Magical Mystery Tour

Day 2! I was a bit surprised that I was as awake as I was the next morning, and I was surprised that I wasn't already sore from the walking! I don't get out much, here at home, and am very out of shape. I figured the previous day's events and the walking around (to dinner and back and so on) would have made me super sore. But there must have been something in the air there, because I felt great and had gotten the best night's sleep in a loooooooooooooooong time!

Everyone had discussed at dinner the previous night what to fill Saturday with, but I was pretty out of it and by that time was only catching about 1/2 of what had been going on! LOL So you might say that the day that lay before me was a Mystery...we started off by meeting outside Starbucks and were going to walk everywhere. Can I just say that I absolutely LOVE Edinburgh?! I feel in love with that city just on the walk to Starbucks! Everything we were going to go see was close together and so beautiful! I have a love for European architecture. It's just so beautiful and breathtaking to me. And to have history, on top of that, that is older than America...it puts me in awe!

So after a bit of morning chatter and finally figuring out the order of our itinerary, we were off! Now, I figured that kilts were more of an "olden day" iconic thing for the Scots. Not so! There were far more out being worn than I expected! On our way down the Royal Mile, we came across a very talented young man!

Here he is getting all set up....

And I know I took video of him performing, I just can't find it! Grrr...I'll have to look later, I suppose...Anyway, after seeing a bagpipe performance, we continued on our way. But before we got to our destination, we came across another gem...Here are the 3 E's (Emma, Emma and Elladora) standing beneath a significant sign:

Close-up of said sign:

After that picture stop, we were finally there! Where we we going, you ask?...

They supposedly had an exhibit set up for seeing the entire process, from sheep to tartan, but none of us could figure how they came up with that claim...lol However, here is one of the ginormous machines they had on display. It was really amazing to look at it and see how it all worked. (Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture that got the whole thing in it...)

They even had tartan on part of their floor! I just thought that was the coolest thing ever... (Side note: I've always been a fan of the whole plaid thing...a taste I clearly share with Professor McGonagall!)

After the "museum" of tartan, we continued on to our next destination...HOGWARTS!!! Now of course, to all the Muggles around (and as I used a Muggle camera and didn't have the potion to develop it in), this is what it looked like:

They think it's a significant part of Muggle historical happenings, largely revolving around Muggle wars and such, but we witches and wizards know that there is much, much more to it than that. ;) One of the first things I noticed upon coming to the gate:

Do you see it....? Here, how about a hint:

The crest of Godric, himself! And I took many, many, many pictures, so I'm just going to put them in here with captions instead of continuing a narration at this point:

The portcullis:

A Dog Cemetary (sweet in a morbid sort of way, lol):

Emma Wigworthy and her family crest:

Emma leading us down to the Slytherin Common Room:

Down in the dorms of the Snake Pit:

Ravenclaw Tower:

The Great Hall!!!:

The closest I could find to the Ravenclaw Crest (I was a bit disappointed):

And now this post is soooooooooooo picture-heavy, I think Day 2 is going to have to have a part 2!