Scotland: Land of the Fandoms

Edinburgh has been the inspiration for so many authors.  How could it not be?  Look at this freaking awesome castle and all the places in the city that you can see it!

It's the birthplace of Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes, and thus a perfect destination for crazy fangirls like Anna, Julia and I.  The bottom right corner of the picture above is actually the view of the castle from the Elephant House Cafe, where JK Rowling wrote the first two Harry Potter novels.  The cafe itself has stayed true to it's roots instead of filling itself with merchandise and jacking up it's prices.  (I went for a latte three times while in Edinburgh.)

However, there's not stopping the crazy Potterheads: the bathroom is completely covered in Harry Potter themed graffiti.  Love it.

Just across the street is one of the most haunted graveyards in the world, which is also where JK found the inspiration for a bunch of the characters from the books.

Upper left: McGonagall
Lower left: Moodie (Moody)
Center: Potter
Upper right: Black
Lower right: Riddle

This delightful little old man showed up as we were traipsing through the graveyard where he is a steward, and he told us stories for an hour.  He even showed us a secret grave that they try to keep people away from because it is so fragile.  Lesson learned: make friends with the graveyard stewards!

Also in the graveyard: A tombstone to John Watson, which was the perfect place to take a picture of Julia's Benedict Otterbatch.  

We are total creepers.  But we do it out of love, so it's okay!