Mint Cake and Laundry

Guess what I'm doing?!?!?! Yes! It is THAT exciting! Well.. not really... Just arrived at Maggie's flat and I'm doing some laundry and munchin' on some Mint Cake. :)
Mom has boarded her flight home and should be arriving back in Vancity within a few hours. It was sad to see her go but I know she was looking forward to being home again (as am I) so it was a "See ya later," rather than a goodbye yesterday when we parted ways at Victoria Station yesterday afternoon.

The last few days just hanging out around London with Mom have been so nice! We saw a bunch of neat markets and finally figured out the Tube (of course.. RIGHT before she leaves). We spent one afternoon in Camden Market that my brother Nick strongly recommended, and it was so neat! There were a lot of stalls with vendors in them along the canal and many different types of food to try out too! We didn't take photos of it, mainly because I want to take Brad there in a few days and want it to be fresh and new to him. :) But if you ever come to London, make time to check out Camden market as well at Covent Gardens-both are fun places full of activity and even have local artists performing there.  They even have fish pedicures at Camden market... Mom almost went for it, but then changed her mind at the last minute haha.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

I almost forgot! Well.. no, I didn't. I could never forget..... WE SAW THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!!! OMG! It was fantastic! I've been looking forward to seeing this since I was young and it lived up to my expectations for sure! I had chills the majority of the time and I've gotta say...I cannot wait to see it again! I even bought the magic "Phantom" cup (LOVE IT). There is a mask on the side of the cup that is black, and when you pour hot liquid in it, the mask turns white! Yah, I know... not THAT cool... well, I think it is anyways! haha

Until the next post,
Cheers!

Just to switch it up...

The previous post was written a few days earlier on the bus and Mom and I are now back in London and have had our first day to ourselves after being on the tour for about 9 days!!! Yahoo!

Wales was beautiful but unfortunately we didn't get a lot of time to take a look around as we spend most of the last two days on the bus. We did go to a traditional Welsh evening in Cardiff which was pretty fun and included traditional Welsh food, music and dance and it took place in the Cardiff Castle (a strangely decorated castle).

On the way back to London, we made a quick stop to see Stonehenge which was a bit disappointing as we couldn't get close to the rocks to get a really good photo but it was neat to actually see them in person. Once we arrived in London, we said goodbye to our tour guide and got ready to head out for our last excursion as a group. A bunch of us went out for dinner and a play! The play really wasn't what we were expecting but it was a nice night out.

Today, for our first day back in London without a tour guide, mom and I had a nice lazy morning and slept in and enjoyed a later breakfast before meeting up with a friend from home, Maggie. Maggie has been living here in London and working as a teacher for about 6 months and she showed us some of the neat places around town. We had a nice lunch together then went for a walk along the river Thames and saw some important landmarks here like Big Ben, the London Bridge, Tower of London and London Eye among other neat things. We said goodbye to Maggie then went out for a nice Indian meal (YUM) and are now just taking it easy back at the hotel we'll be staying at for the next few days.

We're both completely exhausted from the tour (it was great, but we agreed that if there is another tour we go on, we'll find one that gives us 2 days per city that we stop in so it's not such a rush). The next few days will be spend exploring around London with mom and then I'll be staying with Maggie for 2 nights!

A little behind with this one

Greetings from Wales :)
Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh is a gorgeous city rich with history. We only had one short day here but both of us would love to come back and spend more time exploring all that the city has to offer. Mom and I climbed the William Scott Memorial, which is a massive tower with 287 steps up a narrow winding stairway to the top. The climb was dizzying but the view from the top made it worthwhile as we could see the entire city and had a beautiful view of Edinburgh castle. The tour group visited Edinburgh Castle and we had some free time to look around in the different buildings that make up the castle. In one of the buildings, we saw the Scotland Crown Jewels, another was a War memorial for Scottish soldiers, another used to house the prisoners of war, and we had a chance to go into a small chappel as well as the old prison for the castle. After seeing the castle and climbing the memorial tower, mom and I took a stroll down Princess street and looked at some of the local goods. After our day in town, we headed back to the hotel for a quick rest before heading out to a traditional Scottish evening. We were greeted by a piper and walked across tartan carpet to our seats. The host was a great entertainer and the evening was a lot of fun! After some traditional Scottish music and dance, it was time for the presenting of the Haggis! That was pretty neat to watch and again, the host did a great job reciting the Robbie Burns "Old to Haggis" and afterwards we were all given a small plate to try. It actually wasn't bad tasting, really spicy actually haha but really, all that is in it is lamb, oatmeal, onions, spices and herbs-it's just the casing that is a little "off".

The next day we headed back into England, our last stop in Scotland was in Gretna Green. We just had a brief stop here but had a chance to see the famous Blacksmith shop where English lovers would come across the border to Scotland to be married under Scottish law by the Blacksmith. Mom tasted some Scottish Whiskey in one of the local shops and saw Highland cows on our way out of town.
A few hours later we stopped in Grasmere in the Lake District (England). This is where Beatrix Potter of the Peter Rabbit books visited as a youngster and lived for her adult years. We were just in time to see a lamb being born in the field and watched as it's mother cleaned it up and it took it's first few steps in the sunshine. It was  nice Easter suprise for us and a few of the other people who noticed in time to watch as well.
We only had a small amount of time here so mom and I took a small stroll through the village and We tried out two of the local specialties, mint cake and ginger shortbread-both were delicious! Mom and I ate our lunch under the shade of a tree looking at the fells (hills) lined with stone walls dating back to the neolithic period. Such a nice way to spend our lunch hour. :) Wish we had a little bit longer here so we could have walked down to the lakes and had a look around.

Back on the bus for a few more hours...

The next stop was Chesire and by this point, everyone on the bus was pretty tired from the busy trip so far. We took a look at some of the neat Tudor style buildings then headed to a local pub to just relax for a nice drink and snack before we got back on to the bus about an hour and a half later.
Our last stop was in Wales at Wrexsom, and we were really just there to eat dinner and stay the night.

A lot of the countryside here reminds us of home. They have a lot of the same trees and it gives us a very familiar/comfortable feeling. This trip has been a blast so far and mom and I have a growing list of places we'd like to revisit someday. York and Edinburgh top that list for us. :D