Doctor Who Experience

Today we headed to Cardiff in Wales for the Doctor Who Experience! It was over a 2 hour train ride there and then a short bus ride. The first part of the experience was super cool and had video of Matt Smith talking to us like he's in trouble and we have to go through the TARDIS and were attacked by Daleks and it was pretty sweet. It was like we were in a play. After that we were in the exhibit which had a ton of original props and costumes. It was definitely a lot smaller than the Harry Potter exhibit and didn't take long for us to go through it all. It was super cool though. But! Our train didn't leave until wayyy later. So we had to wait 4 hours in the train station, while watching other trains going back to London but not being able to get on. So the trip part was kinda a bummer but the Doctor Who part was awesome.
We're about ready to head home. We're tired and miss being somewhere we know and love. <3

Bus Tour

Today Zach and I went on a bus tour through London! While it sounds lame, it really is a great way to see most of the must-sees in London. We first headed to Saint Paul's Cathedral(third picture) and were planning to just walk around it but decided to go in since Zach had never seen it. We went in and it was really beautiful. I started having some really bad back pain so I spent most of the time there seated. We got back on the bus and hopped off again at Trafalgar  Square. We saw some cool break dancers and made a wish on pennies that we threw into the fountains. From there we walked to St. James park which I had been looking forward to but The street next to it and half the park was all torn up!!!! Very disappointing. Before getting back on the bus, we stopped at Buckingham Palace (first picture). We saw some awesome guards and then got back on the bus. We should have dressed warmer for open top double decker riding, but overall had a good time driving past some awesome landmarks. We decided to skip Madam Toussoue's Since we had to pay to get into St Paul's. That was okay since we were getting pretty tired anyway. Tomorrow we head to Cardiff in Wales for the Doctor Who experience!! We're both pretty pumped. I hope my back starts feeling better! Also, all photos in this entry are thanks to Zach!

The Making of Harry Potter

What a MAGICAL day!!!! We went to Warner Brothers, The Making of Harry Potter set tour. It was so fantastic. Obviously anyone who knows me knows how much I love harry potter so this was just a dream come true for me. We had a really really fun time and took sooooooo many pictures! I cried quite a few times, especially when we entered the room with the huge Hogwarts model. I told Zach that, as ridiculous as it sounds, it's as close to a religious experience that I've ever had. I sat on a bench crying for an embarrassingly long time. We then made our way through to the amazing gift shop where I spent all of our money so we will now starve until getting back to the states. Just kidding but I did go a little crazy because I was so happy and excited. I've promised it's my last purchases! I'm cuddled up with my new stuffed Fluffy with a bit of a belly ache. Nothing can bring me down today though. It was just a fantastic day.

London's not all bad

Well after staying in the hotel most of the day, we headed to the tube station to buy our travel tickets. Apparently credit cards are quite rare in the UK as everyone looks mad when I hand them one and the machines would not take our card. We had to walk to a bigger station that had an attendant and of course got lost and my legs were burning from walking. My legs are totally exhausted from all this walking! Thank goodness London seems to be less hilly. Anyway we finally got our travel cards and I was really upset and overwhelmed by all the people. Of course my wonderful husband always calms me down. Gush gush gush.

After a quick rest in the hotel, we headed to Mary and Jeffrey's for dinner. We navigated the tube just fine and met Mary at the station no problem! We had a really lovely dinner with them with great conversation and delicious tacos. We managed to get back to the hotel all okay too! So I'm feeling a bit more confident about London and am SO EXCITED for tomorrow's adventure.... until next time!!!!!

Finally in London

Well we finally got into London around 10.30 last night. We got to our hotel and it's the smallest room I've ever been in. We can't put our bags flat on the floor even! We haven't left the hotel yet (almost noon) because we're still adjusting to London. It's obviously quite a bit bigger than Edinburgh and we find ourselves really missing Scotland and the quaint beautiful feel or Edinburgh. There are just so many people here! I'm sure once we get out and about it's going to be great but, just like our first day in Edinburgh, we need some time to adjust. 

Soon we'll head out for some food and to get our travel cards so we can ride the tube and buses.  

stuck on the train

Well today has been kind of a bummer. We checked out of our fantastic hotel (where last night we took an awesome bubble bath with jets while drinking champagne and eating chocolate) and got to the train station no problem. We got on our train (first class!) but after about 45 minutes we stopped for 2 and 1/2 hours due to communication errors or something. We're still on the train and are due into London at 10.30. Ugh. Luckily we have an audio book to listen to and they've been lavishing snacks and hot chocolates on us.
Tomorrow we are doing... something. I'm not really sure. I think I put down the British museum for tomorrow but we might also try and get some other sight seeing in before heading to see some family friends, Mary and Jeffry.

