St Andrews, Secret Gardens, and more hiking...

Ahhh it's been over a week since our last post! We apologize - it's been a busy week.
Amandine arrived from Oslo last Tuesday and we had a lot of fun exploring the city with her. We filled the week with cooking, movies, walking/hiking, day trips, and relaxing in private gardens. The rain did not stop us. She is on her way back to Calgary tomorrow and I miss her already.
At Amandine's recommendation, we decided to hike up Arthur's Seat again - this time in the middle of the night - to arrive at the top in time to watch the sun rise over the ocean. Sounds great in theory, right? It turned out to be slightly less magical when we, completely sleep-deprived, had to navigate our way through swarms of drunk people stumbling home at 3:30am in order to get to the base of the hill. The actual climb also seems to be ten times more difficult when your body wishes it was sleeping. There was no going back at that point though. We made it to the top just in time to watch the sky turn crazy shades of pink and purple and to see the sun peak up over the horizon. We sat for awhile and appreciated the view before agreeing that bed sounded really really good.

On Monday (27th), the three of us took a bus to St Andrews and spent the day wandering around the town. The weather wasn't the greatest, but we still had fun. We had lunch at an amazing fish and chips place called Tail's End, and then took a walk on the huge stretch of beach that runs parallel to the Old Golf Course. None of us were too intrigued by the golf stuff, but we got really excited when we found out they filmed that famous scene from Chariots of Fire on that beach. So cool.

We ended up at an old cemetery and cathedral ruins on the other end of town. The scene became extremely morbid and creepy when we witnessed two seagulls brutally attacking each other. In the rain. Among the ruins. We were kind of dumbstruck by it. Both birds were okay (we think) but it was completely bizarre to watch. We ended our day at a cute coffee shop, where I tried Banoffee Pie for the first time. It's a British dessert - combination of bananas and toffee. So good. I definitely recommend.

So, turns out all the people who live in the rich, fancy neighborhoods of New Town (like Murphy), get access to the Private Queen Street gardens. Like, the gardens are in the middle of the city but gated and locked at all times to the public. Unless you have a special key. Which Murphy does, and so kindly allowed us to use so we could have a fancy picnic removed from the hassles of commoners and their unruliness. So naturally, we went to M&S and bought sandwiches, crisps, fruit, and bubbly wine spritzers and entered our lovely green sanctuary. As Kayla describes it, "it is for all the rich puppies and their poops" - which is actually completely accurate. We spent a few hours laying in the sunshine, getting bloated by the fizzy drinks, and feeling generally very fancy.

I believe that's it for now! We'll probably keep up this method of writing from now on - a longer post once a week instead of every few days. Next week will be very eventful as I am moving into my new flat on Friday. Hope you are all doing well!

Love,
Amy (+ Kayla)

Movin on up...

No more hostels!!!!
I think Amy and I have decided that we would be very happy people if we never stayed in a hostel again. Okay, it wasn't that horrible, but the place we are staying now is really beautiful! We are renting a room in a flat in New Town and it seems since we got here that they live quite stylishly. The evening we arrived, they cooked us dinner - oysters, sea bass, scallops and sea asparagus to be exact! - we were impressed. When our fellow dinner guest turned out to be a director at the film festival and invited us to her premiere (for free!), we were speechless. And then very excited. Quite the turn-around from the hostel we stayed in the night before.
The movie she directed is called Bombay Beach - Amy and I both really enjoyed it. It was a documentary about a poor community in California. Super interesting and really beautifully made!
So after a glamorous first night in New Town, we spent the next day walking along The Water of Leith. It's a river that runs through the city and leads to the National Gallery of Modern Art. We made it to the gallery and got to see their current exhibition on August Sander (an early 20th century German photographer). To say the least, it was beautiful.  He was a portrait photographer - I recommend Googling him.

We went to a restaurant last night called Tiles at Dad's recommendation and had a very nice meal with a pint of Tennant's beer. Proof here:






In other news, I gave Amy a haircut!



Love Kayla (and Amy)

Hummdeedum...

Sorry for the delay guys! Our eventful days are slowing down a little. Amy has been searching for flats online and e-mailing lots of people. Other than that, we've been walking around the city and getting familiar with everything.
Yesterday we visited Calton Hill. Nice view of the whole city, plus some strange Greek-themed architecture that apparently was never completed (they started building it in the 1820's and ran out of money...). Oh well. Tourists like it.

