Wednesday 31 October 2012
Tuesday 30 October 2012
The Tower....of London
Check out the toilet! And the HUGE sword next to dad, and the dragon made solely of weapons!
Loving London
After a quiet dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Giraffe last night we took it easy. Today we decided to pack in as much as we could. We found a little breakfast place around the corner and had a yummy breaky of scones and fresh fruit! Ah finally, fresh fruit! We then headed to Buckingham Palace as it is just down the street. When we arrived we found throngs of people and barricades. Lining up close to the front gate we waited, and waited, and.....finally we could hear the sound of drums in the distance. Red flashed far off and finally a band could be heard as men in traditional uniforms including bear fur hats marched past. We watched the changing of the guard but it was so packed we decided to move on. Heading up the street, simply called The Mall, we passed St. James Palace and continued on to Trafalgar Square. After a short photo stop we walked down to Westminster Abbey. What a beautiful building. We explored around the Houses of Parliment where we saw "the clock". Although fun fact: Big Ben is actually the name of the building and not the clock like most people assume!
We stopped for a lunch of Japanese stir fry before heading out for our walk to the Tower of London. As it happens it was much further than we thought! We just kept walking but the wait was worth it. The Tower Bridge is amazing, and even more so at night! What I thought would litterally be a tower is an entire castle community. It is surrounded by walls and has wall walks between the towers. The oldest building has portions from the year 1000, and in the lawn there are wall ruins from the Romans. It is just what an old Medieval Palace should be; stone walls, low ceilings, winding staircases, amd old toilets....yep, falling right to te ground 2 stories below! Besides having maybe one of the first toilets it also has one of England's first wall fireplaces. Before the fireplace was in the middle of the room and the smoke would fill the room and then escape through any holes in the roof. The Tower of London was spectacular. By the time we left the White tower, the oldest building in the walls, the line up for the crown jewels was much more reasonable so we queud up! What a disaster! You line up and then when you get to one room everyone just rushes forward then we walk 8 across to get to a doorway that fits only 2 at a time. Once you get to the display cases there are so many people you can't see and then people are pushing from each direction to get closer. Needless to say I couldn't wait to get out of there. We wandered around outside and though I was hoping to hear more about the supposed ghost of Anne Bolyn, I was out of luck and they were closing so we headed out.
We decided to take a break and eat dinner so we stopped at a pub where we both ordered steak. As luck would have it, it was Steak Club Tuesday and our meal included a drink for super cheap, our whole bill was £16. My dad was confused and thought the bartender missed a meal! Nope! :-)
Since we were miles from home we took the metro to Picadilly Circus for a look. It is much better at night when all the lights are at their brightest. We wandered through Leicester Square and had a Haagen Daaz ice cream before heading back to the metro (at £4.30 each time I might add....huge rip off). Now back in the room we are both exhausted!
Our plan tomorrow is to get a day pass for the tube which is a mere £8 each (eye roll here). We are going to go to the Camden Markets, SOHO, and maybe some random places not yet discovered!
Monday 29 October 2012
More than a royal mile...
Sunday was our last day in Edinburgh so we decided to see some more of the city as we had been sticking pretty close to the Royal Mile. We started by heading down Johnston Terrace which is a road that runs beside Edinburg Castle and down to a hill. We explored a beautiful old cemetary off King's Stables Road. Some of the inscriptions of the Tombstones were fascinating, and trying to imagine their family tree was interesting. So many families lost children and babies. Another interesting thing about this particular cemetary is that many of the tombstones on the pathway said how many feet north, south, etc the bodies "lie".
Afterwards we walked to the edge of Princes Street before heading back the way we came. On the way back we discovered West Princes Street Gardens and we took a path up towards the castle. On the way down we had seen Granny's Green Stairs so we took them down to explore what our tour driver had told us was Grassmarket where there were many nice pubs and restaurants. As it was Sunday many things were closed but we wandered along the road looking at old buildings. This street had many hostels (where I may have stayed had I come without dad). Along this old road is an old well from 1684 that brought water from the castle to the streets of old town. Eventually we found ourselves on Cowgate and decided to head back up to High Street (the Royal Mile). Heading down High street towards the Palace of Holyroodhouse we took a left towards Calton Road. What we found was a lot of garbage and run down buildings. Continuing on though we eventually found our way to Princes Street where we searched for somewhere to eat lunch. Walking to Rose street which runs parallel to Princes street we discovered a pub. For those of you who hope to travel to the Uk please keep in mind that a dressed salad that comes with your meal is actually a tiny piece of lettuce and maybe a couple of diced veggies if you're lucky. It is NOT a side salad and you would be better off ordering chips!
