Scotland: Day 3

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Our third day in Scotland was kind of a free day. We didn't have anything big planned and we figured we would walk around the city and see what there was to see.

We had heard that there was a cafe in Scotland where J.K. Rowling first began writing the Harry Potter series. Now, anyone who knows me knows I love Harry Potter and anything Harry Potter related. I've read all the books, seen all the movies, and I even have a wand. So for me, this was very exciting. The cafe was called the Elephant Cafe and it was actually very easy to find. We ordered our food and sat down. It was funny because it looked like your average cafe, but there were little signs that showed it was a special place.

I really had to use the bathroom so I went and waited in line. When I opened the door to the waiting area I was stunned. Every inch, and I mean every single inch, was covered with people signing the walls and writing little messages related to Harry Potter. It was absolutely wild. Even the actual bathroom was covered. I had never seen anything like it in my life. It really did feel like a special place.

I'll admit, the food wasn't that great. Honestly though the food paired with the atmosphere coupled with the literary history made the trip so well worth it. Of course I had to get a t-shirt that says "birthplace of Harry Potter" on the back. It was the fangirl in me going crazy. It's a very comfortable shirt too.

After we went to the cafe we kind of just explored. We found a cool underground tour that we signed up for. It was nice to just have the ability to walk around the city and go into little shops. Obviously we made a pit-stop at the Blue Radisson Hotel for the bathroom. We went into this cool vintage shop with dresses I'd love to wear, but have no occasion for.

At the designated time we met at the spot we bought tickets from (we also bought tickets for a pub crawl, but I'll get to that later) with everyone else going on the tour. Our tour guide took us up The Royal Mile a bit and we stopped where there used to be a jail of some sort. He explained to us the history, including a pretty gory story about cannibalism. Then he took us to an underground part of the city. Long ago the modern street was not there, and the street that followed the slope of the hill was what people used. The new road was built on top. It was very cool down there, but a little freaky too. I wasn't sure how I felt about the whole thing, especially when he told us stories about torture and ghosts people claim to have seen down there. We spent about twenty minutes down there and that was enough for me. It was quite fascinating, but that was long enough; I needed some fresh air.

The pub crawl was something we signed up for on a whim. It was very cheap and they said we got five free shots so we thought, what the hell, let's do it. I must say I had a good time. There were a bunch of other students/young travelling people in the group from all different countries. Right off the bat we were given a shot of whiskey. Now, I'm not good at taking shots anyway, but a whiskey shot without any other alcohol was brutal. I had to chase with water it was that bad. I chased that stuff right down with some wine so it was good. Our guide for the crawl gave us paper kilts that we taped around our bodies and wrote our names on. It was actually a very cute idea. We also got a chance to try using a bagpipe and it was hard. The breath intake wasn't too too bad, but it was so difficult to get any sound out! I was lucky I got one note to come out, never mind a song. It was still a once in a lifetime chance to try and play one though.

I can tell you that the rest of the shots were not nearly as bad at that first, maybe it was because I was slowly getting drunker, I don't know. But the last whiskey shot was too bad. It was a low-key night seeing different Scottish bars with friends.

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