Greetings! Happy 2011 everyone! I hope the holidays treated everyone well. Although I wasn't able to be with my own family, it was nice to be with my friend family consisting of Nick and Lauren (we have truly become the 3 best friends that anyone could have :]) So here is a recap of our winter break after the Romania mission trip:
Once we left Romania, Nick, Lauren, and I headed off for Edinburgh, Scotland! We stayed there for two nights and it was great! Edinburgh is probably one of my favorite places I have been thus far in my life. The Scottish are so nice and welcoming and the city was so beautiful! We stayed at a hostel (the best rated in Scotland) right at the base of the famous castle! After Edinburgh, we went on a quest. We sought the holy grail (well not really, just the castle it was filmed at...). We went up to Doune, Scotland to visit Doune Castle aka Monty Python castle! It was great minus the fact that it was snowing the whole time. It was great to see where one of my favorite movies was filmed and we all throughly enjoyed it! We stayed the night in Glasgow that night. Didn't really see much, but looked like a great place! Scotland is definitely a place I would like to go back to someday!
After our three days in Scotland, we flew to Dublin, Ireland! Once we arrived (thank God because we thought we weren't going to make it on Ryanair...) we started exploring the city. We had some authentic Irish breakfast for lunch at a cafe and made our way toward the shining glory of the city of Dublin: the Guinness factory! We started the tour and finished about 2 hours later! It was the coolest tour I have ever been on anywhere. I also became a certified pourer of Guinness! We really enjoyed the factory and was definitely the highlight of our Dublin trip. The next day we explored, went to the Irish Museum, Temple Bar, and made some Irish friends at breakfast. The Irish are very nice (can't say the same for the adolescents of Ireland...they throw snowballs at random people, hitting Nick in the head and myself on the leg on separate occasions, not so much a fan of them.) The Irish adults are great! Very fun and vibrant!
We then headed for Wales via ferry! The ferries are very nice and we happened to be on the fastest ferry in the world! It was a beautiful ride to Holyhead, Wales! We had originally intended to go on castle tours the whole day, but unfortunately all the castles in Wales were closed because of the snow and ice (needless to say, nick was beyond bummed...). We decided to just head straight for Manchester, England where we would be spending the next days for Christmas! We were fortunate enough to get an awesome apartment! We rested and made a great Christmas Eve dinner, complete with steak, mac n' cheese pie, salad, garlic bread, and apple pie with ice cream for dessert! It was great. We also got each other some gifts and opened presents underneath the tree (our foil Poundland tree :]). For not being home with family, it was a great Christmas and we had a great time just relaxing and spending time with each other over the holiday.
After Manchester, we started to move south. We stopped for lunch in Oxford and ate at the pub where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis frequented called The Eagle and Child. Very cool to see where they discussed and debated with each other as well as dreamed up the mysterious lands they wrote about! After eating lunch, London was calling! London is one of my favorite cities. I might even dare to say I'm a bit obsessed! We checked into our hotel and went out to get some English food (Steak and Ale pie with mash...mmmmmhhhhhh)! Our first day in London, we saw all the main sites. We used the Tube everywhere! It's the best in London, even got myself a pair of Tube socks! We saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey! It was great to finally see all the things that i have wanted to see for so long! The next day, we used our last Britrail day and went out to Stonehenge. It was a great day trip. It was foggy out so it made everything very spooky. I was a little skeptical to go at first, but in the end it was definitely worth it! The next day we decided to go to the Tower of London! This was probably one of my favorites. We walked around, saw the Royal armor from all the kings, and most importantly, the crown jewels of England! It was incredible to see the size of these jewels! After the Tower, we went to the British National Museum and did a whirlwind tour of the highlights including the Rosetta Stone, the pediment from the Parthenon, and a head from Easter Island. We left pretty early to go and see the musical Wicked! This was my second time seeing and I loved it again! We all really enjoyed it. Our last day in London we passed the day by going to Piccadilly Circus to shop a little and by going to Harrods. Harrods was incredible. It was huge! We got our bags from the luggage hold at the train station and made our way toward Westminster to ring in the new year! It was unbelievably crowded, but we managed to find a spot with a view of the London Eye! The new years firework display was crazy! Definitely try to youtube it because it was incredible! The most crowded and craziest New years of my life, but one of the most fun for sure. After the fireworks, we left for the airport for our 7 AM flight! London was amazing and I would love to go back someday!
Our last destination was Copenhagen, Denmark. It was beautiful, but too cold! It was about 10-25 Fahrenheit during the day! The first day we just decided to walk around, we ended up in the fashion district for a little while and then headed back to our hotel to check in. The next day we walked around and went to the Carlsberg factory, whch happens to be Lauren's favorite. We took a tour and got to see all there is about making Carlsberg! It was really interesting and Lauren really enjoyed it. The third day, we decided to take a quick thirty minute train ride to Malmo, Sweden! Unfortunately, Malmo is known for their impressive beaches (obviously during the summer) so there really wasn't much to do. We walked around in the park and by the fortress and ended up sitting in a coffee shop for quite some time. Very cute and would definitely like to go back someday! Our last day in Copenhagen, we walked around some more to see some more sites. We saw the original little mermaid! We also got a chance to see the WWII forts and some of the canals. Copenhagen was a great city that i would like to go back to once it is warmer!
We had a great break, but are glad to be home in Switzerland!
