Scottish September – Last Day

Day 4 commenced with a small walk down memory lane to early 2000s when I first came to know about Harry Potter and Hogwarts.I always wondered where J.K. Rowling started writing this excellent piece of fiction.

Little did I know that I would get to see the birthplace of HP.
KM found out the place “The Elephant House”

After having a sumptuous breakfast at Elephant Café we went to explore the Edinburgh Castle. The castle provides an excellent view of the city and is built on a volcanic rock known now as Castle Rock.

Castle Rock

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Panorama

In the Castle do see St. Margaret ‘s Chapel (oldest building in Edinburgh) , the Royal Palace the Great Hall, Scottish regalia – the site of the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland. Keep an entire half day or more to explore. There are lots of things to see and absorb.

Heather had told us about the first war for Scottish Independence lead by Robert The Bruce against Edward I of England. We saw the war pictures in the castle.

Robert The Bruce fighting with Edward I

Knowing the history and then seeing the place where it happened makes a big impact.

I had a similar experience when we visited Chittorgarh Fort, Haldi Ghati in Udaipur and recently on a trek to Sinhagad Fort when we visited the cliff Tanaji Malusare climbed to win the fort. The winds speak with you if you listen intently to the sound 🙂
Do try it next time you visit a war scene or place of historic importance.

Next we visited Mons Meg. It’s a 15th-century siege gun displayed on a terrace in front of St. Margaret’s Chapel. She is defunct now but must have been one beauty when she was working.

The National War memorial and National War museum of Scotland is an excellent collection of different types of warfare equipment (Spears, Rifles, Swords, Shields, etc.)

We got a chance to hold a few rifles and it was not at all an easy task.

Prisoner of War area

How can Scotland be complete without the mention of William Wallace (and I don’t think Braveheart is his story) . His and Robert the Bruce statues are placed at the Gatehouse Entrance.

William Wallace

The castle has some very beautiful flowers. Do spend some time to appreciate them.

Post the castle exploration we headed back to the Edinburgh Waverly station via a beautiful garden. We sat there for some time soaking in the moments we spent in Edinburgh promising to return and explore it more in future.

On the way back we had booked first class tickets on the East Coast Train. It was a super service with excellent food and drinks provided every 15 min. Sheesh!!!
Back at SM and KM’s home we watched Andaz Apna Apna (an all time fav.) with us speaking the dialogues. What fun!!!…Filmy chokris!!!

Bye Bye Edinburgh

EnRoute to London – View from Train

Takeaways from my Scottish holiday are:

Visit places before they require another visa (Scottish Referendum)

Don’t be shy to explore new places to stay (hostels), explore the not so known places of the city (Elephant house, Reindeer herding)

Pay a visit to manufacturing processes of things you might not have appreciated before (Single Malt..yum!!!)

Live and converse with the locals, go on a trip with a mixed group of folks

Cook something nice for your friends (Day 5 breakfast)

Eat something traditional (kudos to hubby for eating Haggis and Black pudding)

Don’t ask for warm water as a drink (unless you have an upset stomach and don’t mind the strange looks ).

Listen to local music (In love with Julie Fowles and her Gaelic songs),

Open your body, mind and soul to nature, and above all something my hubby always says…Live in the moment 🙂

I hope you all enjoyed reading the series as much as I did writing it.