Fantastical Life of Mine

The London Eye on the Thames and Big Ben

So this, again, is long overdue but with the recent sale of the business, I have a little more time on my hands and thought I should post our trip last year to the UK.

Our trip began in London, taking a direct 9-hour flight from Austin into London Heathrow. Not much sleep, but really good meals! Thanks British Airways :)

We had opted to use public transit systems to get around and not rent a car for the trip, so when we arrived in London at 3:30AM Central Standard Time/9:30 AM London time, we were thoroughly confused by how the rails worked. We managed to get on a train however and head into London, where we'd booked a hotel near a rail stop in Earl's Court area. MIND THE GAP.

The idea was to stay awake to adjust to the time change, so after dropping our bags off we went to the Natural History Museum, which was a short walk from our hotel. The museums and galleries in London primarily run on donations and are free to visit!

The dinosaur skeletons they have at the Natural History Museum are incredible! Not to mention the beautiful Vault on the fourth floor, a massive collection of gems and minerals from around the world. They have a gorgeous display of diamonds in every color under the sun, and toggle between a blacklight and UV light exposure to show their brilliance. Definitely worth a look if you ever go.

Both to keep ourselves awake and to enjoy the essence of England, we drank tons of English breakfast tea. All the time. We also enjoyed a full English breakfast on multiple occasions. It consists mostly of a few "rashers of bacon," which are wonderfully salted pork back slices cooked much like bacon. This accompanied fried eggs, a grilled tomato, sausages, baked beans on toast *YUM*, and this little dark patty of what Marissa thought was rye bread... but was actually black pudding. English blood pudding, or black pudding, is essentially cooked-down pig's blood, suet, sometimes bread, barley, and some oatmeal mixed to make a patty. I had no idea! Some Brits we met later got a good laugh out of that. But hey, whatever, it was good!

Anyhoo, we walked many a street of London, with the best luck on weather you could ever ask for. Breezy, sunny, and generally perfect for strolling about. The busy areas kind of reminded me of New Orleans, with street performers and little shops everywhere.

A beautiful tiny church in Earl's Court area

Random art out and about

The National Gallery was great, but many of the sections I wanted to see were closed due to a worker's strike (the Gallery, along with many others in London, were talking about outsourcing their security and docents). I can't really blame them, and we still got to see some of the monumental Byzantine era as well as many classic Baroque pieces and Northern Renaissance works, including Jan Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Wedding Portrait"! They're always smaller than you think, y'know? I love this one though, the reflection in the mirror and those beautiful folds of fabric, that way creepy little dog. I digress.

Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Wedding Portrait"

Me with daVinci's "Virgin of the Rocks" at the National Gallery

We'd heard about this Two Together Rail pass that gives you a massive discount on train fares, so we went to investigate. We thought it'd be simple, but 4 hours later at the other end of London in Richmond, we were scrambling to make that pass happen before our plans to go to Wales got way more expensive. It so happened that the Rugby World Cup was being hosted in Twickenham that night, right near Richmond.

Enjoying a cocktail at a pub

Rugby at another pub

So we did a bit of a pub crawl and ended up meeting some locals. That, friends, was a long and fun-filled night of partying! We closed the club down at 3 AM (clubs in London seem to stay open later on Saturdays than here in the US), then drunkenly found a cab back to our hotel. Whew!

Our Richmond party friends!

Needless to say, as you get older, your hangovers get more relentless. We were able to get to the rail station and depart for Wales on schedule, however, which was quite an enjoyable ride. Jhet slept most of it :)

The countryside was gorgeous though, and I quite enjoyed the quiet time of the train ride after the bustle of London for a few days. They have snacks on the train too! Mmm, snacks. I had oatmeal and hot tea, and sat journaling until we arrived in Cardiff, Wales, our next destination.

One of the stations on our way to Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff I'm pretty sure was hungover from celebrating England's defeat to Australia in the rugby game the night before, as the town appeared abandoned. Shops were closed up, and hardly anyone was on the street there. Regardless, the Cardiff Castle was an intricately beautiful sight, and one of our favorite destinations on the trip.

Cardiff Castle, Cardiff, Wales

There is also an ancient Norman castle atop the hill from newer estate, and all of this was built on top of an ancient Roman fort! The builders of the later castle discovered the Roman wall during construction, and the lord of the house had him incorporate the wall into his own. Overall a very beautiful and interesting site

The main reason we were in Cardiff, however, is the Dr. Who Experience!! Yes, we're fans of the BBC classic show, and the tour was a bit cheesy and very fun, just as we'd hoped. For those of you who aren't familiar, these pictures are going to be weird. Check it out if you've never seen it; it's campy, funny and definitely a sci-fi favorite of ours.

