Wednesday July 2, 2008
Yesterday the first of July (Tuesday), Charlie and I decided to sleep in and be lazier in our expedition for the day. The last few weeks have been exhausting and going at the speed we had been going we were going to burn out. I got up around 8ish having fallen asleep relatively early and I took advantage of the free Internet access in our apartment, I answered and messaged people on myspace, xanga and facebook as well as buying our tickets to London. When Charlie got up he went exploring around the area trying to find me a hair dryer (an essential item for a girl with hair like mine) and came back with packaged egg sandwiches (which is what we’ve had to eat almost everyday over here, they’re veggie so yay!). We left around 11ish and walked around the city. We TRIED to find an electronic store that had the battery that we needed – but with NO luck! They have the cameras, just no extra batteries… what the heck? Hopefully we’ll have more luck here in London. We randomly found a building with my Icelandic flag hanging out in front of it, it turned out to be the consulate there in Edinburgh. So weird…but very awesome at the same time!
We made our way to Edinburgh castle, which is absolutely gorgeous! There was a park at the base of it, so Charlie and I took advantage of the natural beauty of the place and the peaceful atmosphere and just sat on the grass for about 40 minutes. Its SO different here than back home – I like it here more!
We walked down to the fountain and the snack stands, where they had yummy ice cream (that tasted a lot like cool whip! Haha yum!) After that we went up the side of the castle to the entrance near the Royal Mile, browsed the souvenir shop and the tartan factory for a while. We didn’t feel like paying 15 pounds per person to get into the castle so we just went through the gate, looked around and then left. Because it is technically a palace, they have the royal guards out there; this was my first time seeing them in person so that was pretty nifty. (Yes, I say nifty) On the way down the Royal Mile to head over to Nicolson Street, there was a street entertainer from Austrailia – who was pretty funny. After watching him for a while we left – being totally exhausted from walking around the city – and finally got to Buffet King. Buffet King is a corner “shop” area that has a Chinese restaurant on the top floor and a coffee shop on the bottom! This is where one of my favoritest people, J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! Yep, I’m a dork – but if you haven’t read it, you have no idea how truly amazing the books are! Totally worth walking uphill a few miles to see where she created this magical world, so that was the highlight of my day. We promptly turned around and went back to our hotel, the walk back (all downhill) is much nicer, but my feet were still pretty much DEAD. L Across the street from our apartment there on Broughton Road, there was a little pizza and sandwich “café” where we picked up a pizza. Randomly they have the option to put corn, asparagus and other odd toppings. But they had great food and the garlic cheese bread was awesome! (We were allowed greasy carbs – we walked all over the city with only half a sandwich and banana to eat all day!) Thankfully my husband is awesome and we were able to sit in our pjs, eating our delicious comfort food and watch our Sex and the City dvds… sums up to be an awesome relaxing night!
Thursday July 3, 2008
Today we had to get up early, pack up our stuff and head out by 9 am to get to the train station (about a mile walk, uphill). About 3/4 way to the station we decided to call a cab rather than kill ourselves and be too exhausted to enjoy the trip. When I bought the tickets yesterday they were running a special that the first class tickets were the same price as the 2nd class – so I thought why not? I surprised Charlie by telling this when we got to the platform, it turned out to be an excellent choice of purchase.
The train ride was going to be 4 1/2 hours long so I grabbed fruit packages from a little market there in the station. The train itself was very comfortable! We were able to enjoy cups of tea or coffee the entire way down to London as well as delightful cookie-like biscuit treats.
The countryside here is amazing, I know I keep saying that but it really is – and I feel like I need to take pictures of everything I see just so I don’t forget any of it! We arrived in London a little before 3:00 pm. Now if you know me even a little bit, you know that I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and with ending our journey at King’s Cross Station – where would I head??? Yep Platform 9 3/4 (for you non-Harry Potter fans, it doesn’t exist but it does in Harry Potter’s world!) I was beyond devastated to find out that you have to have a ticket for that area of the station to get to the platforms, Iwas so very sad – hopefully someday I’ll get to see it? After that we headed down into the underground part of the station, which was a pain in the butt when you have heavy backpacks on your back that weigh too much and are in a crowd of pushy people. Lol I decided that I don’t like the tube – its too crowded with no air circulation… and its too bumpy – for someone who gets motion sick, its no bueno. Checking into our hotel went well, we’re staying at a holiday inn right off the underground, which is convenient. Tonight, we headed out to Kensington Gardens.
