Travels around Britain
Whew!
Now that it's taken me about a dozen greuling (no, I have no idea how to spell that word...) hours to upload these blinken' photos to this blog, I have almost no time left to actually write about what we've been up to for the past 10 days... sigh...I lead such a hard life...Is anyone out there going to sympathise with my plight?
No?
Didn't think so!
:)
Britain has treated us very very well; the past 10 days have been loads o' fun. First, we successfully managed to get Danika back to Vancouver, despite an impossibly short connection time in Ottawa on the way home. So, for the past littel while it's just been me and Brad travelling around the country!
We spent a lovely few days doing day trips around London and Essex. We went to Colchester and saw a fascinating exhibit on the impacts of the Roman rule over England, and learned some cool stuff about Bodecia - a very, very interesting lady. We went to London, to my very favourite museum: the British Imperial War Museum which was, as always, great. We also went to the British Musuem, and discovered that they have the cheapest luggage storage facility in London: just £1 (about $2) for all day luggage storage!! Ain't that great?!
The British Museum, however, is much more than just a cheap place to leave one's bags...it is a very famous museum, with all kinds of exhibits. Take the below picture for example. It is a fascinating display of people looking at the Rosetta Stone. It is, of course, impossible to actually see the Rosetta Stone, but it is neat to watch people try!
After mooching of the good graces (and great food) of my lovely Aunt Valerie for what was probably far beyond our welcome, we toddled off to Petersfield, Hampshire (south of London) to visit Joana for a couple of days. We hung out, drank a beer or six, chatted and caught up on all our (mis)adventures over the course of the past year, and of course talked about wonderful cities like Vancouver and Bristol! Right Joana?!?!
- Very neat tree tunnel in Petersfield
- Joana and I being all active and going on a hike and stuff!
- The REAL reason for the hike; this is the oldest pub in England; the beer is definitely worth the walk:)
---
After Petersfield, we had a very rushed lunch and catch-up session with my friend Kath and her bf Lex in Bourne End . It was a great afternoon, but SOOO very rushed that we didn't even get a chance for a photo op. All the more reason that B and I are going to spend a few days in Jolly Olde on our way back to Canada in January, and mooch some accomodation and yummy Greek food off Kath & Lex! There will be lots of time for photos then:)
After that, we zipped up North on the train to a wonderous and wonderful city called Newcastle. Now, Newcastle is legitimately a wonderous and wonderful town, however I may be a bit biased towards it, because as it is the place where my two lovely parents met, I have a certain affinity for it. Afterall, without Newcastle, I might not be here....what a shockingly terrible thought:(
In Newcastle we stayed in a great hostel that I would strongly recommend to visitors (link on main page) and just played tourist for a few days. One of the highlights was a trip out to Hadrien's Wall, which was a wall (go fig') built by the Roman Emperor Hadrien (well, not physically built by him, but you know what I mean) about a thousand years ago. It marked the Northern most boundary of the Roman Empire and was supposed to keep those nasty, barbaric Celts up north and away from the civilized Romans. After all, they couldn't have their bloody bloody gladiator games disrupted by some marading vandals, could they?!
-Me. Drinking beer in Newcastle.
- The newest of Newcastle's very special bridges; this one opens and closes like an eyelid. There is a big plaque there stating that it is a miracle of modern technology. So there.
- Trying to find Hadrien's Wall, which proved very illusive.
- Finally found Hadrien's wall, and discovered why is it so illusive; a wee bit on the small side, don't you think? As Brad pointed out, a wall 2 centimetres high can't have been very effective at keeping out the barbarian celts....no wonder Rome fell!!
-----
We spent a glorious 4 days in Edinburgh. The weather was perfect, meaning that it wasn't too hot like England was! The city itself is fantastic. Nice and small, so you can walk everywhere. The people are happy and friendly, and the coolest thing is that they speak with Scottish accents and actually wear kilts!
The only downside to Scotland was Brad's continous, and I do mean continous, quoting of Braveheart at every possible interlude!!! I've only seen the movie once, but now I think I could quote whole sections of it by heart:)
Probably the best thing about our stay in Edinburgh was our accomodation. We stayed with Christa and Craig Duncan. Christa is the sister of Brad's childhood friend Adam Rogers. Now, Christa and Craig live in just about the coolest place I have ever seen or heard of. Thier place is a wonderful old stone farm house, about 15 kilometres from the city centre. But due to some wonderful fluke regarding a protected belt of green space surrounding Edinburgh, it feels like 150 kilometres from the city centre! The view from their window was a field of grazing horses - so peaceful and beautiful. Big thank you to both Christa and Craig for being such great hosts, for taking Brad skiing (yes skiing) in Scotland, for giving us such a nice place to stay and, of course, for the McEwans!
- VERY cool picture that Brad took of the castle in Edinburgh.
- This is me doing Cranky Blueberry impressions! I forgot my coat...okay fine... I foolishly decided not to bring my coat when we went sight-seeing in Edinburgh. And it rained.. Blah. So I had to buy a not-so-cheap-one-size-doesn't-fit-anyone-cheapo-plastic-poncho from the Gift Shop at the Edinburgh Castle. Hence the Cranky Blueberry look...
