Trip to the UK Part 1- Manchester and Edinburgh
On June 1st, I flew by myself to the UK to journey around the countryside with my friend Whitney. Here's a collection of photos and videos from our adventures!
After a very long day of travels, I landed in Manchester on June 2nd at 7:00 am. After getting my bag, I found Whitney right away and we headed to the place we were staying that night. Turns out we were couch-surfing, which I'd never done before. We stayed in a nice part of Manchester with a woman named Lydia and her boyfriend. I was pretty much a zombie the whole day, but they were nice and Manchester was nice and it was all good. That night we watched an episode of Spaced (which I loved but I almost fell asleep during). Somehow I made it to 9:30 pm after running on only four hours of sleep for about two days time, so needless to say, I slept like a log.
The next morning, we said goodbye to Lydia and took a train to Edinburgh, Scotland. After a three hour journey there, we arrived and I immediately heard bagpipes upon leaving the station. It was awesome. We found our hostel pretty quickly and checked in. The hostel was incredible and has ruined me for any other hostel.
Whitney in the main lounge area of the hostel. There was always great music playing.
They had a Wii and a huge chess board and lots of boardgames you could play with. All the walls were painted with different designs too.
This was the bar in the lounge area.
A hilarious bathroom door.
We had to walk up these stairs to get to our room.
Though we had both been dressed warmly for Edinburgh, our first day there was really warm so we ended up leaving our jackets behind and wearing t-shirts (something I didn't anticipate). I wore my John Green PIZZA shirt and met two UK Nerdfighters through it, which was beyond awesome.
We toured Edinburgh Castle that day too which was really cool.
The view from the castle.
They had a cemetery for soldiers' dogs there. <3
Me being dumb.
Whitney being sexy.
We thought this figure was delightfully derpy. He's so excited to be killing people!
Lovely lovely castle. :)
That night, we took the Edinburgh Ghost Tour which was really fun. The stories were great, but it didn't even get dark until around 10:30 pm which really tripped me out.
The next morning, we enjoyed our free breakfast of toast and cereal and stepped outside to greet a much cooler day. I was wrapped in my jacket and windbreaker, but it certainly did feel more Edinburgh-like.
Since it was so much cooler, Whitney and I decided to hike up Arthur's Seat. We brought some breakfast sandwiches with us to eat up there too. It had a gorgeous view of the city.
We climbed that!
After that, we walked back down and took a tour of the Holyrood Gallery and Palace. The gallery was alright, though the photos of King George VI were pretty awesome, especially since I've become a little obsessed with The King's Speech. The palace was amazing.
After exploring the palace, we warmed up at Chocolate Soup, where we had incredible hot chocolate. I highly recommend the white chocolate with butterscotch. <3 Mmmmm...
With our stomachs full of warm goodness, we walked around parts of Edinburgh we hadn't explored before and ended up getting a little lost. We happened upon a playground, though, and acted like five-year-olds for a while as we played on the odd toys that we don't have in America. Playgrounds in other countries are always fun. :DWe concluded the day by eating at Pizza Express. Delish!
The next day, we bought our train tickets to London for the following day and then went to Edinburgh Dungeon. I can easily say this is one of the strangest places I have ever been to. It was so hokey and weird... I don't even know. We got a two-for-one offer though, so we said "Why not?" and went anyways. I'm still not sure what I thought of it.
After a lunch at Bella Italiano and a dessert at Chocolate Soup, we headed over to Giles Cathedral which was gorgeous (unfortunately, I couldn't take photos inside; there was a 2 pound charge).
The outside of the cathedral.
This heart is what the peasants used to spit on to declare their hate for taxes, and it's still spit upon today. You can always tell a tourist in Edinburgh, because they'll walk right through it, while anyone who knows the story walk around it. There's one story that I heard where a man proposed to his girlfriend by kneeling on that heart-- an entire tour group behind the couple let out a chorus of "ew"'s. How embarrassing! Whitney and I made sure to add our spit to the heart.
After Giles Cathedral, we went over to the Elephant House Cafe, where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series!
So many elephants!
We headed over to the cemetery where JK Rowling borrowed some names for characters. We also found Greyfriar's Bobby while there.
This dog loyally waited by his master's grave for twelve years, only leaving it to eat.
Instead of flowers, people leave bouquets of sticks and milk bones at his gravestone. <3 So sweet.
There were lots of creepy things in the cemetery too. Can you say "nightmare fuel"?
There is a dark history of grave robberies in Edinburgh, so many times those who could afford it would have cages placed over their tombs.
The Dark Lord himself! Poor guy... he was probably a very decent man and now he's forever associated with an incredibly evil literary character.
McGonagall! Apparently Moody is another name taken from this cemetery, but we never found his grave stone.
After this, we went to a pub for dinner and then crashed, ready for our journey to London.
Also: while we were shopping in a silly touristy shop, we heard a bagpipe cover of "You're the Voice", which, thanks to the Merlin fandom, is a song we both adore.