After lunch we continued to walk along Rose street until we reached a Primark, which I had been dying to go into. From what I have heard it is a super cheap store for clothes! My kind of place! It was packed and 4 floors so dad and I made our escape and walked to South Charlotte Street before walking along Princes Street and back to our hotel. Along the way we stopped at the Scotland National Gallery which had free admission but after a brief walk around we continued on our way.
We walked for about 6 hours and were ready for a break. We relaxed in the room for a couple of hours before heading out for a delicious dinner of Scottish stew! Yum, and a scottish dessert of rasberries, double cream, a hint of whiskey amd some shortbread! Double Yum! Good thing we did so much walking!
This morning before heading out for our train trip to London we bought mom a cashmere scarf! Now we are on our way to the beautiful city of London for 3 days!
Sunday 28 October 2012
Highlands, Lochs, and Castles
Greame, our tour guide on Tour 4: West Highland Lochs, Mountains and Castles Tour, was unbelievable. At first sight he seems like a laid back kind Scottish man, but after only moments driving the bus he had us all cracking up. He knew a ton of information and was hilarious! For example, the last English Queen was Queen Elizabeth the First who died in 1603. When she died so did her family tree. After that the Scottish King became the Brittish King and his family has been in power ever since. So actually the Queen can be called Brittish but not English. He was very passionate about the fact that the the Queen is the Queen of Brittain and NOT England.
We started by driving by Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument (that is William Wallace from Braveheart). The monument is one of the highest of its kind. We then stopped at Doune Castle, where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot. It is in ruins but even more beautiful than castles still intact. We stopped at the beautiful Loch Lubnaig and saw the Glen Ogle Falls. As we sped over winding Scottish roads, teetering from one side to the other, Greame went on explaining the clans, who liked who and where the Scottish came from and where they went to. He also taught us some Gaelic, for example Kennedy means crooked nose. McKean is part of the Macdonald Clan which was in a constant battle with the Campbells, who NOBODY likes, according to our Scottish guide. However, the Macdonalds were also brutal, killing women and children of the Campbell clan by pushing them off a cliff into the sea (eek)! As we drove he told us which clans lands we were in and about the many famous people who were Scottish. Did you know that the population of Scotland has actually decreased in the past few hundred years? Greame also told us our name was spelled wrong (and the spelling didn't exist) but it was because one illiterate person telling another illiterate person their name (which is why we aren't Mackean).
We stooped for a refreshment break in Tyndrum where Greame warned us that there was a Hairy Horny Highander waiting. His name was Hamish and he was a hairy blond bull! Haha
We stopped on the side of the road and in the middle of Loch Awe is Kilchurn Castle, the former Campbell castle. When they outgrew it (as they were constantly becoming a bigger clan) they built Inveraray Castle....our next stop. Dad and I decided to have a quick lunch and then head up to the castle. We went in and though it is grand and beautiful there are only a few rooms open as it is a working castle. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll still live there with their 3 chikdren. And just as we entered the castle we passed the Duchess and 2 of her children in a scavenger hunt for a Halloween party. Loch Fyne, just beside the castle, was on low tide but was surrounded by trees changing colours.
We were soon on our way to Loch Lamomd, the longest Loch in Scotland at 5 miles and which is connected to the sea. In fact it is known for Oysters and is a world class place to taste them. We stopped in the small town of Luss where Dad and I each had an empire biscuit (with chewy jam, not nearly as good as my other one) and headed to the shores of the Loch for a picture.
We headed through Glasgow on our way back to Edinburgh and Greame filled us in on some facts. Glasgow used to have a population of 1 million but it is now at 700 000. It is the gang capital of Europe. Men who live in East Glasgow have a life expectancy of 53, while men in other parts of Glasgow have a life expectancy of 83. Glasgow also has one of the tallest residential buildings in Europe, and they are being torn down due to their disrepair (they didn't look nearly as tall as some of our buildings).
Winding through Edinburgh we saw the New town, which is 300 years old but was the first new town planned and built on a grid system. We saw the home of Alexander Graham Bell and where the Prime Minister of Scotland would live or maybe it was aptheir government official (?), not really clear on this part.
As Greame talked we laughed and thoroughly enjoyed our tour. Which would not have been quite as enjoyable without him. We are so grateful for our amazing tour guide!
Friday 26 October 2012
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