Places I've gone

I figure I might as well tell about all the places I've been since I've had time to actually travel, and I very well may include pictures.

1. Brighton: "Brighton is the place to find husbands!" Ande and I said practically the whole train ride there. (It's a line from Pride & Prejudice, if you didn't know.) It was just the two of us, and we got up rather early one Thursday morning to check out this seaside-palace kind of place. We weren't quite sure if we got on the right train though because it looked more field like than sea like, but we ended up in the right place. We decided that Brighton is what you make of it. We visited the Royal Pavilion, which was quite interesting, and had lovely tea there. We then went to Brighton Pier, where we found an arcade and carnival rides. It was a fantastic day that we laughed through and probably spent more money then we should. We went to a local bar and had a beer, before heading back to Oxford.

2. Bath: The very next day after Brighton, Kat, Michael and I traveled to Bath together. We only spent a few hours there, but we got to see a fair bit of the city. Saw the Roman Baths, which were an incredible history lesson, and stopped by the Jane Austen Center, and inside the Bath Cathedral. We headed back to Oxford to make dinner at Keble.

3. London: Finally when Dave arrived, I finally got to go into London! It was nice to go back there again, but it was painful too because I decided to break in new shoes and we walked a lot! I did get to go inside Westminster Abbey, which I hadn't gotten to do before. Then just walked all over London seeing the usual touristy things. I also then got to go back with Ande two Sunday's ago to see Lion King at West End! It was spectacular and we had a nice dinner at a cafe in Covent Garden.

4. Scotland: At the end of Dave's stay here, we traveled around Scotland to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Loch Ness/Inverness. I also stayed another night in Edinburgh, but that was unplanned and spontaneous (more later). Dave and I left Oxford very, very early in the morning (about 6am) and headed to Edinburgh. The countryside (what I saw of it on the train) was gorgeous, with lots of rolling hills and greenery and lambs. We had one night in Edinburgh, and the day was spent wandering around the city. We went to the Castle, but not inside it, and walked the Royal Mile to where Mary, Queen of Scots was held prisoner. We also spent a lot of time in the Whiskey Museum, which was a lot of fun. The next day we left early again to go to Inverness, where we caught a tour group to Loch Ness. Which was probably the most gorgeous, romantic, perfect place I've ever seen. We had such good weather. And everyone was really nice. We had a fantastic dinner, and then spent a good 2 1/2 hours at a local pub, with a really nice bartender and heard some local guy singing. It was by far the best night. Then we went to Glasgow on the bus, which was god awful. But Glasgow was pretty great. A business kind of city, so not much touristy stuff to see. So found Dave a hostel, left my stuff in the train station, and went to see Star Trek in this huge Cinema that was like 8 stories tall. It was fantastic and the tickets were really, really cheap. We almost had a panic attack though because I couldn't get on the Caledonian Sleeper, so I had to take another train with like 3 transfers. I ended up in the middle of nowhere called Westerton, where I called Kat and found out that she and Ande were still in Edinburgh and leaving in the morning. So I hopped on the train to Edinburgh and met them there. I did meet a very nice Scottish man and we had a good chat, though of course I was paranoid me the whole time. Spent the night in Kat/Ande's hotel and went back to Oxford in the morning to catch the final day of the Summer Eights (the big rowing competition) where we cheered Keble on.

5. Amsterdam: This past weekend, Kat, Ande and I traveled to Amsterdam. Finally another country I haven't been too since I've been here! I wanted to hit more countries in Europe but never got the chance to, which is a shame. Amsterdam though...could be skipped. The museums were pretty good, but the city was a bit sketchy and very dirty/grafetti. Our hostel was outside the city, which was gorgeous, but to get there from the main part of the city was nasty. We probably could've done more research, but oh well. We had a good time together, but had like a crazy guy kind of follow us, and may have seen a dead person in the alleyway. Yeah, not the best place to see. I'd skip it really. The museums aren't worth it.

6. Places in the near future: Cardiff and Chatsworth House. Cardiff for a day or two, and Chatsworth House is where Pemeberly of Pride & Prejudice is.

That's it for now! Gotta get ready for the Don's Party! Yeah free alcohol in front of my tutors! hahaha.