Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Harry Potter Museum of Context

Here Ye! Here Ye! You knew if was bound to happen somehow! A full blown Harry Porter dedicated post. I mean, I'm not a big fan, but how could I not when you're in Edinburgh, the birth place of Harry Porter? So for this post, it's dedicated to the Museum of Context, a solely Harry Potter merchandised shop located at Victoria Street Edinburgh.  

There is a queue even to get in. It's a 3 storey shop, and it's very cramp and narrow inside, so I guess the queue was more for safety. I visited this shop twice on my trip, both times I had to queue -_____-

Even before going into the shop, there were many Potter related signs and things to see outside of the shop, So don't miss them if you're a Potter Fan! I'm not, really. I mean, I do own the book boxset, which I haven't read. And I have watched the movies, which I did not finished to the end..... But it would just be a shame if I was in Edinburgh and not visit all these well known Potter sights. 

I have actually seen the 3/4 train platform before at St Pancras London when I was there. But seriously I wasn't a fan then either, and couldn't even find a photo of it, lol. I recall seeing it, it was just a sign on a wall, and I seriously wonder why it was such a big deal in the first place :P

Once inside, it was a pretty impressive shop. Above was on the first floor, and I love that they have a room under the stairs just like in the movies. 

Lots of souvenirs to spend your money on here. 

I was even impressed that they have letters from the author herself hung up here. 

Going upstairs on their narrow wooden stairs, was a lair with mirrors. This was really impressive. This could have been a themed park! Are there any Harry Potter theme park in the world? I remember seeing magic shops in Movie World in Australia's Gold Coast when I went there for my honeymoon. 

Quirky signs. I would have love this hung outside my bedroom as a kid or teenager. Seriously, if you have the money, and you're a huge fan, you shouldn't miss this shop at all! They have everything!

Again, I was impressed with these wands on sale here. Made of real wood too! None of those plastic stuff. I can't deny it that I was pretty tempted to get one. But I had to remind myself that I wasn't a fan, and wasn't gonna waste my money on a stick! Besides, I'm more of a witty witch kinda gal.

Beers from the money. I can't remember if I've ever tasted these before. I'm pretty sure I've tasted butter beer. It must not have been very impressive because I can't recall when it was, or how it tasted. Or perhaps I was confused with foamy beer from Japan..... Either way, I wasn't really tempted but these although I do love the packaging of these bottles.

I spent some time looking at these beautiful charms, and was seriously considering whether to bring Dobby home. Again, I reminded myself not to be caught up in the moment! I am NOT a Harry Potter Fan!

I lingered at the book display for a while. I'm actually glad I took this photo, as it was the determine point for the book I wanted to buy as a souvenir of my trip. Yup, I actually went back to the shop on my last day to buy one of the book on display! I was just as surprised as anyone else when I walked out the store with probably my most expensive souvenir from Scotland! A Book! Hahahahahaha. And I haven't even read it! I didn't read a few pages of it. But I wanted to really enjoy it slowly.... cause it was freaking expensive!

Ok, some side notes. Just opposite the Museum of Context, there is also a whimsical shop called The William Burked Museum where you can see weird shit. I didn't really venture in. If you want to see weird shit, but in a better location, do visit the Surgeon Museum. I plan to do just that on my next visit, although I am not sure how my husband would react to that. No, gore isn't a fetish of mine. I just happen to really like anatomy, and anatomy museums for humans are so rare in Asia.

There are also witchery tour and ghost and giggles..... Maybe if I have time, I'll go visit these places again. Gosh, I hope I have time. There is always just so much to do here! A most enjoyable city to visit indeed!

Since this is a Harry Potter themed post, I'll end here with the Original Elephant Cafe, which was burned by fire and undergoing renovation when I was there. I understand that it has been completed and you can now go visit it again. It's here Harry Potter was born, by JK Rowling as she sits here writing the stories. There is another newer cafe of the same name somewhere else, so be sure to look it up if you really want to go visit the original one and not just some cafe with the same name..... Good luck in your Potter Adventure in Edinburgh. I'm all grown up now, so for my next trip, it will be more of a Outlander themed trip :P   I'm not really a fan of that either! I'm only Season 2 half way in when they already have 8 seasons available! So much work to do before my trip!

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Grassmarket and Victoria Street

Besides cemetery, we also wandered around Grassmarket after our visit to the castle. As you can see in the photo above, the castle is just above Grassmarket. We walked down the stairs from there and ended up here. It was kinda like the same way when we got to the Castle Terrace in the morning for the weekend market. If you have strong knees, Edinburgh is very very walkable if you knew where all the shortcut stairs are!

