Ireland/Scotland, Day 11: Edinburgh

For our last day, we had a hefty breakfast at the hotel, then walked around the old town yet again. On the way to other things, we stumbled upon Victoria Street, allegedly JK Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter...

Victoria Street

Then we visited Greyfriar's Kirkyard, a really cool old cemetery.

Greyfriar's Kirkyard

I thought it was fun to just walk around in, but the book said that some of the names also inspired characters or families in Harry Potter.

We were quickly running out of room in our suitcases, so I dropped off a book I'd finished on the trip at a Little Free Library, then we headed in the National Museum of Scotland. The artifacts told us a lot about how the Scottish clans and tribes lived for centuries, but the history went up right to the present, which was neat. The museum itself is organized in a kind of bonkers fashion, so prepare to get lost.

Next up, the big kahuna: Edinburgh Castle!

Edinburgh Castle

Word to the wise, book your trip online early. If you get a QR code ticket in your inbox, just go right to the people checking tickets in the line, don't stop at the booth. The machines don't work and we ended up frustrating ourselves.

The castle tour was really cool, especially the views, crown jewels, and the many layers of castle battlements. So much history happened in the walls. I didn't realize how much was recent, too - like a lot of Edinburgh, parts date to the 1800s but look much older.

After the castle, we went across the river for a beer at the Guilford Arms, a fun little bar where we grabbed some local beers. It was recommended by the book, and the decor gave plenty to look at.

We had been recommended to Dishoom, a tasty chain of Indian restaurants with a location in Edinburgh. We got a smattering of dishes and were extremely happy with our picks. 

I think dinner was at something like 3:15 p.m., so we realized we had some time to kill before going back to the hotel to chill. We walked Prince's Park and then stopped in the National Gallery. There, Dave found yet another surprise Vermeer on the trip (I don't think he had seen this one, though) and I saw the iconic stag painting in situ:

The National Gallery was really impressive; we tried to focus on the Scottish paintings, and I'm sure we didn't see most of the museum in the time that we had. 

The gift shop was super neat, with yet more textiles that made me drool. The whole trip was full of such things, which is helping give me inspiration for some projects at home. Right now I have a lot of yarn and have cast on some sweater projects that aren't inspiring me, so it was nice to be somewhere with a vibrant textile culture to get some inspiration.

Scarves at the National Gallery gift shop

And that's that - our Scottish trip came to a close! We loved both Scotland and Ireland and would definitely go back; next time we'd spend more time on Islay and in Glasgow, and I'd love to see Balmoral and all the wild beauty up there. Of course, we made a list of movies set in Scotland, most of which are in the Highlands, so we have that to look forward to. 

No more trips scheduled for the rest of the year right now, but we're thinking of going somewhere relaxing and warm in February. This was kind of a "go, go, go" trip, I'd like to just relax somewhere, maybe at a resort with one good excursion per day.