Annika and I returned to the People's Story museum, where the absence of large groups of school kids was much appreciated. The museum is a tollbooth which has been a prison, a fire station, and an event hall at various points in time. It's been renovated a few times, but still retains its original character, like many of the old buildings in this city.

The exhibition begins around the 1700s and covers everyday life for Edinburgh locals, including conditions of health care, employment, housing, and recreation. It was quite interesting to see the impact unions and women have made on the welfare of this city and country, as well as the poverty and squalor in which so many people existed. The hardest hitting fact was realising that even today, there are between 7000 - 10,000 homeless people in Edinburgh alone. While crime gangs are a part of this issue, the problem is surely more far reaching than that.

I met Matt for simple lunch of leek, potato and bean soup, followed by a walk through the Meadows and back through the cemetery at the base of Edinburgh Castle. Someone once told me that a cemetery is a great place to find character names for a book, and there is certainly a feeling about the old graveyards here which screams inspiration and personality.

There are so many quirks to this city which give it a larger personality than the old buildings alone. Poetry lines the walls of back alleyways, wraps around plinths, and slides along buildings. There are artworks and monuments on every street, and even the old telephone and police boxes have been turned into street cafes. There are countless charity and antique shops, art galleries, and shops supporting local artists and designers. Scotland is incredibly proud of its production and creatives, with whole stores and museums dedicated to writers, architects, brewers and more. Coming from a country which is more Americanised by the minute, it's refreshing to see such a wholesome boost of patriotism via the arts.

Tonight is a home cooked meal by the lovely Annika, followed by an Outlander marathon; the only appropriate series to watch during my stay here.