Pride and Prejudice Fanfic 7/15 Part One

I made a point of waking up early, to give myself time to walk around the estate. I went for a little ramble in the woods, which really reminded me of Eagle River. After being in London, it was nice to be in nature and have some space. I went over the river and took the trail for as long as time allowed. It was lovely.

We met up as a group and took the bus into Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a great city, much calmer than London. I really loved how cheerful and helpful everyone we met was, as well, though that was probably skewed by the fact that I was almost entirely in touristy areas. I did miss London’s public transportation system, even though Edinburgh’s tourist area is small enough to walk. There’s something freeing about the Tube.

That morning, we visited the National Library of Scotland, which had a couple of very interesting exhibits, including an interactive display of famous writers, like Charles Darwin and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The displays involved items, costumes, and papers, which, when selected on the accompanied iPads, would be lit, while information was given.  The integration of technology into the display was creative, though it did appear to get glitchy at times.

There was also an exhibit on Pride and Prejudice, and I loved how the display included prompt questions and writing implements, so that visitors could interact with the exhibit. For example, one prompt asked for visitors to submit their favorite characters, and another asked patrons to speculate on what happened after P&P ended—basically, they were calling for fanfiction.

Their final exhibit was on Livingstone’s expeditions. I thought that was great, because we’d first learned about Livingstone at the Royal Geographical Society. They had displays on Livingstone’s travels, and papers and maps pertaining to them. I think that I wouldn’t have appreciated the exhibit as much, without the background on Livingstone that I’d gotten at the RGS.

For lunch, Christine and I ate at the Elephant Room, which is where JK Rowling worked on the first draft of Harry Potter. Having eaten there, I’m now guessing she worked there because it was cheap. The food was just alright, and now that they style themselves as the “birthplace of Harry Potter” it’s no longer cheap, either. The best part of the Elephant Room, hands down, was the bathroom, which is 100% covered in Harry Potter graffiti. The graffiti ranged from heartfelt, “Harry Potter was my childhood,” to funny, “Dumble” on the door, to fitting, like the Mirror of Erised inscription written on the mirror frame. Christina and I added our own graffiti, though it was hard, because all I had was a pen and I was trying to write on a door frame.

After lunch we did some walking through Edinburgh and found some interesting things in shops, like the world’s smallest bottles of whiskey, which were less than an inch tall, and held milliliters of booze. If they weren’t something outrageous, like five pounds, I might have bought a couple for souvenirs. Yes, sometimes I like that kitschy stuff, that’s why if the Royal Baby is ever born, I’m getting a commemorative mug.