Wales!

Pardon the interruption.

I spent over 5 weeks house sitting in Wales, and decided to take some time for me.  All I can say is…it was MARVELOUS!  I was near a town called Aberystwyth on the coast of the Irish Sea.  However, if you want to know the truth of it, the house was actually 20  minutes out of town near a village called Ysbyty Ystwyth.  Yes, with the Welsh names, makes it a bit  tricky to pronounce.  I got my countryside views and a great feel of the people and community.  I landed this great opportunity from a co-worker I had in Denver.  The house has been in his stepmother’s family for multiple generations and is now on the historic register in Wales.

Coming soon…pictures of the surrounding area.

Day Trip 2: Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, & Oxford

We start this journey again from London, heading first to Warwick Castle.  This castle is loaded with medieval goodness.  It is definitely one of the most interactive castles I have been to.  Plenty to do and see, especially for the kids.  I believe this castle to get an extraordinary amount of school groups.  However, a lot of fun, especially how Madame Tussuad has a lot of wax figures inside making the castle come to life.

Warwick Castle

After the castle we went off to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the birthplace of Shakespeare.  The town is adorable.  There really isn’t too much to the house, but tiny shops around town are definitely worth it.  As we head out of Stratford we go through the area known as Cotswolds.  This is certainly the English countryside and cute villages you want to see.  It is very picturesque and fun to travel through.

Shakespeare Birthplace

Our last stop on this journey is Oxford.  We got to go on a tour of the Christ Church which takes you into a dining hall that apparently Harry Potter was taken after.  Not that exciting, but gets a lot of tourist action because of it.  One of the neatest features is how Lewis Carroll was influenced by many parts of Oxford.  When you go into the dining hall there is a certain stained glass window that has some of the Alice in Wonderland characters in the corners.  Great place to get lost in the story.  You are not really allowed in to too many places as it is still serving as a very important college.  It’s definitely a beautiful campus with some fun little shops.

Day Trip 1: Windsor Castle, Bath, & Stonehenge

So many great tours leave from London, it is definitely worth checking some out.  All you have to do is hop on a bus and enjoy.  Our first stop was Windsor Castle.  Windsor is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world and the official residence of Her Majesty The Queen.  I also got to see a smaller, but still slightly entertaining changing of the guards here.  Also, the town of Windsor is a cute quaint little town with a lot of great shops.  You could really spend a whole day checking out the castle and the area.  However, I was limited so enjoyed the royal history surrounding the castle and continued on my journey.

A little sack lunch on the bus and onward to Bath.  I  may lose a few cool points with my next admission, but here goes.  I have always wanted to see Bath because I read about it so much in Jane Austen’s novels.  The well to-do families would always leave the scene around London and head to Bath for relaxation and rejuvenation.  I needed to see this place of tranquility that was commonly mentioned amongst the great heroine novels of Austen (and not to mention the Jane Austen Centre is in Bath also).  Plus, the Roman Baths with their naturally occurring hot springs are a serious fascination.  I must say that it did not disappoint.  The city of around 80,000 has a cute, quaint feel.  And by now you have to realize how much I love that.  With all the history it, as a whole, has a serious draw.  Again, you are going to run in to a lot of tourist, however, it is definitely worth it.

The Circus in Bath

The Roman Baths

After Bath we head to Stonehenge.  On the drive we pass some of that amazingly beautiful English countryside you see in movies.  We arrive at Stonehenge, out in the middle of nowhere.  I must say that Stonehenge is a marvel to me and really makes me wish I could time travel to really find out what it is all about.  However, it is one of those spots that doesn’t give me a complete different feeling when seeing it in person as opposed to just pictures.  It may for some, but it didn’t me.  So to you I would say it is worth a drive by to truly understand how it is in the middle of nowhere and to understand how big and tall it is, however would honestly question whether the price of admission is worth it.  After Stonehenge it was back to London to round out an amazing day of travel.

London calling…

The Clash anyone?

Alright so I have always been interested to see London, but oddly it wasn’t top on my list.  However, here I finally am.  I spent 5 nights in London, with two day trips mixed in (I’ll talk about those later).  It reminded me a lot of New York City, more so than Dublin.  They have essentially the same population and with that brings a lot of the same entertainment.  They have a theatre district, many museums, lots of sightseeing sites, etc.  However, it had it’s own feel and is definitely worth a visit, but know you are going to be doing very similar things as most big cities.

