And a trip to Edinburgh, too

[Marsha]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Martha" 
<fakeplastikcynic at h...> wrote:
"Hi everyone,

Inspired by Marc's request for information on London - and all the 
positive and helpful requests he got - I have a request of my own...

I'm going to Edinburgh in a couple of weeks......"

Martha--I spent two weeks in Edinburgh this summer and have been 
waiting for someone to ask just this question.  I went with a 
tour/business group during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so there 
there were things happening all day and night, but there will still 
be basics you won't want to miss. There are 3 Royal things to see: 
The Edinburgh Castle, which dominates the landscape and is where 
Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed.  This is on a chunk of volcanic rock 
in the middle of town, and at the high end of a street called "The 
Royal Mile"-at the other end of this street; near the ocean, is 
Hollyrood Palace, where the Queen Mum stays when she's in town.  The 
Royal Yacht also parks itself in Edinburgh, and although I did not 
tour that, I hear it is worth the visit. Near Edinburgh castle, on 
the Royal Mile,are tons of touristy places and cheap Aran sweaters, 
etc...expensive cashmeres, all things Scottish (nice flasks!)-
including the dungeon tours already mentioned.  There are also 
distillery tours, and one restaurant near the castle is called The 
Witchery.  This is supposed to be very famous.  We tried to get in, 
but couldn't without reservations, even for lunch; only succeeded in 
getting a picture of the place. Outside the castle is a site where 
they used to burn witches, that's close to the restaurant.  On this 
same street, be sure and visit a popular pub called Deacon Brodies.  
This pub is colorful, has great food, moderately priced, and Deacon 
Brodie was supposed to be the character on whom Jekyll/Hyde was 
based.  Crossing the Royal Mile is a street called Nicolson's; one 
of the main streets in town. About 5 blocks from the Royal Mile, on 
Nicolson, is a Chinese Buffet on the second floor, painted white, 
above a corner coffee shop called Black's Medicine and Tea Company-
this is the former Nicolson's cafe, where Rowling wrote Harry Potter 
and the Philosopher's Stone. I was so excited by this, I took 3 
pictures of this Chinese Restaurant. When you get to Edinburgh, 
you'll also see lots of brochures for day trips to other places, and 
we took several of these. E-mail me if you have any other questions-
I have all sorts of pictures, etc... It was fun.