So I was just about to type up a blog on Great Expectations which I finished yesterday (the day after I returned home) but I decided I should do my traditional last blog which typically consists of a grouping of lists summarizing the trip. First I wanted to describe our flight home briefly. We arrived at the airport quite early, because I am never calm until I have checked in and made my way through security. There was a huge area after security which went so fast and Lynette and I ate breakfast and sat amongst the throng of people.I found a bagel that came with REAL bacon instead of back bacon (aka Canadian bacon)...I dislike Canadian bacon and I am assuming we most have gotten this food from our British ancestors. Boo. The flight was mostly on time and ran smoothly. We got bribed with really good food. Our two snacks were vanilla bean icecream and a thai vegetable wrap. Yum. I am not sure if this is normal for international flights or not, since I have only been on domestic flights but I was impressed. I read almost the entire 8 hours trying to finish Great Expectations before I got home. We passed over Iceland and Greenland which was so cool. I was very impressed by all of the ice in the water and the beautiful scenery on land. Customs was a breeze as they now have automated machines that take your card and give you a score. If you are given a low risk a single man checks your card and waves you through. We were low risk. Our luggage took forever to come through which left us in a bit of a panic, thankfully it made it safe and sound, though my bag has a ton of rips and tears on it making it completely unusable for another trip. We had an hour wait for the ferry, but made it on just fine. I went to bed at 8 beign extremely jet lagged and slept for 11 hours. It was glorious.
Now for the summary lists:
Types of food sampled:
British pub food
Welsh food
Thai
Lebanese
Indian
Italian
Drinks sampled:
London Pride
London Glory
Brains Beer
Pimms
Major sights seen:
Stonehenge
Big Ben
Parliment
Westminster Abbey
Dickens London
Portobello Market
Fortnum and Mason's high tea
Tower of London
Various bridges
Chichester
Watership Down
Covent Garden/Seven Dials
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Scottish afternoon tea at the Willows Tearoom.
Millenium Centre Cardiff
Mermaid quay Cardiff
Cardiff Castle
Thames River cruise
Cardiff bay cruise
Hotels stayed at:
Premier Inn, Glasgow
Regency Hotel, London
The Big Sleep, Cardiff
Stylotel, London
The George and Dragon, Chichester
EasyHotel, London
Souvenirs bought for me (not others don't want to spoil the surprise)
4 magnets
1 Welsh lovespoon
1 lovespoon necklace
10 new kinds of tea
100 vintage book cover postcards
3 new reusable bags
2 locket watch necklaces
1 ruffled umbrella
1 new wallet
Thats all I can think of to itemize at the moment. Hope you enjoyed the adventure. Now on to the book review!
Showing posts with label Wales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wales. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Day 6- Cardiff
Cardiff was sooooo much fun. Lynette and I have both liked it the best out of our entire trip. We ate breakfast at our hotel in the morning in our very retro breakfast room. Huge pink flowers on the wall! We walked down to Cardiff City first thing in the morning and made sure to check out the Cardiff Market. It was pretty cool, but nowhere near as awesome as Pike Place Market.
The only fun addition there was a pet store. For a moment I contemplated bringing a pet back with me!!! Who wouldn’t want a wee little welsh kitty? We also checked out a series of arcades which are tiny hallways containing a series of stores off of them. I found the coolest Welsh Lovespoon ever…which was the one tourist thing I wanted from here. This one was includes a lock and a chain with a key attached to it. Keys are my favourite symbol. We took the bus down to Cardiff Bay and began our Torchwood Tour of Cardiff. Lynette loves the show and though I have only seen one episode in the hotel in Vancouver it was good. We got off the bus at Mermaid Quay and very quickly found the Ianto display where the fans posted a ton of cool stuff in memory of their favourite character. Lynette was so happy that she even cried at one of the sweet comments from a fan. We found a carousel which I was so excited for because I have been on one in Spokane and St. Louis. I have decided that I am going to collect carousel rides when I travel.
Lynette and I sat in the Welsh Dragon on the carousel and fully enjoyed ourselves. Next up was Millenium Centre which is a beautiful bronze stadium style building with the words “Under these stones horizon’s sing” in both Welsh and English. There is also a glass tower where the Torchwood office and magic elevator is. We met a cute Asian boy at several of the Torchwood sights and chatted with him at several of them. I even helped him to take a picture on the “magic stone”.
