Trip Rundown
So I arrived safely home last from my trip to the UK. Trip was
fantastic! Didn't see *everything* that there was to see but there
was soo much to be seen that it was just not possible to do it all in
one trip. Fortunately that just means I'll just have to go back for
another visit :)
Of course, I took a ton of pictures. I'm going to post the highlights
for each place in separate posts. For those who want to see everything
I took pics of all of the pictures can be found on my Flickr account.
They are currently organized into sets by place but nothing is tagged yet.
My trip didn't start out well. When I left the house on Saturday the
rain that had started the night before had slowed to drizzle. We had
been prepared for rain. What we were not expecting was for it to rain
cats, dogs and elephants for over 24 hours. Of course the CTA was
doing construction project 500 million as it was the weekend. By time
I got downtown it was raining cats, dogs and elephants and I learned
that the Orange line was only going as far as the Library stop. What
that meant was that instead of being able to do a direct transfer to
the Blue line @ Clark & Lake and stay dry I was going to have to get
off the Orange line - carry my luggage down the damn stairs to street
level and walk 2 blocks in the monsoon outside to the Jackson stop.
Now, the Blue line runs underground downtown, which means I had to
maneuver myself, my suitcase, carry-on bag and purse down the stairs
while holding an umbrella in an attempt to stay dry and not fall and
break any body parts. Once this was accomplished I got on the Blue
line to discover that due to track work it was only going as far as
Irving Park - where I then had to get off, haul the luggage downstairs
to the shuttle bus that took us Jefferson Park where I hauled the
luggage back up the stairs and got back on the train. Only to find
that the Monsoon, which had already flooded various parts of various
expressways, had also flooded the tracks running into O'Hare. Which
meant that the train went as far as Rosemont, where I got off and
hauled the luggage down more stairs (are we seeing a pattern yet?) to
another shuttle bus that took us to the airport and proceeded to drop
us off across the street from the terminal. Needless to say by time I
actually made it to the airport (all total about 2 hours) I was wet,
cold and my back and arms hurt from all the carrying of the luggage up
and down staircases.
Was checked in and through security pretty quickly and my flight was
listed as on time. Sat at the gate, sat some more. 4pm rolls around
and no plane at the gate (my flight was to leave @ 5pm). 4:15 rolls
around and they make an announcement that my flight has changed gates.
So we all shuffle over to the new gate and sit and wait, and wait and
wait and 4:45 rolls around and they announce we're delayed and new
expected departure is @ 6pm.
One would think that we were delayed due to the the monsoon raging
outside. One would be wrong. No one could quite tell us why we were
delayed as our plane was AT THE AIRPORT. It had been hanging out in
the hanger since 1pm. Unhappily our flight finally left @ 6:30 -
which meant we landed @ Heathrow and hour and a half late, which meant
that I missed my 9:30 train to Cardiff.
Tickets bought for a later train and a quick call to Leanna to say I'd landed late and was still @ Paddington and would be arriving in Cardiff at 2pm and I was all set. Except that I had to potty. Note to anyone traveling into Paddington Station in London - the potty is down a freaking set of stairs AND you have to PAY to potty. Thankfully shipperchick had cleaned out her change drawer before I left and so I was prepared with coins! Made the 10:30 train and I was on my way. Slept pretty much the entire train ride as I was 1) really tired and 2) fighting a nasty headache. Finally arrived in Cardiff and was never so happy to be out of a moving vehicle in my life. Leanna and Alex fed my yummy lunch and lots of tea and I was feeling much better. Nice walk around Splott (the area of Cardiff where they live) and then it was time for dinner. Leanna definitely married a winner - that boy can cook! Then sleep, wonderful, glorious, sleep :)
Monday we met gina227's friend Liz for tea and some lunch. Liz was nice enough to take us around city center and show us around a bit. Monday night was girls movie night in which I met Jenn and Lucy and we watched 'Calendar Girls' and had wine and chocolate.
Tuesday started off @ 5am when we left for the drive to Nottingham. Leanna and I wandered around from 7:30 till about 9am when things opened looking at all the cute buildings. Leanna and Alex were living in Nottingham when she 1st moved over so she knew all the cool things to show me. Spent the day @ Nottingham Castle, did the tunnel tour, had tasty lunch @ Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem - the oldest Inn in England, est 1189 (the roasted pepper and goat cheese sandwich is a winner!)
Wednesday was also spent in Nottingham. Leanna and I hit the museum we missed the day before and did a little shopping before spending a few quality hours in a little tea shop while we waited for Alex to finish work. Then time for the drive back to Cardiff, which I was actually awake for, and got to see some really beautiful countryside.
Thursday, Leanna and I met up with Hannah and we went to Cardiff Castle.
Friday we were supposed go to Cardiff Bay but Leanna got a call from one of the temp agencies she's registered with and so I wandered around shopping in city center while she had her interview. That night Leanna, Alex and I met Stuart, Hannah and her boyfriend Jordan down in the bay for drinks @ Terra Nova.
Saturday we had a proper wander around Cardiff Bay and a visit to the Doctor Who exhibition. That afternoon Leanna, Alex, Stuart and I met up with Hannah and Jordan in Pontypridd and we drove up into the Vally's to go hiking. Beautiful countryside and lots of sheep! Stopped at a pub before we left and had a good wander around an old graveyard across from the pub. My final night in Cardiff ended with Lenna, Alex, Stuart and I having dinner and movie night.
