Dracula's Strawberry Remains

Yesterday two friends and I took a grueling 3.5 hour bus ride to Whitby, a beach town noted for its quaint beauty and its literary significance as the sometimes residence of Dracula. The town was indeed quaint, the beach beautiful, the weather a hopeful sign of spring's relief. The abbey ruins on the cliffs were especially impressive, their elegant arches largely intact. The tombstone of Dracula was really odd. It bears no engraving other than a skull and cross bones. Was it carved to look ancient and worn? Did some one pick an anonymous stone, engrave the symbol and call it Dracula's? Or did this unknown person actually have a skull and cross bones on their tombstone and their identity has been appropriated by literary goths? I purchased a 'Dracula's Coffin' confection at Justin's Chocolatier but shirked my tourist obligations by avoiding the £8 fish and chips. 

My sister is coming to stay with me while Zach does research in the Pacific NW. She spent a summer in St. Andrews a few years ago and has friends to visit in the region. We're going meet in Edinburgh and make our way through northern Scotland: St. Andrews, a monastery near Inverness, the Highlands, and hopefully one of the islands. I'm stoked.