Euro trip - Nov 2019 - Part Three (Scotland Day 1)

18 Nov 2019 - Edinburgh and Roslin (Scotland, UK)

We arrived at the Edinburgh Waverley station bright and early (~7:25 AM). As we exited the train station on Princes Street, we got our first glimpse of Edinburgh... on the right side were "big" retail stores (an Apple store right across the station entrance/exit, a McDonald's a couple of blocks down, an H&M store, etc.) but straight ahead was the towering Scott Monument, on the left side of the street was the beautiful structures of the Old Town, and sitting on top of a hill, undoubtedly difficult to miss, was the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. I breathed a long and deep sigh. It was love at first sight.

And then we had to go look for a place to store our luggage for the day since it was too early to checkin at our AirBnb place. We researched beforehand and found a bus station that had storage lockers for rent not too far (though it seemed like miles away with all the luggage we were lugging) from the train station. Our bags stored, we head on to our first destination - Rosslyn Chapel.

1. Rosslyn Chapel is located in a wee village called Roslin, located about 45-60 min from Edinburgh. We, of course, sat on the very front seats on the 2nd level of the bus for maximum viewing. 

A nice tour guide lady, who told us the tour will be in English with a Scottish accent 😄, said a few things about the history of the chapel, how the number of visitors have exponentially increased since being featured in the The Da Vinci Code (both the book and the movie), and a few other interesting details about the chapel. No cameras allowed inside, unfortunately.

We made it out just in time for the next bus to Edinburgh; unfortunately, we were waiting at the bus stop on the right side of the street so the bus simply ignored us and went on its merry way. 😬

This gave us some time to take a few pictures of the village though so... silver lining, I suppose.

2. Mums Great Comfort Food - if I remember correctly, I think we had steak pie and sausages; I was so hungry at this point, I forgot to take pictures of our food. I only managed to remember when my tummy was happily enjoying a hot cocoa.

3. Edinburgh Castle - very interesting to learn about all the history (both the good and the horrifying) of this castle. There was too much too see and we sadly only had a couple hours to see them. And we thought we might be able to come back another day on this visit (we weren't).

4. Royal Mile - walked part of the Royal Mile on our way to our next stop for some afternoon tea. Yes, I know, we'd made it a habit by then; after all, when in Rome... (or in this case, when in the UK).

5. Deacon's House Cafe - not to be mistaken with Deacon Brodies Tavern right across the street, which we had.  After the initial confusion of seeing people standing around small tables drinking beer in what we thought was a Tea place, we figured we were in the wrong place after a mere few minutes. 😅  But, fortunately at last, we were enjoying our tea, scones, and shortbread cookies soon after, forgetting any embarrassment we may have felt at the tavern. 😁

6. Calton Hill -  There were two places we were considering for sunset viewing, both highly recommended by travel sites and articles we've read - Arthur's Seat and Calton Hill -- with a difference of about 500+ feet in elevation. Arthur's Seat has bigger and better views as it is higher up. But at the end of a very long day, pragmatism reigned over ambition.... we were maybe a little lacking physiologically to manage that trek so we decided on Calton Hill. It was about 10-15 min to walk up and ended up being one of my favorite places in Edinburgh, I think.

7. Our condo - After Calton Hill, we headed back to the bus station to get our luggage back and checkin to our place. It probably would not have been such a bad walk to do all that, but with 2 weeks worth of luggage in tow, it was definitely a workout, for us at least. 

We did manage to find the place without getting lost, and a couple of nice young people did help us carry our bags up some stairs... so I really shouldn't complain too much.

The place (location and the condo itself) was actually pretty nice, it was more than enough space for 2 people and the building where the condo is overlooked the Prince Street Gardens and was right beside The Writers' Museum.

8. Royal McGregor - After having regained some strength back from our forced "workout", we went out again in search of dinner. I always try to at least sample the local/traditional dishes when travelling, so after some explaining of what this dish I wanted to try was made of to Michelle and a little convincing because of said explaining, we tried Scotland's national dish - Haggis! (if you don't know what it is, google it... it sounds fun! 😜)  

We also tried this soup with fish and potatoes in it - Cullen Skink - strange name, but it was yummy! And because we were in Scotland, we had to try some whisky. Well, I had a sip and Michelle finished the rest of the glass. 😂

Haggis tower

Cullen Skink

To end our first day in Scotland, and perhaps to help digest the haggis faster 😁, we walked on the Royal Mile a little before going back to the condo. We went past The World's End pub -- this pub was featured in Outlander and has a very interesting history. Read the sign on the photo below and be amazed. 😎

Euro trip - Nov 2019 - Part Two (London)

17 November 2019 - London, UK

The plan was to start early - get some good old full English breakfast and do as many things as our aged bodies possibly can. We did start early; unfortunately, the restaurant we had planned on going to was still closed (side note: internet results are not always accurate.. surprise!) so we ended up getting coffee and a light breakfast from a Pret A Manger near the train station. Then with food in our tummies, and armed with oyster cards and cameras, we were off to seize the day... carpe-ing the diem or something of the sort.

