UK Roadtrippin' Part 1

Over the last three days, Tom and I have become the masters of getting things done. There are so many sights to see, and so little time... Our days are filled from beginning to end.

Sept. 26 - Edinburgh to York

We picked up a rental car in the morning, a Vauxhall Astra, and hit the road. The radio stations out here are terrible; they are either talk radio or Lady Gaga. Maybe if you're lucky there will be some Rhianna thrown in the mix. We had four hours of driving ahead of us, and very little to listen to.

First stop, the ruins of Melrose Abbey. Tom and I have decided that we prefer the sites of ruins to restored buildings. The abbey is made of a beautiful pinkish sandstone, and many of the grand arches, walls and windows are still standing.

The remains of Melrose Abbey.

Seoncd stop, the ruins of Jedburgh Abbey. This abbey was built about a thousand years ago. It is considered a "Border Abbey" (because it was built near the border of Scotland and England), and as a result, was destroyed and rebuilt during the hundreds of years of conflict between the two countries.

The stacked arches of Jedburgh Abbey.

In the evening we stopped in York, and had dinner at a pub called "The Plough." There was a fat local cat who visited each table in the pub begging for love (and scraps). The cat sat on a chair across the aisle from us with his head on the table, and watched a man and his wife eat dinner for nearly 30 minutes. Tom was very happy when he came to visit us.

Sept. 27 - York to Llandudno

On Tuesday we had three hours of driving to get to our final destination, Llandudno, Wales. I'm still not exactly sure how to pronounce the town's name, but I heard a DJ on the radio say something that sounded like, "Clan-did-no." Apparently the double 'l' can be read as a hard 'c' sound(?)

The main attraction for the day was Conwy Castle, and it did not disappoint. The Castle was built in the early 1200's, and is now preserved as ruins. The castle walls still stand and contain the town of Conwy today. There are even portions of the castle wall that are open to the public!

The interior of Conwy Castle.

The castle wall still standing in present-day Conwy.

Modern bridge entering the castle.

We finished up at Conwy Castle much sooner than we expected, so we checked into our B & B. The proprietor suggested some local attractions, and Tom and I decided to take a drive into Snowdonia National Park. We are both very glad we made this decision.

First we made a stop at Swallow Falls. We were surprised to see that we needed a pound coin to get through a cage-like turnstyle in order to even see the waterfall. We had used all our coins to pay for parking, and all I had left was a five pound bank note. An elderly group of three pooled together to give us change, but only had three one pound coins. When we told them that would be more than ample for their trouble, they insisted giving us the full five pound amount in 20 and 5 pence coins. One of the ladies then suggested that instead of paying one pound each to get through the cage-turnstyle, we should squeeze into it together. They then proceeded to "help us" through the turnstyle by forcing us through. I can only imagine what would have happened if turnstyle had gotten jammed, and Tom and I had been stuffed in the cage, stuck!

Swallow Falls.

Next we drove through the Llanberris Pass by to the tallest mountain (at ~3600ft), Snowdon, in the park. The scenery was a nice change from what we'd been seeing the last few days.

Scenery in Snowdonia National Park.

After travelling nearly 400 miles, we filled up the car with petrol. The bill came to 60 pounds for 43L, which can be converted to $97CAD. Good God! We probably would have paid half that at home!

Stay tuned! We still have another 350 miles to go!

An Edinburgh Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to US!

September 25, marked the first year of our marriage. I can barely believe that an entire year has gone by already. Where did it go? What happened to those 365 DAYS!?

We celebrated our anniversary in Edinburgh, and I'm not sure if we could have chosen a more beautiful city. Granted, I am not the most well traveled individual (I'm working on it, dammit!), but Edinburgh may be the city I've most enjoyed visiting.

We stayed at the Glasshouse hotel, located in the New Town district of Edinburgh. But don't let the name fool you, there were still plenty of historic buildings in New Town. The Glasshouse was a five-star treat for us (remember, our one-year anniversary!), and we were impressed by the decorating, linens, heated bathroom floor tiles, bottles of distilled water, and swanky classical music when we entered the room. But our first night at the Glasshouse was not great. The bed had a giant dip in the middle, which made for a restless sleep. The thermostat didn't work, so the heat from the tiles in the bathroom made the room sweltering. And our room was located next to a nightclub. Since it was Saturday night, there was music and people out in the street until 2-3am, so opening the window wasn't the best option.

The exterior of the Glasshouse Hotel.

The next morning we asked for a new room, and the hotel staff was able to accommodate us. The thermostat worked in the new room, and the bed did not have a saggy mattress, so our second night was much improved.

Due to bad planning, we had one day to see Edinburgh.

