Jun. 5th, 2011 10:40 pm
UK: Week 2
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textualdevianceA brief pause in the whirlwind that's been the last week!
We (reluctantly) left London Monday morning and hoppped the train up to Leeds. This was, of course, a bank holiday, and our car rental place was closed, so we didn't pick that up until the following day. The other thing that was closed? Pretty much everything. After checking in to our (strange but cool) little hotel, we went roaming to find food, only to see next to nothing actually open. What we did find was a tapas bar in a little strip mall sort of dealio. Said tapas bar had great food, some salsa dancing lessons going on, and a ridiculously cute waiter with a delightful Yorkshire accent, who gave us travel advice. Damn near tried to get him to come back to the room with us on the spot. Unf. Our better judgment won out, however, and we toddled back.
Picked up the car the next day--my birthday!--and, much to our delight, it's small! Still an automatic, but it's a tiny little thing actually built for maneuvering around the eensy beensy streets. Good thing, too, because I spent three hours that afternoon getting lost driving around Leeds. Oops. We did also have a fun time that day roaming around the Royal Armouries, though. If you're ever in that neck of the woods and like looking at swords and armor and all sorts of similar gear, definitely go. Was much pleased to find there some examples of the weapons I wrote in for my kickass ranger gal in my novel. :) Also had a nice meal that night at the restaurant next to the hotel (which was actually open, finally.)
Didn't get nearly enough time in the area, I think. Would've loved to take cute waiter's advice, but alas, we were bound for Glasgow the next day.
Said trek took a lot longer than I'd imagined, mostly because what the UK considers a major road is more like what the US would consider a tiny country lane. First leg of the trip was along a two-lane road through rolling hills full of ancient stone fences, charming little villages and sheep. Feeling a bit peckish, we stopped at a roadside inn, and parked in their bar for a snack. This... didn't really happen. Said inn was undergoing some renovation, and five minutes after we got there, the power went out. M got some coffee, and I got an eyeful of a dead ox head on the wall, but that was, sadly, it.
Back on the road again...
This time, we found a proper motorway fairly quickly, and sped our way up to Glasgow, with just a short stop at a "services" exit--something like a cross between a rest area and a truck stop. Decent food for such a place, though, and I managed to see a bird I hadn't yet seen before.
After a bit of getting lost on the motorway interchanges in Glasgow, we finally made it to our hotel. It calls itself a castle, but it's really not--just a schmancy Victorian mansion that used to be the home of one of the area's major builders. Nice place, though, and we got a cool room with a sitting area in one of the building's turrets. Great food at their restaurant, too.
Felt kinda icky the next day, so we didn't get going until late afternoon, when we finally headed over to the Kelvingrove Museum. After our museum experiences in London, this wasn't quite as impressive, but still fun, and the building itself is gorgeous. Then we spent the next two hours doing laundry (again) in a weird little hole-in-the-wall place with a signed bikini and a pic of Barry Manilow on the wall. No, I don't get it, either. Back at the hotel, there was some sort of major event going on--wedding? School dance?--whatever it was, it involved lots of very cute young Scots all dolled up in kilts/tartan. Amusing.
Had to get up very early the next day to make the ferry, which launches from a smaller town about a half-hour south of Glasgow. Ferry ride was uneventful--not much to see out that way--and we started toward Belfast. We hit the outskirts of town, and stopped at a place calling itself Belfast Castle (yet another Victorian mansion--this one with a ton of cat sculptures all over the garden.) Then we said: "Hey, we have a ton of time before we need to check in, and only one day in NI. We should do something cool." Turned around, and an hour+ later, we were up at Giant's Causeway, one of the big things I've always wanted to see.
Unfortunately, the short sleep caught up with me, and I ended up napping in the car while M took the mile-long hike out to the stones themselves. Still, I got to see a lot of the northern coastline, which was gorgeous. On our way back, we stopped at another historic site--a crumbling ruin of a castle on a site that's had something like that there for nearly a thousand years. Amazing.
Finally made to Belfast proper, where we got lost briefly--long enough to see one of the peace murals. Kind of made it hit home exactly how scary it must have been to be there during the Troubles. Also scary that there's still a bit of nastiness on that end going on here and there. We, however, were quite safe where we were, and enjoyed our one night in the little hotel there.
