole day feels so adventurous!

Finally we arrived at Waverley Station in Edinburgh, Scotland. And quite literally, we had no idea where to go from here. Okay, maybe not completely, but it was strange to be in a brand new country VIA train. All we know is that our room-rental is down by the water in a town or village (whatever) called Leith. And the water is north of here, so we walked.

A man with his son overheard us talking and said that he was heading the same direction that we were, so we tailed them for a bit until the crowds picked up so much that we lost them amongst throngs of humans. That’s okay because Jilly kept stopping to take pictures and we weren’t making much forward progress. It was so beautiful and ancient-looking in Edinburgh’s cobblestone walkways and castle-like facades. We were completely transported into another world.

Walking feels so good after sitting all day. With probably another hour of sun we set out passing tons of city shops and huge buildings. We pretty much walked in a straight line downhill. It was nearly a 2 mile walk, but it went by quickly.

As we neared our destination, the neighborhood took a turn toward seedy and slummy. Parts of it were derelict and completely devoid of humans and others had some stray animals and homeless people. We passed a few graveyards and churches, I know right, totally ominous but strange and beautiful and exhilarating at the same time.

Our map indicated we needed to make a turn into a winding mass of buildings. Some looked nicer than others, but it took us a bit to figure out which one was our flat. It was a very nondescript apartment building. Our instructions said to ring the buzzer for #1, however the numbers weren’t visible so it took us a bit to find the right button to push. Eventually we saw it and a few seconds later our host, Caroline, greeted and welcomed us into her home.

We rented a room in Caroline’s apartment for a VERY reasonable rate for a few days. And that is literally as far as we planned this trip to Scotland (note we have another 3.5 weeks until we need to be back in London for the wedding). Caroline’s home is small but very warm and cozy apartment. Our room is right off the front door and is perfect. We were welcomed by her two cats, Mia and Archie. Mia is a big white fur-ball with gorgeous blue eyes and Archie is black and white. Mia was very friendly and Archie wasn’t quite sure of us yet. (We became good friends with both cats before long)

We plopped down our bags and then Caroline gave us a tour of her place. She told us that we could pretty much use anything we needed, showed us our bathroom and explained how the heater / hot water works. This is pretty typical in these old buildings. There is no central heat or A/C, heat is on a radiator. And because its so expensive, most people only minimally heat their homes (morning and night). The hot water is usually associated with this timeframe, so if you want a hot water shower, wait until morning or night!

Her kitchen had a nice Scandinavian style and will suit us perfectly for cooking food. She told us about a grocery market 2 blocks away, called LIDL (say it like LITTLE). We didn’t linger as we were starving and had no more food. We can’t believe how INSANELY inexpensive food is (and delicious). We will be able to eat for 3 full days for less than £10. Amazing!

Back at the flat, we whipped up a cucumber and tomato salad, pan fried cod, green beans and cookies for dessert. We shared travel stories with our host, who’s latest journey was in Nice, France. Naturally we got super excited about the prospect of exploring new parts of the world. We learned that Caroline is a nurse and also happens to be a language-expert and history buff. We got on so well with her right away and she said she’d be happy to give us a personal tour of Edinburgh tomorrow.

How cool is that?!?

It was after 11PM before we finally called it bed time. We also lose (another) hour due to British daylight savings. Oh well!

Sunday March 25:
Tour of Edinburgh

We had a much later start this morning than planned, what with the time change and all. It was a very restful night of sleep. It was after 930AM and we got up to make tea, coffee toast and skyr for breakfast. Skyr is the world’s greatest food according to Jilly. The day also promised to be “warm” for Scotland. We even spotted some blue sky out the window, which fueled our energy stores.

Caroline said that she would be ready to go after 11AM, so we took the late-morning to give ourselves a little tour of Leith. It was pretty dang cold out but the sun was nice. There were actually people wearing T-shirts! Crazies.

We meandered along the waterfront village (so freaking cool), passed the docks and hoped to walk out to the famous Britannia ship (which is the Queen’s personal cruise ship). We thought we could see it, but it was actually blocked by a huge building.

It felt good to be back on the water (sort of like home). Despite some parts of this town being a derelict and run down, most of it is quite beautiful and inspiring.

