Where childhoods were born

I visited the Elephant House here in Edinburgh for my birthday that happened a week ago. For those uninitiated with the Elephant House, it is known for being one of the places where JK Rowling sat to write the first drafts of Harry Potter!

I am a huge, huge fan of Harry Potter. I love the series and I love Hogwarts - I just worked at Harry Potter: The Exhibition this past summer - and I started reading Harry Potter when I was 8, so it's all a huge part of my life!



Two things are in abundance at the cafe: elephants, and Harry Potter. There are little snippets and articles about what's happening with JK Rowling and Harry Potter, and there are a ton of elephants everywhere! Well, it is called the Elephant House for a reason...



There are lots of newspaper articles on the plights of elephants around the world. It's nice to see this conservation effort going on here.





To be honest, though I thought I would be super excited about coming to the Elephant House, the actual experience was a little anticlimatic. It felt like any old regular cafe - a nice cafe, and I really liked it, but it wasn't exciting or anything like that - which was nice as well, because I can see how JK Rowling was able to sit in peace and just write.

The food isn't too bad, either! The price range is pretty decent; about £6-8 for an average meal, which is alright by UK standards.







The cafe au lait was good - not too bitter and not too sweet.



This is the foccacia sandwich with brie cheese and bacon. It was really good, I liked it.

Somehow a staple got into my food, though - I bit into a bit and felt this hard metallic object, which was weird. When I told the staff about it though they were so nice about it, I couldn't find it in me to be mad at them in the slightest! Definitely a thumbs up for excellent customer service.

The staff were extremely apologetic and gave me a choice of my money back or getting something else. So I got this.



This coffee and walnut cake was delicious! Really, really good - the cream complemented the cake perfectly. I would have liked it to be a bit more moist than it was, but I would have it again.

My friend Som had a strawberry sponge cake.



Now one of the cutest things about the Elephant House - when you go into the toilets, they're filled with Harry Potter graffiti!







Alohomora on the toilet door lock! Although I'm not so sure that's such a good idea when you're inside the toilet with your pants down...



I'm incredibly lucky to be living just across the street from the Elephant House, so I know I'll be back! Next time I'm bringing a marker to add my own little bit of graffiti in the toilets ;)

JK Rowling's newest book, The Casual Vacancy, has recently been released. Have you read it or will you be reading it? What are your thoughts?

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I met the universe

"I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe." - Richard P. Feynman

When you look up into the night sky, at once both pitch black and shining bright with millions - no, billions - of blazing white specks of light, knowing that the balls of fire have been shining in the same sky for as long as the universe, tiny is how you feel. Tiny is all you can feel.



When you're alone, and it's so dark that you can't even see anything around you, when your eyes take 20 minutes and not five to adjust to the darkness, when there's nothing above you but the great universe and the Milky Way and everything in it and other galaxies and black holes and all sorts of strange and wonderful astronomical things we haven't even begun to fathom, it is truly humbling.





Humbling, and awe-inspiring.





I don't have any pictures of this, but I also got to see some space junk burning up in the atmosphere and leaving a blazing trail across the night sky.  I'd just stepped out my door when it started coming across the sky with the most beautiful tail - unfortunately my jaw was on the floor when I saw it and I was too stunned to take out my camera!

It was like this huge meteor had broken up and was coming down onto earth - great balls of fire, coming across the sky. At first I thought it was a firework, but then I realised it couldn't have been - then I thought it was a proper meteor, and it wasn't until I read about it on the BBC that I found out it was space junk!

That was a completely unexpected and amazing extra treat for the girl who travelled to see the stars.

Never mind that it was cold. So cold I was wearing three coats, two socks, tights, winter boots, and yet my fingers were so cold that they hurt and I couldn't feel my nose.





We don't realise how fragile light is until you understand exactly how dark it has to be for the stars to come out - you look outside and you think it's dark, but it's nothing compared to the darkness you need for stars to be seen.

It was truly one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen in my life.

After a brilliant night like that, there's absolutely nothing better than to wake up to a morning that looks like this:



















And that, my friends, is when the beauty of nature inspires in you such awe that you cannot understand how anyone could not love something of such magnificence. After all, we are creatures of this earth, and it must be our duty to do everything we can in our power to protect and cherish the diversity and wonders of the earth.





