My Harry Potter obsession experiences several highs over these past years: When I was in New York for the premiere of the last film, I thought Emma Watson waved at me and I awkwardly waved back (I stood in a crowd and obviously she was waving at everyone in a nice gesture- ugh), then visiting the exhibition that was touring in New York that summer.. and I bought the super expensive Marauders Map..haha. And then of course when Julia and I finally visited the HP studios near London.. aw man, all moments I will never forget.
However, living in Edinburgh and seeing JK Rowling's inspiration for this story every single day is a treat that is one of a kind. There are many stories about where she wrote (Elephant House) and where she apparently hangs out now (the cafe on top of Harvey Nichols), but visiting the places that are used in the film is incredibly cool. So here is a mixture of things: Places she apparently visited, real places used in the films and places she got her inspiration from.
This loch is used as the 'Hogwarts lake' several times. It felt super familiar when we were there, so funny!
This picture might not be the best one, but this spot with the waterfall has been used as the back drop in the Goblet of Fire, when Harry is battling the dragon.
Aawww I think we all know this one. The actual train does not run all year round- it only starts around May.
The Elephant House is not part of the actual movies but rumor has it that JK Rowling was writing part of the books here, in that cafe. The view you get of the castle is actually really nice, so who knows?
Close to the Elephant House is Greyfriars Kirkyard. I love it because its just a proper old graveyard and the tombstones are quite scary. A lot of the names from the series appear here, Riddle, McGongall and Potter... Worth a visit despite all of this! Next to it is
George Heriot's School, which is an incredible building and apparently an inspiration for Hogwarts.
