Edinburgh, Scotland, 2014

Last month, I was lucky enough to spend four days with two great friends in one great city. I had never been to Edinburgh before, and was absolutely floored at how beautiful it all is. There are a number of excellent galleries downtown, all of which are free, and one can simply walk the streets and be amazed. The castle in the center of the city is stunning, and most of the old town is built with row upon row of old grey washed-out stone buildings. All the same colour. It is absolutely gorgeous. This was the first stop on the trip I took around Scotland and Northern England before attending the Diana Wynne Jones Memorial Conference in Newcastle. I was very apprehensive about this trip, because beforehand it seemed I was going to be doing a lot of travelling on my own, but it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable trips I have ever taken, and I think a lot of that enjoyment was thanks to the wonderful first days we had in Edinburgh.