Greetings from Edinburgh! Shelbie, Josh, and I just finished up a v surface-level walking tour of the city. And Y'ALL - this city is incredible! And Y'ALL. IDK WTF I was doing my last time in Edinburgh.

It's honesty like I was intentionally trying to avoid all the cool things.

Granted, the last time I was in Edinburgh, I had a horrible case of nicotine poisoning. Because after spending a solid hour trying to learn how to drive on the wrong side of the road while also driving stick shift, I may or may not have binge-smoked a pack of cigarettes to calm myself down. (Which, for the record, is a horrendous decision for a non-smoker.)

ANYWAY. Now that I've had had the chance to see more of Edinburgh in a less nauseous state, damn. This is one of the coolest cities I have ever seen!

First of all, there's this massive, mountaintop castle smack in the middle of downtown. (See: Edinburgh Castle.) The only thing I can liken it to is the Acropolis in Greece. But Edinburgh Castle is WAY bigger than the Acropolis and WAY less deteriorating.

Please excuse the foggy photo quality, but you get the gist.

And from our hotel, we've actually got a sick view of Edinburgh Castle, too. I think I could wake up to this view everyday of my life and never cease to be amazed!

Yes, that's a literal castle outside our hotel room window.

Edinburgh's Old Town, meanwhile, is like something straight out of Harry Potter.  I've got a whole other post coming talking more about the Potter lore in Edinburgh, so I won't harp on this topic for too long today 😉

BUT in a post dedicated to "cool Edinburgh things," I couldn't neglect to mention Victoria Street, the alleged inspiration behind Diagon Alley.

I dunno how much I believe this "alleged" nonsense, though. I mean, Victoria Street is literally Diagon Alley. 👀

It's literally Diagon Alley.

And as a final added bonus, it's Christmas time right now. So there's this amazing little Christmas Market also smack dab in the middle of downtown, too.

This ride at the Christmas Market was a solid nope for me.

Anyway, we just got back to the hotel bar to grab some drinks before getting ready to go out for the night.  Aside from another trip to the Christmas Market, I'm not quite sure where the evening will take us. But I'm sure we'll have a great time!

Cheers for now - and check back tomorrow for more Edinburgh! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