21st Celebrations Update!

28th April 2006

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick post to let everyone know I had a great birthday!
On the day I was treated to balloons and presents and cake with a big thank you to my cousin Sally who organised it all! THANK YOU SALLY YOUR AWESOME!

With our friend Kelly we went to a French Patisserie called Maison Blanc which specialises in cakes and other fabulously rich desserts. I had a Versailles which was chocolate sponge topped with dark chocolate orange mousse and an orange creme brulee in the centre and was finally glazed with shiny dark chocolate. Yes it was as good as it sounds!

After Sally and I went on a river cruise which we both had been meaning to do for some time now and were both glad we did! The cruise started near Big Ben (it is called Big Big because of the bell inside) and ended at the Tower of London where we got off and looked at the souvenir shops! We also managed to get in some wine which made us both very happy!

After the cruise we went back to Kelly house to get ready to go out. I was presented with a lovely chocolate birthday cake which was a really nice suprise!

After cake we got organised to go out, we werent sure where we were going to go but I did want to go to a jazz bar, however the place we ended up was nothing of the sort so we did an awful lot of bar hopping and an awful lot of drinking!

The following evening was an extension of my birthday Sally and I went and saw the Lion King which was fantastic! Anyone who hasnt gone I reccomend that you do it was simply magical!
We saw it the following Tuesday night because there werent any shows on my birthday night so after dinner at an Italian restaurant (I had a three cheese pasta...in a word it was cheesy...) and then we went and saw the show which went for well over two hours and was really vibrant and so colourful and the music was good fun too!

Well that about sums everything up - I have posted some random happy snaps below so I hope you enjoy them and I will write again once I get to Portugal!

xxoo Emily

Ps - Again if you want to see more photos email Sally sallycleary@yahoo.com and she will invite you to view her photos on snapfish!

Scotland photo update!

Scotland Photo and Info Update!


21st April 2006

Hello everyone! We are back in England and happy to be back though sad that part of our journey is over! Anyway I have some lovely photos that Sally and I took for your viewing pleasure!
Also I'm putting out a request for all of you who have been reading but not commenting! On behalf of myself and Sally who has told me lots of her friends have been reading and not commenting- please leave a comment even just to say hi or boast about how good the weather is where you are...or that its your favourite day of the week or that I shouldn't have worn my green jacket with my multi coloured scarf...show us you love us!

These first two are from the mountains near our hostel which was quite a boring hostel so we decided to do some walking!



















These two pictures are from Cairngorm Mountain which was very cold but had spectacular views...and it was very windy! I got whipped in the face with ice and it hurt! The mountain gets winds strong enough to make snow cut through the skin but luckily that day it didnt!
















And here are the pictures from more of our trip along Loch Ness to Fort William - you can see the room full of Nessie dolls, Urqhuart Castle (ruins) along the Loch and the mountains in Fort William...it was a really fun day and well worth the cost to hire a car!

























Ok and lastly we have photos taken with Ben Nevis in the back ground which is the highest moutiain peak in the UK. Yep, true story!
















And just so none of you feel like you missed out even though you didnt get a sample here is a picture of our first pieces of slices fudge...we went back for another one each which was entirely my fault... but let me tell you it was worth it!


If you want to see more of the photos from Scotland (as this is a select few) send an email to Sally with your request- sallycleary@yahoo.com and she will invite you to view her photos on Snap fish!

Hope you have all enjoyed the update, I'm going to hibernate for a little while now...depending on what happens between now and Portugal- probably just an update about my birthday!
Take care all
xxoo Emily

PS - I know in my last post that I mentioned the weather had killed our efforts so far to climb Arthurs Seat, well the weather cleared and we decided that to avoid our bums becoming pieces of fudge that we would climb up Arthurs Seat and we did!

Aviemore, Caingorm Mountain, Inveress and Loch Ness Monster!

20th April

Hi everyone!
On Sunday Gregor drove Sally and I from Glascow to Aviemore, which sits at the bottom of Cairngorm Mountain. Gregor drove us to the top and we went by snow-rail which is like a train that takes you up the mountain almost to the very top! A
lthough Sally and I were wearing about five layers we were still a little cold and everyone looked at me like I was a fish outta water which I probably was! It was a fantastic view of the mountain as its the most snow covered in the area and also because you are so high up! The wind was really strong and whipped snow in my face so I'll admit I didnt last very long, but long enough for photos which I will load soon!

