Headed Home...

It's hard to believe that these past ten days have flown by so quickly. Wasn't it just yesterday that we hopped onto the plane to London? Now we are already on our way back to Texas and I'm grasping at straws to try to remember every detail of our vacation... it just went by so quickly.

Views from Princes Street were so beautiful. On top of Castle Rock is the Castle of Edinburgh- stronghold of the city.

On Saturday morning we set out from our Scotland hotel to do some last minute shopping. You can never have enough souvenir shopping! Especially when it means you get to bring goodies home for friends and family. I finally tracked down a Ben's Cookies, which I'd read reviews about and knew that we had to stop by when we were in the UK. We snagged a few cookies and ate them on the plane the following day. Oh my gosh, they were SO good!

We grabbed a lunch to eat on the train and the retrieved our bags from the hotel. Thankfully, we're pretty good planners and ended up getting to the station in plenty of time. We even got to hang out in the first class lounge while we waited for our platform to be announced (we sprung for first class tickets on the way back to London and it was fabulous). 

On the train in our fancy-schmancy first class car we had plenty of room to spread out and even got free lunch! Why did we not do this on the way to Scotland?! Oh, because it typically costs an arm and a leg... thankfully these first class tickets were on uber sale or something. We definitely got a deal! 

"Mum" and "Dad" Diet Cokes we got on the train. 

We also got lucky with the weather. As we were sitting in our Edinburgh hotel room watching the weather report on the news, we were dreading Saturday because reports called for rain, lots and lots of rain. Just as we'd boarded the train (about 1:30pm) it began to sprinkle and by the time we were going full speed it was pouring outside. The fog was so and that when were were close to the cliffs with nothing but water below us you could see nothing but foggy abyss alongside the train. Somehow we managed to stay dry and avoid the rain altogether. By the time the train pulled into London King Cross Station it was bright and sunny! 

At that point in our trip, we were so exhausted. Typically, after disembarking the train we would have hopped on the tube from Kings Cross to Paddington Station and walked to our hotel from there. But, being exhausted, we sprung for a cab back to the hotel so we didn't have to drag out suitcases along with us. Best 15£ we spent the whole trip! The cab was nice and spacious- much different than your average cab in the US. It was a little disconcerting though to have the driver on the right side of the road and driving on the left side of the street. 

Alas, we made it safely to our London hotel, the same one that we'd stayed at previously in the trip. This time somehow we ended up lucky and got a "Clubroom." Which, I guess, was one of the nicer rooms at the hotel. The first room we stayed at was like the attic room where you stick the unwanted guests. To get there we had to take the elevator to the top floor and then walk up a flight of stairs to the tippy top of the hotel where just our room was. It was literally the only thing up there. 

"Clubroom" at the Best Western in London.

Once we'd settled in we unpacked and repacked out suitcases making sure all the liquids and potentially dangerous items were in the checked bags and not the carry-ons. We also had to make sure that we'd charged all of our electronics. We'd heard that travelers bound for the States would have to be able to turn on all electronics, I guess to prove they were actual electronics and not fake (nothing ever happened on that front). After everything was packed up we ate various snacks (and a bottle of wine) for a makeshift dinner and hit the hay. 

We woke up way too early (at least in my book), showered, and packed up our final few items. We borrowed a luggage scale from reception to weigh our bags to make sure they'd be under the 50lb maximum... we could tell they were getting pretty heavy and didn't want to hassle with it at the airport. Our suitcases weighed in at 48 and 49 pounds... just made it! Whew!!

Our last view of Paddington Station as we left for the airport.

We made our trek down to Paddington Station and while mom waited with the bags, I returned our Oyster cards that we used to get around the tube while we were there. When you buy one, you pay a 5£ deposit for each plastic card that you get back when you leave. While turning them in, I made friends with the Underground staff. He asked why it was returning them: we were leaving or we were dead? He said no one had ever said the latter. Hah! He asked where home was and I told him Texas. Of course he made some comment about guns... at least he didn't go the 'ride a horse to school/work' route. The people of London are kind of awesome... I'll miss them. 

We took the Heathrow Express back to Heathrow Airport. If you're ever flying into London, this is by far the best way to get to and from the airport without paying a ton for a taxi. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the airport. We spent the last of our pounds on snacks for the plane and waited to board. Before I knew it, we'd already crossed the Atlantic and we were on descent into Houston and I'd finished four movies: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, Tangled, Frozen (I couldn't resist), and the Veronica Mars Movie. 