First on our agenda, Abbey Road. There were a few people already (though not too many as it was still early-ish) at the "Beatles" site, waiting to cross the road and do the pose with a wary eye towards oncoming traffic - I actually didn't realize before then that it is an "active" road.

Next stop: Notting Hill and Portobello Road, including the famous blue door (from the Notting Hill movie). Nice little neighborhood. No sign of William Thacker or Anna Scott though.

Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. We found a fish and chips stand by the Tower entrance so we made a quick stop to split one order - had to have fish and chips while in London, eh. 

We didn't have enough time to go inside so we just took some photos outside and crossed the Tower Bridge - sometimes mistaken as the London Bridge referred to in the song (and no, thankfully, it is not going down going down going down). 

After a needed rest/break for our aching feet and legs at a small park near the bridge, we walked again in search of lunch. Unfortunately, another setback, the restaurant we initially went to was packed - they said Sunday lunches usually are - and they referred us to another place (The Trinity) instead, where the food, as it turned out, was actually pretty good. 

Sunday Roast and Scotch Eggs

Leadenhall Market. This place was featured as Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter movies. As it was a Sunday, some of the shops were closed. Still, it was a nice place to just walk for a few minutes and imagine a place to where no ordinary muggles can go.

 

Covent Garden Market. Wonderful shopping hub, a bit on the high end for a lot of the shops. And since it was mid-November, it was close enough to Christmas for lots of beautiful festive decorations. (I just really love Christmas! 😊)  Also had my first ever English Afternoon Tea in a little tea shop called Whittard of Chelsea.... so fancy. 😏😂

Afternoon Tea at Whittard of Chelsea

Evening mass at Westminster Cathedral.  

A small (or perhaps not so small to the British, I apologize) ignoramus moment: I thought we could go to St Paul's Cathedral and spend some time there for mass... only to realize sometime during the day (and fortunately, before actually going there) that it is an Anglican church. 😳  So we decided, as we didn't have enough time anyway, to just skip this and go to Westminster Cathedral instead.

After the evening mass, we went back to our hotel to get our stuff and decided to wait at the train station for our night train to Edinburgh. A nice lady at the Euston station let us stay at the lounge (and have some snacks/refreshments) until it was time to board our train - it was still a couple hours wait so we were very thankful for this. 

The Caledonian Sleeper was nice -- to me, as a first timer on a sleeper train. Though our room was a bit tight for two people (and two weeks worth of luggage), I wasn't really expecting it to be otherwise anyway.  It was a very interesting experience taking a shower over the toilet (covered though) while trying to maintain your balance or brushing your teeth while watching the country-side pass by. There was a tiny hitch at breakfast, but it was so tiny I won't ruin this post by going into details.

Overall, not a bad full day in London. Still so many places and things I wish we could have seen and done -- clearly, London is not meant to be explored in a day -- but I will back. Someday. I still have money in my Oyster Card left to use after all. 😜

"Perhaps in the darkest times all we can do is refuse to be part of the darkness."

- Guy Gavriel Kay (A Brightness Long Ago)

Euro trip - Nov 2019 - Part One

Last November (feels like forever ago now), I actually found a couple of friends - two of my closest friends from college - to go with me on a trip. 🤣 After a couple of months planning and coordinating -- none of us are within a thousand mile radius of each other, and one is even on the other side of the planet -- we finally embarked on our amazing-race-ish trip to Europe. We had a lot planned... we were too old for this kind of trip, we said; but still very young at heart so we would come out of it alive, or so we convinced ourselves. lololol. 

Our journey started in London (at least for 2 of us) -- I flew in from St Louis and arrived in London around mid-day while Michelle flew in from Manila arriving close to midnight, so I had a whole afternoon and half of the night to myself. 

After London, Michelle and I would head to Edinburgh and explore Scotland a bit for a few days before heading to Stockholm to meet Meann for the rest of our trip.

This was actually the only journal entry I wrote during the entire trip on the first night in London - I was either too wiped out most nights after this or I was too busy chatting with my friends, whom I hadn't seen in years before this.

*****

16 November 2019

8:57 PM - London

25,678 steps as of writing this, and I really only did most of the walking in the afternoon. I am exhausted right now, but I will try to write as much as humanly possible.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. fairly uneventful flights. no delays. long layover in NY as planned, which was good because I had to go to a different airport and the traffic from LGA to JFK was terrible. Flight from JFK to Gatwick was on a B787-9, which had those cool windows -- the kind where you push on a button to dim/block light from outside. 😎

2. Thameslink train from Gatwick to St. Pancras - not too bad. I had no problems finding the train station at the airport and I was able to sit down though there wasn't enough room in the luggage rack so I had to hold mine while trying to not block the aisle and hoping nobody would yell at me.

