I'm very lucky in that I live a mere 25 minute car journey from Scotlands capital city Edinburgh. It's a place that's really easy to take for granted when you live so close but thousands of tourists come here every year to see the castle, the architecture and the Fringe festival which is an unreal arts/theatre/comedy/music festival that takes place all over the city in the summer months. In short Edinburgh is a pretty awesome place to live near.
However I'm at a total disadvantage, whilst the commute through to the city is mere minutes I am very rarely through there to enjoy myself due to things like work and having to plan months ahead for a day where all of my family is off so we can go through together.
So this year as a Christmas treat to my family I put a date on the calender and got everyone into the car for a night at Edinburghs Winter Wonderland to help get them into the Christmas spirit. No ifs, no buts, we were going so help me God!
I was also reeeeally craving crepes with nutella and banana.
Edinburgh is a pretty amazing place to behold anyday of the week but it really comes to life at Christmas time. Princes Street Gardens becomes a hub of activity as amusement rides are set up, market stalls become occupied and all manner of foreign foods and goods are sold to tourists and locals eager to bask in the festive spirit. Princes Street itself becomes lined with christmas lights and the high street stores window displays become so extravogant it's impossible to walk past and not catch the Christmas spirit.
There's just something amazing about walking through the European Market decked to the nines in knitwear, clutching some form of potato dish and listening to Christmas music whilst perusing all sorts of items that are there.
Some of the items we saw for sale there were hand-crafted Christmas decorations, hand decorated chocolates in the form of tools such as hammers, chissels etc and then hand painted to look identical to their metal counterparts. There are also fashions such as hand-knitted scarves, spice stalls, jewellery counters, coffee bean vendors, anything you can associate with Christmas is pretty much in Edinburgh for you to have a look at and buy whilst sipping hot wine.
My sister and I also decided to take in the sights from the Ferris Wheel (partly because the seats were enclosed and we found out they had heating) and listened to some facts about the town. We had a look at the ice rink there but if there's one downside to Winter Wonderland it's that everything is much more expensive than where we stay so you kinda just have to pick one ride to enjoy. Needless to say I still managed to spend a bomb on the family but everyone had a really brilliant and more importantly festive time.
Below are some photos from the night which were unfortunately taken on my camera phone and therefore aren't the greatest photos in the world but you get an idea of just how festive and lit up the place is at night and just how much there is to see and buy in the markets...