We started by checking out the Art on display in the National Gallery.

Along the way, it was hard to miss the giant Scott Monument, a Victorian Gothic structure for the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott.

Scott Monument.

Then we headed to Edinburgh Castle, situated at the top of an extinct volcano. We took a quick guided tour through the castle, and spent the afternoon learning how the castles has evolved through the centuries. A few interesting facts! 1) The castle has been used on several occasions to house prisoners of war. 2) There is a dog cemetery for soldier's dogs. 3) The One O'Clock Gun has been fired every day at one o'clock (except on Sundays) since 1861.

Gargoyles on the Scottish War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle.

View of Edinburgh down the barrel of a cannon.

From the castle we headed down the Royal Mile, a street of shops and souvenirs. We watched a sword swallower and browsed through a huge selection of whiskey.

Finally, we hiked to the top of Arthur's Seat for an uninterrupted view of Edinburgh.

Me, grumpily leading the way up the path.

View of Edinburgh Castle from Arthur's Seat.

It was really windy.

On our way down from the summit I decided to finish of the bag of chips I bought at lunch for a boost of energy. It was so freaking windy! The wind tore the bag out of my hand, and I wailed as the chips fell into the grass at the side of the path. I admit it... I picked most of them up and ate them anyway.

After a whole day on our feet, we went back to the hotel for a much needed rest, and delicious meal.

By far, our most ambitious day of sight-seeing!

More to come!

Glasgow and the Left Hand Side of the Road

It has been three days since Tom and I left Calgary, and we have done a whirlwind exploration of Glasgow.

In retrospect, we probably should have planned out what we wanted to see, and planned our time in each city accordingly. We are finding that there isn't enough time to see everything in each city... And we've only BEEN to one city!

Sept. 22 - Arrival in Glasgow

Our flight from Calgary to London was uneventful. I am glad that nothing dramatic or stressful occurred-- especially considering that the Air Canada flight attendants almost went on strike the day that we were supposed to leave. Our flight from Heathrow to Glasgow was equally uneventful. We took a shuttle from the airport and on the way, we stared out the window at all the old buildings thinking, "Wow! Look at all the history in this city!" and "Wow! Look at the size of that REALLY old, giant abandoned building for 'For Let'!"

We hopped off the shuttle which conveniently stopped about a block away from the hotel. We took in the lobby of the hotel... It's amazing! We rode the fuchsia pink elevator up to our room. It's amazing! Now that I think about it, fuchsia was really a key colour to the hotel's colour palette. See for yourself!

Our room at the Hotel Indigo in Glasgow.

After settling in, we took a quick walk around to gain our bearings, and had dinner at a restaurant that Jeff recommended called "Two Fat Ladies." We ate scallops, sea bass, mussels clams, and waddled back to the hotel, stuffed and sleepy. By then it was only 8pm (although, 1pm at home) and we promptly called it a night. We hadn't slept in 36 hours... We were out for the count.

Sept. 23 - Road Trip to St. Andrews

Tom and I perused our guide book and decided there wasn't too much we wanted to see in the city of Glasgow. So we tracked down a car rental agency so we could DRIVE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!

I say, "we," but it was really Tom who did the driving. He got the hang of it really quickly. Granted, our first right turn brought us on to the right hand side of the road into oncoming traffic, but driving over the median remedied that problem! If anything, it was good it happened early-- we never had an incident like that again!

Also... I declare Tom and myself, "King and Queen of Roundabouts." That is all.

In St. Andrews, we visited the ruined cathedral and castle, and took a walk along the beach. We also saw our first rat in the rocks of the cliff! At least... We think it was a rat. It was big, and had a rat-like tail...

Ruins of the St. Andrews Cathedral.

Tom and I near the beach in St. Andrews, Fife.

Ruins of St. Andrews Castle.

Sept. 24 - Last Day in Glasgow

As our last day in Glasgow began, we realized there were a few things we wanted to see. We made the walk out to Glasgow Cathedral. What a spectacular sight! It's amazing to think how long the cathedral has been standing, and how it could have been made without modern-day technology.

The exterior of Glasgow Cathedral.

The interior of Glasgow Cathedral.

Since our previous road trip was so successful, we rented a car for a second day and drove out to Stirling Castle. In addition to a castle, the town of Stirling also contains the National Wallace Monument. Stirling is the site where William Wallace (think Braveheart) fought the famous battle for freedom in 1297. Can you imagine? This castle has been around for over 700 years!

The exterior of Stirling Castle.

I was a little disappointed with Stirling Castle. The castle has been restored (unlike the ruins in St. Andrews), and has been doctored up to entertain tourists. Although they have done their best to maintain historical accuracy, it's just not the same!