3. SIM card - unfortunately, advanced planning doesn't always work out; the one I bought at the airport vending machine (yes, I researched about this beforehand) was a total waste... £20 down the drain. But I was able to buy a new one at an EE store in Camden Market.

4. lunch at a Diner in Camden Market - not the most British way to welcome London but the line, umm excuse me, the queue (when in Rome...) at the Poppie's, where I originally wanted to have some fish and chips was too long and by that time, I was already literally shaking from hunger. It was past 1 pm at this point and the last meal I had was on the plane.

5. finally armed with a working SIM card, I started my "pasyal" for the day - took the Underground to Hyde Park but went back to the hotel first to checkin. Because of the whole fiasco with the SIM card, I lost some precious time so it was already starting to get dark when I arrived in Hyde Park. Still looked pretty though from what I saw of it.

6. from Hyde Park, I walked to Buckingham Palace and took some pictures there, along with my fellow tourists. 😁

7. I had planned on going to St James's Park next but it was already too dark at that point so I just took a quick photo of the one part of the park I saw.

8. then walked to Westminster Bridge. The last time I was in London (Nov 2018), Big Ben still had scaffolding covering most of it - it still did today unfortunately. 😞  I took pictures of what I could see of it and of the London Eye (with the pretty lights). I crossed the bridge halfway. 

9. headed to Trafalgar square next. By that time, my feet and legs were killing me and my bladder was about to explode. So I decided to find a cafe and take a break. The place was packed, probably mostly with tourists who needed to take a break like me, so I had to let someone else join me at my table. Chatted with a couple of people at my table and the table next. I find the British really friendly - at least the ones I talked to at the cafe today. :)

10. feeling rested enough to go back to walking, I took a few pictures in Trafalgar Square then walked back towards the Thames River to Cleopatra's Needle.

11. I had originally planned to walk all the way to the Millennium Bridge and cross it but finally accepted old age and gave in to my aching feet - found the closest train station and took the Thameslink back to the hotel, where I am now in bed writing this and waiting for Michelle to arrive.

12. oh yeah, I bought an Oyster Card which was really useful today - some £££ actually well spent.

Tomorrow, more London.

journal entry: Espana parte cinco

25 March 2019

8:59 PM

Last day in Spain for this trip. (Tomorrow doesn't count since I have a really early flight - 6:30 AM)

I had a great time - consumed a lot of food, walked a lot of steps, learned a lot of things, visited most of the places I had planned to see.

I am very grateful for this trip. Today, specifically, I am thankful for:

1. Plaça de Catalunya - following the Barcelona City self-guided walk by Rick Steves, I started out from this square. The Times Square of Barcelona. 

2. Barri Gotic neighborhood

3. Barcelona Cathedral - also Gothic and beautiful inside

  

4. Palau de la Musica Catalana - very beautiful concert venue. Stained glass windows and very unique ceiling. It would be nice to see (and listen) to a concert there someday.

5. Mercat Santa Caterina - had an empanada and a paper cone with different small pieces of ham in it.

6. Museu Picasso de Barcelona - it was nice to learn that Picasso had different kinds of work other than what he became really famous for. (no pictures inside)

7. Cafeteria at El Corte Ingles - nice cafeteria in the top floor of a mall. Had paella, fried pieces of squid, and a small lemony cake. Food was okay. View from the top was nice.

8. Rambla de Mar - at the end of La Rambla is this place by the water. find a shady spot (or not if you don't mind the sun) and just sit and enjoy the view.

9. Pudding - nice little cafe a few blocks from the hotel. Had cafe con leche and chocolate cake.

Realizations:

1. I feel like if my feet had their own mouth, they would be screaming bloody murder at me right now.

2. lots of walking in the heat of the sun - I am definitely not a fan. This is now my second enemy when travelling, right next to tummy problems, which surprisingly didn't make an appearance this trip.

3. favorite food that I've tasted on this trip: 

    -tortilla (spanish omelette) - 2 out of the 3 times

    -mazapan (from Toledo) and ponche segoviana (from Segovia)

    -paella. (I feel like I just didn't go to the right places or the right places were not an option to solo travelers like me -- but I really love seafood and even though those that I did taste were not as mind-blowing as I would have liked them to be, I still liked them)

4. artist/architect I was most impressed with: Antoni Gaudi. Hands down.

5. favorite church: La Sagrada Familia followed by the Toledo Cathedral.

Barcelona is now one of my favorite cities visited.