I love travelling. I love seeing the world and everything it has to offer.

The other day, I was watching season 7 of Doctor Who - the Power of Three - on BBC1, and one  beautiful short monologue by the Doctor in particular struck me.

"This is one corner of one country in one continent of one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing, shrinking, creating, destroying, never remaining the same for a single millisecond and there is so much, so much to see. Because it goes so fast. I am not running away from things, I am running to them, before they flare and fade forever."



And that is all.

All images taken from the banks of Loch Ken in Galloway, south-west Scotland.

If you haven't read already:

Part 1: There's always silver lining

Part 2: Having a good time anyway

Part 3: Before they had cars

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Before they had cars

On my second whole day in Galloway, I found that I had no idea what I wanted to do. I did, however, really want to go horseriding, because the last time I'd been on one was more than a year ago and I was kinda itching to go on horseback again.

The activity centre where I was staying recommended heading to Barstobrick, so that's exactly what I did. I took a bus from Castle Douglas to Ringford and walked for a good half hour for 1.5 miles until I got to Barstobrick Farm, which is right at the end of a pretty long road.

Thankfully the weather was beautiful and sunny and nearly cloudless, so I had a pretty good time just walking slowly up the road!

Finally I got to this:

Barstobrick
Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway
DG7 2AT

Tel: 01557 820112

The visitor centre at Barstobrick is nicely done up, with a wee shop at the back and a restaurant that serves nice food at nice prices. They've also got some meats for sale - chops of lamb and beef from their own farm and slaughtered by their own farm butcher!

Personally, I don't think I could stomach seeing my food alive and kicking, knowing that it's going to end up on a plate... (But I can't go vegetarian, I love my beef steak and lamb too much!)





I booked a horse to go riding at 3.30PM, but I had so much time to kill that I went on a couple of walks around the wetlands of the massive 650 acre farm. Of course I didn't walk all 650 acres of it - but it really is a massive farm!!!!





Hahaha it looks like I'm doing some sort of yoga pose doesn't it?!

I love how the water is so still it's just like a mirror and the branches reflect in it.

People even go fishing in the ponds!

There was just one little downside - there were a few bees and dragonflies around, so I kept flinching every time I got too near one. The butterflies were the worst, though. I'm terrified of butterflies.

I also saw horses out in the paddocks!

I made friends with a lovely horse named Idaho who was extremely friendly and tried to eat my hat. She tried eating my hat after she'd tried eating my bag.

I also saw a really pretty little flower, which I then gave to Idaho to eat.

Idaho's friend Kelpie wasn't as friendly, though - it took me about 15 minutes before Kelpie was willing to have me pet him.

I rode a cob gelding named Red, who was the sweetest and gentlest thing you could ever imagine!

Here is a picture of the girl who was my hack (lingo for pleasure riding on horseback) guide, as taken from the world on Red's back.

Feeling like a pro riding with one hand on the reins ;) Actually it's only cos I had to use the other hand to take photos with LOL.

We rode around the farm and even up to near the top of Barstobrick Hill where Neilson's Monument is located! I don't know much about this Neilson guy, but his fame had something to do with iron on railway tracks. The view from up on the hill is spectacular!

Even the horses like taking in the scenery. Wide, vast open plains, filled with tasty munchy grass for horse stomachs!

It was actually quite funny because Red kept nibbling on the grass - everything we slowed down a bit or stopped, Red would bend his neck down and eat whatever was within reach haha! I had to pull the reins back and kick in the sides a few times if I wanted him to get moving again.

This is me on horseback!

And this is my guide.

I have to say though, riding HURTS if you're not used to it. It hurts a lot. I woke up the next day with a terrible backache and my butt feeling bruised from riding. :x Oh what I wouldn't give for a good Swedish massage right now... (I guess that means I've got to travel to Sweden sometime soon! Haha)

Here is a picture of two elderly people riding horses which looks quite nice.

After I'd rode for about an hour I made my way back to the centre, courtesy of motorists who are kind enough to stop along expressways for hitchhikers. Haha!

On my third night, because I hadn't planned it, I got shifted to a different part of the centre for my third night's stay. It was a very pretty nice little loch-side cabin!

And this was the view.

And then as the day wound down, I waited for the sun to go to bed and for the stars to come out to play.

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