Top 10 Favourite Things (in order from wonderful to amazingly brilliant)
10. Piemaker. I paid 3 pound something for a mac and cheese (yes) pie, lentil soup, and a huge cup of tea. Enough said.
9. Peter's Yard. THEIR PASSION FRUIT TART and the pot of tea made four cups. Brilliant on a soggy last day.
Pink Teapot Ft. Lichtenstein Notebook.
8. Grassmarket. I got a 2 pound book (Jerusalem the Golden) from The Old Town Bookshop and a stunning white lace dress from Armstrong's (amazing vintage) (but it was from topshop). It's just a generally lovely little stroll with cutesy boutiques and nice organic juice bar type restaurant-cafes.
7. Royal Mile Starbucks & The Elephant House. Cheating because there are two, but they're both cafes soooooo, yeah. Starbucks: the seating is upstairs and is old architecture, old books, and general warm coziness looking out onto the Royal Mile. The Elephant House is where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and I swear what I wrote in there was better than most of the stuff I had written out of this lovely little cafe. Plus, it wasn't very busy, the prices were reasonable, and there were beautiful views of the castle.
6. Princes Street Gardens and The Royal Botanic Garden. Getting sneaky again with this double whammy of plant life. But they both deserved a very honourable mention. Princes is a lovely refuge in the heart of the city, and Royal is vast and full of different sections, such as the woodland area and the rock garden.
Princes Street Gardens:
Royal Botanic Garden:
5. Getting serious now into the Top 5. My fifth favourite thing was Portobello Beach. It was stunning on a dramatically cloudy day and I walked along the shore with my toes in the water and my Barefoot Contessa (which I was barefoot wearing, perfect) dress with chips (british french fries not a bag of chips) and a cuppa. Made me very homesick but lovely all the same.
4. Calton Hill. There are very few words to describe the way the sun set over the city and cast a golden glow over the extinct volcano and the architecture of the old town and castle. This place clears the head.
3. Arthur's Seat. You must be noticing a trend now, of wildnerness-type things. I had missed the serenity and clear-headedness of being in nature. Paris' parks are lovely but the grass is mostly out of bounds to preserve its beauty and they have a weird thing about putting fake sand down on the paths/courtyards. Arthur's Seat was as close to the mountains that I got until the Pentland Hills.
The trail at sunrise.
2. The Meadows. This ranks higher than the three previous places simply because of its proximity to the city centre, so it's wonderful to stroll down spontaneously and grab a bite or a cup of tea at The Meadow Box. My favourite Meadows experience was sitting on a park bench as the sun rose, reading my new secondhand book, sipping my tea, and a photographer fangirling over the lighting and snapping my picture. The sun can do wonderful things.
1. The Pentland Hills. There are no words for this experience. I thought they were going to be low, smooth rolling hills, and was therefore shocked to have to climb 80 degree angles in my sneakers and jeans, passing full-on hikers in their hiking boots and backpacks and spandex hiking gear. I saw highland cows and I breathed in the semi-mountain air as the sun peeked from behind the clouds.
My Pentland Hills Playlist:
Overall, it was an amazing week. But since being back in Paris, I have discovered some amazing new things about this place and my apartment. I feel as renewed as I thought I would be upon arrival, maybe even more, and I see the city through a new, more rose-coloured lens.
Beautiful photos. It looks like it was a perfect Autumn. It sounds super cozy and I can't wait to go! I want to see those cows <3
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