The Rutland

Disclaimer: I've have a few mojitos and a glass of champagne, not sure how put together I'll be in this entry! Today we checked into The Rutland hotel in Edinburgh. Mom will not be happy to hear that we have taken crazy advantage of the amazing room service. I mean this hotel is CLASSY. Seriously so fancy. We have an awesome view of the castle from our HUGE junior suit.  Music from our iPod come out of speakers around the room... anyway... I'll get back to talking about the hotel after I say what we did today. First we visited The Elephant House, a coffee shop where JK Rowling first started writing the Harry Potter books. From there we caught the bus to the zoo! Scotland is pretty hilly but the zoo was CRAZY hilly. We got tired pretty quickly but saw a lot of cool ani,also. Unfortunately, although they had giant pandas, you had to get advanced tickets to see them. All the enclosures were really beautiful and it felt like we were in a big park. From there we headed back to the Rutland and finally got to see our room. After gaping over it we headed down to the bar for a drink. It was pretty busy so after a drink in the bar we've been having some food and a few more drinks delieverd to the room. I swear mom, it's our only splurge! Well a long island iced tea is calling my name... more edits tomorrow from London!

Loch Ness Bus Tour

Today we went on a bus tour through the Scottish Highlands up to Loch Ness. I'm really glad we did this since Zach really wanted to see Loch Ness and I didn't put it on the itinerary and told him I didn't think it was possible since it's a 5 hour drive. Our first stop on the tour was to see Hamish the Highlands cow (or a Hielan' Coo as the Scots say)  The picture of some safety cones is actually Hamish and Honey as we drove away. You can kinda see them. They look like the cows on the postcard I'm holding up. By far my favorite part of the trip!!!!! I then fell asleep until we stopped at Glen Coe, the Valley of Weeping. (The third picture) we got out and took some great photos. Learned some sad history of the place though! 200 people were slaughtered there by the English during some clan vs England stuff. I was kind of sleeping when our guide was telling the story... So all of the pictures of me there are me looking much too happy while on the sight of a massacre. From there we made our way to Loch Ness after stopping for lunch along the way where we got Zach a nice sweater.
In the gift shop before going into Urquhart castle ruins, I bought some postcards and had a huge moment of panic where i couldn't find my wallet. Zach managed to calm me down and convince me I had put it in his sweater bag that was on the bus. (Thank goodness it was and nothing was stolen). We went and looked around the castle ruins, which were amazing. I am convinced that they have rainbow making machines all around because we saw 5 or 6 perfect rainbows. So beautiful.
After looking around the castle we got on a mini cruise boat that took us all around Loch Ness. It was pretty chilly but wonderful. The day started out gray and rainy but by the time we got to Loch Ness it was sunny and much warmer. We've had really good luck with weather so far!
Tomorrow we move into our fancy hotel for the night and then off to the zoo!  We're having great fun. Love to all.

Calton Hill

This morning we want to the portrait gallery, which I've already written about! From there we walked to Calton Hill. Wow. What a huge hill. Before leaving Madison we climbed the bluffs at Devil's Lake;  it felt a bit like we were Climbing it again! Very steep. Finally we got to the top for a fantastic view over Edinburgh and beyond to rolling hills. It was terribly chilly up there with strong winds. Up there was also a Parthenon monument, which Zach really enjoyed. From there we went to the Scottish National Museum. We saw some Van Goughs and Kandinskys. By that time we were really tired and headed home. We (embarrassingly) stopped at a Subway for some sandwiches. I ordered mine in a slight British accent. Hee hee. I'm sure I sounded ridiculous. I've been thinking totally in an accent and been slipping into speaking in one to Zach, who lovingly accepts it and doesn't mention it. I took a nap when we got back to the hotel and now we're watching telly before bed. Tomorrow we head to Loch Ness bright and early!

favorite things and disappointments

I'll start by saying today's disappointment and end with my favorite thing so far. We walked down to the Portrait gallery (where we still are) and it was a bit disappointing. It was advertised that portraits of Karen Gilligan, David Tennant, and J K Rowling would be here but to no avail! We couldn't Find them and there weren't any postcards of them Or anything. A bit of a bummer.
Before we head back out on today's adventure, I will say my favorite UK thing so far: their bathrooms. Seriously their public bathrooms are amazing. The stalls are little rooms with walls from floor to ceiling so, for the shy pee-er like myself, there's no fear of someone hearing you! Wonderful!

Finally internet!

We finally have internet in our room! Thank goodness. Zach and I arrived in Edinburgh on Tuesday after a very uncomfortable trip. My hips were a bit too wide for the airplane seat so it was impossible to get comfortable at all and my hip cramped up ever other moment.  But finally we arrived at our hotel around midday. (After adventerously taking the bus from the airport to the hotel!) We checked in no problem. We walked around a bit and found a cute little sandwich shop. We headed back to the hotel and took a nap since we were so exhausted. We woke up around 6 and headed back out for more food! We got some fish and chips, which we took back to the hotel and devoured while watching Scottish TV. We managed to stay awake till around 10 and then passed out. On Wednesday we got up bright and early and, after having a delicious breakfast at the hotel, headed out to Edinburgh castle. After a long walk up several hills, we finally found the entrance and bought our tickets. The castle sits on a huge rock so that once you get up to the viewpoint along its walls, you can see all of Edinburgh. Quite a site. From there we went to the Camera obscura and World of Illusions. That place was quite fun and had a bunch of weird things to play with. After that we walked down the Royal Mile and got a pint of Scottish ale and bought some presents for our friends. Today I was in charge of the alarm... which was a mistake. We ended up missing breakfast and, at noon, have only just started getting out of bed! Oh well. We had a hard day yesterday and tomorrow we have to get up early for our bus tour to loch ness! Today it's to the Scottish portrait gallery and Calton hill!
Love to all!