#edimlourd

Thursday we went to the Highlands by bus. Our bus driver was a scottsman named Paul, a very funny and cool guy. During the trip we were amazed by all the places he showed us. He also had lots of stories about Scotland and himself. Paul told us that in the beginning he dindn't speak english. He discovred Harry Potter with audio-books from a guy who had translated the books from Galic to English. Harry Potter has been translated into more than eighty different languages.

Christophe Délez after seeing the van we just posted.

The Hogwarts Express... We wouldn't advise you to get in. We don't recall the train looking like this...

The famous beans from Harry Potter bought by Solene Berard. Unfortunatly Angélique Bourgeois was unlucky since the first candy she ate was vomit flavoured.

On our way to the castle we saw two women with owls on the strret. This shows how much Edinburgh became a city with lots of Harry Potter related tourism. The castle was also part of inspiration to J.K. Rowling's books. The architecture aswell as the environnement looks alot like Hogwarts. Speaking of Howgwarts, as most of us know there are 4 houses, Gryfondor (red), Slytherin (green), Hufflepuff (yellow) and Ravenclaw (blue). These houses and colors also came from Edinburgh. The University in the picture is divided in four houses, the colors were also he same except for Hufflepuff's. The last color from the school was white, wich J.K. Rowling changed to yeallow beacause she thought was better for her story.

Greyfriars Bobby Graveyard is one of the places who inspired J.K. Rwoling to write her books. Several name ideas came from this place. The first grave "Moodie" was an inspiration to the character Mad Eye's name and personnality. The names James and Elizabeth could also be an inspiration for Harry Potter's parent's names, but it isn't confirmed. The second is Thomas Riddle, inspiration for Lord Voldemort also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle. William McGonagall was a really bad poet. So bad that he became famous for it. His poems always rhymed but had no real meaning to touh people's hearts. The name was used for Gryfondor's headmaster professor McGonagall. J.K. Rowling found it funny to put the name Minerva wich is the godess of wisdom next to his poet's bad reputed name. The small rock head really looks like Sir Near-Headless Nick but it isn't confirmed to have been used as inspiration. This graveyard is also known as the Human Lasagna. There are more than 100'000 bodies burried in these grounds. Bodies would be burried in different layers.

Here's another Harry Potter shop we found in Edinburgh. This one can be found on Vicotria's Street next to a Joke Shop wich looks alot like the Weasly's Shop in the movies. This was a three level shop with lots of goodies. On the last floor you can find a desk with some props to take pictures.

J.K. Rowling's handprint can be found by the Town Hall. As we said before when she came to Edinburgh she was very poor. She had written one of Harry Potter's chapters. This chapter was sent to fourteen different publishers. None of the editors was interested in J.K. Rowling. Only one of the editors did, he had given this first Harry Potter chapter to her daughter, she read it and loved it. Her daughter wanted to know the rest of the story and her father gave J.K. Rowling 1'500 pounds. This amount wasn't enough for J.K. Rowling. She was really poor and had children. Edinburgh then gave her 8'000 pounds so she could keep writting the books. J.K. Rowling became the first billionaire from writting books and also the first woman to do so. She was so thankful to the city that she gave alot of money back to Edinburgh. Her real name is Joanne Kathleen (she had no middle name and took this one from her paternal grandmother) Rowling but when the books were about to be published her publisher advised her to use the initals J.K. because people wouldn't take a woman's book about witches seriously.