On an early Tuesday morning, my family and I hopped off our plane from Dublin and arrived in the magical city of Edinburgh! We spent the afternoon exploring Old Town, stopping at a small cafe on the Royal Mile before our self-guided walking tour. Our first stop in Old Town included Victoria Street. Famously known for being the inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter novels, Victoria Street is a strip of brightly colored shops, restaurants, and bookstores (and even a joke shop!) in Edinburgh. A few stores located on the street were solely dedicated to the boy wizard franchise. Just around the corner from Victoria Street was the infamous Elephant House. The Elephant House is known as the "Birthplace of Harry Potter" and supposedly where J.K.Rowling began to write the Harry Potter series. With only seeing a small part of Edinburgh and Scotland so far, it was easy to notice the inspirations behind the Harry Potter series. My family and I eventually made our way to Edinburgh Castle and walked around the grounds, checking out the elegant rooms, old prisons, and Scotland's Crown Jewels. We continued to walk around Edinburgh, snapping some photos of the Edinburgh fountain and grabbing lunch at the Mod Pizza of Edinburgh. Edinburgh offers a great selection of natural and unqiue flavored sodas, in case anyone was wondering! Afterwards, we walked around and did some shopping before heading to our Air B&B for the night!
The next morning, after grabbing breakfast from a cafe across the street, Mom, Dad, Brianne, MaryKate, and I made our way to Trossachs National Park. At the last minutes, we decided to check out the elegant Blair Castle and walk around the gardens rather than going for a hike due to the rainy weather. Scotland's weather was much more colder and mistier compared to Ireland's weather so far. Blair Castle was a very cool castle though, filled with tons of historical backgrounds and pastel colored rooms. Afterwards, we drove through Pitlockery to check out the "smallest distillery in Scotland," Edradour! The distillery was a charming place with bright red and white buildings that stood out against the gloomy Scottish weather. During the distillery tour, we learned about the production of whiskey and even touched a whiskey barrel worth 250,000 pounds! We even sampled some whiskies and I found a new liking for cream liquor. If you ever find yourself in Scotland or Pitlockery, I definitely suggest the Edradour distillery tour! Afterwards, we drove through Kenmare and drove along the local loch until we arrived at our Air B&B in Killin, Scotland. We finished off the night at a local pub for dinner and few pints of beer and cider. The decorations and vibe of the pub very much reminded me of the Three Broomsticks from Harry Potter. My dad and I finished off the night by watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The next morning we drove to Glencoe, Scotland driving through Trossachs National Park along the way as well. It was one of the prettiest drives I have ever been on! Glencoe offers some of the most magnificent sights for Scotland's mountains, especially during the summer when everything is a beautiful kelly green color. Luckily, the rain held off for a bit while we took a small hike in Glencoe and grabbed lunch afterwards at a local restaurant. Next, we drove to Oban for another distillery tasting at Oban Distillery. Along the way, we stopped to snap some photos of Scotland's beautiful coastal scenery, yet regretting to stop for pictures at Castle Stalker. After some tasting, I decided I enjoyed the whiskey from Edradour far more compared to Oban. Oban was a cool, coastal Scottish town I wish I was able to explore bit more as well. After stopping in Oban, we made our way back to Killin (stopping to take pictures of a wonderful double rainbow) and explored the ruins of Finlarig Castle before heading back to the same pub from the previous night for a late dinner.
We regrettably left our Air B&B the next morning (it was our favorite one on the trip!) and drove to Stirling to drop me off for my semester at Uni! We visited the National Wallace Monument which offered amazing and breathtaking views of Stirling and campus. The uphill and windy stairs were definitely worth it for the views but is is not an exhibit I suggest if you are afraid of heights. Afterwards, we checked out an adorable and artsy cafe in Bridge of Allan for brunch and I had some delicious and fluffy pancakes. We took a quick driving tour around campus, checking out the student union before heading to my Air B&B for the night. With bittersweet goodbyes, I hugged and waved goodbye to my family as I started my solo journey at the University of Stirling!
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