Mims' Musings

It’s been nearly 2 weeks since we got back from our venture up North,  so it’s about time I wrote about it before I forget, and also because there’s so many more blog posts which I have lined up, like an interview with comedian Daniel Sloss, a write up of the Stitched Science event at the Science Museum, and whatever adventures this weekend brings (you better subscribe in case you miss  any of those!)

Anyway, on Day 6 of our trip we went up to Edinburgh. The drive took a little longer than we expected, and then there was the nightmare of realising our car was too tall to fit in most of the car parks. The result was a briefer trip to Edinburgh than most of us would’ve liked! At least I can now say I’ve officially been to Scotland (just Wales to go and I would’ve covered the UK!).

For lunch we found Loudon’s, a Cafe that reminded me a bit of the Leon food chain, in fact I wonder if it’s a related company. I was blown away byhow they made such simple food amazingly delicious. I had a gammon and smoked cheese sandwich and thinking about it makes me want to go recreate sometime in the near future. Considering the gammon was as good as the special occassion Christmas ham that we have, the prices were so reasonable! Actually everywhere seemed reasonable compared to London.

On our whistlestop tour we popped into Edinburgh Cathedral. I was quite distracted by the whole experience of the Royal Mile, but I made sure I spent a minute or two looking at this amazing stained glass window. I just love how all the colours are so vivid and how you can see all the detail from far away.

Whilst promenading down the Royal Mile I swiftly realised that what I thought was a mild dislike for bagpipes, is in fact a full blown detestation. The moment of realisation was when we walked into a shop and there was an overwhelmingly annoying noise which sounded hauntingly familiar. We then realised that it was Coldplay being covered by someone on the bagpipes. My ears still haven’t recovered to this day! Thus a new philosophy of mine was born:
Coldplay is Coldplay and Bagpipes are Bagpipes, never the twain shall meet!

Seriously. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

I feel that I needed to include this picture of Edinburgh Castle, although we didn’t go in we could see it from nearly every angle while we were searching for a car park. When we walked through the grounds to get to the Royal Mile we saw the stands being assembled for the Military Tattoo, I’ve never seen it on TV but hope to catch it this year.

I was so happy I got to see one genuine thistle. I bought a thistle charm for my travel charm bracelet which is soon becoming full.

As per tradition, I wanted to make sure I got a football shirt from Scotland, to add to my ‘sportswear of the world collection’, comprised of an Irish Rugby shirt, my Scotland football shirt, an Ateneo Volleyball Shirt (from the Philippines) but not an England or Arsenal shirt yet. (shocking…) I was so happy when I found the Scotland shirt in my size seeing as we only had half an hour to acquire one. Colin got the yellow one as well so now we look like a beautifully sporting pair. Also his is beautifully sunny and bright!

On Day 7 we had an amazing lunch in the Treehouse Restaurant, Alnwick. I wanted to go there as soon as I learned of its existence when we arrived, and it didn’t disappoint.

Every last detail was thought of, each chair looked like they were made from tree trunks and there were plenty of fairy lights, candles and an awesome open fire. It felt like we were in some sort of fairy tale. I wish we had such magical place near London so I could celebrate my birthday there!

This is the food I had there, it’s mainly here so I can remember how much I love Minute Steak.

After all the fun of Treehouse dining we then found that they had rope bridges! Properly wobbly ones! Greatly unsteady and fun once I got over my initial fear of bouncing on them!

After lunch Colin and I went to Barter Books in Alnwick which is one of the biggest second hand bookshops in the UK. I was hoping to find a nice bargain to treat myself with, so imagine my horror when I realised the cheapest books were £30 and there were many that were £500 and above! So as amused as I was by the train set that runs between the bookcases we swiftly exited with our wallets still intact.

Day 8 was spent driving back home. We had a stop in Durham where we managed to catch up with Ian who was a great guide through the vast landscape that is Durham! He also led us to La Spaghettata which was a great meal to end the trip with, now that I’ve been enlightened by Vodka pasta my life will never be the same again.

That concludes my account of our Northern venture. I now feel a bit better about covering a bit more of British ground, but my geography of England is still awful as I was reminded last night while playing on a Pub Quiz machine. It’s not my fault though! At school geography was about rivers and mountains and how they were formed and stuff.

Check back soon to catch up on my latest shennanigans, and if you haven’t already- Subscribe!!!!!