Like I mentioned there is a different feel, the black cabs, the presence of royalty, and a lot more history.  Definitely wasn’t a loss for things to do and the tube is way easier to understand than the subway I thought.  So what did I do?

I took the free tour of the city which involved seeing many of the major sites: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, London eye, and Trafalgar Square.  I saw the changing of the guards and I have to say it was just okay to me.  I like the more strict and precise changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.  Again, that is just my opinion.

As I am a theatre junky I decided to check out Shakespeare’s Globe and got to see Romeo and Juliet.  It was definitely an entertaining evening.  I highly recommend buying a seat and not standing the whole show.  I couldn’t even imagine being one of the groundlings.  It was a lot of fun with great atmosphere.  There are many other great theatres that offer the different than normal Broadway feel, but some of them are only open during the summer season.  The Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park is supposed to be great, but unfortunately was not open while I was there.

Just walking around the city you will find amazing places to eat and places to see.  And as most museums are free it can definitely off set the cost of food and drink.  Here are a few snapshots of the few days:

York, Yorkshire

After Newcastle it was on to York.  I stayed in the city of York and must say that England completely redeemed itself!  Good weather, great town centre, and friendly people made this a quick favorite of mine.  York is just under 200,000 people but has a great small town feel.  Many pedestrian streets provide for an ideal day out.  Plus the York Minster is something out of this world as far as landmarks go.  Amazing.  The town has a lot of history and is still a “walled city” making it have that much more intrigue.

I stayed at a great b&b and was able to walk to city centre very easily.  There are many great independently owned shops and restaurants to be had.  Plus day trips are readily available.  For my day trip I decided to head east and hit up the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. This involved steam engines and cute rural England towns.  I took a bus from York to Pickering and headed up the coast on an old fashioned steam engine train that ends in Whitby (or whichever stop you would like).  Loads of fun.  Not every town along the way is packed with things to do, but definitely worth a quick stop.

York is a beautiful part of the country and gives you small town feelings with medium sized cities.

And on to England…

My journey now takes me into England, leaving behind Scotland (very difficult to do).  So I decide to go right on into things and end up in Newcastle for a couple of days.  Nothing too much got me jazzed about Newcastle except it is a good jumping off point.  Heard good things about the Northumberland area, specifically Alnwick.  However, not a good place to find nice, relatively inexpensive accommodations for one person.  In fact, there was none to be had without paying essentially the price for two.  And so begins my journey into the more expensive land of England and the “heavier pound”.

I am now set up with my new hotel in Newcastle, however ‘relatively inexpensive’ comes with its own price for this town.  I found myself making up the difference in price with taxi’s because I truly didn’t feel comfortable walking back to my hotel.  I stayed at the Grainger Hotel, which isn’t too far from city centre, however the walk into and out of town had a lot to be desired for a single female such as myself.

After not getting the best vibe from town I was more than willing to take a day trip to good ‘ol Alnwick (pronounced like Annick).  Here I got to see the Alnwick Castle and amazing Alnwick Gardens.  Definitely recommend this trip to anyone.  It is the Northumberland area and it really is beautiful.  The castle is still family owned and they live there 6 months out of the year.  Plus, the library is everything you would want in an old castle or manor, but oddly the first one I have seen like it.

Alright so I know I haven’t painted the prettiest picture of England so far, but after my trip to Northumberland I definitely feel better about it.  Next stop along the journey is going to be York.

Isle of Arran

After an amazing few days around the Highlands, I thought a nice island visit was in order.  So headed down and off the southwestern side of Scotland you can find an island called, the Isle of Arran, all 167 square miles of it.  I believe it is 57 miles if you drive the coastal drive all the way around the island.  I highly recommend this trip for anyone that would like to get away for a few days.  It’s an easy ferry ride across to the mainland, with multiple trips daily.  There are many small villages all around the island offering a little bit of their own thing.  In this small area they have their own whisky distillery, brewery, ice cream and my personal favorite: cheese shop.

There are also walks galore and bike trails all around the island.  This and all the amazing views everywhere it was hard to leave after my couple of days.  Brodick is where the ferry comes into town, so your best chance for accomodation and sites.  Brodick has a castle, but that isn’t even the most impressive, the gardens surrounding it are.  With only about 7,000 people on the island, you can definitely find places to roam on your own.  The locals are great though, and very willing to help out.