I’m in love with it there! Its so peaceful and gorgeous… why doesn’t Riverside have parks like this for all of us who live there? Charlie and I sat in front of the Prince Albert monument for almost an hour, just talking and relaxing.
We ate at a little Italian place down the street from our hotel… I’ve been craving spaghetti, randomly!
So ya, tomorrow we’re heading out in the morning to get on that famous double-decker bus to tour the city and see the sites!
We made our way to Edinburgh castle, which is absolutely gorgeous! There was a park at the base of it, so Charlie and I took advantage of the natural beauty of the place and the peaceful atmosphere and just sat on the grass for about 40 minutes. Its SO different here than back home – I like it here more!
We walked down to the fountain and the snack stands, where they had yummy ice cream (that tasted a lot like cool whip! Haha yum!) After that we went up the side of the castle to the entrance near the Royal Mile, browsed the souvenir shop and the tartan factory for a while. We didn’t feel like paying 15 pounds per person to get into the castle so we just went through the gate, looked around and then left. Because it is technically a palace, they have the royal guards out there; this was my first time seeing them in person so that was pretty nifty. (Yes, I say nifty) On the way down the Royal Mile to head over to Nicolson Street, there was a street entertainer from Austrailia – who was pretty funny. After watching him for a while we left – being totally exhausted from walking around the city – and finally got to Buffet King. Buffet King is a corner “shop” area that has a Chinese restaurant on the top floor and a coffee shop on the bottom! This is where one of my favoritest people, J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! Yep, I’m a dork – but if you haven’t read it, you have no idea how truly amazing the books are! Totally worth walking uphill a few miles to see where she created this magical world, so that was the highlight of my day. We promptly turned around and went back to our hotel, the walk back (all downhill) is much nicer, but my feet were still pretty much DEAD. L Across the street from our apartment there on Broughton Road, there was a little pizza and sandwich “café” where we picked up a pizza. Randomly they have the option to put corn, asparagus and other odd toppings. But they had great food and the garlic cheese bread was awesome! (We were allowed greasy carbs – we walked all over the city with only half a sandwich and banana to eat all day!) Thankfully my husband is awesome and we were able to sit in our pjs, eating our delicious comfort food and watch our Sex and the City dvds… sums up to be an awesome relaxing night!
Thursday July 3, 2008
Today we had to get up early, pack up our stuff and head out by 9 am to get to the train station (about a mile walk, uphill). About 3/4 way to the station we decided to call a cab rather than kill ourselves and be too exhausted to enjoy the trip. When I bought the tickets yesterday they were running a special that the first class tickets were the same price as the 2nd class – so I thought why not? I surprised Charlie by telling this when we got to the platform, it turned out to be an excellent choice of purchase.
The train ride was going to be 4 1/2 hours long so I grabbed fruit packages from a little market there in the station. The train itself was very comfortable! We were able to enjoy cups of tea or coffee the entire way down to London as well as delightful cookie-like biscuit treats.
The countryside here is amazing, I know I keep saying that but it really is – and I feel like I need to take pictures of everything I see just so I don’t forget any of it! We arrived in London a little before 3:00 pm. Now if you know me even a little bit, you know that I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and with ending our journey at King’s Cross Station – where would I head??? Yep Platform 9 3/4 (for you non-Harry Potter fans, it doesn’t exist but it does in Harry Potter’s world!) I was beyond devastated to find out that you have to have a ticket for that area of the station to get to the platforms, Iwas so very sad – hopefully someday I’ll get to see it? After that we headed down into the underground part of the station, which was a pain in the butt when you have heavy backpacks on your back that weigh too much and are in a crowd of pushy people. Lol I decided that I don’t like the tube – its too crowded with no air circulation… and its too bumpy – for someone who gets motion sick, its no bueno. Checking into our hotel went well, we’re staying at a holiday inn right off the underground, which is convenient. Tonight, we headed out to Kensington Gardens.
I’m in love with it there! Its so peaceful and gorgeous… why doesn’t Riverside have parks like this for all of us who live there? Charlie and I sat in front of the Prince Albert monument for almost an hour, just talking and relaxing.
We ate at a little Italian place down the street from our hotel… I’ve been craving spaghetti, randomly!
So ya, tomorrow we’re heading out in the morning to get on that famous double-decker bus to tour the city and see the sites!
No comments:
Post a Comment