Traveling and Edinburgh Christmas Market
Liam, Molly and I received an invite to Glasgow, Scotland for our friends wedding. It was decided that we would make the most of some time away as a family of 3, and made it our first little holiday. Originally, we were going to drive up, but with it being in December, we didn’t want to risk getting stuck on a motorway somewhere due to bad weather. We booked our train tickets, our accommodation and started the countdown to Scotland!
Getting there.
The train journey want actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. We got a train into Kings Cross and then walked over to Euston and got the train to Glasgow from there. We had some lunch and chilled out for a bit as we arrived super early. The train ride to Glasgow went rather quickly. It was 4.5 hours and Molly slept for the first hour or so. We ate our snacks and I managed to nap with Molly which was a first! Once Molly woke, we grabbed the laptop and put on The Little Mermaid and then Moana. Molly was so happy and content just sitting there with her snacks watching Disney. This trip has made me feel so much at ease about traveling with Molly – I honestly thought it as going to be hell!
Once we’d arrived, we walked to our hotel which was a 5 min walk from the station and went to the restaurant to have dinner. We stayed at a Premiere Inn on Argyle Street in Glasgow. It was ok – the reason I say ok is that the room was perfect apart from their Vegan options suck and they didn’t change the duvet cover the entire week, even though we asked them too as Molly split milk on it day 4. Other than that it was perfectly fine and super convenient location wise.
After dinner, we went back up to the room , got into our jim jams, got everything ready for Edinburgh and had an early night. We however were awoken in the middle of the night by the fire alarm because someone decided smoking in their hotel room was a good idea.
Edinburgh Christmas Market
We made it up and out the door and on the train to Edinburgh a little later than planned thanks to Molly have the biggest poop explosion of 2018 right before we were due to leave. Resulting in her having to have a bath, and me hand washing her clothes in the bathroom sink with hand soap. It’s around an hour train from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Molly slept the whole way and woke up just as we were arriving.
I wanted to come to the Christmas market here last year, but we didn’t want to risk it being so heavily pregnant and unable to walk. I knew then that we would come this year one way or another.
We were really lucky in the fact that Laura from Em and Me was also in Edinburgh with her family for her daughter first birthday. We live 3-4 hours away at home but had the chance to meet on holiday! It was a short and sweet meeting as they had a train to catch and we had a man in a red suit to meet! But it was wonderful all the same. Forever feeling blessed for the friends I’ve made through blogging.
Seeing the girls meet was so lovely too. They both have the same sippy cup and tried to take eachothers cups! It was too stinking cute!
We were kindly gifted tickets for some of the attractions by Edinburgh Christmas and were SO excited about what they booked for us!
Santa’s Grotto
First up we paid a visit to Santa’s Grotto. We were handed a blank label and a pen to write down our child’s name, age and what they wanted for Christmas. We were then led into the Grotto. Now, this was Molly’s first time meeting Santa. Both Liam and I were apprehensive about how she would react. upon entering the Grotto we were pleasantly surprised.
The room was decorated beautifully. It was warm and cosy. The tags that the children write on, get passed to Santa and then hung everywhere. Hundreds of tags all over the room. We had a read of some whilst waiting in line to see Santa. Because you have to book tickets to see Santa, there are time slots. This was great because it meant that only a certain number of people could visit at one time, which avoided overcrowding.
Molly spent the time we were lining up looking at other kids crying when they met Santa. She didn’t quite know what to do or where to look at times, but she kept her cool. When it was our turn, Liam took her over whilst I took some photos. She didn’t make a peep. no crying or anything. Super proud Mama.
The reason they asked you to right the child’s name down at the beginning was so they could give out age appropriate gifts to every child. Molly flapped with happiness as she was handed hers but needed some help and encouragement from Liam to start opening it. She got a cute little ABC bath book! Once everyone had spent time telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and had their gift, we all sat down to hear a story and the children got to ask Santa questions. This wasn’t your normal rushed flying visit. It was a really lovely, slow paced and magical experience!