Immigration and customs were a pain in the ass. Of all 40 immigration stalls, only ten were even open. After getting through, we picked up our luggage and got in yet another line to get through customs... which wasn't so much a line as it was a huge mob of people trying to get the hell out of the airport. It was frustrating. The U.S.'s international arrivals process is literally the worst I've experienced in all of the countries I've visited. Pain. In. The. Ass. Alas, we made it through as I tried to keep my snarkiness to a minimum.

About the time we made it through immigration, Jacob called and let us know that he was in the area and could pick us up from the airport. Such a sweetheart. He snuck up on us in the airport and helped us take our things to the car and head home. We made it safely and, unfortunately, our trip was officially over.

I absolutely can't wait to go back to the UK again. London and Edinburgh were awesome and I can't wait to see more of what the country has to offer. Until next time, Jen out! 

Leaving London Behind... Scotland Bound!

(Written on way to Scotland, but posted a few days late.) 

 As I sit on the train speeding along the track away from London, it's impossible to not reflect on the amazing six days I spent there with my mom. London is a place I had always dreamt about seeing. From a young age I had a fascination with the monarchy, specifically the Tudors. How can you learn about the crazy things that happened in that time period and not be enthralled? 

London was everything I imagined and more. It's really the New York City of England. There are people everywhere and tourist attractions and public transport is crammed. This may have something to do with the time of the year that we came. I'd love to come back in the future during the winter when there aren't as many tourists and things are relatively more calm. It could be fun to see snow everyplace here too. Christmas and New Years in London? I could go for that... Maybe I've just watched "The Holiday" one too many times. One big difference between New York City and London that really stood out to me is that the people of London are very kind and helpful. My mom said it was like they were displaced Texans with their hospitality. One of our first days there, we had just exited the tube and we were standing outside the station looking helplessly at a map and a Londoner (?) stopped to ask us if we needed help finding or destination. If that'd happened in New York... God bless and good luck! Tourists that don't know where they are going and what they're doing are the real pain in the ass here. I feel bad for the people who have to deal with them all year, but then again tourism does bring a ridiculous amount of revenue into the country. I'd be interested as to just how much revenue tourism brings into the country annually. (If I remember, maybe I'll google this when I get internet access.)

We saw and did a lot during our time in London. Parts of it seem like such a blur, especially that first day when we arrived. We arrived to our hotel around 11am, and knowing that we needed to stay awake to adjust our sleeping schedules, we did a lot of walking around and exploring. The view we had from the top of the London Eye remains the most beautiful panoramic view of the city we had. We could see St. Paul's Cathedral and the Gherkin down the Thames and were right on top of Parliament and Big Ben (or at least it felt like it). 

Each night when we returned to the hotel we were exhausted, which means it was a successful day in my book! The last thing I wanted to do what spend half of my vacation inside the hotel surfing the internet. The internet is going to be there when I get back home. Vacation is a time to explore, not hole up and try to connect to the world back home. We're getting good use of our sneakers and by the time we get back home we may never want to look at the again with how much walking we've done in them. We really should have brought a pedometer over to see how much we walk each day. I'd guess it is upwards of three miles a day. Be time time we got back to the hotel each night we were moaning and groaning and trying to rub our poor little toes back to life. I wouldn't change a thing though, walking a lot just means we got to see a lot of the city... and only a small bit of this walking was more than necessary due to my mediocre navigating. 

It is hard to choose a favorite thing that we have done or seen so far... Every experience has been enjoyable and worthwhile. There isn't anything that I've just thought "oh my god, why did we do this?!". The most relaxed day we had was by far the day trip out to Hampton Court Palace. I enjoyed that so much. If I could just have a picnic lunch under that tree every day from today to forever, that'd be fantastic. 

More than anything, it was thrilling to be standing in the places that I'd read about in history classes and read about in books since childhood. I stood in the place where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, where King William and Mary reigned as the first Protestant king and queen, where Churchill planned the defense of the city while being bombed from overhead by German planes, and where work on Stonehenge began over 5,000 years ago. FIVE THOUSAND YEARS! Holy crap! It's really just mind boggling and makes you view America's brief history from a whole new perspective. 

Traveling with my mom has been great. We're great traveling companions because both of us are pretty laid back. We have an "itinerary," but it's more like a list of things that we could do each day if we wanted . And, both being pretty flexible, we don't get upset if something is missed. 

We're looking forward to our few days in Edinburgh. We're hoping that it is a little bit quieter and calmer there compared to London. Crossing our fingers for fewer tourists and more elbow room. I'll continue to post updates about our trip as I'm pretty sure we have internet at our Edinburgh hotel as well. 

