The story begins

If words be magic, and ghosts still roam the houses in a city that celebrates its writers, Edinburgh has countless stories to tell.

Yes, I am taking photos in a toilet. This is the Elephant House Cafe where J K Rowling wrote Harry Potter.

We actually asked a librarian in the Central Library for directions to the cafe. That was his good old fashioned reference query for the day.

Can you see J K looking down on my head? I hope the magic rubs off. Hopefully she won't mind that I am one of the few people who has never read a Harry Potter book or seen any of the movies. I just never got around to it.

There was an interesting exhibit on the life of Scottish author Muriel Spark, in the National Library across the street.

There are numerous quotes on the wall of the very post-modern parliament building. 

Celebrating history:

Celebrating wildness, and the weather:

Good advice for writers:

Not many capital cities have a wild wind swept mountain right in their centre. We hiked up Arthur's Seat to see 360 degree vews of Edinburgh. The walk literally begins beside Parliament House.

Can't help but love a city whose largest monument right in its centre is to a writer, Walter Scott.

Another literary encounter. Robert Ferguson, who was a very strong influence on the poetry of Scotland's most famous poet, Robert Burns. Outside the cemetery where he is buried.

We saw the homes of the rich and famous. Holyrood Palace. No photography allowed inside, but it was interesting. Lots of stories of kings, queens, intrigue and murder. The current queen holds a garden party for 8,000 guests every year. Mary Queen of Scots watched her secretary murdered by being stabbed over 50 times in a tiny dining room off her bedroom.

And the homes of the poor and middle class, built over top of in the 1700s. This is a model of the 10 stories of homes that are now part of the foundations of the Royal Exchange. No photography allowed in the maze of rooms now underground, or more accurately, under the buildings. We heard stories of over crowded poverty, 20 cows kept in a room, the bubonic plague, Mary Queen of Scots's house arrest here prior to being imprisioned in England and eventually beheaded and the ghost of a little girl, locked in her house and abandoned by her family when she caught the plague.

We were overwhelmed by the stories of Scotland's past in the National Museum. We went there twice but could not see it all. These are some of the famous Lewis chesssmen, 12th century Viking chess pieces, beautifully carved whale ivory found on the island of Lewis.

Gave Bobby a pat. He sits outside the Greyfriars church and cemetery where he sat on his master's grave for 14 years.

In the cemetery there were yet more literary encounters as there are quite a few writers buried here with Edinburgh Castle brooding over them.

The weather has been typically Scottish for our first 3 days, and very COLD, just 6 degrees with a wind chill factor of 1 degree. It is, apparently, spring.

It has been a very busy, and fascinating two days in Edinburgh. We are exhausted and probably still a bit jet-lagged.

Tomorrow, we catch the train to Glasgow, Scotland's largest city.