Harry Potter in Edinburgh

Disclaimer: Sorry for my crappy photos, I only have my phone camera to work with and it doesn't always turn out the greatest.

That was the sign coming out of the airport when I arrived (after a 3 hour delay in Chicago and then missing my connecting flight in Heathrow to Edinburgh). It was a welcome sight after a stressful day.

Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful and an easy city to get comfortable in really quickly. It's pretty easy to learn your way around and it's also an incredibly safe city so you're not looking over your shoulder or tightly clutching your purse.

In addition to being a wonderful city that I'll probably rave about many many many more times, it's the birthplace of my all-time favorite series Harry Potter.

The Elephant House

She wrote some of the early copies of Edinburgh in The Elephant House (just a ten minute walk from my campus!) and the cafe has become a tourist hot spot. I think they do a good job of creating a balance though where in the front room there are Harry Potter souvenirs and all, but the back is still a normal spot to eat your panini and drink your latte. 

I bought a button because I wanted something small. And from the table I was sitting at was an amazing view of Edinburgh Castle and Greyfriar's Kirkyard (almost at that part).

When I decided to open the drawers at the table I was sitting out of curiosity I discovered notes and letters left for J.K. Rowling to find. It made me a little emotional because I started to think about how many people have come to this cafe to just be in the spot where magic truly arose from. She created such a tangible story for me and many others and I believe that's the true magic. While I've never met these people who left these notes I feel a connection to them that is unexplainable. This is the one series where it truly feels alive to me.

Greyfriar's Kirkyard

I spent nearly two hours in this graveyard... It was awesome. Not only is it a beautiful and historic graveyard, but J.K. Rowling also snagged some names for her characters from the tombstones. Take a peek at the last name on the list above and you'll see a man named McGonagall was buried there.

There's also a Thomas Riddell!! Spelled slightly different, but this is Voldemort's (or his father's) grave.

There was even a Moodie! Unfortunately, I couldn't find McGonagall's tombstone even though I was there for nearly two hours and I walked every inch of that graveyard! I will go back though and try again.

There are so many eerie skull and crossbones or skeleton images in this graveyard I loved it. This one was on the side of just a blank stone wall in the graveyard. They were so fun to seek out and then wonder about the story. Some graves were so damaged and old that the images and words originally on them were unreadable, which was sad. It's such a photogenic graveyard and I even saw people picnicking in it. 

This was my favorite of the entire graveyard. It reads "Non Omnis Moriar" and has a snake curled around an urn or some type of cup. I looked up what the Latin meant and it translates to "I Shall Not Wholly Die." If that is not the most Voldemort and Slytherin thing in the entire world than I give up on life. This was so cool to me I shared it with my friend Emma and my sister Casey (who both love Harry Potter as much as me). I still cannot get over how perfect this is because it's in the same graveyard as the original Tom Riddle. Did J.K. Rowling see this??? What does she think about it??? I'm going to tweet it at her I think.

Not Harry Potter, but Amazing Bookstore

Go to Armchair Books in Edinburgh! It's such an amazing secondhand bookstore. The books go up all the walls and it has a great selection too! I bought Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. It's near Grassmarket (which is so much better than the Royal Mile if you ask me), you get to do some shopping at more authentic Scottish stores, have a great view of the castle, go up Victoria Street (an awesome short little street), and then go up West Port to go to Armchair Books. There's also a cat cafe across the street that I really want to go to! The bookstore is a little more expensive than the majority of secondhand bookstores I've been too, but it's worth going just for the vibe and to stroll through the aisles.

Okay that's all for now, but Edinburgh is amazing and even if you don't go for Harry Potter, explore the city more. It's filled with so many hidden treasures to find that I'm only starting to uncover and as I'm learning in my Visualizing Scotland class, look beyond the bagpipers and tartan. Scotland is a country much more than those stereotypes and it's really worth getting to know.