On our quick trip to Bermuda in May of 2014 for Marihelen and Nate’s wedding, which I didn’t include on here as I have maybe two photos from the whole trip, we sat one early evening at a charming cocktail bar. Fresh off our trip to Korea and Japan, we were eager to get out there and see more of what the world had to offer. At the same time, we were looking for a new condo in Chicago. In fact, we had liked, but not loved, a condo that we had seen right before heading to Bermuda enough that we put in a lowball offer. With spotty wifi at the small apartment we had rented in Hamilton, we attempted some back and forth negotiations with our realtor and the home owners. I don’t know if it was the tropical island atmosphere or the strong, fruity drinks, but by the end of that happy hour we had decided not only to not buy the condo, but to live in Italy for 6 months.
It made complete sense to us, we loved Italy and could use it as a jumping off point for more European travel. A quick trip to the embassy when we arrived back in Chicago squashed our dreams. “You can only stay in Italy for that long if you are working or studying. Will you be working or studying?” “No,” we replied. “Hmm…maybe if you owned a Tuscan villa. Do you own a Tuscan villa?” “Unfortunately, no.” On to Plan B. After some research we learned that we could, in fact, stay in a group of European countries designated the ‘Schengen Zone’ for up to 90 days. The loophole there was that some countries, such as the United Kingdom, were not in Schengen and we could extend our trip that way. Thus began several months of reading Rick Steves and planning out a 4 month journey across Europe that would begin in March of 2015. As we traveled, mostly by plane, through eight countries, we documented each moment in a blog appropriately entitled Kasarskis Do Europe. I’ve grabbed and edited these posts (most were written slightly hungover on non-airconditioned Eurail trains) so that our travel story can continue. First stop: Edinburgh, Scotland.
What a journey it was getting to Scotland. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:30 pm, but was delayed until 1 am, with us actually finally getting off the ground around 2. When we arrived in London for our connecting flight, we were told that it was long gone. Instead, as luck would have it, we were put on the next one to Edinburgh, fortunate due to the fact that many on the same flight as us wouldn’t be connecting until the next day. Long story short, we also missed the next flight and had to wait for yet a 3rd one. Little did we know that this flight would have over 200 French children on a field trip to Scotland. The incessant noises they made when we were taking off could only be described as squealing. Despite the delays, it was a relatively smooth trip and we got to our hotel in the early evening. It was a pretty low-key night with a few pints at the Cafe Royal, a cool Victorian-style pub with intricate ceramic murals and vintage chandeliers, and dinner at a gastropub.
On our first official day in Edinburgh, the weather was pretty nice so we headed up to Edinburgh Castle at the top of the Royal Mile. The views from the lookout points are spectacular and allowed us to see the vast differences between Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns. We even were lucky enough to stumble upon a wedding party taking photos throughout the castle. At night we headed to a pub called the Halfway House, which is allegedly the smallest pub in the UK. There were a few dogs in the pub and one owner was very willing to share her “Belle” with us for a few minutes. After that we walked to the Grassmarket area, a popular spot among the university students. We spent most of the night at Sandy Bell’s, a pub famous for its live folk music. The musicians were wonderful and played for several hours. We also made our first friends – Graham and Eileen, a lovely older couple. They were from Edinburgh but spent a lot of time up in the Isle of Skye, where we would be heading in a few days. Kevin, of course, got into a lively political conversation with Graham. They both agreed that Scotland should have its independence and Graham even gave Kevin his Livestrong-type bracelet that gets his message across with a simple YES. To give you more perspective, Scotland had just voted on the referendum to leave the UK shortly before we visited. We also talked about Ireland with an 86 year old man who was there with his wife and seemed to know everyone in the pub.
