Other Assorted Delights in Edinburgh

 Before we travel on to Glasgow and other places in Scotland, here are some of the other sights and delights of Edinburgh that we saw while we were there.

I'd never heard of Greyfriars Bobby, but now I know! It's a neat story, and I'll have to watch the movie.

The church's graveyard had beautiful grounds.

A wall of gravestones

Kind of creepy...

This friendly crow let me get close.

The interior of the church was beautiful.

This massive museum took up a whole block.

I enjoyed exploring this historic bookstore, Blackwell's. 

It's Edinburgh's oldest bookshop!

Agatha Christie again!

I thought these dish sponges were funny. "Pride and Prejudish" 😆

The historic buildings of Europe are beautiful.

Dinner at Howie's was probably my favorite meal and restaurant of the whole trip.

I got cullen skink again. Delicious!

Dessert 😋

Picturesque Victoria Street (a.k.a. Harry Potter Street 😄)

Walking up an alleyway hill

This hot chocolate bar was so good! I had one of the best hot chocolates I've ever had here.

Beautiful Edinburgh Castle on an overcast, damp morning.

I've seen Primark mentioned in books by British authors. This was my first time actually seeing one.

T.K.Maxx!?

So gothic!

A little bit of Montana in Scotland. I sent this to David.

We passed this cute cat cafe several times during our stay in Edinburgh.

I liked my cozy hotel room. I slept well there.

I really loved Edinburgh, and I can't wait to go back!

An Owl Dream Come True in Edinburgh

 After we toured Edinburgh Castle, we were walking down the street and just happened to see two big owls sitting on the arms of two people on the sidewalk! I did a double-take and stopped to investigate. What luck! Jennifer and I got to have a meet-and-greet with two big, beautiful great-horned/Eurasian owls. Mine was named Archie, and hers was Hazel. It was amazing! I certainly didn't think I'd have an owl encounter in Scotland. I felt like God was smiling down on me. It was such a special treat since I have a lifelong love of owls; they're my favorite animal, and great-horned owls are my favorite type. If I had a patronus, it would definitely be an owl!

Let's behold the awesomeness of my owl dream come true together...

I was trying to get a good look at Archie to establish eye-to-eye contact and make a connection. 😄

Their handler encouraged us to kiss them...so I did! I can now say that I've kissed an owl. 😘

Jennifer really leaned in to her kiss 😂

Along with kisses go hugs! (I truly hope these owls don't hate their lives!)

Mom joined in on a picture, too.

These owls were the best, and this experience made my day, my month, my year! This was one of the coolest things to ever happen to me, and needless to say, it was one of my favorite parts of the trip!