The past month has been a whirlwind of
sight seeing, visiting family and friends and eating, lots of eating.
We arrived in London at the start of
August to stay with my cousin Kate and her fiancee Paddy. We had
almost a week there indulgining in those things we'd missed in south
east asia – baths, newspapers, doonas and being cold enough to wear
jeans. When plannning our first few days in the UK, most of the
things we wanted were to do with the food we'd missed in Asia –
roast dinner, spag bol, curry, fish and chips, etc...
Kate and Paddy beside Big Ben
When we weren't eating we managed to
fit in the sights such as Big Ben, Tower of London, Greenwich,
changing of the guards,
a west end show, and even a night in Brighton
(unfortunately jet lag prevented us experiencing the legendary night
life and we were in bed by 9).
The weather was great and Louisa was
convinced all those people who had been warning her about English
weather were lying.
After London we headed to Oxford to
stay with my Auntie Adele and her family. It was good to get out of
the city and spend sometime relaxing, having a bbq and attempting to
punt. We got in a good walk around the countryside, pub meal, a look
around the university and the Harry Potter movie for a bit of
culture.
Auntie Adele and Uncle David
From one university town to another. We
headed to Cambridge after a few days to stay with my Uncle Tod and
his family. It was at this stage the English weather finally started
living up to its reputation. We saw the city in the rain, which is
probably the way it should be seen!
Tod also took us to Norwich, a very
pretty town, and Great Yarmouth, a very ugly town. Great Yarmouth is
an English seaside town. Unlike in Australia, where the beach is
enough for a seaside, the English add amuusement parks, jumping
castles, horse and carriage rides and bars along the road next to the
beach and even on the beach itself.
uncle Tod at Great yarmouth
Next stop was to visit my Nanna in
Matlock. We spent four days trapessing up and down the Derbyshire
Dales and surrounds. It was great to get back to my “second home”
and explore all the old areas, including the hotel I used to work at.
Nanna on the Derbyshire Dales
The next stop was Sheffield to visit
Jef, a friend from home. We had a few days exploring the city, and
its night life – including a pub quiz, where we lost almost as
badly as we do at home!
Pub lunch in Sheffield
It was great to get to see everyone
again and it seemed so strange to get back into the habit of
backpacking, but we weren't on our own for long.
After Sheffield we headed to Edinburgh,
where Jo met us.
With Jo in Edinburgh
We had three nights in the middle of the city during
the Edinburgh Festival and we made the most of it. We saw some
brilliant acts including a musical improvisation group, Facebook the
musical and some great stand up comics. It was very hard to leave
Edinburgh!
The Fringe Festival
Inverness was next, where Jo left us
for a week and we explored Loch Ness for a day, but didn't find the
monster.
After a day we flew to Dublin to meet Malcolm and Leanne,
Louisa's parents.
Inverness was cold but Ireland was even
colder. I kept thinking I should return to Ireland in summer, until I
realised August is summer there.... I wore my scarf, jumper and
raincoat most days, some days I even put on my thermal top! But we
deicided the scenery was best viewed when it was cloudy, to keep it
authentic.
Beautiful Irish scenery
We had a day looking aruond Dublin at
churches, the castle, a walk along Temple Bar and the Liffey. In the
evenning we saw an Irish dancing and music show while eating Irish
stew. The next day we hired a car and headed south.
Our car
We spent about 4
days driving around and saw just about everything south of Dublin. It
was a great trip and good to see Louisa's parents again too.
On to Europe main next for 2 months.
