Edinburgh with the YAVS

The last thing I was up to was our final YAV retreat to Scotland and Iona. It was absolutely fantastic and perhaps just what I needed.

On June 19 we journeyed over to Edinburgh (only a 35 min. flight.. I will miss being this close to other major cities and countries.) We arrived in Edinburgh and I had a hard time comprehending I was actually in a real city because it looks like you're on a movie set. I say this because first off you see the castle:

Edinburgh Castle

Panorama of Edinburgh

It looks as if it grew up out of the craggy hillside it resides on. It is a spectacular castle to see and we definitely had fun touring it. The "Old Town" part of Edinburgh is full of medieval buildings and windy twisty roads and alleyways. 

Street in Edinburgh

Needless to say I really loved Edinburgh! The first couple of days we were there we did a variety of things. Doug took us to meet Tommy the GRoW Workshop Manager at Grassmarket Community Project, which was a really neat opportunity.

The project is according to their website, "A partnership between the Grassmarket Mission and Greyfriars Kirk, is about supporting people through transitions in their lives and about re-connecting disengaged people. This is the ethos that underpins all the elements from cooking to social integration, work opportunities to social contact, advice to arts. Though founded on work with those traditionally labelled ‘homeless,’ this project has been extended to adults who are facing ‘deep social exclusion’ and have been marginalised by lack of opportunity, skills and aspiration.

The Grassmarket Community Project offers a mixture of education programs, social enterprise and social integration activities. Currently these are delivered through cookery, gardening, woodwork, art, music and textiles programs. Free meals are served to participants in the project as well as those in need."

It was a really great opportunity to see community work going on in another city and Tommy was very inspirational to talk with. 

Group shot with Tommy in Greyfriar Kirk's graveyard

After that, we proceeded to Greyfriar's Kirk where we searched among the graves for one's that had inspired J.K. Rowling's characters of Tom Riddle, Professor Mcgonagall, and a few more. We found the grave for both of these main characters which was fun.

The rest of the time we spent exploring the castle, eating at The Elephant House where J.K. Rowling sat and wrote the start of the Harry Potter series, went into too many tartan shops, saw St. Giles Cathedral and Scottish Parliament, climbed up the Scott Monument, and hung out on the Princess Green, just to name a few things. 

All in all our time in Edinburgh was great as a whole YAV group before we made our way to Iona.