Clearly suffering from busabout withdrawal I decided to bus from Paris to Glasgow via London. Oh my lord. 11.30pm to 7.30am (which then became 6.30am due to time differences) and then 8am till 5.30pm. F$%#@&! But I only paid 65 pounds for the whole trip, huzzah!
I had one day in Glasgow, so I requested a list of things to do from Ms Nicola Lomax who resided in the city from Jan to May, 2010.
She delivered. And I had a fantastic day in the West End.
Funky shop where I got some Christmas pressies :)
Who can spot the grey heron??
Kelsingrove Museum. I didn't go in, but I did admire its splendor.
Glasgow University, where Niki studied (lucky!!)
It felt like serious learning went on here - it was a little intimidating to be honest! Nothing like ol' UC that's for sure! :)
Then it was back to Byres Rd for the most delicious lunch ever!!
I had the 'Seasonal Smoothie' which was rhubarb and delicious! They make it with compote they make onsite and fresh yoghurt. To accompany that I had their BLT, which was served with an incredible horseradish mayo. And to top it all off, they were playing The Beatles!!
After lunch I went for a stroll in the Botanic Gardens, and sat and read my book while watching people walking their dogs and children - it was pretty idyllic!
I also did a spot of shopping - dress to feature in Edinburgh!
All that shopping tuckered me out, so it was time for tea and cake!
I had the spicy ginger cake (delish!) while I read "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" which I picked up for 50p at another secondhand store.
Auntie M's is adorable! I was very reluctant to leave.
By the time I had nursed my cup of tea cold, and read a large section of the book it was time for an early din dins before a quite night back at the B&B.
And so, per Niki's recommendation, I explored Ashton Lane in the search of Ketchup.
The burger was delicious!! It was so filling though (and stomach space was already limited thanks to Auntie M) so I felt more than a little stuffed as I waddled my way back to the tube station.
I then had a nice long shower, jumped into my pjs, and watched trashy telly before calling it a night!
And so ended my spoily day in Glasgow. It was the first time I truly felt "on holiday"; it felt like an amazing date with myself (and Niki, whose presence was the only thing missing from such a glorious day!)
The next morning I hopped on good old Megabus and spent another 3 hours traveling to Inverness where my gorgeous Scottish gal picked me up!!!
(Photo taken our last NZ adventure together)
There are no words to describe how amazing it was to see her again!
We had a delicious lunch at Zizzi's with Marc, Hannah and Kimberley before heading up the road to Loch Ness!
Where I tried Irn Bru for the first time!!
I enjoyed the clash factor, but wasn't a huge fan of the taste :)
The Loch Ness Post Office.
Then it was up to Brora to meet the Millers.
Cat has the most incredible family! They all welcomed me with open arms (literally!!) and made me feel 100% at home right from the get go. It was so lovely to finally be able to meet everyone I had heard so much about. I definitely felt like I'd known them for a long time already :)
I'm not going to lie, there was a lot of squealing and jumping up and down in surprise when I saw this!
The next day Cat's ma took us for a girls' lunch to Dornoch (Cat used to work at the old jail, which is now a very cool home and giftware store).
This is the cathedral where Madonna's son, Rocco, was christened. It is very pretty. She chose well.
I couldn't get my head around all the quaint stone cottages!! I fell in love immediately.
Lunch at Luigi's was delish! And the company was superb :)
Then Cat and I went to get her sister, who was competing at the Highland Games in Lairg.
Tractor pull!!! Took me back to my 16th birthday in Palmerston ... good times!!! :D
Hahahahahahaha!
We dropped the dancer home to rest her weary legs before continuing up the coast.
But not before stopping for an ice-cream (Brora is known for its whiskey and its icecream!) Honeycomb (aka Hokey Pokey) for the win!!
It was a beautiful day for a drive.
We soon reached our destination ...
John O'Groats! Scotland's most northern point (well, of the mainland at least).
We wanted a photo with the sign ...
But they'd taken it down!!! Turns out we'd have had to pay a ridiculous amount of money for the photo anyway, and I think this is just as good!
Look at me!!! And at the non-existent sign!! I could be anywhere! Hooray!!!
A disgruntled and highly disappointed Cat decided to go and give the tourist information lady a piece of her mind. But just before she could we came across this!!!
A John O'Groats sign ... with New Zealand on it!!!
Not just NZ ... BLUFF!!! We nearly died with laughter. It was the best discovery ever!
We walked out to the end of the pier/wharf/jetty. Please excuse the Titanic-esque pose.
Goof balls? Us?!! NEVER!!!
Then we went to Castletown to visit Cat's Granny, who fed us a delicious dinner and told us wonderful stories.
What an amazing family!! I miss you all very much! xxox
The next day was another "upward" trek.
For some reason we decided it would be a good idea to haul ourselves up this mission of a climb, mere minutes (ok I exaggerate), an HOUR after eating a traditional Scottish breakfast!! (Yum, by the way! Yes, I tried both haggis AND black pudding!!)
It started out steep.
And only got worse!
Halfway up we needed a breather.
But the damn view had to go and steal it again!!
Our canine companion couldn't see what all the wheezing and puffing and panting and cursing was for!!
Soon the end was in sight.
Well, for Cat at least!
