Letters From London: November 2015

After a previously thwarted attempt to travel up north in September, Kalli and I finally made it up to Scotland! Edinburgh, Scotland, to be precise.

It was pouring when our train pulled into Edinburgh Waverly station. Our first mission, we decided, was to find our guesthouse to drop our backpacks. We had just been on the train for five hours, and we wanted to chill for a bit before exploring.

One of our first views of Edinburgh.

The Ivy Guesthouse was about a mile away, so we got a mini-tour of the city as we walked through the center of the city and back out to guesthouse row, where guesthouses lined the street for a few blocks.

Google Maps led us to the back of the house, where the parking was, so a nice Scottish lady had to set us on the path once more. Unsurprisingly, our guesthouse was covered in Ivy. After checking in with the landlord, we tramped up the stairs to our cozy first floor room (that would be the second floor for Americans!) and crashed for a bit.

After our rest, we headed back out into the cold to our next destination: dinner. But more importantly, dinner at The Elephant House, a famously delicious tearoom fancied by author JK Rowling as she wrote the Harry Potter series!

Be still, my nerdy heart.

This city properly belongs in some sort of fairy tale.

Kalli decided to be the brave one and order the Scottish national dish of haggis, neeps, and tatties. For starters, tatties are mashed potatoes and neeps are mashed turnips.

Tur-neeps.

And don't gag when I say that I ate the haggis too. It tasted somewhat like meatloaf, actually. And the neeps and tatties were hearty as well; it went nicely with the beef stew and tatties that I ordered.

And both went well with a cup of Italian hot chocolate, topped with a heavy dollop of whipped cream and white and pink marshmallows.

A tradition at the Elephant House is to go into the bathroom and write messages on the wall to JK Rowling, all Harry Potter themed, of course. Most of the messages say things like, "Thank you" or "I heart [Character name]." I was struggling to write on the wall with my little ballpoint pen I bought at the BBC, but just above the door, you can read my own message: "DA 4 LYFE"

That would be referring to Dumbledore's Army, of course.

Fleshmarket Close, a tiny side alley separating the famous Royal Mile from the New Town.

We left the Elephant House and went exploring. And somehow stumbled across Edinburgh's Christmas market, full of little amusement rides, homemade goods, and festive eats.

Kalli and I got crepes, she a banana and Nutella one, and I a strawberry, Nutella, and whipped cream one. They were an adventure to eat on that cold and windy night. Kalli had to eventually hold my hair back so I could eat. But it was a lovely snack nonetheless.

I fell asleep early that night, curling in a little ball in the bed. I slept for around twelve hours, but I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept at all. There was no time to dwell on this, though, because we had to pack our things to check out and make our way to the Edinburgh Dungeon for our time slot.

The Edinburgh Dungeon is a kitschy, touristy thing, but I had a blast. I would have to describe the experience as a cross between a haunted house and a history walk.

We were drenched when we arrived, as the rain beat down on our backpacks the whole way there, much to the amusement of the staff. After we got our initial pictures out of the way (me beheading Kalli with an axe and the both of us doing jazz hands in the graveyard), we began our little tour into the darkness of Scottish history with our little group of unsuspecting tourists.

The Edinburgh Dungeon in all its...glory.

I was tried as a witch right off the bat. Unfortunately, I was convicted and sentenced to be thrown into the Loch. Not Loch Ness, surely. Apparently, I had been dancing on the hilltop, praying down to the powers in Hell to bring me a man. The judge then asked if he, at least was attractive. I answered with a "very."

The judge informed me that that was considered a confession, and I was sentenced to die. Oh well.

The man put on trial after me was a burly guy with a grey ponytail, tried for cross-dressing. He pleaded insanity on this one. Then the judge sentenced the whole back row in our little courtroom for committing crimes of fashion.

They wore heavy raincoats? TREASON TO THE CROWN.

Our adventures continued, as we came face to face with an attractive torturer, a family of cannibals, a medical student who accepted bodies from serial killers (I got to be the "lady of the night" for the demonstration on how they killed their victims), a vengeful ghost, the serial killers themselves, and, oh, the plague.