Sunday it was time for my trip to end :( Safely arrived back in the Windy City, completely exhausted since I didn't sleep on the plane so that be plenty tired when I got home. I was lucky I remembered my name when I was talking to the customs guy at O'Hare.
fantastic! Didn't see *everything* that there was to see but there
was soo much to be seen that it was just not possible to do it all in
one trip. Fortunately that just means I'll just have to go back for
another visit :)
Of course, I took a ton of pictures. I'm going to post the highlights
for each place in separate posts. For those who want to see everything
I took pics of all of the pictures can be found on my Flickr account.
They are currently organized into sets by place but nothing is tagged yet.
My trip didn't start out well. When I left the house on Saturday the
rain that had started the night before had slowed to drizzle. We had
been prepared for rain. What we were not expecting was for it to rain
cats, dogs and elephants for over 24 hours. Of course the CTA was
doing construction project 500 million as it was the weekend. By time
I got downtown it was raining cats, dogs and elephants and I learned
that the Orange line was only going as far as the Library stop. What
that meant was that instead of being able to do a direct transfer to
the Blue line @ Clark & Lake and stay dry I was going to have to get
off the Orange line - carry my luggage down the damn stairs to street
level and walk 2 blocks in the monsoon outside to the Jackson stop.
Now, the Blue line runs underground downtown, which means I had to
maneuver myself, my suitcase, carry-on bag and purse down the stairs
while holding an umbrella in an attempt to stay dry and not fall and
break any body parts. Once this was accomplished I got on the Blue
line to discover that due to track work it was only going as far as
Irving Park - where I then had to get off, haul the luggage downstairs
to the shuttle bus that took us Jefferson Park where I hauled the
luggage back up the stairs and got back on the train. Only to find
that the Monsoon, which had already flooded various parts of various
expressways, had also flooded the tracks running into O'Hare. Which
meant that the train went as far as Rosemont, where I got off and
hauled the luggage down more stairs (are we seeing a pattern yet?) to
another shuttle bus that took us to the airport and proceeded to drop
us off across the street from the terminal. Needless to say by time I
actually made it to the airport (all total about 2 hours) I was wet,
cold and my back and arms hurt from all the carrying of the luggage up
and down staircases.
Was checked in and through security pretty quickly and my flight was
listed as on time. Sat at the gate, sat some more. 4pm rolls around
and no plane at the gate (my flight was to leave @ 5pm). 4:15 rolls
around and they make an announcement that my flight has changed gates.
So we all shuffle over to the new gate and sit and wait, and wait and
wait and 4:45 rolls around and they announce we're delayed and new
expected departure is @ 6pm.
One would think that we were delayed due to the the monsoon raging
outside. One would be wrong. No one could quite tell us why we were
delayed as our plane was AT THE AIRPORT. It had been hanging out in
the hanger since 1pm. Unhappily our flight finally left @ 6:30 -
which meant we landed @ Heathrow and hour and a half late, which meant
that I missed my 9:30 train to Cardiff.
Tickets bought for a later train and a quick call to Leanna to say I'd landed late and was still @ Paddington and would be arriving in Cardiff at 2pm and I was all set. Except that I had to potty. Note to anyone traveling into Paddington Station in London - the potty is down a freaking set of stairs AND you have to PAY to potty. Thankfully shipperchick had cleaned out her change drawer before I left and so I was prepared with coins! Made the 10:30 train and I was on my way. Slept pretty much the entire train ride as I was 1) really tired and 2) fighting a nasty headache. Finally arrived in Cardiff and was never so happy to be out of a moving vehicle in my life. Leanna and Alex fed my yummy lunch and lots of tea and I was feeling much better. Nice walk around Splott (the area of Cardiff where they live) and then it was time for dinner. Leanna definitely married a winner - that boy can cook! Then sleep, wonderful, glorious, sleep :)
Monday we met gina227's friend Liz for tea and some lunch. Liz was nice enough to take us around city center and show us around a bit. Monday night was girls movie night in which I met Jenn and Lucy and we watched 'Calendar Girls' and had wine and chocolate.
Tuesday started off @ 5am when we left for the drive to Nottingham. Leanna and I wandered around from 7:30 till about 9am when things opened looking at all the cute buildings. Leanna and Alex were living in Nottingham when she 1st moved over so she knew all the cool things to show me. Spent the day @ Nottingham Castle, did the tunnel tour, had tasty lunch @ Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem - the oldest Inn in England, est 1189 (the roasted pepper and goat cheese sandwich is a winner!)
Wednesday was also spent in Nottingham. Leanna and I hit the museum we missed the day before and did a little shopping before spending a few quality hours in a little tea shop while we waited for Alex to finish work. Then time for the drive back to Cardiff, which I was actually awake for, and got to see some really beautiful countryside.
Thursday, Leanna and I met up with Hannah and we went to Cardiff Castle.
Friday we were supposed go to Cardiff Bay but Leanna got a call from one of the temp agencies she's registered with and so I wandered around shopping in city center while she had her interview. That night Leanna, Alex and I met Stuart, Hannah and her boyfriend Jordan down in the bay for drinks @ Terra Nova.
Saturday we had a proper wander around Cardiff Bay and a visit to the Doctor Who exhibition. That afternoon Leanna, Alex, Stuart and I met up with Hannah and Jordan in Pontypridd and we drove up into the Vally's to go hiking. Beautiful countryside and lots of sheep! Stopped at a pub before we left and had a good wander around an old graveyard across from the pub. My final night in Cardiff ended with Lenna, Alex, Stuart and I having dinner and movie night.
Sunday it was time for my trip to end :( Safely arrived back in the Windy City, completely exhausted since I didn't sleep on the plane so that be plenty tired when I got home. I was lucky I remembered my name when I was talking to the customs guy at O'Hare.