These are a few of my favorite things :)

     The last full day in Edinburgh was filled with some of my favorite things- free museums, nature, and elephants! Little did I know that Edinburgh's free museums happen to consist of some of my favorite things and correlate perfectly to what I'm studying here. The Museum of Childhood focuses on children's brains and how over time, things like toys, clothing, games, and literature have been shaped to cater to children's needs and how they continue to be resources to them today. The People's Story Museum happens to emphasize women's rights protests, housing crisis issues, and all sorts of marches and social causes throughout history, similar to the social issues I am learning about in my Applied Theatre course. They even had a special exhibition called "Herstory Woven", a participatory piece of art involving interactive weaving in relationship to the struggle of African women in Scotland. I also found myself in the Storytelling Center in Edinburgh which happened to be hosting their annual Storytelling Conference, one I would love to come back and attend someday. Even the National Museum has an exhibit on "Performance and Lives" which focuses on elements of worldwide ceremonies and performances such as music, rhythm, and masks. The mask section was particularly of interest to me, given I had just been in Venice and was able to make connections with the Commedia del Arte masks I had seen there in comparison to those on display.

                     
                                                     Tribute to Peter Pan at the Museum of Childhood 


                         
                  Wishing Machine like in "Greatest Showman"
                                



Herstory Woven Exhibit focusing on African Women in Scotland
                                                                                                      
                                                                                                            Masks at National Museum

     The day was also filled with beautiful weather and nature. I took this opportunity to go to Holyrod Park to climb up to a volcano called Arthur's Seat, 823 feet above the ground. The journey was steep and difficult, much like my trip has been here, but incredibly worth it in the end. It was encouraging to see so many, women in particular, climbing solo and independently. The top was extremely windy and cold; I literally probably could've been blown away with my backpack. There were points when I was holding myself down to the rocks and as strangers, we were all holding on to each other to remain still and take in the views of the city. It was the greatest place to see Edinburgh, the ocean, and all of God's beautiful creation from so high up. 

                                           

                  

                                                                       

                                                               

     The day concluded with another one of my favorite things- elephants! There is a famous cafe in Edinburgh called The Elephant House, and while many go there for Harry Potter, I went for the elephants. Similar to Oxford, Edinburgh is known for being a location that inspired J.K. Rowling to write about specific locations in Harry Potter and the Elephant House Cafe is where she is said to have written some of the story. The bathroom stalls are filled with fan notes to her and there is even a note she wrote about the place in a bookshelf at the cafe. I, however, was much more interested in the fact that the room looked like my own bedroom on steroids. Elephants filled the place with photographs, coffee mugs, chairs, paintings, books, and trinkets of elephants galore everywhere. I was in my element and totally in love! Upon coming here, I didn't bring any elephant trinkets to decorate my room, given limited space, but upon leaving Edinburgh, I now have another elephant for the collection for my flat here in London. It was the perfect way to end such a relaxing trip. 


                                      
                                                                             My excitement when I got to sit in the elephant chair




 

Note from J.K. Rowling