SHAKIN' HANDS WITH AN OOD!!

The TARDIS (there are tons of them all over the UK in random places too!)

David Tennant's TARDIS interior set

Some baddies and a Centauran!

After Wales, we took the Caledonian Sleeper, an overnight train, up to Scotland to visit Marissa's aunt and uncle on Loch Long. A Loch is a lake that is connected to the ocean, so the tide rises and falls with the ocean. They have a gorgeous bed and breakfast there that they are in the midst of renovating and were gracious enough to take us in for a good part of our trip.

Us before our super-long sleepless train ride to Scotland

Just so you know, if you ever book a sleeper train, MAKE SURE YOU BOOK A SLEEPER CAR WITH A BED and NOT A SEAT! Oops. Worst night of sleep on the trip, so we slept until 12:30 the next afternoon after we arrived in Arrochar. I also found that Glasgow has a very strong accent of its own, which made getting our ticket to Arrochar (pronounced "ericker") hilarious. Sometimes even when you speak the same language, you really don't. The ticket guy and I worked it out though, and we successfully navigated through Glasgow to a small station to catch our train to the country. It was a brief walk through Glasgow at 5:30 in the morning, which was actually pretty nice.

Glasgow in the A.M.

Grabbing a breakfast sandwich at the station before our train to Arrochar

Scotland is gorgeous. Let me just start with that. I've never seen land that has water just flowing out of its pores. The grass is soft and graceful, with rolling hills and mountains granting the lowland its streams below.

My aunt and uncle drove us all over the place, with my uncle pulling over at every request for us to take photographs and walk in this heavenly place! I can't thank them enough for their patience and generosity.

Driving on the left side! What a trip.

Out in the national park areas of Scotland

Aunt grabbing some great shots of the landscape!

Rockin' the pleather out in nature...

Arrochar is such an adorable town, It's situated right on Loch Long, with the Cobbler, a famous climbing destination, right nearby. Scotland has this really amazing "right to roam" law that enables you to just roam freely regardless of property. You can't camp on people's driveways and such but you can walk just about anywhere without fear of trespassing.

Us at the Village Inn, the local pub, in Arrochar

We spent four fantastic days in Scotland, driving all over the place and having tons of fun. Jhet got to try haggis for the first time. More food info:

Haggis is a traditional Scottish food, a mix of sheep's innards ground up and mixed with oatmeal, onion, and stock then put into a patty or a log shape. It's got a softer consistency, and was actually pretty darn good and probably really good for you. I tried a bite too just to know. Gotta eat the local fare!

Us at the Clachaig Inn, a climber's destination

Jhet at Clachaig after trying some haggis!

Another terminology for you: midgies! They're these tiny gnat-size biting, flying pests around the loch. The Village Inn has a drink called the Midgie which I quite enjoyed. No, it does not have midgies in it.

We took Jhet to Gleneagles, a gorgeous resort and premier golfing destination for his 30th birthday present: a falconry lesson with a pheasant hunt! He was the only one there for the lesson, so he got plenty of personal time with the instructor and their two hawks. They were successful on the hunt, working as a team of four (the bird sees you as a part of the team, and signals if it finds prey) to land a pheasant. The birds are given part the hunt as a reward. Jhet has always wanted to get involved in falconry, so it was a great experience for him.

We drove through Stirling while Jhet was on the hunt, and got to see the exterior of Stirling Castle and the William Wallace monument in the distance.

The Graveyard at Stirling Castle (check that beautiful grass!)

After Jhet finished up, we went to Dochart Falls, a rocky river with small falls throughout. For the millionth time, everything was so pretty!

Falls of Dochart

Us at the Falls of Dochart with our newly-acquired Scottish wool scarves!

Arrochar, as I said before, has such a peaceful feel and natural beauty. We both felt very relieved to have some rest from the business of London and Cardiff.

Figurines in the tiny restaurant down the way

The front yard of the B&B with the loch in view

View of Arrochar from the B&B

We had a fun night right before we left, and nearly missed our train back out to London! We stayed one more day in London, literally running through the Tower of London and seeing the Crown Jewels and some really amazing historical armor.