Until next time! 

View from the train to Edinburgh.

View from the train to Edinburgh.

Afternoon Tea & Stonehenge

So I'm backtracking a little bit since I didn't post about this before we left for Scotland. 

We had a fabulous last day in London. I'm not going to lie, by the time Tuesday came around I was exhausted and part of my thought... "you know what, maybe we don't need to go out to Stonehenge." But I am so glad that I sucked it up and charged forth. 

We started out the morning by checking out the Hummingbird Bakery that Catherine told us about. She said they had world famous cupcakes... And who can turn that down?! We took the tube from Lancaster Gate (about a 5 minute walk from our hotel room) to Notting Hill Gate, which is close to Portabello Road. From there, we walked north along Portabello Road (where we walked around the market on our first day in London) up to the bakery. The exterior had a hummingbird emblazoned on the outside, which made it easy to identify from afar. We bought two cupcakes: carrot cake and hummingbird (hello, we had to get the one that the bakery was named after!). We also got a fun surprise for Catherine (now won't this make her intrigued?). We saved those cupcakes for our train ride to Edinburgh the next day and they were delicious!! Catherine would have been in love. 

(Outside of the bakery, there was the tiniest, most adorable Volks Wagon Beatle. I have a picture of me standing behind it and it only comes up to my chest. How does anyone even fit in that car!? Teeny tiny!) 

From there, we returned to the hotel to quickly drop off the cupcakes and headed to the nearby Hilton Hotel where we had reservations for Afternoon Tea. Tea was something we had on our 'must-do' list while in England. How can you visit and not have tea? When we arrived, we got our choices of tea. I kept it pretty simple with English breakfast tea and my mom was a little bit more adventurous by ordering mint tea. They brought out two little teapots, one for each of us, with a tea bag steeping. After letting it steep a while, we removed the tea bags and began drinking the tea. (I actually had to ask the waiter to bring me a different tea pot because I couldn't remove the lid to take out the tea bag and the tea had gotten very strong. Oops!) It was yummy! Mom really enjoyed her mint tea, although she was a little skeptical when she took her first whiff. 

While we were sipping tea, they brought out a three-tiered server with sandwiches, scones and sweets. The sandwiches were tiny triangle finger sandwiches and included egg salad, ham and cheese, salmon, prawn, cucumber and cream cheese, and tomato. 

After finishing the savouries, we moved on to the scones, which were served with jam and clotted cream. That was the first time that I'd had clotted cream and I honestly didn't know what the difference was between that and butter... So I googled. From what I read, they seem relatively similar, but clotted cream is heated when made, while butter is not heated and churned. The scones were delicious as well. 

From there, we moved on to the "dessert plate." And let me just say, yum! There were several little one-bite desserts, including a mini eclaire, a macaroon, and a few little cake bites. The pictures just don't do these little guys justice. They were good! 

Needless to say, we left happy and thoroughly enjoyed our first afternoon tea experience!

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Shortly following finishing tea, we hopped on a train from Waterloo Station out to Salsbury, which is the nearest train station to Stonehenge. Salsbury is a very cute town and reminded us both of our visit to Rothenburg in Germany. Unfortunately, we didn't get time to explore the little city besides listening to the recordings on the tour bus that drives out to Stonehenge. 

We hopped on a bus outside of Salsbury train station that drove us along the beautiful, sheep-spotted countryside out to Stonehenge. As we drew near, we could see the stones rise above the hills and it was awe inspiring. We're we really seeing this? 

The information center provided some history regarding the site. So much mystery and awe surrounds the site and it was thrilling to both learn more about it and see it in person. I had no idea that work began on the site more than 5,000 years ago with the digging of a great ditch and building up of the ground on which the stones are placed. The stones are brought from great distances away, which always begs the question how they did it without modern technology. I am always amazed by ancient construction such as this and the Egyptian pyramids. They built huge, amazing things with just man power. 

My first reaction to the site was "huh, I thought it would be bigger...", but I really think that is because there is nothing close to the stones that shows a scale of how large they are. Ropes also keep visitors pretty far back, which makes gauging the size difficult. 

Below is a photo of me with a life-size recreation of one of the largest stones at Stonehenge,

There were a lot of people out there wandering about, but we did manage to get some good photos. Overall, we were really glad that we went!

After wrapping up our tour of Stonehenge, we returned to London on the train and made out way back to the hotel on the tube. We packed up on luggage and out hotel room and prepped for leaving for Scotland in the morning. 

