Edinburgh, Scotland

Having thwacked myself in the ankle with my suitcase on the way off the train, I was almost too preoccupied with pain to notice Aunt Margaret waving at me on the platform at the Edinburgh Waverley Station. After she’d finally managed to get my attention, she took me home, offered me Madeira cake, and immediately started spoiling me in every way. We soon left to have dinner with Margaret’s friend Sonia: a buffet consisting of different types of roast beast. It was a lovely introduction to Edinburgh.

The next morning, Margaret and I set out on the bus to the city. We had coffee and a scone in a building that had started off life as a surgery, transformed into a bank, and finally wound up as a fairly glamorous-looking restaurant-café. We then walked across to the tourist information centre near the station, where we parted ways. Map in hand, I headed up the Mound and towards the Royal Mile. I followed the stream of tourists to the Edinburgh Castle and took a few photos, but didn’t go inside due to the extreme price and the fact that I’d seen it all already a couple of years back.

Heading back down the Mile, I took a turn on a side street and made my way to the National Museum of Scotland. A very nice museum employee helped me to track down the tour group I’d just missed due to my lack of map-reading abilities. Highlights included an authentic iron maiden, an original King James bible (now celebrating its 400^th year) and an aromatic bracelet worn by Mary Queen of Scots to block the stench of the laypeople.

I left the museum, walked around the block, and found myself at the University of Edinburgh. It’s a good-looking place, and it’s absolutely surrounded by cheap vegetarian food. I had to say ‘hummus’ quite a few times before the guy behind the counter understood what I was saying. I walked a little further down the street and bumped into the café in which J.K. Rowling first started writing Harry Potter! I didn’t go in due to the tourist-trapping prices, but instead crossed the street and went into the National Library of Scotland.

There was a fascinating exhibition on banned books in recent times. Harry Potter featured in the Religion section, and Animal Farm was in the Politics section. I expected to find both of these, but a lot of other banned books came as quite a surprise. Apparently The BFG was challenged in the US for being ‘too sophisticated, too sinister’ and for encouraging kids to disobey their parents. Meanwhile, the Diary of Anne Frank was banned in Lebanon for portraying Jews favourably. Mein Kampf is still banned in Germany.

I left the library and wandered down the Royal Mile, picking out a few postcards and informing the cashier that no, Sydney is not the capital of Australia, and yes, nobody really visits the actual capital. Next stop was the National Gallery of Scotland. I’d only left twenty minutes to see everything before the gallery closed, so I rushed around from Rembrandt to Da Vinci and saw the highlights. Once kicked out, I headed over to the Princes Street Gardens – a long green strip of flowered, people-strewn picnic-perfect grass – and sat down to admire the view. The castle hangs over the city like something out of a gothic fairytale. If I lived in Edinburgh, I’d picnic in the gardens every day.

I spent the next day travelling around Fife with Margaret, visiting all the most picturesque places, including Leven, the village where Margaret grew up. Most noteworthy was St Andrews, home of the famous golf course and university. St Andrews has the most incredible ruins of a cathedral and a castle perched right on a cliff overlooking the North Sea.

This morning Margaret and I walked out to the Botanic Gardens and had an amazing time looking around at all the trees and bushes. There was an enchanted wood and everything!

Today I’m leaving for Sparket Mill, but I have a feeling I’ll be coming back to Edinburgh. It’d be a fantastic place to live in. With its festivals and galleries and museums, it strongly reminds me of Melbourne – a more dramatically beautiful Melbourne with better gardens and accents. But we have the footy, so it’s all balanced out.