After we went to an exhibition on the mountain which was interesting enough and then headed back down to the Hostel and dumped our bags then went to have coffee with Gregor. The town itself was not very interesting despite all the fantastic scenery so we decided to get the morning bus out to Inverness!
We explored Inverness the following day and decided that we would rent a car for tommorow to explore Loch Ness! We started very early with our little car and made plans for how we would catch the moster and lure it back to Australia and make our fortune!
We were chatting as we went along and suddenly we saw the Loch Ness Monster, it was big and scary and heading straright towards us with an evil look in its eye like it wanted to eat us!!
Alright so thats not true (how many of you did I fool?) but we had a good look - we went to the Loch Ness exhibition which I think is jsut meant to discourage you from looking for it but then it blows your mind with tacky merchandise!
We then drove futher along the Loch (it is quite a long Loch) till we arrived at Ben Nevis whish is the largest mountain in the UK! We did have asperations to climb but didnt quite get half way though did take some fantastic pictures! From Nevis we went to Fort William though we didnt find much to do there it was mostly just more fantastic scenery, Scotland has such diversity in closer proximity than anywhere else I have seen!

The following day was a day which we spent most of the day getting the bus back to Edinburgh. We walked through the Royal Mile and discovered the best fudge ever! No, no the BEST FUDGE EVER!! We managed to sample the double chocolate, the coffee flavour and the belgium chocolate and whisky flavour. I want to go back and sample some more but it might mean I buy more and it isnt cheap, but damn its good though!
We also walked down to the Holyrood Palace and went into the gift shop for the Queens Gallery because the gallery itself was too expensive! We then walked back up and did a little more looking around and sat at a nice pub for awhile and then went on a ghost and ghoul tour where you actaully go underground and get told plenty of ghost stories.
Our tour guide was quite good but a lot of the stories can become long winded and they seem to make a joke out of it rather than try and make it scary neither Sally or I cried or screamed once, we were very disappointed! We had also paid an additional amount to go and sit at the pub and get a drink and hear more stories which was good mostly because of the drink but it wasnt very nice Whiskey because it wasnt as sweet at some of the others!
Today we had plans to clmb up Arthurs Seat but rain dampened our plans so we've been trying to occupy ourselves indoors instead. We go back to London tonight by bus and will then be recovering in London before we go to Portugal next week!! Hopefully it will be warmed and cheaper than Scotland.
All the same I have really enjoyed my time in Scotland it has quite a different feel to England, maybe its more relaxed and little more friendly, its certainly has more interesting scenery and the culture is very different from England! I have to put out a big thank you to Gregor and his family as we managed to do and see a lot more with his help and their hospitality was overhwhelming!
If I got the chance I would definetly come back to Scotland...even if it was just for the whisky!

xxoo
Emily

Ps We will upload some more pictures once we get back to London!

Photo Update!

Photo Update - 16th April!

Ok I know you are all waiting for more photos so here are some! The first three are from Vietnam, my pal Lin who I met in Halong Bay has very generously sent me some!
There is Lin and I together on the ride back to Hanoi and two at Halong Bay, one of the boats and another of the rock formation!















The next lot of photos is from Scotland which includes Edinburgh Castle, Loch Lomand and Glasgow !








These photos were taken at the top of the Castle and its looks warmer than it actaully is! The view was the best part about the castle! The View is towards the Firth of Forth! The last photo is St Giles Catherdral which has been built on a burial ground and it situated on the Royal Mile!


This is Sally with THAT bottle of whiskey which is now empty! We didnt manage to get it with ice cream but that will be with the next bottle!


These photos below are of Loch Lomond which was absoutley gorgeous as you can see! The hill with the snow is Ben Lomond! Just in case you were wondering it is 974 meters high!



















Lastly we have photos of Glasgow in George Square, I hope you are all satisfied with this bunch!

Greetings from Scotland!

Saturday 15th April
Hello everyone!
Sally and I arrived in Scotland by bus on 12th Wednesday though we were very groggy from the bus trip we managed to explore a little of Edinburgh but the cold kept us indoors for most of the day! It is much colder here than in London so weve had lots of hot drinks!
Our hostel was wonderfully clean and very well equipped which was a great releif to both of us. We had internet, bar, kitchen facilites and a movie room so really we didnt need to go anywhere!