At the top! Finally! Not something I ever want to repeat!
We made it just in time, the rain clouds quickly chased us back the way we came.
I freaked out when walking down this path, I couldn't even comprehend coming down on two wheels!!
A trip to Scotland would not be complete without a visit to a castle, so that was our next stop that afternoon.
Behold! Dunrobin Castle!
Incredible much???
It had some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen!
And there is nothing more amazing than standing in such an awesome place and seeing that view!!! The sea!! It's right there!!
We had fun with the self-timer :)
"Guys, I want a castle!"
(Points if you can name that movie!)
There was a vintage car rally at the castle that day (we didn't pay the entrance fee, but seeing as it lead up to the castle we got a good look anyway!! :S). After dinner Cat's dad disappeared, and then RE-appeared in this beauty!
We all went for a drive!
Cat was pretty taken with it :P
The next day dawned bright and early, and we made the trip back to Glasgow with all of Cat's stuff for the new school year. Her flat is very nice, i'm glad to see she has raised her standards since 597 Colombo ;)
On our way to dinner that night we were got a little distracted ...
My holiday fling! Isn't he a looker??
This display was very very cool - I'm not sure if you can make it out, but they had hundreds of old sewing machines hanging in the window! Very impressive!
We had yummy smoothies while we sat in George Square. Brad Pitt's latest blockbuster was being filmed here so it was all a bit hectic and mostly fenced off.
I got heckled for being a ginger by the two stunners in the middle. Cat was mortified that Glaswegians could behave in such a manner. It was very amusing!
We went to Moskito (Cat's favourite bar) for cocktails ...
and nachos!
Nom nom nom!
Then, to soften the blow of disappointment that Danny Bhoy was not going to be performing at the Fringe, we made our way over to the West End to enjoy a night out at The Stand.
He was very good!
Can't remember the ticket price, but it was very reasonable and totally worth it!
Top evening!
Next day: Edinburgh!
By train!!! :D
This gentleman interrupted us about twenty minutes in to ask me if I was from NZ. "Me too!" he exclaimed delightedly, in a decidedly english accent. To which Cat replied bluntly,"You don't sound like a Kiwi!!!" My god I nearly died. It was brilliant! He has been living in Dunedin for the past 10 years. Doesn't make you "from NZ" in my book, but that's ok. I can understand how you'd want to claim it.
Cat's Granny had given us money to do a sightseeing bus tour of the city (Thanks again, Granny!). So that was our first stop!
Double decker!! We were the naughty kids at the back.
Granny had given us two firm instructions; "Have fun!" and "Don't take any of those awful photos with your tongues sticking out!" This is just for you Granny!! :)
Edinburgh Castle! I would not have enjoyed trying to raid this place, that's for sure! That cliff face is steep!
The sun came out sporadically.
Home of Harry Potter!
Good timing!
But this bus was cooler :D
Edinburgh Castle from Princess Street.
By now we were hungry, so we fought our way through the crowds of people/street performers in search of some lunch.
We stopped at one of the free Fringe performance venues and had delicious sandwiches and Scottish beer! Tennents!! Mmmmmmm!
Excited? Me? What on earth would give you that impression??
After lunch we went to watch the free show ... oh my lord it was SOOO bad! His opening line was "I don't mind if you leave, feel free to leave at any time, it doesn't matter to me." So we did.
Then we met Cat's best friend Marc for dinner at TGIF.
Yummy food and drinks!
It was Marc's 21st birthday the next day, a fact we may have let slip to our waitress.
TGIF policy involves singing loudly to you while the rest of the restaurant turn and look. Marc knew this beforehand, and desperately pleaded with the waitress to overlook the event.
Marc: Oh no, they're not going to sing are they?! You're not going to sing are you???
Waitress: I'm so sorry, but we have to!
Marc: Oh please don't! Omg this is so embarrassing!!
All: Happy Happy Birthday, from all of us to yooouuuu!!
It was brilliant!! Marc's face was a picture!
He was rewarded with cake for being a good sport.
Then we jumped in a taxi (my first UK taxi experience! Woop!) in order to make it to our Fringe gig in time. Oh yeah, perhaps the large "Happy 21st" helium balloon I got Marc may have had something to do with the singing at the restaurant :P
We went to see "The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek".
It was in an underground cavern, and was made up of all these little comedy sketches. It was one of the favourites from the last festival, and we could see why! It was very very funny.
Then the next morning I dropped some last things in the post (Flora's postcard didn't arrive until 6 weeks later! SIX WEEKS!! Come on Royal Mail, that's just not good enough!!) and then made my way to the airport.
I grabbed a late lunch before my flight to London, and decided that this looked interesting, and potentially delicious. It was disgusting. I had to force myself to start it, let alone finish it!! Mummy, you may have been able to stomach it, but I wouldn't recommend it!!
And so ended my time in Scotland (for 2011 at least!). It was the most incredible trip; I felt so at home (partly due to the fantastic people I spent my time with, but also due to the stunning Scottish scenery which I fell deeply in love with). I wonder if I would have felt as strongly as I did if I didn't have the ties and heritage that I do. Either way, it was a home away from home and I want to thank everyone who made the trip what it was, and for showing me such a wonderful time.
See you again soon!
xxox
