It didn’t take long before my sister and I were plotting a cosy autumnal weekend away where we went to a lot of bookshops, sat in a lot of cafes and wandered about somewhere that had a lot of cobbled streets.
“Edinburgh?” we both asked each other simultaneously.
Cue the cutest weekend in a city we both love. We’ve both been more than once and tiredness is really kicking my arse this pregnancy so I think this may be the most chill I have ever been when planning a weekend away. We booked nothing, aside from an early table at Dishoom on Saturday night and mostly spent the weekend wandering and soaking up the atmosphere. We walked up The Royal Mile and saw the castle, visited the steps from One Day where we had a lovely moment revisiting our trauma from watching the Netflix series, and went to Victoria Street where we spent a solid amount of time browsing the cute little shops – including an obligatory visit to the Harry Potter shop – and buying mostly for ourselves, despite claiming we were Christmas shopping. It’s not hard to stumble across a charming independent café in Edinburgh so plenty of time was spent in them as well, cradling hot drinks and putting the world to rights.
Edinburgh had fully embraced Christmas and my sister kept laughing at me because every time I saw a tree or some lights, I would let out a high-pitched squeal. I loved it and came home with the yearly Christmas decoration for Gary, Alfie and myself. It was also the first weekend of the Christmas market and whilst I was less fussed about actually looking at the stalls (although we did complete our mission of finding a red car Christmas decoration for Alfie), I absolutely loved the atmosphere and the night-time views of the lights, the trees and the rides against the backdrop of the Scott Monument and the National Gallery all lit-up.
We both went on a book-buying ban in the weeks building up to the weekend so we wouldn’t feel too limited when doing out joint-favourite activity; getting lost in a bookshop. The Edinburgh Toppings is so higgledy-piggledy and the Waterstones so big that we literally did get lost in a bookshop more than once. Side note – the Waterstones café has a huge, curved window with the most perfect view of the castle. If you can go on a quiet weekday, I would highly recommend trying to get seats there should you be visiting. I was hoping to find the special anniversary edition of One Day because my original copy seems to have gone missing, and it felt like buying it in Edinburgh was fitting. But the only copy I could find was damaged and given the price, I wasn’t willing to spend the money unless it was pristine. And then two days after we got back, my sister sent me a gift-wrapped copy in the post as a surprise (cos she’s ADORABLE) and that makes it far more special.
It's a long way to Edinburgh even on a fast train (although those views through Northumberland are unbeatable) but I just find it such a magical city that it was worth the travel time. It was also such a rare treat to spend a whole weekend with my sister just us, discussing books, films, politics and the future. I know it is potluck as to whether you get along well with your siblings, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I drew the lucky straw with mine because she’s the best.
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