The Elephant House

The Elephant House touts itself as one of the best tea and coffee houses in Edinburgh. It has been made famous as a place of inspiration to writers such as J.K. Rowling, Ian Rankin, and Alexaner McCall-Smith. On the front window, they have the quote: "Birthplace of Harry Potter," since Rowling wrote a significant portion of her early novels in the back room overlooking Edinburgh Castle. 

Cole and I are big Harry Potter fans. We've read all of the books at least twice, and we've seen all of the movies. Since the first books were written right here in Edinburgh, we let the girls watch the first Harry Potter movie. And, Katie is absolutely hooked! So, we had to visit the Elephant House. We went there yesterday, a Sunday, at about 3:00. It was packed and hot. So, we ordered some coffees and elephant cookies for "Take Away." 

The coffees were good and the girls inhaled their cookies. We decided to go back today for lunch, thinking that if we got there early enough, we'd be able to see the views that so inspired Rowling. The girls and I met Cole there around 11:00. We were able to find a table in the back. And, the views of the castle and Greyfriar's Kirkyard are quite beautiful. We enjoyed a tasty lunch with coffees and more elephant cookies. And, the atmosphere was quite nice. There are pictures and statues of elephants all over. They even have fun stool-type chairs that are shaped like elephants and drawings of elephants that patrons created for them. The wait staff and the customers were all very nice to all of us. Claire had fun flirting with a table of 2 men. When we left, one of the waiters there offered the girls all a lollipop. He was even nice enough to ask me first if it was OK. I can totally see why this is such an inspiring location for writers!