On to Dublin yesterday! Another fairly long drive, and a nice stop for lunch at a services exit. Got lost again--no surprises there--when we got in to town, but made it to our hotel, which, again, calls itself a castle. This one, however, actually has something like that on the site. Granted that it was actually built in the mid-1800s, but the site itself dates back far further. Weirdly enough, the place as-is has an even stranger history, as it has a bunch of modern building attached to the older stuff, and used to be a quasi-Vegas-style resort. It's retained some of that cheese, and obviously caters to tourists looking for that classic medieval romance. It's hilarious, but cool.
Sadly woke up with a headache today, and M had cell phone issues, so it was slow getting off the mark. Finally made it out briefly on my own, where I went out and stalked a Primeval filming location. Then we headed out again together to go hunting other stuff. Stopped first at a little cafe that was trying ever so hard to look like a classic American burger joint. It's more or less a complete copy of Ruby's, for those familiar with that chain, but everything's just slightly... off. Garlic mayo on the fries, for instance. Tasty, but not ranch. We had quite a giggle about it.
After fortification, we went roaming, looking for more filming locations and other interesting things. Due to issues with driving/navigation/parking, we only got glimpses of some of the places, but we did get at least a brief look at three more Primeval locations, plus Dublin Castle, a smidgen of Trinity College and a ton of awesome old buildings. We had the scariest driving moment since leaving the Cotswolds when I turned the wrong way on a very large street, but we survived it. Though M may not ever forgive me for scaring him like that. ;)
Taking it easy tonight (though lamenting the fact that our hotel doesn't know how to make proper salsa), and tomorrow we plan to head south to a little estate/wilderness area, where we hope to get in some birding/caching. Tuesday we get the ferry back to Britain, and two days in Manchester, then it's back to London for one night before we fly out. Kind of crazy that we're creeping toward the end of this. Slightly homesick, but also seeing so many things I'd have loved to explore more. I know getting a chance to come back here anytime soon is next to impossible, but I hope we can do it someday, at least.
Pics for Leeds, Glasgow and Belfast are up on Flickr!
We (reluctantly) left London Monday morning and hoppped the train up to Leeds. This was, of course, a bank holiday, and our car rental place was closed, so we didn't pick that up until the following day. The other thing that was closed? Pretty much everything. After checking in to our (strange but cool) little hotel, we went roaming to find food, only to see next to nothing actually open. What we did find was a tapas bar in a little strip mall sort of dealio. Said tapas bar had great food, some salsa dancing lessons going on, and a ridiculously cute waiter with a delightful Yorkshire accent, who gave us travel advice. Damn near tried to get him to come back to the room with us on the spot. Unf. Our better judgment won out, however, and we toddled back.
Picked up the car the next day--my birthday!--and, much to our delight, it's small! Still an automatic, but it's a tiny little thing actually built for maneuvering around the eensy beensy streets. Good thing, too, because I spent three hours that afternoon getting lost driving around Leeds. Oops. We did also have a fun time that day roaming around the Royal Armouries, though. If you're ever in that neck of the woods and like looking at swords and armor and all sorts of similar gear, definitely go. Was much pleased to find there some examples of the weapons I wrote in for my kickass ranger gal in my novel. :) Also had a nice meal that night at the restaurant next to the hotel (which was actually open, finally.)
Didn't get nearly enough time in the area, I think. Would've loved to take cute waiter's advice, but alas, we were bound for Glasgow the next day.
Said trek took a lot longer than I'd imagined, mostly because what the UK considers a major road is more like what the US would consider a tiny country lane. First leg of the trip was along a two-lane road through rolling hills full of ancient stone fences, charming little villages and sheep. Feeling a bit peckish, we stopped at a roadside inn, and parked in their bar for a snack. This... didn't really happen. Said inn was undergoing some renovation, and five minutes after we got there, the power went out. M got some coffee, and I got an eyeful of a dead ox head on the wall, but that was, sadly, it.
Back on the road again...
This time, we found a proper motorway fairly quickly, and sped our way up to Glasgow, with just a short stop at a "services" exit--something like a cross between a rest area and a truck stop. Decent food for such a place, though, and I managed to see a bird I hadn't yet seen before.
