Scotland- Europe 2010

I have finally found time to finish the last of our Europe 2010 Vacation post-

Edinburgh, Scotland!

While in London, Mike and I decided to board a train a travel to Edinburgh, Scotland for a quick overnight trip. We knew we didn't have a lot of time to spend in Edinburgh, so once we arrived we checked into our hotel, dropped off our luggage, bundled up (it was absolutely freezing) and went out to explore the town and do a little shopping! Once the sun started setting, all the stores stared closing, so we grabbed a quick snack and then headed back to the hotel to warm up and rest before going to dinner. We ate at a really great vegetarian restaurant. Unfortunately, I started experiencing "morning sickness" on our way to dinner. So once we were finished eating we headed back to the hotel so I could rest up since the next day would be a busy one. Here are a few pictures Mike took our first evening in Edinburgh.

There were several reasons we had for visiting Edinburgh. Shopping and touring the castle were top on our list, but there was one other place I wanted to visit...The Elephant House Cafe, "the birth place of Harry Potter". This is where JK Rowling did most of her writing on the Harry Potter series. If you click on the link above you can watch an interview of JK Rowling in the cafe that was taped right after the first book was published and the second had already been sold.

Once we heard all this information about The Elephant House we decided this would be our breakfast stop before heading to the castle. Here are a few pictures of the cafe. The picture of the castle is the actual view from inside the cafe...Hogwarts anybody?

After we finished eating breakfast we walked up the hill to the castle gates. The tour of the castle took us a couple of hours. The views from atop the castle were amazing. Once we were finished touring the castle we headed out to eat lunch and do some more shopping before boarding the train back to London.

Here are a few pictures from the train ride home. I mostly read while Mike listened to his iPod and ran around the train taking pictures of the countryside.