Edinburgh, Scotland

Saturday 23rd May 2015:

In an effort to see more of the British countryside, we boarded a Virgin Train and pumped some more money into successful English businessman Richard Branson’s pocket, enabling us to “arrive awesome” http://youtu.be/1Nak8cpFJsY

After an approximate 4 hour journey, we arrived in historic Edinburgh and were immediately struck by how undulating the topography is. We lugged our bags along the cobbled streets and up steep stairways to our hostel. Certainly not 5 star luxury but also better than many of the places we stayed while on Contiki.

From there we strolled through the Princes Street Gardens before heading up the hill to the Edinburgh Castle complex. There we joined a tour with other tourists, including KFC’s own Colonel Sanders, to wander through the castle complex’s historic grounds and sighting some of the multiple buildings and museums. Within Edinburgh Castle complex is the oldest surviving building in all of Edinburgh, the tiny St Margaret’s Chapel.

We ended the evening with dinner on The Royal Mile, where Brendan was game enough to try chicken breast stuffed with haggis and surprised to discover it just tasted like regular minced meat.

On Sunday morning, we boarded a Haggis Adventures bus for a day tour, making our way into the Scottish Highlands and circumnavigating a significant amount of the relatively small country. Through the countryside we spotted many “hairy coos”, or Highland Cows. The huge lochs (Scottish for lake) and rugged mountain ranges were an incredible sight, and a stark contrast to the relatively flat London.

We reached the village of Fort Augustus, home to the famous Loch Ness, just before our 2pm cruise in search of Nessie. The lake spans a massive surface area of 56 km2 and maximum depth of around 230 m. Due to the peat moss that runs off the mountain ranges into the lake, the water is extremely dark and murky.  The peat moss also prevents the sun from penetrating very far into the water, making it extremely cold year round. Despite the fact that nobody would willingly venture into said body of water given the conditions, we were told by the guide on board the boat that if you were underwater you would barely be able to see your hand right in front of your face. He said if something (or someone) fell overboard, it would be lost forever.

We returned to Edinburgh at nearly 9pm and were a little thrown by the time, given that there was still a lot of daylight. On both nights during our stay, we were baffled by the fact that it didn’t actually become dark until nearly 11pm.

On Monday morning, we joined a Sandemans free walking tour of the Old Town, viewing landmarks such as St Marys Cathedral (despite the sign outside, this building is technically only a big church because of the specific definition of a cathedral) and many of the sights that inspired JK Rowling’s Harry Potter fantasies. Along the way we passed the Grassmarket, where Edinburgh’s oldest pub The White Hart Inn (499 years old) is located, as well as The Last Drop, where prisoners were historically given their last drink (or “last drop”) before being hung.

We returned home on Monday afternoon, flying with easyJet into Gatwick Airport.

Highlights:

- Steep terrain and cobbled streets

- Nights that don't get dark until 11pm  

- Princes Street Gardens

- Edinburgh Castle complex

- St Margaret's Cathedral - oldest building in Edinburgh

- The Royal Mile

- Bus day trip to the Scottish Highlands 

- Highland cattle - called hairy coo's by the locals

- Loch Ness cruise

- At the village of Pitlochry, Brendan's ice cream fell out of the cone but instead of just dropping to the pavement, he managed to fumble and juggle the ball of ice cream before it eventually landed on the footpath, but he picked it back up and still ate it

- Sandemans walking tour of Old Town

- St Mary's Cathedral, not technically a cathedral

- Grassmarkets, The Last Drop and The White Hart Inn - 499 years old

- Numerous sites of inspiration for Harry Potter

- Ate haggis, and shortbread

- Drank whiskey, and the Scottish soft drink Irn Bru

Week 7 in London

Week 7: 18-24 May 2015

Week 7 of our life in London consisted of a fairly standard London working week, and a mixed bag of weather.

On Friday, we went along with our flatmates, Nathan and Michelle, to a Kiwis in London event, an evening picnic in Kensington Gardens at Hyde Park.

With the weekend being another bank holiday, on Saturday we set off for Edinburgh, Scotland.

Week 6 in London

Week 6: 11-17 May 2015

Returning to a normal working week, we already looked forward to the next weekend. Early in the week while at lunch, Brendan witnessed filming of Made in Chelsea. He watched on, as they filmed at least 6 takes of Binky driving around the block and attempting to park in a vacant triple length car space.

Roslyn also secured full time employment at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, in the same role that she has been on a temporary contract for. The next day, she returned to Oxford again (not Blenheim Palace this time) for an overnight stay and conference in the morning, unfortunately the weather was too rainy for her to spend any time looking around.

Come the weekend, and we set off to the iconic London Eye. Originally built in 1999 as a symbol to celebrate the Millennium (also known as the Millennium Wheel), at the time it was the worlds tallest ferris wheel, and still remains the tallest wheel in Europe.

After our half hour revolution we hired bikes, often referred to as Boris bikes or Barclays bikes although they have recently been rebranded as Santander Cycles, and cycled through Hyde Park. Despite now having been Londoners for some time, we had no idea of just how big and how picturesque the park was. Tree lined pathways meander through the sprawling lawns with squirrels darting between branches, and hidden in the middle of the park is the stunning Serpentine lake.

