In which Edinburgh is a land of books and magic

I have recently returned from a delightful holiday to Edinburgh. If you have been following this blog for some time you may have observed that every year I go to the Edinburgh Fringe on holiday. For some time I have written short reviews of everything that I have seen and mused delightedly on the whole experience. Every Fringe is different and this one did feel a little at odds with some of the others. Not that we didn’t have a great time, it was just a slightly different experience. For a start we spent just a little less time at shows and a little more exploring Edinburgh. There was more sunshine in the three days we were there this year than all the other times combined. It was hot. And gloriously so. On the last morning we sat on the roof of the National Museum of Scotland and, side by side, with a view of all the city in front of us, snuggled into our new books.

Edinburgh hosts numerous festivals throughout the summer, one of which is the Book Festival. Despite never having been (and really considering it for next year) our trip this time felt a bit more like that was our focus. I spent about an hour in the children’s bookshop with the appropriate amount of innocent happiness. I collect Bunty annuals which are a rare enough find that I couldn’t resist buying one, or  a Folio edition of the Just So stories in a mint condition box. I was wandering round the shop with an ever growing stack of books, constantly dragging Andy to a new section with ‘Look at this! Girls Gone By books!’ And you can replace that with shelves of folio books/first edition Chalet School/Noel Streatfield books I’ve never seen before/Doctor Dolittle books… It was my kind of special place. We similarly devoured a fantasy bookshop with an unusual toy section. Once more it held hoards of undiscovered books –and one little section of stuffed tapirs and armadillos. I browsed the shop with a soft and squishy sloth tucked under my arm, but couldn’t actually justify the cost in the end. We also visited the Children’s Museum and saw bits of Edinburgh after all this time that we had never explored. It was wonderful to have that time with the two of us, just going slowly. Whilst we still saw about thirteen shows for three days  it was all at a beautiful leisurely pace and with a lot of time sitting on steps with our books or the hour I spent reading Just So stories aloud to Andy sitting on golf course.

So like any good blogger I have photos to share. Other than the stack of books, my favourite purchase for the trip was this new skirt from a little boutique shown in the photos below. I am wearing it over the tops of a dress which is something I never would have thought of before reading fashion blogs, but I think this really worked.

I got Andy a pack of curly straws for his birthday (amongst other things) and this is one such straw.

Edinburgh Castle

Swan sculptures by a canal we didn't even know existed

Canal at sunset

This is very unusual for me, but I have my hair tied in a plait

Close up of the pattern on my new skirt

I think this is my favourite photo of me for a long time

Giving it the spin test