And that concludes our adventures in Edinburgh! :D On to London!
After a very long day of travels, I landed in Manchester on June 2nd at 7:00 am. After getting my bag, I found Whitney right away and we headed to the place we were staying that night. Turns out we were couch-surfing, which I'd never done before. We stayed in a nice part of Manchester with a woman named Lydia and her boyfriend. I was pretty much a zombie the whole day, but they were nice and Manchester was nice and it was all good. That night we watched an episode of Spaced (which I loved but I almost fell asleep during). Somehow I made it to 9:30 pm after running on only four hours of sleep for about two days time, so needless to say, I slept like a log.
The next morning, we said goodbye to Lydia and took a train to Edinburgh, Scotland. After a three hour journey there, we arrived and I immediately heard bagpipes upon leaving the station. It was awesome. We found our hostel pretty quickly and checked in. The hostel was incredible and has ruined me for any other hostel.
Whitney in the main lounge area of the hostel. There was always great music playing.
They had a Wii and a huge chess board and lots of boardgames you could play with. All the walls were painted with different designs too.
This was the bar in the lounge area.
A hilarious bathroom door.
We had to walk up these stairs to get to our room.
Though we had both been dressed warmly for Edinburgh, our first day there was really warm so we ended up leaving our jackets behind and wearing t-shirts (something I didn't anticipate). I wore my John Green PIZZA shirt and met two UK Nerdfighters through it, which was beyond awesome.
We toured Edinburgh Castle that day too which was really cool.
The view from the castle.
They had a cemetery for soldiers' dogs there. <3
Me being dumb.
Whitney being sexy.
We thought this figure was delightfully derpy. He's so excited to be killing people!
Lovely lovely castle. :)
That night, we took the Edinburgh Ghost Tour which was really fun. The stories were great, but it didn't even get dark until around 10:30 pm which really tripped me out.
The next morning, we enjoyed our free breakfast of toast and cereal and stepped outside to greet a much cooler day. I was wrapped in my jacket and windbreaker, but it certainly did feel more Edinburgh-like.
Since it was so much cooler, Whitney and I decided to hike up Arthur's Seat. We brought some breakfast sandwiches with us to eat up there too. It had a gorgeous view of the city.
We climbed that!
After that, we walked back down and took a tour of the Holyrood Gallery and Palace. The gallery was alright, though the photos of King George VI were pretty awesome, especially since I've become a little obsessed with The King's Speech. The palace was amazing.
After exploring the palace, we warmed up at Chocolate Soup, where we had incredible hot chocolate. I highly recommend the white chocolate with butterscotch. <3 Mmmmm...
With our stomachs full of warm goodness, we walked around parts of Edinburgh we hadn't explored before and ended up getting a little lost. We happened upon a playground, though, and acted like five-year-olds for a while as we played on the odd toys that we don't have in America. Playgrounds in other countries are always fun. :DWe concluded the day by eating at Pizza Express. Delish!
The next day, we bought our train tickets to London for the following day and then went to Edinburgh Dungeon. I can easily say this is one of the strangest places I have ever been to. It was so hokey and weird... I don't even know. We got a two-for-one offer though, so we said "Why not?" and went anyways. I'm still not sure what I thought of it.
After a lunch at Bella Italiano and a dessert at Chocolate Soup, we headed over to Giles Cathedral which was gorgeous (unfortunately, I couldn't take photos inside; there was a 2 pound charge).
The outside of the cathedral.
This heart is what the peasants used to spit on to declare their hate for taxes, and it's still spit upon today. You can always tell a tourist in Edinburgh, because they'll walk right through it, while anyone who knows the story walk around it. There's one story that I heard where a man proposed to his girlfriend by kneeling on that heart-- an entire tour group behind the couple let out a chorus of "ew"'s. How embarrassing! Whitney and I made sure to add our spit to the heart.
After Giles Cathedral, we went over to the Elephant House Cafe, where JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series!
So many elephants!
We headed over to the cemetery where JK Rowling borrowed some names for characters. We also found Greyfriar's Bobby while there.
This dog loyally waited by his master's grave for twelve years, only leaving it to eat.
Instead of flowers, people leave bouquets of sticks and milk bones at his gravestone. <3 So sweet.
There were lots of creepy things in the cemetery too. Can you say "nightmare fuel"?
There is a dark history of grave robberies in Edinburgh, so many times those who could afford it would have cages placed over their tombs.
The Dark Lord himself! Poor guy... he was probably a very decent man and now he's forever associated with an incredibly evil literary character.
McGonagall! Apparently Moody is another name taken from this cemetery, but we never found his grave stone.
After this, we went to a pub for dinner and then crashed, ready for our journey to London.
Also: while we were shopping in a silly touristy shop, we heard a bagpipe cover of "You're the Voice", which, thanks to the Merlin fandom, is a song we both adore.
Click to viewAnd that concludes our adventures in Edinburgh! :D On to London!