I'm going to be upfront and say that I am probably not going to update this blog very often, as you may have already guessed from the lack of posts in the last two weeks. However, I will try my best to make a post every now and then.
London. After 24 hours of travel we began our adventure in Ealing Broadway. Ealing Broadway is a town at the end of the district train line that is filled with quirky shops, and beautiful buildings and parks. We took the train from Heathrow, our first time ever on the British underground, and made our way to the hotel we would be staying in for the night. We arrived there at 9am, 5 hours before check in. We both had not slept very well on the planes, so we were both exhausted. Luckily the lady at reception was absolutely lovely and let us have a room early, a nicer one than the one we had booked too. We knew we couldn't sleep, or we would make the jet lag worse, so after a shower and a change of clothes we set off to explore Ealing Broadway. We firstly went in search of some food. We were (and still are!) amazed at the price of groceries. Much cheaper than back home. Our first meal in London was a bagel each from a little takeaway shop for £1.50. £3 and lunch was done! We were pretty amazed. We sat in a park we found and ate our lunch, and probably looked like massive tourists but we didn't care. We were in a different country, eating our first meal paid for with our own money, starting an adventure of a lifetime. It was a good first day.
The next day we set off for London Central. We would be staying at the London Central YHA, which was very exciting. For me especially as I had never stayed in a hostel before. We woke up to a very overcast day, but were hopeful that it would not rain. We learnt that day that we should never be hopeful that it will not rain in London when the sky is that grey. We made it to the train and began on our way to the hostel. When we arrived at our stop it was pouring. Great. We only had a vague idea of where we had to go, and ha not yet gotten a map. (We picked one up as soon as we got to the hostel and have not yet put it down). We started the walk from the station to the hostel in the rain. It was pretty miserable. After about half an hour of running from shelter to shelter we finally made it to the hostel! We were only there one night, but it was a really nice hostel! I thought it was clean and warm, and it had a kitchen and wifi and all was good there. After dumping our heavy bags we made our way to the British Museum. I have never in my life seen a museum that huge. It was absolutely amazing! We were there for 4 hours and didn't even see half of the museum. We both loved it and were shocked by how huge it was. And the architecture was just incredible. I've found that with most of the buildings here. They are just beautiful! All so unique. After the museum we headed to the London Dungeon. By this time the weather had cleared up and the sun was out (are we in Melbourne or what). The walk was really beautiful. We went through the towns and across a bridge that had an awesome view of Big Ben. The London Dungeon was an incredible experience. It was terrifying and thrilling. I loved how they included the history of London, it was so interesting. If ever in London it is something I highly recommend doing! Next up would be the London Eye. The weather had cleared up beautifully, we were so lucky! By the time we got to the top on the eye the sky was blue and the sun was out and we could see all the way across London. It was pretty spectacular 😊 We walked back to the hostel through Oxford street and were amazed by all the shops. We briefly went into a toy store called Hamleys which was amazing. Dinner consisted of a £3 tesco meal deal. It actually wasn't that bad.
On our third day in London we set off for our new hostel in St Paul's. Luckily the rain had held off so we didn't get drenched this time. The hostel at St. Paul's was very old fashioned and really cute. It didn't have a kitchen though which we didn't really like. To start the day we went to the Borough Markets. Wow! What an experience. The Borough Markets is a food market in the middle of the city. I was blown away by how many stalls were there, and the variety of things being sold! I absolutely love the markets! We didn't buy anything, but got a lot of free samples (yay for backpacking budgets!). The markets had such a vibrant feel about them, I really enjoyed it. We spent the rest of the day walking around the area. We found a museum called the Clink Prison museum, which showed the history of a prison that was there in medieval times. I really enjoyed it! We also went into the Tate Modern art museum. The building itself was amazing! It had a huge tower at the front of it. I can't even explain how huge it was! We ended the day by going into St Paul's cathedral. It was incredible! We were lucky enough to catch the start of a service which was beautiful. We watched the choir sing and looked around the cathedral, it was an amazing experience.
