The reason I am starting this very belated blog post with that short "lesson" is because I have officially been to every country in Great Britain! :)
Wales:
Over the weekend of February 7th - 9th some friends and I went to Wales. We had decided to go because it was cheap, but didn't know anything about what there was to do or see, and I have to say, Wales surpassed my expectations. Cardiff was a small, beautiful city on the water with great architecture, tons of pubs, and delicious food. Oh, and one kick ass castle. The first day we were there we went on a long walk through town and by the water, ate tapas with the most amazing sangria I've ever had, and hung out in our hostel. The hostel was surprisingly extremely nice! They served a great complementary breakfast, free tea and coffee all day, a cider and pizza dinner for just a pound, and the people working were just all around friendly. On Saturday, our second day there, we got to storm the castle! It was so beautiful and really fun to see the different rooms and towers, even though the steps to get up to the towers tended to be steep and a bit scary! We walked around it for a while and then I saw a little door in the side of a hill that resembled a hobbit hole. I thought we had to go in there, but upon entering it just looked like a broom closet. But we went in, and good thing we did because it turned out to be an old World War II bunker. Right under the castle wall! It was really scary though, with no lights, and old speeches and the sound of bombings coming from speakers along the walls. The walls were decorated in old WWII propaganda, which were extremely sexist by today's standards but quite funny. There were some tables and beds set up to example what they would have been like back then. All in all it was a very cool experience. Then we went to a museum and it was, well, a museum. Another fun part of the day, though, was going to a pub to watch rugby! The 6 Nations tournament is a series of rugby games between England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, and Italy, and that weekend there was a game between Ireland and Wales, so naturally everyone there was very into it! On Sunday we took a little trip to another costal town called Penarth where we walked along a rocky beach, through a cute little town, and into a yummy restaurant for lunch! When we got back to Cardiff, we went to a tea shop and had tea and scones. FYI: scones here are not like scones at home, they're amazing. All in all it was a great weekend.
Photo From Wales:
Welsh Parliament
Words Learned in Wales:
"Dummy" = Pacifier
"Op Shop" = Thrift Shop (in Australia, not UK - learned from a girl in our hostel
Scotland:
This past weekend I went to Scotland to visit my friend Amy who lives in Glasgow. I took a night bus on Thursday night, arriving in Glasgow bright and early on Friday morning. Then we went back to her flat and slept the rest of the morning! In the afternoon I went to class with her and then we walked all around Glasgow. It was very pretty, but my head was down most of the time due to the rain, so that was a shame.
On Saturday we went to Edinburgh and it was probably one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. We started out walking to their Parliament building, which was actually very ugly oddly enough. Then we walked through some main streets and all around the city. We walked by University of Edinburgh and had a pint at their student union. Then we walked through an area called Grassmarket, which is now full of "posh shops" (a.k.a. pretty clothes I can't afford) but was once where all of the hangings took place - lovely fun fact I know. Then we looked up and saw the castle (another castle - so exciting!) It stands on top of a hill (kind of more like a cliff really) and overlooks the whole city. I knew we wouldn't get a chance to go in because it was already closed for the day and cost too much anyway unfortunately, but I really wanted to go up and get close to it at least! So from Grassmarket we found a nice and steep staircase that lead right up to the castle. Well if the 6 miles we had walked already that day weren't enough exercise for the day, those stairs sure did the trick! But once we got to the top it was all worth it because the view of the city was so beautiful. It was right around sunset and the sky was so pink it looked photoshopped. And the castle was huge! Much bigger than the one in Cardiff. If I ever go back, I'll go inside!! Finally, to finish off the day in Edinburgh (the UK's most haunted city), we went on a ghost tour! This was a bus tour all through the city, where like any bus tour, they told us the names of the buildings and some history. The twist, however, is that each building came with a ghost story of some witch, murder, and/or serial killer. It was very cool. Edinburgh also has an underground city, which many of the walking ghost tours go through, but as it was a very cold night I was happy being on the bus tour. When we later got back to Amy's flat in Glasgow some of her friends came over, so it was really nice meeting other Scottish people!
On Sunday we went back into the center of Glasgow because it was a beautiful day! The center was very pretty and this time I could appreciate it! We went to a big square where a carnival with a ferris wheel was set up for valentines day. We then had dinner in town before I had to grab my overnight bus back to London.
Photo from Scotland:
The Scott Monument
for Author Sir Walter Scott
Word learned in Scotland:
"Waistcoat" = Vest
"Vest" = A tanktop or undershirt
Oh yeah, and school's going well too! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment