Day 41 - London

Wow, what a day! I can’t believe we did so much. Carly and I started the day by going for a little wander around the neighbourhood in which we find ourselves…and a very nice area it is too! Lots of lovely houses and gardens, very much like the scenes in Notting Hill. Speaking of which, that was our first adventure for the day.

 

Carly’s friend Carley is living in London and (was) volunteered to act as tour guide for us today in London. She started off brilliantly by conducting us on a walking tour of Notting Hill, reliving many of the scenes from the movie (one of my all time favourites). We saw the famous blue door, the private garden they invaded, the markets in Portobello Rd and various shops and houses depicted in the movie. I was actually surprised that they were all close together and pretty much placed as you would expect them from the movie, just around the corner from each other. It was great fun chasing them all down.

 

In the middle of that we also managed to find a very lovely café and have a wonderful breakfast – porridge, omelettes, crepes…the stuff of legends. It was then a lesson on buying an Oyster card and topping it up with funds to ride the underground for the day. Next we were off to Camden to check out the markets and the lock before we were back once again on the tube heading to Leicester Square to buy some theatre tickets for tonight. After some discussion we decided on “We Will Rock You”, bought the tickets and finally sat down to some lunch at a restaurant on the Square. The desserts were amazing!

 

Some more wandering found us at Trafalgar Square, the M&M World store, Oxford Circus to view the Christmas lights before we farewelled Carley as she was travelling to Amsterdam for the weekend (as you do) and needed to get to the airport. A better guide we could not have hoped for!

 

Carly & I were then back on the tube to have a look at Harrods which was extraordinarily crowded and hot! Nevertheless purchases were made and we were heading back to Tottenham Court Rd Station to get to the theatre as it was now about 6.30pm. All the bars and pubs were too crowded and we were still full from lunch so we simply went in and sat down in our seats. Although it was pretty early our feet certainly appreciated the rest!

 

The show was amazing! Absolutely incredible! We were singing and clapping along and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was then back onto the tube for the trip back to the hotel where we finally arrived at about 11pm. What a big day…and a great day!

 

 

Day 40 - Glasgow to London

We took it easy this morning and took our time, finally checking out about 10.30am. As we were walking into town I noticed that my jacket was falling apart so what else could I do but buy another one? The homeless guy out on the street seemed to appreciate the donation of my old one so it was a win win situation I believe.

 

We spent a pleasant hour or so at the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens. It gave a social history of Glasgow which I found very interesting.  After educating ourselves we walked back into town, bought another macaroon each (yes, we’re officially addicted), and then had a yummy lunch of fish and chips at a pub. It was then back to the hotel to pick up our bags, a walk to pick up the shuttle bus and then the flight to London. Once again we battled the underground, though this time we had to change lines and negotiate stairs with our heavy bags. I just keep telling myself it is all part of the adventure!

 

So we found our hotel where we have a great room with 2 double beds and 5 days ahead of us in London!

Day 39 - Glasgow

It takes some getting used to – the late sunrise. When we awoke we swept open the curtains to greet the new day to find our view of the motorway packed with early morning traffic but pitch black as if it were midnight…and it was 7.30am. It stays really dark and then suddenly (at about 8am) it is daylight, and in the case of today, the sun was shining. Yes, the weather continues to smile upon us against all the odds. We were discussing it today and in the last 39 days we can only recall a total of a few hours of rain…and only 20 minutes of that was heavyish, the rest was drizzle.

 

After another scrummy breakfast (I love the automatic pancake making machine!) we headed off on foot to get to town by 10am where we joined the Hop On Hop Off bus to do the full circuit. This took 1 hour 45 minutes and was really good. I took heaps of photos (ironically the sun was not helpful as it put a glare on the window of the bus) and enjoyed the recorded commentary. I really love Glasgow and hope to come back one day to look at some of these gardens, museums and other assorted attractions. We can use the bus ticket again tomorrow and may have time to see some of what’s on offer.