Next up was Earls Court. We were supposed to be there for four nights, finally an end to the moving around each day! However the hostel booking got messed up and we were only there for two. The first day at Earls Court we had a bit of a relaxed day. We had been on the move for the past 4 days and were pretty tired. We walked around Earls Court, and had our first drink at an English pub! The next day we went and watched the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. We got there early as we had been told that to get a good spot and be able to see you needed to be there early. It was a cold day. Probably the coldest since we had arrived in the UK. The wind was bone chilling. We waited an hour and a half in the cold and the wind and we got an awesome spot right at the gates. However, I feel the wait in that wind was not worth it. I can see why people say to go early because by the time the guards came out and did their thing there were dozens of people trying to get a glimpse of the show. Although we had a good spot, people shoving and sticking their cameras in front of your face really defeated the purpose. I didn't really get to see any of the actual show. It was pretty disappointing. But ah well, it is something you have to do whilst in London. To try and warm up we decided to walk to Harrods. I had been told that Harrods was big, but I was not prepared! It was absolutely massive! I was completely awe struck! And it was so beautiful! The architecture of the building was amazing. After exploring Harrods, and not even making it to half the shops, we left to have lunch in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is so beautiful, and so huge! We sat under a beautiful tree near the lake and had lunch. It was lovely. We walked around the park for the next few hours and then headed back to the hostel.
Next we were off the Camden. No more YHA's for us, we moved into a hostel above a bar, where we stayed for the next 4 days. It was an interesting hostel to say the least. Every night there was something on, and we got discounted drinks as food from the pub which was pretty awesome. Our first day in Camden we went in search of the Camden Markets. We were lucky with our hostel location as the markets were just up the road! They were absolutely amazing! I just love the markets in this country. There were all sorts of things at the Camden markets, from food to clothing to tattoo parlours. We spent a few hours wandering through the markets, and got lunch at the food section. We spent the rest of the day walking to and around Regents Park which was really lovely.
Day 2 in Camden we trained to the natural history museum. Unfortunately, unbeknown to us we had picked a public holiday to visit the museum and it was absolutely packed! Nonetheless, we enjoyed if. Again, the building itself was just incredible.
The next day we made our way to Westminster Abbey. There was a lot of construction going on and there were a bunch of scaffolds up in front of the Abbey. However it was still really beautiful, and a nice thing to see. This day was the windiest we had had so far. It was really awful, I don't know how people deal with wind like that. We walked along the river for a bit and stopped in at a place called the garden museum. It was literally a museum about gardening so we didn't stay there very long. Once we had made our way back to Camden we went back to look at the markets, and found a whole section that we had missed the first day!!! They were even bigger than we had first thought! You could get lost in the maze of stalls and shops along the small lanes that make up the market.
After a late morning of trying to decide what to do we went to the Victoria and Albert museum. It was really awesome! There was some truly amazing artworks there. There was a whole section of casts of famous statues which I really liked. There was a replica of the statue David, it's so tall!! We spent to whole day at the museum.
After 4 days in Camden it was time to leave. We were catching a train to Maidenhead later in the afternoon so we decided to go to Somerset House for the day. I was pretty thrilled to find out there was a huge photography exhibition on at the moment! We spent 3 hours in the exhibition, and I saw some of the best photographs I have ever seen. It was really inspiring. We had some time to kill before our train arrived so we sat in a beautiful park outside the station and with some henna that we had purchased at the markets I have Harrison a henna tattoo! The train ride to Maidenhead was pretty quick, and really beautiful. Once we arrived we met a family friend, Merril, and she took us home. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal and sleep in a real house! You don't realise how much these things mean to you until you don't have them anymore.
Our first day out of London City, we went to Windsor. It is much the same as the Windsor in Australia, but with a pretty grand castle (haha). We walked through the town and came across a quaint little fudge shop, where the owner ushered us inside and we were given free fudge samples. We also got to watch the fudge being made which was really cool! We bought some peanut butter fudge, it is so delicious. After the fudge shop we went on the Long Walk, which truly is a long walk! We didn't make it to the end unfortunately as we didn't have time. It was such a beautiful walk though! We had lunch at a little Italian place. After we had eaten, the owner came out and gave us an Italian shot on the house! It was really strange, and the shot was awful! But it was an experience.
After Maidenhead we were off to Winslow to visit my Dads cousin John. We were so incredibly lucky that Merril drove us all the way there! It was such a beautiful drive through the countryside. I could so happily live in the English countryside. Once in Winslow we were taken on an amazing walk through the country. We walked up to the top of a big hill and were greeted with an incredible view. I've never seen such vibrant green landscape! After the walk we were treated to a drink in a small pub. I also fell in love with the family's guinea pigs. That night we had English fish and chips, and as someone who doesn't like fish I can say that it was really yum!