As this was a Saturday, the Grassmarket was packed with people just chilling out in the lovely Spring weather. There were lots of eating places here, and everyone seems to love outdoor seating. Do they not have crows or bird who sits on you here???? There was also a weekend market nearby, almost similar to the one at Castle Terrace in the morning that I suspect maybe like the Pasar Malam in Penang, the vendors also travel around to different location based on a set schedule.

I didn't really budgeted for much sit down dine in, so we just mainly walked around looking at the beautiful historical shops here. Above is the Beehive Inn. I love the way they named all the pubs and hotels and inn. It's so fantasy world to me! And their decoration was almost always equally whimsical. On my next trip, I hope to focus more on pubs and bookstore which I didn't really managed to do on my first trip here. I felt dining-in in Scotland was just so expensive. We have yet to dine at any restaurant except Oink since we arrived in Scotland. And with M&S so near our hotel, we didn't really need to. So most of our dining was outside of Edinburgh :P 

The White Hart Inn, so majestic in deco. I wander how much does it cost a night here? Would it really felt like an old inn? Ha, so after googling it, it's just a historical pub and no longer serve as an inn. But for your info, nightly accommodation nearby is around 164sgd to 344sgd here. In comparison, our place at Premium Inn Royal Mile cost us around 200sgd too, but at least we were near the train station. 

We saw this paella stall at the weekend market here, and I didn't managed to eat it because I hesitated whether to eat it. It cost around 12pounds for the seafood paella, but when I decided to go queue up and buy one, they told me they were sold out and closed for the day..... Luckily for me, we were going to visit another Sunday market in Stockbridge the next day, so hopefully I'll see them there as well. If I do, I will not hesitate again! I know that paella is actually Spanish, but I just love eating this, especially with sour cream and lemon wedges. I do cook this at home too, but I use a rice cooker, which doesn't have the charred aroma when cooked in a pan like this. I also skim on the sour cream and lemon wedges. If I feel rich I might add yogurt and calamansi :P

As night near, we started walking back towards the new town. The building anywhere in Edinburgh is as lovely.

We saw a few themed cafe and restaurant along the way too. Here is one on Wizard of Oz. At the time of our visit, Wicked was not released yet, so this was just a down to earth Oz Bar. I bet they have cash in since after the released of Wicked. If not, what a waste of oppurtunity!

There was also this Frankenstein Restaurant which I was interested in. It only opens at night, and the menu mainly consist of pizza and cocktails, so I decided that it was probably a cheesy place. They do have a coffin inside where the monster come to life periodically! lol. I don't know why, I love these cheesy things, but I won't spend my money on them, not unless they are really very money woof!

On our way back, we finally walked through the colourful street of Victory Street, or Diagon Alley for Harry Porter fans! There is a Harry Porter themed shop here, and I will tell you all about it in my next post!

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Greyfriars Kirk (2/2)

Guess what, there is a Part 2 of the Greyfiars Kirk. I tend to go overboard when visiting places of the dead. I find them romantically beautiful somehow. I plan to visit the Glasgow Necropolis next! I think my fascination started on my very first trip to Europe when I went down to the Catacombs of Paris. Since then, I've visited many places of the dead, from Churches decorated with bones in Italy, to the beautiful graveyards of Paris Pere Lachaise Cemetery, to Koyasan's Okunoin Cemetery and Mausoleum of Kyoto near Kiyumizudera....

Now I can add the Greyfiars Kirk into my list as well :) 

If anything, it' a beautiful walk inside. There are more tombstone here than another kirk we visited called the St Cutbert Kirk the next day. Although I must say, St Cuthbert Kirk has it's own charm as well. I also like it that you could just wander into graveyards here as part of your way to another location. It was just a path you could cut through to get some peace and quiet. Almost like a park!

I also like the decorative nature of western graveyard and their tomb stones. Granted the urns in a Chinese temple can also be interesting. I used to spend a lot of time looking at urns at my grandma's temple during prayer season too. But I kinda like the western ones better, mainly because I grew up with wester literature more than eastern ones. I mostly felt like a mixed bag of culture, yellow on the outside, but pretty white inside in terms of literature, philosophy and religion. As I aged, my inside has slowly changed to more eastern as I travel more to China and Japan.....

How would you not like decorative like a dancing skeleton on your tombstone? I know I would love having that! Too bad mine would be more of a cremation and throw into the sea type of ending. lol. I guess as a Buddhist I will leave nothing behind. Perhaps these pages will survive.... For how long, I don't know. 

Moss covered tombstone was another lovely sight for me. I also love moss covered temples (maybe for the dead) in Thailand and Cambodia. I think travel feeds my love for all these beautiful places on earth where I can't really experience in person from books or other media. You've got to be there in real life to experience the joy of seeing these in person!