A Beautiful Day at Hampton Court Palace

So I was totally nerding out today. I was in my history-junkie zone. We spent the day at Hampton Court Palace, a royal court of King Henry VIII. It was built in 1514 by a favorite and high-ranking church official, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, it served as the royal rresidence for over 200 years. King Henry VIII seized the palace when Wolsey fell from grace when he was unable to obtain a divorce for Henry from his first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon. She had not produced a male heir for him and he was desperate. He broke from the Catholic church in order to obtain his divorce and marry his much younger mistress, Anne Boleyn. Ironically, she too was unable to give him a son and they were married only three short years before she was beheaded at the Tower of London.  

Below is an astronomical clock at the palace. Note that the clock shows the sun rotating around the earth because it was created before Copernicus & Galileo debunked that myth.

Inside the apartments of King George II who lived in the palace after the Tudor era had ended (the line ended with Elizabeth I).

View of the gardens from King George's apartments. .

Talk about a royal throne!

Mom and I inside the Tudor apartment dining hall. Cheers!

We ate a picnic lunch in the gardens under a tree. The weather was absolutely perfect and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful surrounding. This little guy became our friend while we were eating.  Just walked right up to us and gave us a pathetic look. I gave him a cracker... probably not advised, but I just couldn't say no to that cute face!

View from our lunch spot under the tree. 

After lunch we took a horse-drawn trolley around the gardens. The horses were absolutely gigantic!

After returning from Hampton Court Palace, we ate at The Mandarin,  a Chinese restaurant close to the hotel and it was delicious! I got chicken fried noodles (kinda like chicken fried rice I guess). 

This blog is pretty short and sweet, but I'm too tired to elaborate at this point. I'll update when I'm back in the States. 

Tomorrow we're off to Stonehenge after we have afternoon tea. 

Shopping Day in London!

Today was yet another fun day in London, but it was much more low-key than our past days because we really had nowhere to be at specific times and we weren't worried about attractions getting busy in the afternoon.

We started our morning with pastries we'd purchased the evening before from a nearby supermarket. I had an almond croissant and it was mouthwatering, so much so that I've got another one for tomorrow.

After breakfast while primping for the day, we headed out for our shopping adventures. We took the tube over to Old Spitalfields Market (our original destination), but saw Petticoat Market on the way and stopped to see what wares were for sale. We bought some souvenir magnets and key chains for friends and I bought a really cute pocket watch necklace that's the shape of a heart. Best 3£ purchase I ever spent. 

After walking through Petticoat Lane Market, we made our way to Old Spitalfields Market, which was by far our favorite shopping destination of the day. It's an outdoor, but covered area filled with both temporary stalls and permanent shops and restaurants. My favorite purchase there was a ring that was handcrafted by the seller that was made out of a silver apostle spoon, so theres a little man on the ring. I absolutely love it. 

In the market, we also found a neat cupcake stand (there were food stalls as well as clothes, purses, jewelry, crafts, etc.). The "Posh Peanut Butter Cup-Cake" that we split was delicious. Who says you shouldn't eat cupcakes in the morning?! 

A panorama shot of Old Spitalfields Market from the second floor. 

We enjoyed a small lunch at 'Giraffe,' where we split a grilled chicken club and sweet potato fries. Yum! .

Outside the market we realized we'd gotten very close to the Gherkin without even realizing it. It's hard to keep perspective as to where you are in the city when all of the moving around you do is underground. 

After Old Spitalfields Market, we checked out Harrods, which is the most ridiculous department store I've ever seen. They had a food section with all sorts of baked goods and ready-to-eat food. This is where be bought breakfast for tomorrow.  

I saw this (below) and chuckled. The company whose tea the American revolutionaries threw into Boston Harbor. I joked with my mom that we need to get some and liberate it in the nearest body of water. 

After walking around for a while in Harrods, we stopped in the Godiva Chocolate Bar and shared a warm brownie with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream. Really, we were just looking for a place to sit down for a while and this presented a great opportunity.... plus we got chocolate!

After dessert, we had dinner (yeah, we did thay a little backwards) at Candesa, a tapas restaurant in Covent Garden. It was fabulous! Since we'd made reservations the night before, when we arrived our seats were reserved via a note on the bar.

We split a few tapas... a cheese plate, chicken mozzarella quesadillas, pulled pork sliders, and a green salad. 

The restaurant was great and the food was delicious. We'd definitely go again!

On the way home, we went through Baker Street tube station and I had to snag a picture of this artwork on the wall. Sherlock Holmes! Makes me even more excited about the next season, but sad that it won't come out forever!