The cold breeze sent us back to the flat where we donned all our warm stuff (Sweaters, hats, gloves and coats). Caroline was ready and waiting. We opted to take a bus to the city. We needed EXACT change because the bus operators here will not give change nor take credit card. We had to stop at a little market to get some candy so we could get appropriate change. Jill was so excited to see the Scottish notes (money), which were slightly different than English notes.

The bus came about a minute after we arrived and we bought 2 full day tickets (only £4/pp). Way cheaper than London’s transport, that’s for sure.

Anyways, Caroline told us which lines to use and how to get to and fro different areas as we rode our bus to Parliament Street. Our tour began right down by the Abbey and Parliament building, where she actually worked at one time. We got our very own personal history lesson of Scotland including many significant landmarks. Not surprisingly, this city is full of ghost stories and hauntings, which we love.

One really funny thing is how Caroline explained the way Scottish people solve problems. They simply fill them in. Here’s a story; The Children’s Museum used to be a nursery (daycare) in its early days. During a time of plague, authorities took, what some might say, an extreme route to deal with this. One child got sick in the nursery and instead of putting that child in quarantine and/or removing him/her from the others, the authorities instead decided to lock EVERYONE (sick and healthy) kids and caretakers in the building. They gave them just enough food and water for a few days before putting the last few nails and boards over all the doors and windows. But they weren’t total monsters and they allowed mothers in, but would not let them out again. And it wasn’t until the last sounds of pounding, screaming and crying stopped when they finally opened up and…cleaned it out.

This method doesn’t stop there. It happened again and again; people would be trapped in underground areas of the city and instead of rescuing them, they simply filled the “hole” and left them there to die. No wonder there are so many hauntings here.

We continued down some beautiful streets as we heard one story or another. There are a lot of residential buildings above the first-level stores and Caroline mentioned how tourism has taken resources away from locals. This seems to be a common theme in many places we’ve visited throughout our travels, and its kind of sad to hear from a local. What happens is local businesses are closed and replaced with residential facilities or hotels. The residents aren’t necessarily local, they purchase and then rent out to tourists. This makes it difficult for locals to even afford to live in their own city and pushes them out of city limits. Obviously not a happy trend.

And just then, we meandered into the Royal Mile (the Main Street), which is lined with tourist shops (go figure)!

Caroline is a wealth of knowledge, and it goes beyond just history. She is also a Harry Potter buff and has first-hand knowledge of HP trivia. For example, when she was younger, Caroline’s brother managed a cafe called Spoon. At this time, Caroline was going to University and would frequent the cafe between classes. JK Rowling lived in Edinburgh and when she was just a poor, young writer, she would spend months in this cafe writing the first Harry Potter book. Caroline often often saw her with her young baby writing the masterpiece that is Harry Potter. Most people thing that Elephant and Stone is the place she wrote this book, but that was after the story was already written, a place that she just happened to do some editing. Spoon is the true place it all happened.

The visual inspiration for Harry Potter can be seen all throughout Edinburgh. Caroline took us down an alley and around a corner which was piled high with buildings that could have been taken out of the movie verbatim. We were looking at the actual Diagonally and Knockturn Alley. She even took us to Tom Riddle’s grave (spelled Riddell). Not many people know about it (I’m sure if they did it would be packed with tourists). I won’t give away the location either, but its pretty fun nonetheless!

After a few hours, we took a little break at Mimi’s Cafe, a regional coffee and bakery chain. And we indulged on a most delicious chocolate raspberry cupcake and gigantic brownie with an Americano coffee. YUMMMMMM.

The tour continued all over town, up and down alleys, walkways and sometimes through tunnels. This city is pretty amazing. We walked on for another few hours and came upon a group of tourists crowded by something on a street corner. Upon closer inspection, we could see it was a statue of a dog. His nose was slightly discolored but people kept rubbing it as if it was a good luck charm. And apparently, that’s exactly what it is…

Across from here is the Greyfriars Kirkyard, a massive (and quite beautiful) graveyard surrounding a large and beautiful church. Anyways, this graveyard happens to be associated with Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal dog who guarded his master’s grave. His mater was a police officer who died and the dog was famous because he stayed at the grave, being fed scraps from the nearby kitchen staff of a restaurant. And there he stayed, 13 years, before he passed. This loyalty was honored with a statue placed at the junction of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row (exactly where we stood).