There are also stone statues on some of the graves and mausoleum. I guess only the rich people have mausoleum as it must cost more to build it? I think I read that there are also caged cemetery, maybe for witches and evil people where you don't want them crawling back up no  matter what. I read there was a witch that was buried in sea with a stone grave.... Scotland, you are so fascinating to me!

Signing off with a skull photo here :) 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Greyfriars Kirk (1/2)

After finishing our visit to the Edinburgh Castle, it was more or less free and easy time for us to wander around Edinburgh. I had a few places on my mind to wander to, and hopefully the next part of the day would be kinda like a Harry Porter themed day. It was around 4pm by the time we left the castle, so we went down the stairs again to the Grassmarket area, and went in search of the first location, Greyfriars Kirk, a cemetery that is famous for two things: Harry Porter, and Bobby Greyfriars the terrier dog. We somehow found the side door of the cemetery above and made ourselves in.

A more format sign of the cemetery with Edinburgh also on the sign, as well as Gaelic. 

There are also even more information on this sign!

Enough of signs, let us ventured in and see what it's like inside. As mentioned above, we actually entered via a side door, and so found ourselves directly at the graveyard area. I have no idea how big the place was, or the orientation of the place. I guess that is what wandering meant? I knew that I love graveyard, and that I wanted to see Bobby, and maybe do some Harry Porter name spotting among the tombstones. 

What I can say about cemetery in the west is, they always looked so beautiful and peaceful to me. I can't really say the same for Chinese cemetery, or Japanese ones although I have visited Japanese graves and mausoleum before. Here, the graveyard just look like a very serene garden to me.

 

We did eventually found our way to the main church, a yellow structure inside the cemetery. We didn't venture inside the building though. For some reason, I didn't go into many churches in Scotland apart from St Gile's. Perhaps I should have?

The statue of Bobby was just in front of the church, and there were many informative signs about Bobby as seen here. Interestingly, I never knew terrier dogs were originally from Scotland. My friend has two as her pets and I've spent some amount of time with them recently and am surprised how friendly they are. I'm not much of a dog lover, but I think I've warmed up to them more recently simple by the fact that my friend kept bringing me on walks with them. No, not often, maybe just once or twice a year. But they are so friendly, and better behave than most of the dogs I've met before. 

Even before reaching the church, you could see the statue of Bobby and all the flowers that surrounds it. That dogs has more flowers and than all the grave in the graveyards combined! 

Bobby is actually buried here. He died in 1872 on the same day as my birthday! Famous for being loyal and guarding his master's grave for 14 years until his death! Wow! Should I get a dog, or cat when I am older and living alone?

Lovely flowers surrounding Bobby's grave and statue. That's not the only statue of Bobby. Just outside the cemetery, there is also another statue of him right on the road. There is also a pub named after him. 

After visiting Bobby, we went back to our wandering of the graveyard. Trying to hunt down names of the characters in Harry Porter proves too difficult as most of the tombstones has very old carving of the names that were hard to make out. There was also so many tombstones here to scan through! If you are really interesting in seeing the names, do your research before hand, or join a Harry Porter tour where they will lead you to the location of the graves. But if you're looking for a Harry Porter school inspired looking building, above was what you would be looking for. It's not inside the cemetery, but an actual functioning school just adjacent to it.

There is a metal gate separating the school from the cemetery, and signs asking you not to take photography of it as there are students inside. There was a Harry Porter tour group outside while we were walking pass.

The building looked absolutely gorgeous from afar. Almost islamic in architecture with it's beautiful domes. The trees and the tombstones here really add to teh charms of the area.

Here is another shot of the lovely school.

Above is the gate of the school from the cemetery with the tour group on the left. I felt almost envious that students here have such beautiful school grounds to go to. It felt like it was so full of history and culture of it's own. That's coming from me who attended a school that is more than 100 years old in Penang, Malaysia. But my school doesn't look as impressive as this one. It looked just like a typical school, functional and boring.....

One of the highlight of this kirk was also that Bloody MacKenzie mausoleum is also found here. It was hard to miss as it has it's own doors guarding it. It is known as the most haunted spot of the graveyard, effectively also making this cemetery one of the most haunted in Scotland!

You could peep in to see what is inside. Fun fact, you can't see anything inside cause it's too dark. It's just blackness. I know, cause I looked. I am a person who has many fears, but apparently fear of the dead is not one of them.... against my own better judgement, I did peep inside, as did many visitors. But if you search the web, you will find many haunting activities about this place, especially when joining ghost tours at night :)