Santa Land
At the bottom of Princes Street Gardens is Santa Land. Santa Land is an area of the market specifically aimed at children. Its full of rides for Children of all ages as well as some food/drink stands selling things like hot chocolates and crepes. Molly is almost One, and at the age where she is forever looking around and pointing at things. She loves the rides at our local theme park, so we were sure she’d love the ones here!
The Santa train
This is by far one of the cutest family rides at the Christmas market. You go around the whole of Santa Land, through tunnels,there is lights and smoke and its magical. Its more magical at night because you have all the lights from the Christmas tree maze and the other rides. Molly spent the whole time going “ooooooo” and waving at everyone!
The Carousel.
The weather was a little damp by this point so there wasn’t a line, we just walked straight on with our tickets. Molly loved the lights, music and the fact her horse went up and down. She went on one at Chessington world of adventures, but the animal she went on only rocked back and forth, so this was all new! Watching her stroking it like it was real and talking to it. Love her!
Reindeer ride.
My personal favourite ride was this one! Not only did the reindeer look super cute, but as you went round and round, it spurted fake snow at you! Molly loved the ride, but was not at all impressed with the fake snow. I couldn’t help but laugh at how unimpressed she looked!
The Christmas tree maze
This was what I was looking forward to the most. W did it at night time because its all lit up beautifully, during the day you can’t really see the fairy lights properly. The aim of this maze was that you had a piece of paper that had missing letters. You had to go around and find each letter station, and stamp your paper. Once you had them all, you had to work out the word to receive a prize. We completed it, but it was raining so the paper got wet and the ink ran. Gutted as I wanted to try and keep it for Molly’s scrap book.
The Market Stalls
We had a bit of time before our time for the Light Disco, so we had a look around ll the stalls. There are several lanes filled with little huts selling crafts, art, gifts, food, and more. Over on George Street you can find even more booths, rides, and attractions. You can find a bit of everything at the Christmas markets. Some of the things we saw there this year were painted nutcrackers, scarfs, carved nativity scenes, leather wallets and purses. There was flavored coffee beans, candles, personalized engraved gifts, Christmas ornaments, stuffed animals, sweet treats and more!
There are a lot of food stands, although many of them feature German food, there are a number of options which include hamburgers, pulled pork, crepes, and churros. Sadly there were no Vegan Food stalls that we could see though *insert sad face here*. Drink stands are dotted around too, selling things such as hot chocolate and coffee, and alcoholic options like hot cider and mulled wine (often advertised using German word Glühwein).
We were supposed to go on the big wheel that they had there, but due to the bad weather and high winds all day it was closed. However, the guys at the ticket office were ace and gave us another ticket for when we come back on Monday!
Silent Light Disco!
After dinner, we had our final event, Silent Light Disco! Silent Light is a cordoned-off space under giant light arches. For 20 minutes a playlist of festive tunes is played into your ears while the arches of light bop about in time to the music. Its perfect for all the family and it truly magical. When we arrived, the guy handed us our headphones and adjusted the volume for Molly’s set so it wasn’t to loud for her tiny ears! When we placed the headphones on Molly, we were sure she would rip them off. How wrong were we. She loved every second of it, the music, dancing and laughing at people dancing around her.
If you’ve not been to a silent disco before, everyone is listening – and dancing and singing along – to the same music although people without headphones can’t hear it.
We grabbed some McDonald’s chips and coffee for the hour train ride back to the hotel in Glasgow. It went a lot faster then the journey there earlier that day! My feet were sore and we were all completely knackered! I can’t recommend Edinburgh Christmas enough. Its beautiful and I have already told Liam we will be making visiting Edinburgh at Christmas one of our Holiday Family traditions!
Edinburgh Christmas is running until Jan 2019!
Thank you so much to Magda from the Edinburgh Christmas team for making our trip even more special!