 

We met David, Sheila & Derek at midday for lunch and had a wonderful time. Davey had a reunion with Greg and Alex (ha ha) and we had so much food there was no chance of ever getting through it all though it was very nice indeed. It was great to catch up with them and hopefully we’ll catch up with them again in Australia soon.

 

 

 

After lunch we did a bit of shopping on the way back to the hotel and Carly discovered she had not mastered the Scottish accent to quite the extent she had first thought. As we were coming out of Tesco a fellow was collecting for charity and said something like “Any small change for the hospital?” Carly said “Pardon?” to which he repeated himself and she still had no idea and said “thank you”, wondering why I was killing myself laughing as we walked down the street. Anyway, we rested in the room for an hour and watched some game shows (The Weakest Link and another bizarre word game) and then headed back into town to go to a movie. We saw Gambit which was not at all what I expected – quite a strange movie. We came home via the Christmas Markets (again) and devoured another macaroon each – they are awesome.

 

So it was just a jam roll and fruit for dinner – too much food earlier in the day. Last night in Glasgow tonight and then it’s back to London tomorrow.

Day 38 - Edinburgh

After a fantastic night’s sleep Carly & I enjoyed our gourmet breakfast (gotta love the Hilton!) and then headed off to investigate how to get to Edinburgh by train. It was very easy in the end. We walked for about 20 minutes, bought our tickets and at 10am we were on the express train headed for Edinburgh. The weather was again very kind to us – no rain, slightly overcast and about 6°. I can honestly say I never thought I would describe 6° as mild but after Austria and Switzerland it doesn’t seem too bad!

 

It was a very pleasant journey of about 50 minutes flying through the lush green Scottish countryside. We had reached Edinburgh Waverley Station by 10.50am and were ready to take the town by storm. After stopping at the tourist information kiosk for a map and some advice, we hot footed it up some stairs and a pretty steep hill to find ourselves at the famed Edinburgh Castle. The views were amazing and Carly and I spent ages trying to take a “selfie” photo that included the castle in the background…in the end we gave up, though you can sort of see a bit in the corner of the photo!

 

 

 

Carly is a bit over castles so we decided not to pay the £15 entry fee and just admired it from the outside. We then walked down the Royal Mile towards Hollyrood Palace, stopping at just about every souvenir shop on the way (and if you’ve been there you will agree that’s some serious shopping). We admired the architecture, the occasional church and the odd statue or monument as we continued down through the Old Town. We stopped at a pub for lunch where Carly had an awesome beef stew – check it out!

 

This was but a brief respite and we were back out in the cold continuing on our walk to the palace. We circled the grounds, took a few photos and headed back up towards the shops – Carly is over palaces too so we admired it from afar only.

 

It was then over to the New Town and some serious shops that all seem to be beautifully decorated for Christmas. By 3pm and almost 4 hours of walking by mutual consent we decided to head back to the station for our return journey. The trains run every 15 minutes so we had only a few minutes to wait before we were heading back to Glasgow – a great service.

 

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to call in to the Christmas Markets on the way back to the hotel and grabbed some fudge and two of the nicest coconut macaroons you have ever tasted – Carly says she has to go back tomorrow to get more. We were in our room by 5pm where we watched a strange game show called The Chase, went downstairs for a pizza in the bar, and then chilled out, resting our tired tootsies.

We are meeting David, (my friend from work), and his family, tomorrow for lunch which should be really good so I’m quite excited to see them again. We are also planning to explore Glasgow a little further.

Day 37 - London to Glasgow

We are so clever! Once again we made our own way from the hotel in London to Heathrow on the Underground AND when we arrived in Glasgow we caught the shuttle bus into town and found our hotel with no trouble at all. What seasoned travellers we are. We are staying at the Glasgow Hilton as our travel agent found us this amazing deal…and I must say it is a cut above where we have stayed up to now. It has an indoor pool, Jacuzzi, gym, very nice rooms and I’m sure we’ll have a lovely 3 days here.