We hit the Craft on the Bay craft market but did not find anything interesting there. We had lunch at a pub in the Quay where I chose to eat Welsh Rarebit, pronounced Rabbit or so I am told. It was all right, but I am proud that I ate it because I like to try local delicacies wherever I go. Lynette and I decided we were going to take a boat tour back to the city central so we killed some time by stopping and checking out the Red Dragon Centre where the Dr. Who exhibit used to be. There were a few cool restaurant s in there that we may go back to tonight. It was pouring BUCKETS by the time we got off the boat and we had to walk a ways to our hotel. It ended up being okay though because there were several of the arcades with covered halls that we walked through to avoid the rain. Lynette is sick so we stopped in a mall and found her a Boots the chemist (aka pharmacy ) to buy decongestant. The person at the check out commented on our accent and we chatted about living by the sea and sea gulls. We are hoping to go back to the Bay tonight to check it out at night and also drink some more local ale. We may give up on this however if the weather doesn’t hold out for us. Tomorrow we will stop at the castle and possibly make a trip to Barry which is half an hour away. It is a seaside amusement park that was featured in Gavin and Stacey another British show that Lynette watchs. Then we catch the train back to Paddington for four days in London!!!
Fun things on the trip that I forgot to comment on so far:
HUGE fan of British boys and their cardigans and dress shirts….just saying
British coffee is NASTY. They really like their packaged instant food and that is what the coffee is in the rooms. Also, they don’t use coffee cream in their coffee so we have had to put up with milk. Thankfully I am a fan of lattes and I have been drinking them the whole time.
The only fun addition there was a pet store. For a moment I contemplated bringing a pet back with me!!! Who wouldn’t want a wee little welsh kitty? We also checked out a series of arcades which are tiny hallways containing a series of stores off of them. I found the coolest Welsh Lovespoon ever…which was the one tourist thing I wanted from here. This one was includes a lock and a chain with a key attached to it. Keys are my favourite symbol. We took the bus down to Cardiff Bay and began our Torchwood Tour of Cardiff. Lynette loves the show and though I have only seen one episode in the hotel in Vancouver it was good. We got off the bus at Mermaid Quay and very quickly found the Ianto display where the fans posted a ton of cool stuff in memory of their favourite character. Lynette was so happy that she even cried at one of the sweet comments from a fan. We found a carousel which I was so excited for because I have been on one in Spokane and St. Louis. I have decided that I am going to collect carousel rides when I travel.
Lynette and I sat in the Welsh Dragon on the carousel and fully enjoyed ourselves. Next up was Millenium Centre which is a beautiful bronze stadium style building with the words “Under these stones horizon’s sing” in both Welsh and English. There is also a glass tower where the Torchwood office and magic elevator is. We met a cute Asian boy at several of the Torchwood sights and chatted with him at several of them. I even helped him to take a picture on the “magic stone”.
We hit the Craft on the Bay craft market but did not find anything interesting there. We had lunch at a pub in the Quay where I chose to eat Welsh Rarebit, pronounced Rabbit or so I am told. It was all right, but I am proud that I ate it because I like to try local delicacies wherever I go. Lynette and I decided we were going to take a boat tour back to the city central so we killed some time by stopping and checking out the Red Dragon Centre where the Dr. Who exhibit used to be. There were a few cool restaurant s in there that we may go back to tonight. It was pouring BUCKETS by the time we got off the boat and we had to walk a ways to our hotel. It ended up being okay though because there were several of the arcades with covered halls that we walked through to avoid the rain. Lynette is sick so we stopped in a mall and found her a Boots the chemist (aka pharmacy ) to buy decongestant. The person at the check out commented on our accent and we chatted about living by the sea and sea gulls. We are hoping to go back to the Bay tonight to check it out at night and also drink some more local ale. We may give up on this however if the weather doesn’t hold out for us. Tomorrow we will stop at the castle and possibly make a trip to Barry which is half an hour away. It is a seaside amusement park that was featured in Gavin and Stacey another British show that Lynette watchs. Then we catch the train back to Paddington for four days in London!!!
Fun things on the trip that I forgot to comment on so far:
HUGE fan of British boys and their cardigans and dress shirts….just saying
British coffee is NASTY. They really like their packaged instant food and that is what the coffee is in the rooms. Also, they don’t use coffee cream in their coffee so we have had to put up with milk. Thankfully I am a fan of lattes and I have been drinking them the whole time.
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