Now that it's taken me about a dozen greuling (no, I have no idea how to spell that word...) hours to upload these blinken' photos to this blog, I have almost no time left to actually write about what we've been up to for the past 10 days... sigh...I lead such a hard life...Is anyone out there going to sympathise with my plight?
No?
Didn't think so!
:)
Britain has treated us very very well; the past 10 days have been loads o' fun. First, we successfully managed to get Danika back to Vancouver, despite an impossibly short connection time in Ottawa on the way home. So, for the past littel while it's just been me and Brad travelling around the country!
We spent a lovely few days doing day trips around London and Essex. We went to Colchester and saw a fascinating exhibit on the impacts of the Roman rule over England, and learned some cool stuff about Bodecia - a very, very interesting lady. We went to London, to my very favourite museum: the British Imperial War Museum which was, as always, great. We also went to the British Musuem, and discovered that they have the cheapest luggage storage facility in London: just £1 (about $2) for all day luggage storage!! Ain't that great?!
The British Museum, however, is much more than just a cheap place to leave one's bags...it is a very famous museum, with all kinds of exhibits. Take the below picture for example. It is a fascinating display of people looking at the Rosetta Stone. It is, of course, impossible to actually see the Rosetta Stone, but it is neat to watch people try!
After mooching of the good graces (and great food) of my lovely Aunt Valerie for what was probably far beyond our welcome, we toddled off to Petersfield, Hampshire (south of London) to visit Joana for a couple of days. We hung out, drank a beer or six, chatted and caught up on all our (mis)adventures over the course of the past year, and of course talked about wonderful cities like Vancouver and Bristol! Right Joana?!?!
- Very neat tree tunnel in Petersfield
- Joana and I being all active and going on a hike and stuff!
- The REAL reason for the hike; this is the oldest pub in England; the beer is definitely worth the walk:)
---
After Petersfield, we had a very rushed lunch and catch-up session with my friend Kath and her bf Lex in Bourne End . It was a great afternoon, but SOOO very rushed that we didn't even get a chance for a photo op. All the more reason that B and I are going to spend a few days in Jolly Olde on our way back to Canada in January, and mooch some accomodation and yummy Greek food off Kath & Lex! There will be lots of time for photos then:)
After that, we zipped up North on the train to a wonderous and wonderful city called Newcastle. Now, Newcastle is legitimately a wonderous and wonderful town, however I may be a bit biased towards it, because as it is the place where my two lovely parents met, I have a certain affinity for it. Afterall, without Newcastle, I might not be here....what a shockingly terrible thought:(
In Newcastle we stayed in a great hostel that I would strongly recommend to visitors (link on main page) and just played tourist for a few days. One of the highlights was a trip out to Hadrien's Wall, which was a wall (go fig') built by the Roman Emperor Hadrien (well, not physically built by him, but you know what I mean) about a thousand years ago. It marked the Northern most boundary of the Roman Empire and was supposed to keep those nasty, barbaric Celts up north and away from the civilized Romans. After all, they couldn't have their bloody bloody gladiator games disrupted by some marading vandals, could they?!
-Me. Drinking beer in Newcastle.
- The newest of Newcastle's very special bridges; this one opens and closes like an eyelid. There is a big plaque there stating that it is a miracle of modern technology. So there.
- Trying to find Hadrien's Wall, which proved very illusive.
- Finally found Hadrien's wall, and discovered why is it so illusive; a wee bit on the small side, don't you think? As Brad pointed out, a wall 2 centimetres high can't have been very effective at keeping out the barbarian celts....no wonder Rome fell!!
-----
We spent a glorious 4 days in Edinburgh. The weather was perfect, meaning that it wasn't too hot like England was! The city itself is fantastic. Nice and small, so you can walk everywhere. The people are happy and friendly, and the coolest thing is that they speak with Scottish accents and actually wear kilts!
The only downside to Scotland was Brad's continous, and I do mean continous, quoting of Braveheart at every possible interlude!!! I've only seen the movie once, but now I think I could quote whole sections of it by heart:)
Probably the best thing about our stay in Edinburgh was our accomodation. We stayed with Christa and Craig Duncan. Christa is the sister of Brad's childhood friend Adam Rogers. Now, Christa and Craig live in just about the coolest place I have ever seen or heard of. Thier place is a wonderful old stone farm house, about 15 kilometres from the city centre. But due to some wonderful fluke regarding a protected belt of green space surrounding Edinburgh, it feels like 150 kilometres from the city centre! The view from their window was a field of grazing horses - so peaceful and beautiful. Big thank you to both Christa and Craig for being such great hosts, for taking Brad skiing (yes skiing) in Scotland, for giving us such a nice place to stay and, of course, for the McEwans!
- VERY cool picture that Brad took of the castle in Edinburgh.
- This is me doing Cranky Blueberry impressions! I forgot my coat...okay fine... I foolishly decided not to bring my coat when we went sight-seeing in Edinburgh. And it rained.. Blah. So I had to buy a not-so-cheap-one-size-doesn't-fit-anyone-cheapo-plastic-poncho from the Gift Shop at the Edinburgh Castle. Hence the Cranky Blueberry look...
- Loch Ness! We saw the Monster and are selling the pictures to a tabloid for millions! (Fine, we didn't but it was a nice dream for a while)
posted by TK at 2:29 AM
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