London & Paris with the Parents :)

     Last Sunday I flew to London to spend a few days there with my parents. It was so exciting to see them and my brother (with his school group) at Heathrow since I hadn't seen them in almost two months. We said goodbye to Marcus, who was taking a coach bus into the city with his group, and we took a cab into London where we checked into our hotel and had a little nap before going to Mass at Westminster Cathedral. We went to the same Mass as Marcus' school group and we could tell how jet-lagged everyone was. People were literally falling asleep (my brother included). Afterwards my parents and I had dinner at Pizza Express then made our way back to our hotel for an early night.

     We had a bit of a late start the next day, but we managed to have breakfast at the hotel before it ended and went back to Westminster Cathedral to go up the bell tower. It was SO cold and windy, and although the view was amazing I couldn't bear being up there for more than about ten minutes. That day we also checked out the National Gallery which was pretty enjoyable even though I'm not a huge fan of art galleries or museums. In the evening we went to to an Italian restaurant called Bella Italia for dinner (where my brother's school group also happened to be having dinner... I felt like we were stalking them. Awkward.) then saw Les Mis, which was fantastic. I had wanted to see it onstage for ages so that was really exciting for me.

     On Tuesday we did some more sightseeing, including going up on the London Eye and seeing Big Ben Tower and Westminster Abbey. We also went to King's Cross to see Platform 9 3/4 -- a must for any Harry Potter nerd in London. I really wanted to do the Harry Potter studio tours but it would have taken a full day and we just didn't have time. On the bright side, I have an excuse to go back to London! That evening we managed to get discounted tickets for Phantom of the Opera, my favourite musical. Even though that was my third time seeing it onstage I was still really excited -- Phantom never gets old for me. We had insanely good seats too, which was a nice bonus!

     We didn't do too much on Wednesday since we had an early evening flight to Glasgow, but we did do a bit of shopping on Oxford Street. When we got into Glasgow my parents went to their hotel to check in and rest for a bit before going out for dinner all together at the Counting House. This time I had a highland burger (which had haggis in it). Not sure how I felt about it haha. It made me flash back to Burns Night, when Kirsty, Anna and I had way too much haggis. Afterwards I went to Sainsbury's with my parents and they bought me groceries, then I went back to my flat for the night. On Thursday I spent some more time with my parents and just wandered the city a bit. We did a bit of shopping on Buchanan Street then they took my flatmates and I out for dinner at a Greek restaurant which was really fun. The next day my parents did a half-day trip to Loch Lomond while I had class then we met up in the evening. I showed them my flat and took them to Glasgow Cathedral and for a walk to the top of the Necropolis. We went for dinner after and I stayed the night with them at their hotel because we had an early flight to Paris the next day.

     We got into Paris in the early afternoon, checked into our hotel and explored the city a bit before having an early dinner at the Hippopotamus. Since I've been to Paris several times before, and my parents have too, we didn't do too many super touristy things while we were there which was nice. We did go for Mass at Notre Dame though and went to the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't go up (which was a relief since it was so cold and windy, plus it's always super crowded up there). One of the highlights was seeing a concert at the Paris Opera House on Sunday night. It was a brass ensemble performing Wagner & Bruckner pieces and the concert was good, but for me, being the Phantom fan that I am, the exciting part was seeing the inside of the Opera House. It was gorgeous and everything I imagined it to be. Sadly we didn't get to see the underground lake or the Phantom's lair hahaha. We also did some shopping while in Paris, and I managed to get some really good deals on some high-end clothing brands at a designer outlet mall. On Monday I had to say goodbye to my parents which was hard because I know I won't see them for another 2.5 months. It was nice spending so much time with them though, and I have lots to look forward to in the next couple weeks (namely a visit from a certain someone I have been missing terribly!).

     I have tons of school work to do before spring break, but in a way that's a good thing because it will make the time before Cyrus comes go by faster. Only 11 more days until our UK adventure together :)

Dublin Weekend Trip

     Over the weekend I went to Dublin with Kirsty, Michelle and Anna. We left on Friday night and arrived in Dublin quite late. One thing we noticed right away was how friendly people were. Some guys on the bus must have guessed we were tourists and weren't 100% sure of where we were going, so when we got off the bus they asked if they could direct us to our hostel. We told them the address and they actually had no idea where it was and they were so sad they couldn't help us haha. They did show us where we could get a cab though, and we thought that was a good option because we didn't particularly want to walk 20 mins to our hostel so late at night. By the time we arrived at our hostel it was nearly midnight and we got to bed pretty quickly because we had a long day ahead.