Before we left Winslow we went to Waddesdon Manor, which is a huge, old estate. The house and the gardens were magnificent! It was such an interesting thing to see. That night we took the bus to Oxford where we stayed the night.
Sadly we didn't get to see much of Oxford, as the bus we needed to take to get to our next destination came at 7:30 in the morning. It is defiantly a place we are looking at returning to. We were headed up to the Lakes District and had a long day of travel ahead. Firstly we had to take a bus to Manchester, which took 4 hours. We had lunch in Manchester and then had to take a train to a place called Oxenholme. Our train was delayed by an hour which was super annoying, as it made our travel time even longer. However the train did eventually arrive, and although we had to stand for most of the journey, it was such a beautiful train ride. Once we got to Oxenholme we got on another train to our final destination, Windermere. Luckily this train trip wasn't too long, and again was really beautiful. Once we got to Windermere the hostel was really close to the station. The hostel set up was very different to the ones we had previously encountered. It was unmanned. So we got a code to the front door and let ourselves in, and headed up to 'reception'. This was really just a small desk with a piece of paper with our names and rooms on it. We had to pay in cash and put the money in an envelope and into a safe. Although it was strangely set up, this was my favourite hostel of the ones we have stayed in so far. There was a small kitchen and a lounge room. Our room was a four person room and the people we roomed with were really nice! We got along really well.
Our first full day in Windermere we walked down to the Lake. The weather wasn't too great, and it was really really cold. But the lake was amazing! It was so big! We had lunch in a park by the lake and wandered around for a bit. We bought some duck feed and Harrison fed swans and ducks and geese! He was like the bird whisperer, all these birds surrounded him begging for food. We decided to visit the aquarium, which was across the lake. It took 40 minutes by boat to get there. The boat ride was lovely! It was warm inside and the views of the lake were amazing. The aquarium was small, but had some really interesting creatures in it. Harrison was delighted that we had made it just in time to see the otters be fed, as he absolutely loves otters. I think I was more transfixed on him watching the otters than the actual otters. It was adorable to see his face light up so much, to watch his childlike glee as the otters ran around their little enclosure. We saw lots of fish as you do at an aquarium, but also these adorable little monkeys and some pretty awesome ants. I fell asleep on the boat trip home, it was so warm and peaceful that I couldn't help myself.
The next morning was a little stressful, as we had to try and book our future accommodation in Edinburgh and Dublin, to which we found there were not many vacancies. Edinburgh was okay, but we found out that the time we wanted to stay in Dublin, there is a festival on, so everything is booked up. However after moving some things around we managed to sort it out. Time to actually start the day! The weather was absolutely gorgeous, blue sky's, beautiful sun, no wind and warmth. We decided to go on a few of the walks around the area. The first one we did was a walk to Orrest Head lookout. It was a beautiful walk through the forest and up a small mountain (basically a hill but I'll let it slide Windermere). Once we got to the top we were pretty tired, but as soon as the view hit us we knew it was so worth it. I can truly say that the view I was greeted with at the top of Orrest Head was the most beautiful view I have ever experienced in my life. I was blown away. It felt like we were on top of the world, we were invincible. It was such a beautiful moment that I actually teared up a little (lame I know). We had lunch at the viewpoint, not wanting to leave. We had to force ourselves away from it, and begin the walk down. The next walk we went on was the Queen Adelaide's Hill. It was a walk through the forest and then along the lake. It was really beautiful. We came across a gorgeous little waterfall and creek. Once we broke out of the forest we were greeted by the glistening blue water of lake Windermere. Again, I could so happily live there. Once we were done with our walks we had a drink at the pub and headed back to the hostel.
That leaves us with today! Today we left the beautiful Windermere and headed to Edinburgh. It was a two hour train trip through the Scottish countryside. I'm beginning to love our train trips. We only got to Edinburgh around 2:30 and went in search of our hostel. Whilst looking for it we walked passed the castle which I am excited to explore. The hostel the we are currently staying at is interesting. It has a perfect location, however it is probably the worst of the hostels we have stayed at so far. But we will make the most of it! We are only here for four days anyway. Tomorrow we plan to go on a free walking tour around the city to see the sights and whatnot. I will try my best to keep this updated to avoid another painfully long entry. That's all for now 😊
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