Apparently long ago, a tour guide made up a story about this statue, that it was good luck to rub its nose (like rubbing the head of a Buddha statue). This is not true at all, but because of that one little lie, the sculpture actually has had damage and that explains the discoloration on its nose. Apparently even with toxic chemicals and paint doesn’t keep it from wearing down. Caroline told nearby tourists this same thing and out of respect, no one else nearby touched it.

But, all of us were now keen to go into the nearby pub, known as Greyfriar’s Bobby, for lunch.

We dined on delicious fish and chips and finished our meal with a dessert which called the Cranachan. It’s seriously the best thing we’ve tasted. It’s like a parfait but with toasted oats, whiskey, cream, raspberries and whipped topping. Apparently raspberries are grown all over Scotland!

After lunch, we meandered into the Greyfriars Kirkyard, the graveyard around the large church, which is also exquisite. We learned another fun and interesting thing about this part of the country is that the land, itself, is constantly changing. So very old burial sites, like this, have problems with bodies popping up out of the ground, literally, due to the constant shifting. It’s morbid and gross, but also kinda cool!

There are so many different levels to this city. It seems like a hodgepodge of bridges and arches, steps and alleys ascending and descending in all directions. In the past, people used to have shops and homes below the bridges and archways. It was literally Edinburgh’s “underground” where all the seedy things happened. Drugs, gambling, prostitution, you name it. And naturally, it was horrible living conditions with sewage everywhere. There was a lot of death in the area and its known to be pretty haunted still to this day.

One haunting story happened not so long ago. Two young and adventurous guys from New Zealand broke into a closed off aqueduct to explore the vaults below the city. They each had torches (headlamps) but both stopped working while they were down in the depths. In true form, instead of sending out a search party for them, the city ordered to have the door sealed and thus locked them in! Luckily for them, they found another way out, but said that while they were down there they could feel chills and came out with large scratches down their faces (despite having no contact with anyone or anything). [ohhhhhhhahhhhh, insert ghost sounds]

Another story happened a long time ago. A young boy got caught pickpocketing by 2 guards and as punishment he would be forced to redeem himself by working for the guards on duty. His job was to lead guards into tunnels to clear them of anything illegal. And in order for the guards to find him, he was given a drum with which they could follow the beats and find him below. At one time, he went down so far that the guards couldn’t find him and instead of continuing their search, they left him and sealed the door. People say that they can sometimes still hear the drum on the street above. Creepy!

Its so fun to hear these ghost stories first-hand from our amazing host. We finished our walk at The End of the World Bar, aptly named because in the 1400’s this was where a wall had been built and people never went outside the walls. Caroline, not used to walking 20km days left us here so that we could continue on and she would head back home. She gave us such an amazing 6-hour tour it was so nice of her!

We kept on walking for another hour, stopping in some of the tourist shops and taking heaps of photos (uhem, Jilly)

Our legs were tired and so we hopped on the 300 bus, which took us straight to the door of our flat at Tollbooth Wynd. Dinner was a light meal of pasta and sandwiches. We broke out maps to try to see where we should go while we are here. Caroline gave us some great insights and even generously offered to let us stay here for another few days, which we happily accepted.

Monday March 26
We woke up again this morning and dined on our favorite (Raspberry Skyr, toast and coffee). Jilly is obsessed with Skyr by the way.

It was a glorious and sunny Scottish day, so we skipped the bus and went for a 2-mile walk up to the city. Our only goal today was to hike up the giant Salisbury Crags that we spotted upon our arrival to Edinburgh. The streets were nearly empty as we walked the familiar road uphill. When we finally made it to the Parliament building (which is where we started yesterday), we turned and headed straight for the crags.

From here, the crag looked pretty steep. We walked along the edge of Parliament and then straight for the bottom of the hill. There were lines of people heading to the more gradual trail, which looked like it zigged around the back of the crag. We also spotted a more narrow, much steeper trail to our right. And that is the route we took. Our old TA-strength kicked into full gear and before we knew it we were above the city.

We could see for miles out into the ocean and took loads of photos before heading back down (also the steep way). It was nearly lunch and we ate our sack lunch (ham and cheese sandwiches) by the park outside Parliament. The clouds rolled in and kicked up a chilly wind. We didn’t plan anything beyond the hill hike, which was much faster than we thought, so we have a whole day to fill. Jake, I mean I, really wanted to visit Edinburgh castle. We looked online and saw that the earliest tour we could book was for 3PM (its only noon now) and the place closes at 6PM.