Scotrail train to Edinburgh.

Now our time is up in Glasgow. We'll be boarding the train to Edinburgh shortly!

27

This birthday weekend has going to be busy. I had several plans, including dinner with my husband, a meal with my family and in-laws, and a movie night with my friends. I was looking forward to these plans, but was not expecting anything out of the ordinary. So imagine my reaction when Tom and I showed up for our dinner reservation, and 15 of my good friends shouted, "SURPRISE!"

Actually, my first thought was, "What is everyone doing here?"

I've participated in several surprise parties for other people, but I've never been the guest of honour myself. I gotta tell you, it's a pretty awesome feeling knowing your friends have pulled together for you! And I was definitely surprised! It probably helps that I am gullible and unobservant as well. But there were many good friends presents, some that I do not get to see often enough (and some that I see nearly every day!)-- and not a single person spilled the beans beforehand!

Thanks, Ashley, for organizing everyone! You are the best friend anyone could ask for! And thanks everyone else for coming out! I had such a great time, and it was good to catch up!

In addition to this surprise party, I got some lovely flowers from Tom.

Birthday flowers.

I was also showered with attention, and demonstrated by all these delightful cards!

Birthday cards.

For the last year or so, I have been thinking about learning how to play the guitar. I've been hesitant about buying a guitar, because I was worried that I wouldn't take to it, and it would end up sitting on a shelf, or being jammed in a closet. But in the last few weeks, I have been thinking more and more about signing up for lessons.

At some point, Tom must have mentioned this to his dad. So my father-in-law gifted me with his guitar!

I'm pretty excited about getting started on this. I'm going to look into lessons as soon as we get back from our holiday.

Guitar!

It's been a really great birthday; definitely one to remember. I even managed to stay awake for all three Back to the Future movies last night, after stuffing myself with Ashley's panna cotta, Jeff's slow-cooked ribs, and Steve's over-supply of ketchup chips! I'm looking forward to lasagna with my family tonight. Thankfully, I still have room for lasagna after hitting up the Pfantastic Pannenkoek Haus with Tom's parents and grandma for brunch today. A weekend of delicious food!

2.5 days of work, and then we're off to Scotland!

Land of the POME

When I was in Australia in 2007, one of our many tour guides asked me if I was a pome (pom-ee). I was understandably confused until the guide informed me that pome is a slang term for the British-- Prisoners of Mother England. The term refers to British convicts who were shipped to Australian penal colonies in the early 19th century. 'Pome' isn't exactly complimentary to the British, but to Australians, it's more of a good-natured insult. I don't think Tom and I will be throwing that term around at all!

And...

Only ten more days until Tom and I take off on our UK holiday! We have booked our hotels and solidified the route we are going to take through various countries.

Main destinations for UK-Paris Trip 2011.

Leg 1: Glasgow and Edinburgh

First we will fly into Glasgow on September 22. We will spend about five days in Scotland, and will celebrate our first wedding anniversary in Edinburgh.

Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Leg 2: York, Llandudno and Oxford

In Edinburgh, we will rent a car, and discover the joys of driving on the left hand side of the road. Or rather, Tom will discover the joys of driving on the left hand side of the road. I will stay in the passenger seat to avoid getting us into a terrible, terrible accident. From Edinburgh, we will drive to York, Llandudno (Wales) and on to Oxford.

Road trip through England and Wales.

Leg 3: London and Paris

London will mark the end of our road trip. We will then enjoy four nights in London. We have tickets to see Les Miserables, and tickets on a the high-speed Eurostar train to take us to Paris. We will spend three nights in Paris before we fly back home in time for Thanksgiving.

London and Paris

I'm looking forward to our trip. Most of our hotels have WiFi along the way, so I hope to do a bit of blogging as we go.

Ten more days! Eeeeep!

Runnin' Runnin' and Runnin' Runnin'

Three cheers for us!

On Sunday, Ashley and I ran the 5km portion of the Calgary Women's Race. This was Ashley's first road race, and she did awesome! We were aiming for 35 minutes (i.e. a steady 7 minute kilometer), and we crossed the finish line almost at exactly 34 minutes. A whole minute above our goal!

I can definitely see how people get addicted to road races. The atmosphere during a race is so charged with enthusiasm and encouragement, you can't help but feel good. People you don't even know are standing on the sidelines cheering for you. During this race, there were people at the 1.5km point ringing cowbells and holding signs that said, "Find your inner Kenyan!" and "Run like you stole something!" At the finish line, there were small children with their dads holding signs decorated for their mom's.

It was a beautiful day, and a good run. A great way to end the weekend.

Next up... The CSPG/CSEG Fun Run 5km on September 14!