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I’ve always heard good things about the city of Edinburgh and I have to say that it fully lives up to its reputation. I’m here to celebrate my birthday tomorrow and I couldn’t have picked a better place to do it. I really love cities with a medieval feel- cities with cobblestone streets, Gothic architecture, tiny windy alleys and Edinburgh has all of that.

The city is beautiful. The old city, where the castle and museums are located, is everything you could ever want. There is Gothic architecture all over the place, ancient cathedrals, a great garden, small, windy streets, and historic buildings. All of this is surrounding the castle that is perched high upon the hill, where you can find great views of the old city and the modern area that surrounds it.

Today, I walked around the city. Though I hate to use the world, the city is very charming. In many ways, it feels like Bruges- medieval, well preserved, peaceful, scenic, romantic.  Besides being a great city for young people, Edinburgh seems like one of those places to have a romantic holiday. You come here with your significant other, spend some time in an Edinburgh bed and breakfast, explore the city, and fall in love all over again. Well, I didn’t do any of that but I did fall in love with the city.

I took the  free walking tour around the city today. It lasts three hours and walks you around the old city with the guide pointing out the major sites and giving you some of the history of the area. One of my favorite things about European travel is that in every city around Europe, you’ll find a free walking tour. Sure, the stories they tell are cheesy but I find that the tours are a great way to orient yourself to a new city. You can learn a little bit about the city, get your bearings, and find out the major sites to see. Tomorrow, I’ll head to the Edinburgh castle and some of the other sites on a tour to better acquaint myself with them.

One thing I did do today was visit the National Museum of Scotland. All the museums in the city are free and I plan on seeing more but today, it was time to learn more about the history Scotland. Rising six floors, the museum covers the history of Scotland from the ice age until now. You’ll be able to learn the geological, political, social, and economic history of the land. I found the museum did a good job of explaining the history. They cover a lot of ground and they do it well. There’s interactive videos and artifacts are really well explained. My only beef with the place was that the museum wasn’t laid out well. They design each floor to deal with a certain period of time and, while the order of the floors is good, the individual floors are not. Most are thematically designed not chronological. While this lets you see each aspect of Scottish life in detail, it makes seeing the transition from one age or century to the next a little hard. It takes a bit of work to find out where the floor begins chronologically and where it ends.

For you backpackers out there, I recommend Castle Rock Hostel. It’s pretty cheap and they run a lot of activities where you can socialize and meet other people. There is a big common area and the hostel is located right across from the castle giving you an amazing view. I’ve had a lot of fun here the last few days and am really happy with the chose. The beds are comfortable and it’s great to have hot water. I know that doesn’t seem like a novelty, but I’ve been living in Asia, where hot water is a novelty!

Edinburgh has been a great city. I often hate going to hyped up locations because I usually am disappointed. Not this time. The Edinburgh lives up to the hype. I haven’t even left yet but already, I would come back.  I can’t wait to spend the next 3 days exploring the city more, visting the castle, Rossyln chapel, and getting lost in the city’s windy, narrow streets.