Day 1: Meg, Jay and I arrived in London. After checking into our hostel, we met up with our dear friend, Stefania, for a lovely pub meal!
Day 2: After a crappy (but free) hostel breakfast, we checked out Westminster Abbey with Stef and took a walk down the Thames to the Globe Theatre, where we endured 3 hours of standing during a brilliant production of Henry IV Part 1. Falstaff and Hal were GREAT! Later, we met up with Mel (who somehow got into our hostel room without a key) and enjoyed another pub dinner, followed by some Pimm's and merriment.
Day 3: Mel and I wandered around Portabello Road while Meg and Jay checked out the Tate Modern. We spent the afternoon at the Tower of London, exploring it's gory past with our buddy the Beefeater. After a dinner of Moussaka at The Alexopoulos's abode, Meg, Jay, Mel and I carried on our evening at the local Persian restaurant! Mmmm shisha!
Day 4: Early in the morning, we hopped on a train to beautiful Bath. We explored the ancient bath houses, the fashion museum and the darling little streets. Later, Mel and I take tea at the Jane Austen Centre. We meet up with the Scott-Hoults for some delicious pizza before boarding train #2-- bound for Brum!
Day 5: We visited Cadbury World, Cannon Hill Park and the MAC in the afternoon. In the evening, we had a yummy curry at Piquant and joined Bill and Aussie for my favourite Tuesday activity: The Quiz! It was a bit of a late night for us.
Day 6: We left Brum in my car, 'Paul Simon', for the Cotswolds. We didn't quite make it to our desired destination, but we did stop on Chipping Norton to explore the market. We made our way up to Bangor, North Wales in the afternoon. North Wales is stunningly beautiful (and the sheep are all kinds of crazy).
Day 7: We woke up to the wonderful hospitality of Mel's Persian family! The morning was rainy, so we stayed in to watch 'Anastasia'. We went out for some Fish and Chips and shopping in the afternoon while Jason explored the countryside. After some Persian food for dinner, we went out to the local Karaoke Bar… it was slightly empty, but we still had fun. Jason and I belted out 'Don't Stop Believing' and 'Friends in Low Places'.
Day 8: We left Bangor to drive East to Yorkshire. We stopped for a stroll in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. We also visited the gorgeous ruin of Fountain's Abbey before making our way to the city of York. We stayed in that night to play Scrabble and drink wine.
Day 9: Mel and I ventured out to 'Eden Camp', a war museum on the site of a WW2 POW camp. Meg and Jay explored the city of York. Later, we wandered the winding streets and joined up with a ghost tour. After Jay and I beat Mel and Meg at euchre, we turned in.
Day 10: We drove up through Hadrian's Wall country the next day. We stopped to see the ancient wall and we even had a delicious traditional Sunday roast. Eventually, we arrived in Glasgow.
Day 11: We visited Charles Rennie MacIntosh's Glasgow School of Art and Willow Tea Rooms on Day 11— I just love Art Nouveau! But I found it weird that we couldn't take photos in the GSA! That night, we got all doodied up and ventured out on the town. We went to 'The Campus' for some drinks and dancing. This is when Mel discovered how attractive Scottish men can be!
Day 12: Mel and I visited 'St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art' in the morning and met up with Meggo and Jaysin at the National Piping Centre where we heard some very loud bagpipe playing. As it was rainy and we were tired, we stopped in at the local cinema to see 'Inception', which was very good. We had curry for dinner and watched 'Hot Fuzz' in our room.
Day 13: We stopped in Paisley (the home of Meghan's ancestors) before heading to Edinburgh. We had some trouble navigating on Day 13… we didn't arrive in Edinburgh until late in the afternoon. We explored Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile, where we saw a ridiculous street performer from Poland.
Day 14: Mel and I got up early to go exploring. We beheld the wonder of St. Gile's Cathedral before joining up with a walking tour (which was fantastic). Later, we met up with Meg, Jay and the newly-arrived-in-Edinburgh Stef for some Chinese food. We turned in after enjoying some birthday champagne.
Day 15: My 23rd birthday!We got up super early today to make our way over to the Haggis Adventures office. We hopped on a bus to spend 3 days in the Highlands! The first day of our tour, we saw some amazing scenery along with the William Wallace Monument, Hamish the Hairy Coo, and Glencoe (the stunning valley sight of a horrible massacre). In the afternoon, I was treated to a birthday pint of cider at an island pub before we saw a 'Highland Clan' show. I got to dress up in a traditional highland kilt! That night, we enjoyed some drinks and took part in a pub quiz… which we lost. So we had to dance around the duck-pond barefoot singing 'Like a Virgin'. This is when Mel cut her foot!
Day 16: Mel was crippled, so when we visited 'The Enchanted River' today, our attractive tour guide had to piggy-back her down to the riverbed. Today we were on the Isle of Skye— so beautiful! We took a walk up a mountain in the 'liquid sunshine'. The mountains are just indescribably magnificent. It's like nowhere I have ever been.
Day 17: The most memorable stop on our last day had to be Culloden Battle Field. This is where the final Jacobite uprising happened. The Jacobites (Scots who were loyal to the Scottish Bonnie Prince Charlie) were crushed and the Highland way of life ended. Tartan, Bagpipes and the Scots Gaelic language were banned by the English government. Our tour guide, Kay, told the story with such passion that I actually cried. We also tried Haggis on Day 17!
It was really sad to end our trip :( But we have some amazing memories!!!
1 comment:
I soooooooooo wish I was there!!!! :( Looks and sounds like you had a blast!!
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