 

Our flight was delayed slightly and we arrived at the hotel at 2.20pm, dropped our stuff in the room and then headed off to grab some lunch at a nearby pub, the Bon Accord. Lunch was amazing – I had an incredible thing that was vegie sausages, mashed potato & gravy all in a massive “yorkie” or Yorkshire pudding.

 

We then saw that there were some markets at the other end of the city so we hightailed it through the shopping district just to discover that the Barra Markets had just packed up when we arrived at 4.15pm. Oh well – we got slightly lost and stumbled upon St Andrew’s Church so it was not a wasted trip.

 

We wandered back through the shops and were excited to see that there were also some Christmas Markets that we had previously missed. They were fantastic but unfortunately we weren’t hungry after our late lunch so we only bought one small French pastry. Hopefully they will be open again while we are here so we can go back and eat some of the yummy food. I had never heard off or seen Christmas Markets before but they have been on or about to open in many of the countries we have visited.

We got back to the hotel at about 6pm and decided to do some washing and generally take it easy and plan our next few days. I love Glasgow!

Day 36 - Amsterdam to London

Very early start today as Patricia wanted us to beat the traffic to make the 12.30pm ferry from Calais to Dover…so we were on the bus at 6.45am (that’s right…6.45AM). It was a fairly uneventful trip as we travelled through Belgium, though it was difficult to know what anything looked like as everything was shrouded in fog once again.

 

We did have a brief stop and we managed to grab some Belgian chocolate – what can I say…when in Rome…you can’t be in Belgium and not try their chocolate! We made it to the port in plenty of time and were on the boat by 12pm after saying our goodbyes to Patricia & Rocko. It was incredibly empty – there was hardly anyone on the boat besides us so it was easy to grab some lunch and relax. It was a good crossing – no problems with the high winds that were predicted.

 

Eventually we sighted the white cliffs of Dover and we were soon off the boat and transferred to a new coach for our drive to London. We were told this would take 2 hours but it was three and a half hours before we finally made it to our hotel. Grabbed some soup in the bar for dinner while we used the Wi-Fi to look at what we can get up to in Glasgow where we fly to tomorrow.

 

Day 35 - Amsterdam

Today it was raining! What a shock – we have been so lucky with the weather so far so we couldn’t complain. It actually stopped by about lunch time which was when we were mostly out and about so once again luck was on our side.

 

We left our hotel at about 8am and headed off towards the Netherlands. After a brief morning stop, our first destination was a diamond factory in Amsterdam where we were treated to a demonstration and explanation regarding diamonds. Unfortunately they weren’t giving out free samples…

 

We then had about 45 minutes to grab a bite to eat so after some brief souvenir shopping CJ and I decided to try the famed chubby hot dog which was very nice indeed.

 

We then departed for a cruise along the canals of Amsterdam which lasted about an hour and a half – lots of photo opportunities. This was followed by a walking tour of the famed red light district – no photo opportunities as this is greatly frowned upon and they come out and bash you if you take photos. It is always an experience to see the girls in the windows though you do feel somewhat of a perve as you walk down the streets with 47 other people in tow! We also checked out the “Coffee shops” – I think you could get high just breathing in the smoke as you walk past…

 

After the tour finished we were allocated some free time and Carly and I literally raced to Anne Frank’s house to go to the museum there. We were able to spend about 45 minutes there before we ran back to the meeting point at the allotted time. I had been there before and knew it was worth the effort to see it and Carly agreed it would be one of the most memorable times on the trip.

The group then gathered for our farewell dinner as this is the last night of the tour. It was all fun and good to reminisce about the best bits of the last 4 weeks. We have an early start tomorrow with a 6.45am start time on the bus so we can get into London at a reasonable time. Hopefully I can sleep then!

 

                                                  Our tour director, Patricia & driver, Rocko