Edinburgh

Sometime back in May, C received an email about a sale on Norwegian flights.  He gets these types of email often, but usually we can't take advantage of any super amazing deals because the flights are mid-week or at weird times of the day that just don't mesh with our work schedules.  We long for the day when we can travel at a moment's notice with no concern for limited vacation days or bad timing!

However, this time, there was a sale on flights to Scotland from Newburgh, NY.  That's about a five-hour drive from our house.  The fare? $109!  That is not a typo!  $109 to fly to Scotland!  Scotland was definitely on our list of places we wanted to visit, so we looked at the available dates, and discovered that it would actually work if we flew there on Wednesday night and returned on Sunday because the class I'm teaching this summer is on M/W/F mornings, but was scheduled to be online for the Friday of that week!  The timing could not have been better!

Since we had to fly home on a Sunday night, the return trip was a little more expensive (no $109 fares to be found for Sunday night travel!), but all told, we flew round trip to Scotland for under $300 each.  An incredible bargain and we love Norwegian Air!

FUN FACT:  THE NATIONAL ANIMAL OF SCOTLAND IS THE UNICORN!!!

Wednesday, July 12

C picked me up from class and we drove north to Newburgh, arriving at the airport around dinner time.  I can't even describe how small the airport is!  Our flight was out of Gate 1. GATE 1!  That has never happened for us!  The flight was slightly delayed, but otherwise great.  Even though we were in economy, no one sat in between us, so we were able to doze relatively comfortably on the overnight flight!

Thursday, July 13

I took some photos during our descent into Edinburgh and then after we landed, we had to walk down an outside staircase and take a shuttle to the terminal.  Since it was going to be a short trip, we had no checked bags to worry about, so we got through customs fairly quickly and grabbed a taxi to our hotel, the Radisson Blu on The Royal Mile.  We had a very nice view from our room!

We were both pretty tired, so we decided to take a nap, which turned into more of a sleep, and we woke up in time for dinner.  We decided to find a place close to the hotel and came across an Italian restaurant less than five minutes away.  The food was so good!  Although it might seem that my review might be slightly influenced by the fact that we were both famished by that point, but we went back two days later and it was just as delicious!

Edinburgh has many ties to the Harry Potter series, so one of the things we wanted to do was see some of the places that are somehow associated with J. K. Rowling and the book series.  We walked over to graveyard where Rowling apparently found inspiration for character names, and what name did we find on the sign when you enter the graveyard?  McGonagall!  My favorite!  Near the graveyard is a school, which was supposedly one of the inspirations for Hogwarts, and The Elephant House, where she did much of her writing when working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.  I had that same feeling I get when I visit Disneyland and think about being where Walt Disney once was – J. K. Rowling was here, in this spot, creating a world fans everywhere would come to love.  It is so difficult to articulate this experience, but it's nothing short of completely magical.  No pun intended!

In that same graveyard is the final resting place of Greyfriars Bobby, who was a terrier belonging to an Edinburgh police officer.  When his human passed away, Bobby sat on his master's grave for fourteen years.  FOURTEEN YEARS.  The devotion and loyalty of dogs is simply astounding.

After a little further exploring, we wandered back to our hotel, and I enjoyed a rare FaceTime conversation with Maddy, who usually shows little to no interest when my mom holds the phone in front of her!

Friday, July 14

We ate breakfast at our hotel, and frankly, it was not very good at all!  We did not make that mistake again!

We walked down to Holyrood Palace, which is residence of Queen Elizabeth when she visits Scotland.  I love all things royal, so it was awesome, but unfortunately, no photos we permitted inside.  It was beautiful, though!

We stopped at pub for late lunch and then walked up to the acropolis.  Unfortunately, the view was not that great because of construction, but it was still nice to explore the area.  We went back to the hotel for a rest before our tour of The Real Mary King's Close, which was fascinating.  Thinking about the abysmal conditions people endured is very humbling.  It makes you very aware of how good we have it in modern times.  Our tour guide was both animated and knowledgeable and we really enjoyed the tour!

After the tour, we had a very late dinner at a restaurant not too far from our hotel and then called it a night!

Saturday, July 15

We had breakfast at a café called Patisserie Valerie, and the food was delicious!  We had tea, chocolate croissants, and eggs Florentine.  A one million percent improvement over Friday's breakfast!

We walked to the Balmoral Hotel where J. K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  We didn't try to go into the hotel; I just wanted a photo of the building!  Afterwards we went to the Rose Street Theatre for a concert.  There was a Jazz Festival happening in Edinburgh the weekend we were visiting, and C – because he is amazing – found a swing band that was performing Disney music!  The band was comprised of 7 members – trumpet, trombone, clarinet, banjo, piano, bass, and drums – and they were fabulous!  It was such a fun concert and the crowd was energetic and singing and clapping along!  A super great show!

SO CLOSE!  AND NOT STAGED - WE FOUND THEM LIKE THIS!

After the concert, we actually got to meet up with two friends from Florida who were on a cruise of the British Isles and happened to be in Edinburgh that day!  And they had just gotten engaged a few days earlier in Paris!  So it was doubly exciting to see them!  We had lunch together and then walked with them to visit some of the aforementioned Harry Potter spots.  Rose and I went into The Elephant Room to take some photos, and in addition to the formal displays about Rowling, the alcove to the bathroom is covered in Harry-Potter-related graffiti from fans.  SO moving.  We loved it!

Unfortunately they had to head back to board their ship, but how awesome to have seen them!  Once we said our goodbyes, we went to the National Museum of Scotland on a whim, and we are so glad we did!  It is an incredible museum and we ended up staying until it closed.  We went up to the roof and had great views of the city and it reminded us that even when we've got plans, spontaneity is also a good thing!

We stopped to pick up a snack from The Baked Potato Shop, which we took it back to our room to eat before having a nap, since we planned to be out pretty late that night.  Later in the evening we went to a place called Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, which was a very cool place and offered rooftop views.  The sun was just setting, so the light was perfect for photos and the weather was ideal and I could have stayed up there forever!

Our last stop of the night was a very late dinner back at the Italian restaurant we went to the first night and it was a great final dinner for our trip.

Sunday, July 16

We got up early to pack, check out, and return to Patisserie Valerie again for breakfast, which was just as good as the previous day!  We then walked to Edinburgh Castle so we could be there when it opened because it gets insanely busy.  While I was not as impressed with it as I had been with Holyrood Palace, it has fantastic views!  After the castle, we got nutella/banana crepes from a food truck, and wandered to the road that is rumored to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley, where we stopped at a café for cappuccino and macarons to round out our visit.

We picked up our luggage from the hotel and took a taxi to the airport for out flight to Newburgh.  We sat in the exit row, which was great because we had extra leg room, the seats in front of us could not recline, and there was no one sitting between us.  Absolutely ideal!

After landing back in NY, we drove home and arrived at about 2 am.  What a crazy, fun trip!  So thankful for that airfare sale!  We will definitely return to Scotland for a more thorough visit, but this trip was a great introduction to Edinburgh!

Happy Tails to you!