It was a pretty eventful morning.

The Scottish Steps. Each step is made out of a different kind of marble. Today it's a tragic example of beautiful urban art covered in trash.

Kalli and I decided to leave Scotland early (insert tears here), but we were very cold and wet. We grabbed McDonalds and hopped on the five hour train back, with me standing three of those five hours. My legs felt a little like pudding afterwards.

Edinburgh was amazing, and a weekend didn't do it justice. I wish we could've been there a whole week, but, alas, this was impossible for now.

Next time, though, Edinburgh Castle, I'm coming for ya!

And now, a brief photo essay:

The winding streets of the city.

Some fabulous Gothic art above the Christmas market.

The roofs are a society unto themselves.

Christmas market in Edinburgh!

The Elephant House, frequented by JK Rowling! (Also home of some great food.)

My note on the bathroom wall at the Elephant House: "DA 4 LYFE."

Spotted above the toilet...because that's one way into the Ministry of Magic.

Harry Potter fans from around the world come to this place to leave their mark on the bathroom walls, the mirrors, the dryers, everywhere but the toilet.

The rel questions. I had to post this because I just couldn't stop laughing. Poor Ron.

Delicious, delicious hot chocolate!

An old adage once said that Rome wasn't built in a day. We took a little spin off from that; we explored Rome in a day.

That day went by pretty quickly as well.

Our day in Rome began with the evening before. Our flight from Copenhagen landed in the late afternoon, so we had to get to the city, and the hostel, quickly for our night tour around the city. However, getting a taxi was nigh on impossible and the airport was a ways out from the city center.

Plot spoilers: We missed the tour. But that's okay.

What we DID do, was climb into a big black van (a car that was hired for us), with a nun and an American couple. Sounds like the beginning of a horror movie, but we made it out fine. Even if our driver decided he was done with Roman traffic and actually started driving on the train tracks to bypass the road.

After missing our tour, we went to a local restaurant recommend by a friend of Rachel's. The pizza was some of the best I've ever had, but our waiter couldn't take his eyes off me. He told me he liked how I flipped my hair, calling me bellissima, winking and blowing me kisses as we left, much to the amusement and horror of my friends; I was blushing all the way home. I may also add that he slightly resembled John Travolta, which made things even weirder.

We arrived back at the flat to find that we had two male roommates: a skinny, quiet one, and an older, more awkward one, just still young enough to still be hosteling. The hostel was comfortable enough. Our original plan had been an AirBnb, but it ended up not working out. In the morning, though, we were refreshed and ready to explore.

Our first stop was the Colosseum. Instead of waiting inside for tickets, we went to the Roman Forum across the street and got a better deal on tickets, we could visit the Colosseum, the Forum, and Palantine Hill, after only ten minutes of waiting, as opposed to six hours.

The Colosseum was surrounded by men in gladiator suits, charging an Euro for a picture. We ignored them completely and charged straight for the magnificence ahead of us.

It was everything that the books promised it would be. History had just come to life. No words I could use could do it justice.

Next was the Roman Forum. Basically, the Forum is a main area. It was a center for commerce, full of important buildings and the ruins of small shops. Palantine Hill sits regally on the cliffs above, shadowing what was once a thriving center of Roman life.

We also saw a cat. Kalli named it Minerva, after the goddess, and Amy wanted to feed it crackers. A day in the life of us.

After trying and failing, as always, at Roman transportation, we took a taxi to our next stop, Vatican City, where we toured the museum beyond the City's walls, seeing art and history around every corner. Growing up with an artist for a mom, I was fully able to appreciate everything I saw. I even cried in the Sistine Chapel, even though we were being herded through like cattle by grumpy security guards.

The Spanish Steps and Trevi fountain were closed that day, to our immense disappointment. We had been hoping, like thousands of tourists from all over the world, to throw coins into the fountain to make a wish.

Our group retired early that night. The next morning, we were taking a train to Naples, and from there, we would be feasting our eyes on even more history in the ruins of Pompeii!