Tag: Edinburgh

  • Edinburgh

    It was one last drive over the Forth Bridge, leaving the car at the airport and a bus ride later I arrived at my final destination: Edinburgh! The last two days of my British summer!

    edinburgh, scotland, uk, photos and the city, fringe festival, castle

    I wondered why everything was especially expensive when I was looking for a place to stay. I didn´t know that the Fringe Festival is going on in Edinburgh the whole of August and it´s just huge! Baskers and streets artists everywhere, thousands of shows all over the city and then there was also the “Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo” in front of the castle. The city was crammed with people!

    edinburgh, scotland, uk, photos and the city, fringe festival

    My Airbnb was just a short walk from the castle and so I decided to explore the area a little bit.

    Greyfriars Kirkyard

    edinburgh, scotland, uk, photos and the city, fringe festivalThe graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk (church) in the Old Town exists since the 16th century and is a beautiful calm spot in the busy city. Quite nearby is one of the coffee shops where JKRowling used to write the first Harry Potter books and I can imagine how she strolled around the graveyard to get inspired.

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    Greyfriars Bobby – a loyal dog who guarded his master´s grave.

    edinburgh, scotland, uk, photos and the city, fringe festival

    Performances everywhere…

    edinburgh, scotland, uk, photos and the city, fringe festival

     

    Edinburgh Castle

    The last time I was in Edinburgh I missed visiting the castle, so it was on the list for this time. Along with millions of other people…. but as I still had two days left on the “Explorer Pass”, which gives you access to hundreds of landmarks and sights in Scotland, I just decided to quickly go in, have a look around, enjoy the view and come back another time.

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    edinburgh, scotland, uk, photos and the city, fringe festival, castle

    Erin and I had planned to meet at Loch Lomond for her photo shoot but as it was raining cats and dogs we rescheduled for Edinburgh, not thinking about the masses of people (it was a Saturday after all), delayed trains and some other obstacles. But we made it work and found some quieter places..

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    More from Erin in Edinburgh

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    The Balmoral – one day I´m gonna stay there and enjoy all the Scottish luxury!

    edinburgh, scotland, uk, photos and the city, fringe festival, the balmoral

    Later in the day, I met Meg who had just finished university and wanted to celebrate this milestone with a photo shoot in the city where she had spent her student life before she would head back to Yorkshire (or maybe somewhere else – the whole world stood open for her). We went to Calton Hill and Meg danced above the city!

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    More about Meg

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  • Happy Potter-versary

    Today 20 years ago “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” – the first book of the Harry Potter series was published. And it wasn´t that easy for J.K. Rowling to find a publisher, her book was rejected many times, even trying it with a male pseudonym didn´t help. But we all know what happened after Harry hit the shelves – it became a huge success, was translated into 79 languages, people of all ages waited in lines for hours when a new volume was released and then there were the movies. And Rowling herself, somewhen between having that idea on a trainride to becoming the second richest woman after the Queen, she also became kind of a heroine herself not only on twitter.

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    While writing her first books Rowling followed the tradition of many other writer before her – it was cheaper to buy a cup of tea or coffee than paying the heating at home, so “The Elephant House” and “Nicholson’s Café”(now a chinese restaurant) in Edinburgh became her writing space.

    harry potter, london, uk,

    In July I´m going to visit some more places linked to Hermione, Harry and Ron like the viaduct the Hogwarts Express travels on and can´t wait. Until then some memories from my last time in London.

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