Catching Up

Finally, access to a computer that won't log me off after 15 minutes.
I just returned to London by overnight coach, but more on that later. I haven't really been able to update much due to the lack of internet.
The morning after biking to, climbing, and biking back from Scafell Pike I was completely exhausted, but I had a bike to return and a train to catch, so I woke up nice and early. The fellow and the bike shop told me to have the bike back by 9 sharp (they usually don't allow ovenights) but, when I got to the shop at 9, no one was there. Nor by 9:30, 9:45, etc, so I locked the bike up to the front door, left the key in the lock and a note in the helmet, hoping that it would get back to them (it did). When I got to Edinburgh they were just seeing the edge of a rainstorm, so the weather was bleak, and I was exhausted, so my first impression of the city wasn't wonderful. I shlepped myself over to the hostel, checked in, and summoned up some more energy to go out and walk around. After a bit of a walk finding the shul and the kosher establishments, I returned to the hostel for a short but invigorating nap, allowing to climb to the top of Arthur's Seat (250m), the remnant's of an extinct volcano and the highest point around Edinburgh (pronounced, by the way, Edinburuh, not edinburg). The hill is accessible both by nice shallow paths along one face and steep rock scramble along the other. Of course, I took the steep rock scramble, which contributed to tiring me out, but the views at the top were amazing, especialy as the sun was setting behind the city.
The next day I just walked around the city some more, exploring some of the residential neighborhoods as well as the Royal Mile in Old Town, the parks, and the New Town. I liked the Old Town better; though it is way more touristy, with kilted bagpipiers on every block, it has more perosnality. There are dozens of small, narrow alleyways, called closes (because they used to end in enclosures for animals), old buildings, maze-like streets that lead from the upper level of the city to the lower, and a dark, almost sinister, but definitely mysterious air. Oh, and another claim to fame is that the city is the birthplace of Harry Potter. I stayed a few minutes from cafe where JK wrote, and I saw the school that inspired her books, and the gravestone of Thomas Riddle (he was a real guy).
The city also touts tons of tours, from ghost tours, underground dungeon tours, historical tours, and a literary pub tour. Can you guess which one I took?
That night I joined the literary pub tour, led by two professional actors. They took us through the streets of Edinburgh to all the sites of literary significance, all the while quoting Robert Burns and Scott, among others, with thick Scottish accents. Some of the Scottish cask ales aren't too shabby either.