The following day we headed towards the Royal Mile which is the street which leads up to the Edinburgh Castle which is very huge! Our first stop along the way was St. Giles Cathedral which was a very lovely church but I have to say there are a lot of them around but they are all unique! Along the Royal mile we checked out the souvenier shops in which there was lots of tartan scarfts, miniture bagpipes and Lochness merchanise! A few good Scottish treats are fudge and tablet (like fudge only hard), shortbreak and castle rock!
Also Sally wants to try Haggis but I'm not sure I'm all that excited about sampling liver and who knows what else! There is apparently a very good vegetarian version but I think it could possibly be something I could live without!
I was excited about the castle and though it cost an arm and a leg we went in and saw the Royal Aparments, The Great Hall, The Prisoners of War mueseum, St Margarets castle and my favourite the Crown jewels! We were also tickeled by the pet graves which were dedicated to loyal muts such as Tinker and Roger who I'm sure died with honor.
We also were able to test taste some fabulous Whiskey and I personally havent tried it before ( I dont think so...maybe once) but it was really more a liquer than a whiskey because it was quite sweet and yes I have a big sweet tooth so I liked it and we were both warmed up very quickly! I think it would be very easy to become a whisky-a-holic in these cold countries! The lady we spoke to said she ate it with batter fried banana and ice cream...probably more calories than you should consume in one day but Sally bought a bottle and we have just been drinking it straight. We are going to come back to Edinburgh for a day or so because our bus leaves from here anyway so there will be more later...

On Easter Friday Gregor, who is my cousins Holly's husband Andrew's cousin (yep thats right) picked Sally and I from Edinburg and very kindly drove us to stay with him in Glascow which turned out to be a touch warmer and more scenic than Edinburgh. He first took us to Loch Lamond which was beautiful and very scenic with mountains that had just a touch of snow on the top! It was a beautiful place to walk around and very relaxing.
After we drove around Glascow City which has lots of fantastic older buidlings, lots of churches which have been transformed into galleries, cafes and even house brand shops such as Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton!
That night we went out to dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant and I had a spagehetti which I doubt very little will compare! We were very generously treated to dinner by Gregor who has been a fantastic host and I think I would like to come back!

Today we went into the city centre again because we werent sure what we wanted to do so we thought we would just wander around the city! We went to George Square which is a lovely place to sit and eat though maybe a bit more sunshine would be nice, Gregor keeps telling us its not that cold but Sally and I arent so sure...however we were lucky most of the day and the rain only came later afternoon. We went to a Modern gallery which was interesting..and then to the pound shop which was very exciting because everything is a pound!! We also visited a craft market which happened to be on and there was beautiful still photography, jewellry and handbags and paintings, inclduing a man who was doing paiting demonstratiosn which was great to watch!
Glasogow really is just a fantastic city to look at because its such an elegant mix of modern and old and just speaks for itself! We have taken some photos so I will load them as soon as possible!
Also 9 days until my birthday and I will be legal worldwide! YAY!
Happy Easter everyone!
xxoo Emily

Life in London!

10 April 2006

Hello everyone!

Well, I have been venturing to a few more pubs since I first got here, the other night with Kellys friend Matt we went to the pub played some pool, then later went and had some curry at a Nepalanese restaurant! A few nights after with another friend of Kellys, Kathy and her friend Barry and we had drinks at two different pubs which was a good barrel of fun! And you will all be pleased (or not) to know I haven't been drinking...too much!

Yesterday I caught up with my fantastic buddy Cara who has been out on her own travelling for a long time now! I met up with her and her dad Clay who was very nice and very generous as he bought us both dinner at the pub and later a ticket to the movies!
I met Cara at Trafalgar Square and of course there was more to talk about than we could fit in before we moved on to eat at a pub called the Golden Goose! We had some photos and then went to Convent Garden where we bought fantastic cookies and rode a carosel, well it was fun OK! I was getting in touch with my inner child...or something and it was actually the lovliest carosel I think I have seen in awhile, it went quite fast but not fast enough that we couldn't eat cookies at the same time!
After we headed to Shepherds Bush where Clay treated us to a movie - Rent! I have been dying to see it for ages and I loved it, the music is just very cool but you have to like musicals! you have been warned! Anyway it was really, really, really great to catch up with Cara and meet her dad and I will see her again while we are both overseas!
You can check out caras blog at www.bonjourcara.blogspot.com for those of you know havent seen it and havent met Cara!

Sally and I are leaving tomorrow for Scotland for a week so there may not be any updates till I get back but they should be huge! I am hoping to get some photos of Cara and put them up before I leave! I hope everyone has a good easter and dont eat too much chocolate unless your plan is to eat lots of chocolate in that case go crazy!