We concluded the weekend with lunch with a few people we had met at last week’s Aussies in London event, at the Brick Lane markets where each weekend a former brewery hosts a wide variety of international food stalls. Certainly something to be experienced!

Highlights for the week:

- Brendan saw filming of Made in Chelsea

- Roslyn secured full time employment at the Royal College of Psychologists

- Roslyn had another event at Oxford

- London Eye

- Hired bikes and rode around Hyde Park

- Saw the Serpentine

- More shopping down Oxford Street
- Lunch at Brick Lane

Week 5 in London

Week 5: 4-10 May 2015

We started the week with a bank holiday, and contrary to popular belief, London does actually bask in occasional sunshine and Monday was a perfect example. Brendan managed to break or fracture his toe/toes/foot (we aren’t quite sure because we haven’t investigated any further) and has been limping ever since. Our new flatmates Michelle and Nathan then arrived to move in about an hour later. The 4 of us went along to the Campo Viejo Streets of Spain festival, set in a prime riverside location on the banks of the River Thames.

Now that we actually had an address to receive mail at, we also received our first parcel from Australia – belated Easter eggs along with an early birthday present for Roslyn, tickets to Taylor Swift at Hyde Park.

Being now 2 months since departing Australia, Brendan had his first UK haircut although kept it a little longer than usual given that we aren’t exactly in the midst of summer just yet.

Following a short working week, on Saturday we ticked another stereotypical tourist activity off our list, and went to the Abbey Road crossing, made famous by The Beatles. We also found out that the Abbey Road Studios have a live webcam (http://www.abbeyroad.com/Crossing), and so were able to be seen by our families back home for the first time in 2 months. Later, we went across to The London Dungeon, an indoor walkthrough experience that recreates and explains various events from London’s sinister past in a humorous style. After that, we went to another Aussies in London drinks event, and the rest of the evening became a bit hazy for one of us…

The next day, we journeyed to North Greenwich, an area under extensive redevelopment that looks like it will become a modern, vibrant district once fully completed. We were greeted with the Urban Village Fete, a “contemporary twist on the traditional village fair”. We walked/limped a little further to the Emirates Air Line, a cable car crossing the River Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks.

Highlights for the week:

- Monday Bank Holiday

- Brendan broke/fractured his toe/toes/foot

- New housemates moved in

- Campo Viejo Streets of Spain festival

- Received a parcel from Australia

- Brendan’s first London haircut

- Abbey Road crossing and webcam to Australia

- The London Dungeon

- Aussies in London drinks

- Breakfast at The Breakfast Club

- Urban Village Fete at North Greenwich

- Emirates Air Line across the River Thames

(PS it was Brendan who went overboard at the drinks)

Week 4 - birth of Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana Windsor

Week 4: 27 April-3 May 2015

Our first week in our new flat, and it finally felt like we actually live in London. We are fortunate enough to be placed within footsteps to countless eateries and bars, as well as several major supermarkets (up to now, corner stores were all we'd seen). Also at the end of our tree lined street is the 220 acre Clapham Common, a huge expanse of open parkland that's hard to believe is still in the city. 

At work, Brendan discovered that clients of the Knightsbridge agency are not simply anonymous, wealthy business people but that they are in fact dealing with multiple well known public figures - just this week he was sorting out a certain ex Australian PM's mail! Just prior to Brendan starting at Knight Frank, the company had teamed up with Condé Nast, publishers of magazines including Vogue and GQ, for a large scale marketing campaign. To celebrate the success of this partnership, Knight Frank staff were invited to a party at Vogue House in Mayfair which Brendan attended. 

The morning of the royal birth, we headed across to St Mary's Hospital where there was plenty of media attention. Spotting Australia's Seven News crew, we wandered over and discovered we had a pretty clear view of the entrance to the hospital. 

Considering the police all around, we were surprised that we were allowed to remain standing in this particular spot. After a while, some girls in blue marketing shirts came around and offered us champagne and they told us the hashtags we should use on twitter, and Roslyn mentioned to them the royal hashtags that were trending. We thought nothing of this until some other members of the public nearby asked for champagne and were told that it was for media only, before being ushered out of the area. It seemed that with our foreign accents, we'd successfully been mistaken for media crew. #winning!

As it was a long weekend (or "bank holiday" as it's called), we felt the weekend was a good opportunity to complete some of the touristy things around London that we'd so far missed out on, and so jumped on board an open top, red double decker tour bus. The ticket for the bus also included a river cruise, which we used the next day. That evening, we ascended The Shard, western Europe's tallest building at 95 stories, to the Hutong sky bar where we had a sensational outlook across the city. 

Highlights for the week:

- Walked around Clapham Common

- Went to a function at Vogue House

- Booked a cruise to Croatia

- Booked a trip to Edinburgh 

- Brendan discovered that clients at work are in fact well known public figures

- St Mary's Hospital after royal birth

- Portobello Road markets

- Night out in the hipster, Shoreditch (home of the Cereal Killer Cafe)

- Open top bus tour

- River cruise along River Thames

- Went up The Shard

- Long weekend