     We woke up on Saturday morning around 8, had breakfast at the hostel, then headed out to explore the city. On our way into the city center we got to see St. Patrick's cathedral and Trinity College. We also checked out the Temple Bar district before going to the National History Museum of Ireland. The museum was interesting but I get bored quickly at museums so I was glad we only spend like an hour and a half there. We decided to have lunch at a pub called Nancy Hands (weird name), then made our way to the Guinness Storehouse. The Storehouse was pretty cool -- we got to learn about all the ingredients in Guinness, its history, and how its brewed. Our tickets included a pint of Guinness so after looking around the Storehouse we went up to the Gravity Bar and got our pints. I'm surprised at how much I actually like Guinness; it seems to have a reputation for being gross (that's what most people I've talked to have said anyway). By the time we left the storehouse it was around 4pm and we decided to go back to our hostel to rest for a bit before going for dinner. We ended up having dinner at a pub called The Banker (or something like that, I can't remember) and we all had Irish stew with Guinness bread and a pint of Guinness. It was SO good. Not sure what was in it, I think it was like beef, vegetables, potatoes, etc. haha.

      After dinner we wanted to listen to some live Irish music so we wandered around Temple Bar for a while trying to find a pub with a band playing. We came across a band playing in the street and they were fantastic. They were called Mutefish, and they consisted of a guitar player, flute/Irish whistle player (he alternated), a couple of percussionists, and a bassist. We stayed and listened to them for 20 minutes or so, then went to a pub called the Stag's Head because they had a sign outside advertising live music downstairs. We ended up having to wait about 45 minutes for the band to play, but it was worth it because they were great. They were three guys -- a drummer, a mandolin player, and another guy who would play the guitar or Irish whistle. It was hilarious because there was a hen party going on at that pub, and there was a life-sized cardboard cutout of the woman's fiancé, and at one point some guy in a creepy Donnie Darko mask was dancing with the cardboard cutout. It was so ridiculous haha we were cracking up the whole time. Michelle and I were tired and wanted to head back to the hostel, so we went back at around 11 and Kirsty and Anna stayed a while longer.

     The next morning Anna left us to go to Cork (she was going back to Glasgow Tuesday morning so she had time for an overnight trip) and Kirsty, Michelle and I went to Howth. Howth is a small fishing village 17 km north of Dublin, and it took a 30 min train ride to get there. When we arrived, we noticed a market so we went over to check it out and we ended up buying fudge and macarons. They were so tasty! One of the big reasons I wanted to go to Howth is because I read about a really nice cliff walk there. We did some of it (the whole thing was like 6km and we didn't have enough time to do that) and it was gorgeous! The sun came out and the views from the cliffs were amazing. The water was a beautiful light blue colour and the landscape was so green. It was probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Since Howth is fishing village, we wanted to have seafood for lunch. We got lunch from a cart selling seafood and chips. I got seafood chowder with chips and it was sooo good! I can't get over how amazing all the meals we had were in Ireland. After lunch we caught the train back into Dublin and shopped around a bit. At around 6 we decided to head back to the hostel because we were so exhausted and we had a super early flight in the morning. We picked up some dinner at a supermarket to eat back at the hostel. When we got back, we borrowed one of the DVDs from the lounge to watch in our room (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) but sadly the TV in our room didn't work! That was very disappointing haha. Instead we played board games in the lounge and ate the fudge we had bought in Howth earlier. We went to bed so early that night -- around 8:30 I think, which was good because we had to wake up at 5:45 to catch a cab to the airport for our 8am flight. We got back into Glasgow just after 10am and I got to relax a bit before heading to my classes. Dublin was such a cool city and I definitely want to go back to Ireland at some point and see the countryside/small towns. I'm hoping to go back after my exams are finished.

 

 

 

 

     This week I've mostly just been working on papers that are due in the next few weeks. I'm trying to get lots done because I have a busy week-and-a-half ahead of me. Tomorrow I'm going on a Student Tours Scotland day trip to the Isle of Bute, and Sunday I'm going to London to meet up with my family (yay!) until Wednesday. On Wednesday evening my parents are coming back to Glasgow with me and staying until Saturday morning, which is when we're going to Paris! I can't believe I'll have done two Paris trips in under two months. It's so crazy but I'm really excited. I'll be in Paris with my parents from Saturday-Monday. I'll get to see my brother in both London and Paris because he's going on a school trip there. We're going to the same performance of Les Mis in London as his class and hopefully going for dinner with them as well.

     In other news, I've become obsessed with the HBO show Girls and I've been watching it almost every night with Kirsty and Anna. Last night the girls and I also watched PS. I Love You which was randomly on TV, and I seriously cried about four times. It was embarrassing. That movie makes me so emotional haha.

     I'll hopefully make another blog post either when I get back from London or from Paris. I'm sure I'll have lots of stuff to write about :)