Summer trip to Edinburgh IV: Prince Street: shopping, museums, gardens

The dynamic of Princes Street offers multiple functions for citizens and tourists.

It is the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland, and the main shopping area in the capital. Unlike many high streets are occupied by a lot of shops, Princes Street has two sides of its face with very different views. One side is for bustling shopping, ancient glorious architectures and gardens are its another side.

 

One of the most impressive characteristics is the width of the sidewalk is designed as big as that of the lane. Walking is enjoyable! 

Second, opposite to a whole street of stores is the large Prince Street Garden which is gracefully integrated into the urban scenery. In this park, some statues and stones there are enshrined to respect the sacrifice of past warfare.

Moreover, Princes Street is located in the New Town area, while the Old Town area—

The home to Edinburgh Castle— is just within a few minutes’ walking distances. Just head up, Edinburgh Castle can be viewed in the air, and allure you to walk into his ancient history.

This checkerboard street system expresses an inherent noble dignity, which is built on and accumulated by their glorious culture. I can imagine numerous tourists coming from all over the world enjoy this city during the annual Edinburgh international festival (in August). In addition, Queen street seems to reach to the seaside at the end with a slight downhill, reminding me of San Francisco streets. 

Museums are also around the corner for you to read their stories and collections, while I do not have enough time to go through everything this time. 

One interesting thing I especially have to mention here. That is, Primark is a chain store in the UK, while only the Primark in Edinburgh offers unique T-shirts with Edinburgh Castle image on it. And I got one now.  

Last but not the least thing, when I walk into a restaurant with my Taiwanese friend, she told the waiter I am from England, suddenly the waiter refused to serve me. Surely, we were just playing a serious joke, we know the difference between Scotland and England, and I do respect Scottish national identity according to their history, governmental policy, people, language, and culture.

Yes, it is absolutely different from other nations in the UK. And Taiwanese migrants have strong integration into this national and social identity, they are very pride of being Scottish. When I drank Scottish water, my Taiwanese friend told me that is from the extinct volcano in the Scottish Highlands. Awesome! I can feel that and happy for them as I have become a fan of Scotland after this trip.

我的愛丁堡之行四：王子街購物,博物館,花園

王子街的動能為市民和遊客提供多種功能。

它是蘇格蘭愛丁堡市中心的主要通道，也是首都的主要購物區。與許多商店佔據的許多高街不同，王子街的兩面都有不同的視角。 一面是繁華的購物，古老的輝煌建築和花園則是另一面。

最令人印象深刻的特徵之一是人行道的寬度設計與車道的寬度一樣大。 散步很愉快！

其次，與整條街道相對的是很大的王子街花園，它優雅地融入了城市風景。 在這個公園裡，有一些雕像和石頭供奉，以尊重過去戰爭的犧牲。

此外，王子街位於新城區，而老城區--愛丁堡城堡的所在地--距離此僅有幾分鐘的步行路程。抬起頭,愛丁堡城堡就可以在空中觀看到，並引誘您走進悠遠歷史。

這種棋盤街道系統表達了一種固有的高貴尊嚴，這種尊嚴建立在其輝煌文化的基礎上並由其積累而成。我可以想像在一年一度的愛丁堡國際藝術節期間(8月),來自世界各地的眾多遊客都會喜歡這座城市。此外，皇后街似乎最後能到達海邊有著微微的下坡，讓我想起舊金山的街道。

博物館也在附近，供您閱讀他們的故事和收藏品，而我這次停留沒有足夠的時間來瀏覽所有內容。有趣的是，我特別要提到的，Primark是英國的連鎖店，而愛丁堡的Primark則提供獨特的T恤，上面有愛丁堡城堡圖形。只在愛丁堡哦，我現在有一件。

最後但並非最不重要的是，當我和我的台灣朋友走進一家餐館時，她告訴服務員我來自英格蘭，服務員突然拒絕為我服務。當然，我們只是在開一個嚴肅的玩笑，我們知道蘇格蘭和英格蘭之間的區別，根據他們的歷史，政府政策，人民，語言和文化, 我確實尊重蘇格蘭民族的身份認同，

是的，它與英國其他國家完全不同。台灣移民與這個國家和社會認同意識有很強的融合，他們非常自豪是蘇格蘭人。當我喝蘇格蘭水時，我的台灣朋友告訴我，這是來自蘇格蘭高地的死火山水。真棒！在這次旅行結束後，我成為蘇格蘭的粉絲。

Summer trip to Edinburgh III: River Almond Walkway

My Taiwanese friend organized a walking tour along the River Almond walkway, which takes us around 3 hours. We took the bus from the city centre and then gather at the Almond Hotel with other Taiwanese living in Edinburgh. 