After a bit of getting lost on the motorway interchanges in Glasgow, we finally made it to our hotel. It calls itself a castle, but it's really not--just a schmancy Victorian mansion that used to be the home of one of the area's major builders. Nice place, though, and we got a cool room with a sitting area in one of the building's turrets. Great food at their restaurant, too.
Felt kinda icky the next day, so we didn't get going until late afternoon, when we finally headed over to the Kelvingrove Museum. After our museum experiences in London, this wasn't quite as impressive, but still fun, and the building itself is gorgeous. Then we spent the next two hours doing laundry (again) in a weird little hole-in-the-wall place with a signed bikini and a pic of Barry Manilow on the wall. No, I don't get it, either. Back at the hotel, there was some sort of major event going on--wedding? School dance?--whatever it was, it involved lots of very cute young Scots all dolled up in kilts/tartan. Amusing.
Had to get up very early the next day to make the ferry, which launches from a smaller town about a half-hour south of Glasgow. Ferry ride was uneventful--not much to see out that way--and we started toward Belfast. We hit the outskirts of town, and stopped at a place calling itself Belfast Castle (yet another Victorian mansion--this one with a ton of cat sculptures all over the garden.) Then we said: "Hey, we have a ton of time before we need to check in, and only one day in NI. We should do something cool." Turned around, and an hour+ later, we were up at Giant's Causeway, one of the big things I've always wanted to see.
Unfortunately, the short sleep caught up with me, and I ended up napping in the car while M took the mile-long hike out to the stones themselves. Still, I got to see a lot of the northern coastline, which was gorgeous. On our way back, we stopped at another historic site--a crumbling ruin of a castle on a site that's had something like that there for nearly a thousand years. Amazing.
Finally made to Belfast proper, where we got lost briefly--long enough to see one of the peace murals. Kind of made it hit home exactly how scary it must have been to be there during the Troubles. Also scary that there's still a bit of nastiness on that end going on here and there. We, however, were quite safe where we were, and enjoyed our one night in the little hotel there.
On to Dublin yesterday! Another fairly long drive, and a nice stop for lunch at a services exit. Got lost again--no surprises there--when we got in to town, but made it to our hotel, which, again, calls itself a castle. This one, however, actually has something like that on the site. Granted that it was actually built in the mid-1800s, but the site itself dates back far further. Weirdly enough, the place as-is has an even stranger history, as it has a bunch of modern building attached to the older stuff, and used to be a quasi-Vegas-style resort. It's retained some of that cheese, and obviously caters to tourists looking for that classic medieval romance. It's hilarious, but cool.
Sadly woke up with a headache today, and M had cell phone issues, so it was slow getting off the mark. Finally made it out briefly on my own, where I went out and stalked a Primeval filming location. Then we headed out again together to go hunting other stuff. Stopped first at a little cafe that was trying ever so hard to look like a classic American burger joint. It's more or less a complete copy of Ruby's, for those familiar with that chain, but everything's just slightly... off. Garlic mayo on the fries, for instance. Tasty, but not ranch. We had quite a giggle about it.
After fortification, we went roaming, looking for more filming locations and other interesting things. Due to issues with driving/navigation/parking, we only got glimpses of some of the places, but we did get at least a brief look at three more Primeval locations, plus Dublin Castle, a smidgen of Trinity College and a ton of awesome old buildings. We had the scariest driving moment since leaving the Cotswolds when I turned the wrong way on a very large street, but we survived it. Though M may not ever forgive me for scaring him like that. ;)
Taking it easy tonight (though lamenting the fact that our hotel doesn't know how to make proper salsa), and tomorrow we plan to head south to a little estate/wilderness area, where we hope to get in some birding/caching. Tuesday we get the ferry back to Britain, and two days in Manchester, then it's back to London for one night before we fly out. Kind of crazy that we're creeping toward the end of this. Slightly homesick, but also seeing so many things I'd have loved to explore more. I know getting a chance to come back here anytime soon is next to impossible, but I hope we can do it someday, at least.
Pics for Leeds, Glasgow and Belfast are up on Flickr!
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