Mum & Brother in England

The morning after Christmas, I set off to drive to London for my first time.  It's Boxing Day here, so the trains were not running from the airports.  They were set to fly in about an hour apart, one at Gatwick, one at Heathrow.  (They were coming from different cities.)  It took me a little under 2 hours to get to Gatwick, there was not much traffic.  My brother was coming from Las Vegas direct, so his flight had been 11 hours overnight.  The airport was not busy at all.  Once he got through customs and luggage, we headed to Heathrow.  Mom's flight (from Atlanta on Delta) was an hour early, so she had already arrived.  Mike and I hit major, parking-lot-like traffic.  After about 30 minutes of not moving, he mapped us a back way to the airport, and we took a great detour.  It still took us a long time to get to her.  She had not slept her whole flight, so she was ready to get to my house.  It was only about an hour and a half home from there.  Jack was FLOORED to see them both.  He hugged my mom with the biggest hug I have ever seen, it was adorable.  That afternoon, we just relaxed, ate some turkey, and called it a night early.  Brian and Sarah were set to head out the next morning, so we all just hung out.

The next day, I took Russell to work, then Brian and Sarah to the train.  Mom, Mike, Russell, Jack, Scout and I were headed to Scotland the next morning.  We took it easy all day, then went to the local pub here in our village for a delicious dinner.  It's called the Red Lion.  It was our first time going there.  The atmosphere is great and the food is fantastic.  Russell ended up leaving before the food came because Scout was having a fit.  They sent his food home with us on one of their real plates.  "Just bring it back whenever."  I'm so not used to this sort of thing, it's great!

The next day, we were up long before the sun to catch our train to Edinburgh.  The train ride from here is just over three hours and the scenery is great.  Once you get north of here, the train runs on the coast. We passed oceanside golf courses, gorgeous cliffs, and went through spectacular cities.  Oh yeah, I had a total fail.  Somehow, I forgot my camera on this trip.  That was a first.  SO, all photos are iphone.  Sorry.

Edinburgh, Scotland is seriously the most gorgeous city.  I had heard amazing things, and it lived up to all of the hype.  It was also seriously cold.  We spent 2 days touring the city, in taxis, buses, and on foot.  That is Scout asleep under the rain cover hahaha.

Russell and Jack found Braveheart outside of the castle, Jack thought he was so cool!

The Edinburgh castle had a really long line the first day, so we decided to buy tickets for the next morning (you can buy where you won't have to wait in line.)  We ate at a great restaurant, one of Jamie Oliver's spots.  He's my fave celebrity chef, and I had yet to eat at one of his locations yet.  It was his Italian place.  It was so delicious.  If you know me, I'm not one for "chain-type" restaurants and I was worried that it would be like that.  Not at all!  The food was so awesome!!!  This was in the middle of the restaurant.

The site is www.jamieoliver.com/italian/edinburgh

We had antipasto, risotto, pasta, etc.  I highly recommend this spot!!

We stayed at a Hilton in Edinburgh that my brother had found online.  It was a quick cab ride to anywhere in town.  So far, of all our travels, Edinburgh has the most inexpensive taxis.  Also, the best cab drivers.  They are so nice, friendly, and knowledgable.  When we go back there again, we will definitely not pay a bus tour.  I recommend just getting a cab driver to cruise you around the city.  It's cheaper, and you learn way more information.

We ended up eating dinner at our hotel that night and defrosting.  The next morning, we had the hotel breakfast, then caught a cab up to the castle again.

The view of the city from the castle.

Inside the chapel at the castle.

Mom & a cannon :)

One of the Royal Apartments

We were not allowed to take pictures of several things, such as the Scottish Crown Jewels and the inside of the War Memorial on site.  The castle is amazing and huge.  It's definitely a few hours worth of sightseeing.  We actually learned some history about our area as well.  We had NO IDEA until we visited Scotland that Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded in the village next to ours.  Fotheringhay is the next village over from Warmington (you can see it from my house.)  She was then taken to the Peterborough Cathedral, where she was temporarily buried until her funeral.  The castle in Fotheringhay is not there any more, but the site and some remains are a National Site.  This was her bust that was inside the Royal Apartment at the Edinburgh Castle.

We headed into the Edinburgh Christmas Market in the middle of town (which runs through the New Year.)  There were yummy Nutella crepes and hot mulled wine, we enjoyed all of it!  We had a cab driver take us to Calton Hill (we were going to head up to Arthur's seat, but it's closed to cars on Sundays.)  Here are a few of the monuments on Calton Hill.  They were getting ready for a big NYE celebration.

Mom and I went all the way around it, and stopped to have a group of folks take our photo.  It wasn't until we got home that I realized they had also taken a selfie with my phone, it's too funny!

All in all, we loved Scotland and will definitely go back to Edinburgh.

We spent the next few days around here, and my brother had to leave on NYE.  After he left, Scout and I came down with a terrible flu.  I didn't get out of bed from 8pm the 31st until mid-day on the 2nd of Jan.  I felt like death.  The rest of mom's visit was more relaxing and less sightseeing than we had imagined, because as soon as I started feeling better, Scout got worse.  There wasn't much sleep around here for a few days.  (Turned out she ended up getting a double ear infection as well.)

We did take mom to Peterborough one of her last days here, and toured the Cathedral.  We saw the former burial site of Mary Queen of Scots.  We ate at a delicious place called Nando's.  It's Portuguese food, and the flavors are nothing I've ever had.  I'm going back soon!!!  Peri Peri sauce and I are a match!  Mom loved it, too!

Mom left on the 6th, and the kids were not happy to see her go!  They love their Grandma Beeta (Jack shortened abuelita when he was little and it stuck.)  We can't wait for her to visit again in the summer, and my stepdad will be with her.  Jack calls him Pawap, we used to live at their house when Russell was deployed.  I'm sure my brother will be back again soon, he and Jack are best buddies!

In other news, we had a broken washing machine from the 26th to the 2nd, so that was interesting.  Everything was closed, and that was the fastest our landlord could get a new one delivered.  He's definitely attentive to issues with the house (more so than the property management company that he is paying to look after the place....)

We started our Hello Fresh delivery service, and we love it.  I'm enjoying adding new foods to our recipe collection, and the convenience of it is great.  Here's the website... www.hellofresh.co.uk

and they actually have Hello Fresh in a few US cities as well.  I definitely recommend trying it out!!!

xo