Love Em xxoo

Monument photo update

6th March 2006

Hey everyone hope you all enjoy these photos from when Sally and I climbed Monument! Not much has been going on otherwise I have been applying for jobs and researching places to live!
Hopefully I will get work soon and save some of my funds, I am hoping to do a trip to Scotland for my birthday which is the 24th April!
This first photo is the view of momument from the outside, if you look from a certain angle you get a bit dizzy but otherwise fantastic! The second is a view of the staircase we climbed from about half way up...oh and you can kinda see me grinning further down! The third is the view from the top which is fantastic...even more so in real life!

Natural History Mueseum and Science Mueseum

Monday 4th April

Hi everyone!
Today our tour guide Saoirse took Sally and I to mueseums that she has previously enjoyed, the first being the Natural History Mueseum where we started with the Mammals exhibition where I'm sure we all learned something more, the exhibitions were quite live like and I'm sure if I was a few years younger I may have been more enthused but I was pretty enthused for a 20 year old. There was a huge life size Blue Whale and it was pretty awesome to imagine swimming with something that huge!
I liked the Dinosaur exhibition the best, mostly because they have a moving life like T-Rex which makes noises and turns its head to look at you, it was the size of a teenage male and would put on about 2 and a half kilos a day as it grew! Dinosaurs also didnt have a certain size which was normal for them to grow so they would reach any number of heights.
We also went to the Human Biology centre where I learnt how babies are made! Ok so I already knew but it was a fascinating exhibit and would be a great way for young children to learn the facts of life, we would have stayed longer but we were all slowly running out of steam!
After lunch we went to the Science Museum which was right up my alley...ok not really and a lot of it was nothing much that interested me greatly, sorry to say, though the games are fun to play with at first it does tire pretty quickly, still it did have good qualities and was worth checking out! I might have some photos soon I hope everyone will keep leaving comments!
Hope everyone is well
xxoo
Emily

Monument

Sunday 3rd April

Today Sally and I visited Monument which is a huge shrine which is a dedication to all the loss and destruction which occured after the Great Fire which started in a bakers house in Pudding Lane on Sunday 2nd September in 1666 and extinguished on Wednesday the 5th. The fire damaged mostly buildings including churches and houses and streets. The momument is 202 feet high which is the same ratio to how far the fire spread. There are 311 steps leading to a viewing platform which is an awesome view of the entire city. We both got certificates that confirm we climbed all the stairs and left feeling very proud of ourselves.
xxoo Emily

Stonehenge and Bath

Saturday 1st April

Today with Sally, Kelly and Saoirse , I visited the Stonehenge which is just a few hours drive out of London. It was a fantastic place to go and the rocks are cooler than I imagined that they would be, they are just so impressive and standing a few meters away from them is even more so. It was a nice clear day and their was actually sun but the wind was still chilly, it came with a free guided commentary which was great, I liked the few explanations to how they came to be there in the first place (aliens, giants and wizards, the usual suspects) and the speculation to what its

true purpose was...no one really knows!! I think what gives Stonehenge a lot of its appeal is that is has so much mystery!

After Stonehenge we went for Lunch at a nearby pub The Royal Oak which was nice and quiet and had good food for good prices!

We continued on our way to Bath and then went and visited the Roman Baths which is quite extensive (and expensive) to go through but well worth the effort on both counts because it also gives a guided audio tour.

The spring was mostly celebrated by the Romans who came there when they tried to conquer England, they thought it was a holy place that bordered this world and the spiritual one and though used it to socialise and to enjoy they also beleived it held great healing powers and people would (and still do) throw in offerings anything from coins and hair pins to pots and pans. The offerings were made mostly to Minerva the goddess of Wisdom.

A lot of the original architecture is quickly melting away despite all their efforts to keep it well restored. You can no longer swim or touch the water you can still feel the heat it has radiating from it and see it bubbling and although we now understand the science of it its not hard to understand why people centuries before us were so intrigued by it and even why we still are today!

Our last stop in Bath was the Royal Crescent which is a long line of adjoining houses, which I think some very wealthy people still live in. Its cool to just go and look though the houses do spread further over than the ones in the photos these are the ones that are the most spectacular. It was a photo opportunity and who would miss that?

Anyway I am glad I have been able to come out of London and see some of the English countryside, it was just gorgeous and the endless plains of green that we drove past were beautiful! It seems to me amazing that we saw so much fantastic stuff in one day, I hope I have more days like that!

xxoo

Emily