So instead of booking, we walked up and stood in line for 30-minutes. It was worth it to gain an extra few hours with which we could play tourist. And we did…4 hours of play around this massive fortress that has stood here since the 1300’s. Despite its brilliant fortified location, Edinburgh Castle has had more sieges than any other in Great Britain.

We started our tour at the very top and worked our way down. Some areas couldn’t be photographed and other’s could, but we pretty much went into every room that we could. Jill’s favorite was the War Memorial Church (no photos allowed), that actually had amazing stained glass windows depicting war scenes. Jake’s favorite was the dungeons.

I won’t go into the details but there a lot to see and learn. The place is packed with tourists, but weirdly able to find empty rooms and halls. Its fun to squeeze through old narrow halls and stairwells, trying to imagine how it would be to live or work here. There was even a huge War Museum INSIDE the Castle grounds; a museum inside a museum. Now that’s wacky.

Jilly was worn out by the cold and fatiguing elements. So we headed back down the long road home, stopping off at several gift shops along the way and the LIDL market for some dinner food (bangers and mash with broccoli).

It was easily a 10 mile walking day and my legs were exhausted. I made dinner while Jilly researched and booked some things for us to do. We are so out of order with how we’ve planned, for example, tonight we booked our car-rental for after Easter (from Aberdeen and back). We also booked our bus to the airport for when we leave the UK in about a month. It’s kind of insane how expensive transportation costs are here. But we did find some great deals, so that’s good.

After dinner, we were in bed and asleep (for the next 12 hours).

Tuesday March 27
Sleep was glorious last night. This morning we enjoyed lounging in bed with coffee and tea, not in any particular hurry to get going. It was cold and gloomy and raining out there today. But we planned for this, and opted for an inside day. The National Museum of Scotland. Oh and did I mention that its also FREE?!

When we finally made it out the door we hopped on the first bus and immediately realized that we left all of our navigation aids back at the ranch. Our phone and my watch, so we have to go old-school. Reading signs and maps to get to where we need to go. Fortunately we’ve walked the city enough to have a really good sense of where we needed to go. We got off the bus a few blocks earlier than we meant, but it must have been fate, because we walked past a cafe sign that said “£1.20 Mac and cheese pies!”

Hells yes, that is exactly what we wanted, but not until later…

We packed a sack lunch for ourselves and found the entrance to the museum easily. The rain abated for us which was nice, but started falling as soon as we walked in. Perfect timing.

We packed up our warm gear and donned cameras and proceeded to spend the next 6 hours learning all there is to learn about Scotland from the dawn of time through modern day. The museum covered everything from natural history, science, technology, antiquities and culture. The building is a work of art in itself, absolutely massive in size. I’m pretty sure you could spend 3 full days here and not be able to see it all. It had 7 floors and 3 main “gallery” levels. It was full of interactive exhibits, lots of old historical artifacts and so many things to learn about. And all of it is free, which simply blows my mind.

At one point we glanced outside to the miserable rain, wind and fog that dominated the view. Happy to be inside today, that’s for sure.

After hours, I couldn’t absorb anymore information. Jilly was in the same boat and that’s when we knew it was time to go. We walked outside and again, the rain appeared to stop just for us. Thank you mother nature. We walked back the way we came, stopping off for some mac and cheese pies and hot tea. It was so fun to eat and people watch at the same time. Even better was getting on the bus instead of walking back to the flat. We got off one stop early so we could hit up the LIDL to pick up dinner; Chicken kiev and red thai curry with beans for only £4!

Tonight is our last night with Caroline and we enjoyed sitting and chatting with her, picking her brain for places to go visit. She suggested some great places, including Inverness, Skye and Mull Islands. After dinner, she left to go to a pub to meet her friends while Jilly and I packed and cleaned up our stuff.

Tomorrow we leave for our next room-rental, which happens to be right across the street from the Edinburgh Zoo (which is on our must-see list). Jilly found us a great deal and it works out because there is one perfect weather day coming up. It’s kind of amazing how much cheaper it is for us to stay in rooms vs. hostels.

We still have a gap of time that we have yet to determine what to do. Maybe a trip to Ireland or Wales? We’ll see what manifests. This trip has taken shape all on its own. Completely out of order but somehow fitting together perfectly.