As most of you know, I am a huge Harry Potter fan. Edinburgh is prime Harry Potter Land and a dream come true for any super fan. J.K. Rowling wrote the first two books at the Elephant House coffee shop off the Royal Mile, only a few feet away from George Heriot’s School, the inspiration for Hogwarts. During a writing class, J.K.’s teacher told her to walk through cemeteries and look at gravestones for character names. When you visit the Greyfriars cemetery, you can look for the graves of a McGonagall and a Tom Riddel. Poor Tom Riddel, he was just an average Scotsman who had no idea that his grave would be used as a message board for Voldemort hate-notes. You can also visit Victoria Street, which Rowling used as the inspiration for Diagon Alley.
Day Two in Edinburgh started off a bit late (we quickly adapted to the slow-paced European and vacation lifestyle) and we ate a quick lunch before taking a free walking tour of the city. Our guide, despite actually being British, was very informative and took us all over the Royal Mile and Grassmarket areas, explaining the culture and history of the town. Highlights included the St. Giles Cathedral, Literary Museum and the Greyfriars Cemetery. We saw the gravestone of Bobby, the most famous dog in Scotland. He helped his owner guard the cemetery in the 19th century and when the owner died Bobby continued to live in Greyfriars, sleeping every day on his owner’s grave. People leave sticks for him at his gravestone and there is a statue of him outside the cemetery where thousands of pictures are taken. It’s also customary to rub his nose for good luck.
After the tour, we headed back to the New Town and stopped in at a pub called the Rose & Crown. There we met a young guy named Alastor (no, not Moody) who was only 22 but left school at 16 and traveled the world. He told us how his family traced their ancestors back to Ireland and how his ancient relative was kicked out of the country and shipped off to Scotland after he killed a man in a pub fight. After dinner (Indian – because when in the UK, eat Indian food), we got a night cap at the hotel where we met 3 more Irish travelers in for the weekend. They live in Waterford and we ended up staying up and talking with them about everything from politics to movies to Kanye West until 4 am.
Edinburgh is a fantastic walking city and an outdoor museum. You can make it from one corner of Old Town to the other side of New Town in about 20 minutes. On the last few days there, we wandered all over, taking in all of the architecture and patina throughout. We visited the Scotch Whisky Experience, a slightly-cheesy but fun tour that explains the process of making Scotch while showcasing the differences between the three whisky regions in Scotland. The coolest part of the tour was seeing the world’s largest whisky collection that was donated to the museum by an old man who spent years collecting rare and unique bottles. Many of the bottles were so old that all the whisky had evaporated from them. We tried the Scottish national dish, haggis, a mix of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs that is cooked in the animal’s intestines, for the first time and it was actually really delicious and more flavorful than we were expecting. Another highlight was the tour we took of Mary King’s Close. Closes are very narrow streets that resemble alleyways – you can find them all around Edinburgh. When Edinburgh decided to build the new City Chambers building, they planned to place it directly on top of Mary King’s Close. Since the street is on such a steep angle, you can still go underground to visit the area. You see how ancient Edinburghians lived during the Plague up until the 1800s as you are transported through the dark, damp rooms and houses. It has a definite creep factor to it, which is enhanced by the ghost stories they tell throughout the tour. Overall, we loved Edinburgh and couldn’t believe how untouched it still is from when it was a medieval, fenced-in city.
Recommendations:
- Cafe Royal. 19 W Register St, Edinburgh EH2 2AA, United Kingdom. caferoyaledinburgh.com.
- Edinburgh Castle. Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NG, United Kingdom. https://www.edinburghcastle.scot/.
- The Halfway House. Fleshmarket Close, 24 Fleshmarket Cl, Edinburgh EH1 1BX, United Kingdom.
- Sandy Bells. 25 Forrest Rd, Edinburgh EH1 2QH, United Kingdom. sandybells.co.uk.
- The Elephant House. 21 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EN, United Kingdom. elephanthouse.biz.
- Greyfriars Cemetery. 26A Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh EH1 2QE, United Kingdom. https://greyfriarskirk.com/visit/kirkyard/.
- The Scotch Whisky Experience. The Royal Mile, 354 Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NE, United Kingdom. https://www.scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk/.
- Mary King’s Close. Warriston’s Close, 2, High St, Edinburgh EH1 1PG, United Kingdom. https://www.realmarykingsclose.com/.
