Aug 1 – Harry Potter walk and Tea at Edinburgh Castle.

On our way to our tour we walked by the George Heriot School.  It was originally built to educate the poor.  It is now a very expensive private school.

After a bit of a document’s problem we were able to connect with our guide for our Potter walking tour.  Most of the tour took place in Greyfriars Cemetery (which we visited and photographed yesterday).  He had a lot of info about the JR Rawlings and the writing of the Harry Potter books. 

We stopped at the grave of William McGonagall, namesake of Professor Minerva McGonagall in the HP series.  The plaque listed him as a poet and tragedian (died 1902).  Apparently he was a really bad poet. 

We also visited Thomas Riddell’s grave again and got much more information about him and the book and such.  We had visited the grave the day before and took our photos then.

The tour ended along Victoria Street that is supposedly the real inspiration for Diagon Alley (there are a lot of streets around England that claim to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley).  Several stores were pointed out that in the past handled goods that could be related to the corresponding stores on Diagon Alley.  Whether or not any of it is true, the street was very pretty and quaint.

Alex, our guide pointed out where we could get some good hot chocolate (Mary’s Milk Bar)…

obviously the line gets very long at times...

at Grassmarket square. 

We had great views up to Edinburgh Castle.

A bit more wandering found us back at Victoria Street.  

And we found another bagpiper. 

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Video of bagpiper
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Our are scheduled for tea at the castle so we got there in plenty of time.  Unfortunately, we again had problems with the our vouchers and tickets.  We were eventually able to get in and made it to the tea room in time for our tea reservation.  The entire concept of afternoon tea was lost on Liam.  However, he did actually eat the chicken sandwiches (he professes to really dislike sandwiches but eats hamburgers and hot dogs all the time…and those are sandwiches).  And, of course, he tried the desserts.  Wasn’t too crazy about them so ordered a chocolate fudge cake.  (We are terrible with him about the desserts.)

Oh!  Oh!  Oh!....Learned something new today!!!  😄 Paul and I were discussing the various "Teas" we have had over the years.  And we couldn't figure out which ones we had were Afternoon Teas versus High Tea.  So I Googled Afternoon Tea and High Tea (the one all the tourists want to partake of because it is sooo classy!!!).

.According to the "Oh How Civilized" website (and confirmed by others), Afternoon Tea is served mid/later afternoon and has 3 courses...dainty savories and finger sandwiches, sweets, and scones.  It was a "thing" with the upper classes and started in the early 1800's to provide a bit of a snack between lunch and dinner (that was served around 8:00pm).  It was typically served in low, dainty, parlor seats...no table involved. 

High Tea, on the other hand, was the working classes evening meal with hearty meat and egg dishes, baked beans, potatoes etc.   The "High" came (in part) from the high back chairs that were pulled up to the dinner table.  

Turns out we have only ever had Afternoon Tea.  And now you know.   😄🥰

PS:

Cream Tea is just tea and scones.

Royal Tea is Afternoon Tea with Champaign.

The tea room was in the Queen Anne Room.  It was large hall but was pretty sparsely decorated.  However, there were a few very interesting art pieces.  The artist(s) had used gowns from portraits of various Scottish queens as inspiration and created long narrow art pieces with fabrics mimicking those in the portraits.  Very interesting art pieces and very well done. 

After tea we spent some time exploring the castle. But Liam wasn’t interested in seeing the Scottish Crown Jewels (there was quite a line).  Having seen the ones in England he didn’t see the need to see more. 

We visited the Great Hall

and St. Margaret’s Chapel, the oldest building in the castle.

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The views from the castle were great.

More photos of the castle.

We have noticed a lot of Giraffe street art as we have wandered the streets of Edinburgh.  After a bit of research we found out that there are 40 of them scattered around town.  They are part of a public art exhibition and will be auctioned off later in the year to raise money for conservation efforts.  What a fun way to raise money for a good cause. 

More random photos from around Edinburgh.

Statue of Greyfriars's Bobby

A street artist dressed as a statue of Marie Curie

Was a good day.