The next morning we were up at dawn to catch the tube to King’s Cross Station. Of course, that meant we took “the Piccadilly Line Service to CockFosters” – which became an early joke of the trip. We rode the Piccadilly Line every day and every time the tube would stop the voice of a very proper British lady would make that announcement over the loudspeaker.
At King’s Cross we caught the Virgin East Coast Train for the 4 hour trip up to Edinburgh. It took us up along the East Coast of England and Scotland was a beautiful ride through the countryside. By the time we crossed the Scottish border we were starting to hug the coastline.
Kings Cross Station. The Friday morning rush hour is about to begin.
The most famous platform at Kings Cross. Came across this wizard on his way to Hogwarts
Virgin East Coast line from London to Edinburgh. A nice ride if you ever get the chance.
We got into Edinburgh around noon and dropped our bags at the hotel. We had one afternoon to see Edinburgh and off we went. First stop was lunch at Oinks which believe it or not was a pulled BarBQ place. Each morning they place a whole roasted pig in the front window and pull the meat off him until nothing but the head is left. At that point they close for the day. It was actually quite good!
Oinks in Edinburgh. Quite good BBQ. They pull each sandwich straight from the whole hog. When there is no more to pull they close for the day!
A typical street in Edinburgh. A very beautiful city.
Around the corner is the Elephant House Coffee Shop which is where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. Supposedly she couldn’t afford heat in her flat so she would go there with her baby and buy a cup of coffee and write looking out the back window over a cemetery. She actually got many of the character names from the book off tombstones in the cemetery.
Elephant House Coffee Shop where first Harry Potter book was written.
J.K. Rowling would sit at these windows at the back of the coffee shop that overlooked a cemetery. She would stroll through the cemetery picking up some of the names in the book.
For instance does the name on this tombstone ring a bell?
At the edge of the cemetery the last tombstone near a gate has the name McGonagall. Next door is this private school which became the inspiration for Hogwarts.
Next we made our way over the Royal Mile which is the main tourist area that runs from Edinburgh Castle down to the Palace. The castle sits high atop a hill and dates back close to a thousand years. It’s is a large and impressive complex that also houses the Scottish Crown Jewels.
Edinburgh Castle
Crashed this wedding party shoot up at the castle.
The Royal Mile – Edinburgh
This guy was pulling down some nice tips.
After several hours we finally made our way down from the Castle past all the tourist kitsch to the Palace. The european cobblestones were starting to work on our feet by day 4 so we caught a cab back to the hotel to watch the golf tournament on the BBC.
We had an early dinner and back to the hotel to get ready for the train ride up to St Andrews the next morning.