Isle of Arran is nicknamed “Scotland in miniature” because it offers a little bit of everything you can get in Scotland as a whole.  Let’s see:

Hiking in the ‘highlands’.  Or maybe a rocky bay is more your style:

Beach?

Castle?

Gardens?

Walking?

Or maybe you just want to relax?

(Sorry for the telephone pole, I took this from my b&b window)

I highly recommend the Isle of Arran to anyone looking for a taste of Scotland and a relaxing trip all in one.

The Highlands of Scotland

Alright so here is where I cheat a bit, as I took a 3 day tour.  However, an absolute must see when you travel to Scotland are the Highlands.  They are easy enough to drive around, but as I don’t have a car and didn’t rent one I decided a provided tour would be my best option.  Plus that meant absolutely no planning on my part other than showing up at the right time.

My trip was the Highlands and Isle of Skye tour.  Many companies do similar tours so you can find one to fit your time schedule and preference.  Highlights of my particular trip included: Rannoch Moor, Glen Coe, Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, Loch Ness, Fort Augustus, and a visit to Urquhart Castle for Day 1.  Day 2 was the Island of Skye.  Amazing beauty here.  Finally day 3 was a trip through the Black Isle to the village of Cromarty, time to tour the town of Inverness, and on our way back to Edinburgh we checked out the Cairngorm Mountains and Spey Valley.

**Quick word side note: Glen is a Gaelic word meaning valley and Loch is a Gaelic word meaning lake

Many a movie use the Highlands as a great backdrop including Braveheart, Rob Roy, the Harry Potter’s, Highlander, etc.  I’m going to let the pictures speak for me.

Glencoe

Glencoe area

The cloudy day starting to open up to the beautiful sunshine.

Isle of Skye

Isle of Skye

My “artistic” picture, really I was just fascinated by how clear the water was everywhere.

Edinburgh

The mighty city of Edinburgh (pronounced more like edin bra).

I’ve realized through all this traveling that little things go a long way with me.  Fun, full pedestrian walkways in city centre really do something for me.  It makes a somewhat large city like Edinburgh have a small town feel.  You get all the comforts of the big city: tons of eating options, sleeping options, and just in general more things to do and see.  However, you feel like you can talk to the people living here and see what is going on.  It doesn’t feel (or at least not to me) that they are just being nice because you are a tourist, everyone I met from Edinburgh was friendly by nature.

Now you can’t go to Edinburgh and not see the castle, literally.  It is a big part of the city and definitely shouldn’t be missed.  They also have “The Honours” which are essentially Scotland’s crown jewels.  Sorry for the dark picture, about 10 minutes later the fog came in and covered the entire castle.  Eerily romantic and mysterious, but a pain for trying to commemorate the moment with pictures.

The Writer’s Museum.  Although I actually took the picture because many buildings looked like this.  I loved it.

And finally, while in Edinburgh make sure to also learn about it’s fascinating dark history.  They have plenty of “ghost” tours, but really it was just interesting listening to someone tell me the stories in person.  They involve the inspiration behind Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Greyfriars Kirk, and Burke and Hare, the duo who killed and sold the bodies to the university for money.  So now I leave you with a picture of Greyfriars Bobby, one of the most photographed items in Edinburgh and one of the most loyal of dogs.

Stirling

“Freeeeedom!” This is what you think of when you come to Stirling.  Here you will find the William Wallace Monument and beautiful Stirling Castle.  I even stayed here for a couple of days at the Willy Wallace Hostel (where the Braveheart movie has been watched so many times it doesn’t work…or so they say.)  The town has a cobbled street Old Town and plenty of beautiful walks surrounding the area.

William Wallace Monument

Stirling Bridge (Battle at Stirling Bridge)

If you know Scottish history you will know that the Battle of Stirling was a pivotal point for William Wallace.  However, if you are a Braveheart fan this is where the movie takes some artistic liberties.  The Battle of Stirling was actually done on a bridge similar to that above (for which it is named for).  It was so small the English progress was slow and Wallace, Moray, and the Scots waited until most were across, splitting the groups and eventually defeating them (in this battle).

Yes, Stirling does have quite a large amount of tourist, but since there are so many great day trips from Edinburgh or Glasgow, you get less staying in town and more just passing through.  I fell in love with this small town of 40,000 people.