The weather was pretty sunny, and after half an hour, there is the striking Cramond Falls, quite ‘Niagra’ and it’s definitely fresh on a summer’s day in the green forest. 

In the sequent path, there are many ‘wild garlic’ on the grounds of the forest so that all the air is full of a combination of herbs and plants, together with steams.

We also passed by the interesting Cammo Estate and took a little break there, the place is now a country park. 

While I am writing this blog and checking more information for understanding this surprising wonderful trip; I noticed that this walkway has been deemed as a secret spot or an expert hiking tour by some on website. Lucky!

我的愛丁堡之旅III：杏仁河走道

我的愛丁堡台灣移民朋友舉辦了1個沿著杏仁河步行遊覽，往返大約需要3個小時。 天氣非常晴朗，半小時後，有一個引人注目的Cramond瀑布，相當'尼加拉瓜'，在夏季的綠色森林裡，它絕對是視覺新鮮的。

我們還經過了有趣的Cammo Estate  - 它現在是一個鄉村公園。

在接下面的路徑中，森林地上有許多“野蒜”，所有的空氣都充滿了草藥和植物的組合，以及潮濕的水氣,一整個充滿芬多精。

我正在撰寫這篇文章，並查看更多資料以了解這個令人驚訝的奇妙之旅時; 我才注意到這個步道被網站上的一些人視為私房景點或專家徒步旅行路線呢。幸運!

Summer Trip to Edinburgh II: the birthplace of Harry Potter

Since Harry Potter was born to the world by J.K. Rowling, Edinburg has become another must-visit place for his fans. It is said that J.K. Rowling found inspirations for her successful magic novels on a day trip to the Scottish Highlands from Edinburgh.

Rowling moved to Edinburgh in 1993 and once said in an interview: 

"Edinburgh is very much home for me and is the place where Harry evolved over seven books and many, many hours of writing in its cafes." 

In Edinburgh, the first three drafted chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was written; and the elephant house, a cafe in the old town, has become very famous to attract many people to take a look.

Just behind the house, a stroll along Candlemaker Row is another film vibe- the wizarding world's favourite high street-and leads to Greyfriars Kirk. 

Inspired by the headstones in Greyfriars Kirk, J.K. Rowling has admitted that this graveyard is a good place to collect weird and wonderful names, such as Tom Marvolo Riddle was borrowed to be 'Lord Voldemort' in the films.

A famous story about Greyfriars Bobby: the terrier that refused to leave the grave of farmer John Grey, his master, upon his death. 

 

would you dare to walk into the grave and find the name?

Can you accept wedding photos in graveyards?

Apart from those film sites, there are still some spots related to the film, and Edinburgh has developed different types of Harry Potter walking tour for tourists to choose from. I found these sites by google map in the evening, it was not that creepy for me. Do remember! I once attended the cemetery tour while I was in Brighton. However, this Greyfriars Kirk has its own style, displaying a more solemn atmosphere.

Check my graveyard tour in Brighton. 

我的愛丁堡之旅2：哈利波特的誕生地

自從哈利波特出世於J.K.羅琳筆下,愛丁堡已成為他的粉絲的另一個必遊之地。據說J.K.羅琳在愛丁堡的蘇格蘭高地一日遊中找到了她成功的魔法小說的靈感。

羅琳於1993年搬到愛丁堡，並曾在接受採訪時說：“愛丁堡非常適合我，是一處涵蓋了哈利七本書，在咖啡館裡寫了很多很多小時的地方。”哈利波特和賢者之石的前三章草稿都是在愛丁堡寫的，大象屋咖啡館位在老城區，已經非常有名，吸引了很多人去看。

就在這房子後面，沿著Candlemaker Row漫步是另一項電影氛圍 - 魔法世界最受歡迎的高街 - 並通往Greyfriars Kirk。靈感來自Greyfriar Kirk的墓碑，J.K羅琳已經承認，這個墓地是收集奇怪和美妙名字的好地方，例如Tom Marvolo Riddle在電影中被借用為“佛地魔Voldemort”。

除了這些電影場地外，還有一些與電影有關的景點，愛丁堡現在已開發出不同類型的哈利波特徒步旅行供遊客選擇。我在晚上通過谷歌地圖自己找到了這些場址，這對我來說並不那麼令人毛骨悚然。請記住，我曾經參加在布萊頓的墓地之旅。然而，這個Greyfriar有自己的風格，顯示出更莊嚴的氣氛。