The view from Calton Hill

Another view

The weather has been on our side for the most part, so we're having fun spending time in all the parks they have scattered throughout the city. So much green here! Really nice.

Lounging in Princes St Gardens

Amy also wanted to let Dad know that she finished her book and loved it - you did good, Pops.
We are thinking of you guys every day! We promise next post will be more exciting!

Love Kayla (and Amy)

Art Galleries + Hardcore Hiking!!

So, as some of you may know by now, we are having miserable luck finding a steady source of WiFi for internet purposes.  Our hostel has been a major fail in that department, but thank goodness for public libraries! They have been our internet haven these past few days.

So yesterday (June 12th) was yet another busy, cardio-filled day!  I finally got a UK sim card for my phone (yay!) and Kayla and I discovered the National Gallery of Scotland.  Which was located in the middle of Princes Street Gardens, was absolutely beautiful, and free!  Kayla was very excited because they had a special exhibit on the artist, Albert Durer.  He was a famous printmaker from  the 16th Century and specialized in engravings and wood cuts. Very cool.

The weather was beautiful so we decided it was as good a day as any to climb Arthur's Seat.  It was a steep climb (steeper than I remember!) but we made it to the top and the incredible view made it all worth it.  We plan on doing the hike again soon.

Afterwards we walked to Holyrood Park (big green space at base of Arthur's Seat) and just sat and people-watched for awhile. We ended up having dinner at Greyfriar Bobby's Pub, just up the road from our hostel.  We both had a very English meal - Sausages & Mash - and I think we've discovered our new favorite comfort food. So good.
All-in-all, it was a very nice, relaxing, happy day.

Glad you're all enjoying the blog!
Until next time...

Amy & Kayla

Edinburgh is hilly.

Guess what? We're still jetlagged! Yaayyyy...

Yesterday was a super fun day full of site-seeing and walking all around the city. We got up very early (7am if I'm not mistaken), and eagerly set out to begin our day. Turns out people here like to sleep in. Nearly every shop was closed with no hours posted on their doors. We hummed about it for a bit but ended up making out way out to Princes Street, and what do ya know - this is where all the early-risers are.

After breakfast we walked through a beautiful cemetery next to the Princes Street Gardens. Sort of an eerie place since it looks like it hasn't been taken care of in a while.

After that, we walked up to the castle to watch some kilted men with bagpipes do a little performance (we're not sure what it was for, but it looked very important). Also ended up going to the top of the Scott Monument (the tall, dark building that looks as though it belongs to an an evil villain). I'm sure Mr. Scott was a very nice man. Walking to the top of those narrow little stairs was a little unnerving, but we had fun trying it out!

We also went to Jenners and walked through an M&S grocery store... people in Scotland sure do like buying everything individually wrapped. I got very weirded-out by this place. Scottish people also really like coffee. More than Mum, even.

After all this wandering, we walked to the Edinburgh College of Art (on my request). The lady at the desk quickly told us that we weren't allowed walking around because they were setting up the Grad show(!!). She should not have told me this, because it only prompted me to try the other building's entrance and walk around the building from there. Amy relunctantly followed while I squealed at each department. And it was a BEAUTIFUL building. We're definitely going back soon to check out the Grad show when it's ready.

It was a veeery long day, full of happy things.

Love Kayla (and Amy)

Woo Edinburgh! [London did not defeat us]

So we've finally made it to Edinburgh!

Eating lunch at Kings Cross Station

Our last morning in London was...tiring.  After checking out, we had to book it to the nearest NatWest bank (dragging our huge suitcases) so I could set up a bank account before we left London at noon.  Turns out, you can only open a bank account in the UK in specific London branches.  BUNAC told me this yesterday.  I was not in the best of moods.  That is the reason we had nothing exciting to share about June 8th - it was a bit of a fail.  Spent the majority of the day in the BUNAC office followed by major anxiety attack in the hostel and turning in early.
ANYWAY.  It's okay cause it all worked out!  And I have a bank account now! And we were really early for our train! All good all good.
So right now, it's 7pm and Kayla and I are sitting at a cafe (free WiFi!) eating and internet surfing before we go to bed.  The hostel here looks 150% nicer than the London one.  Very friendly, lots of Canadians.  Plus, they apparently do pub crawls Mon-Fri.  So we are excited.

Until next time...

Amy & Kayla

We've Arrived!!

Longest. Day. Ever.
Kayla and I are coming to the end of Day 1 in the UK (although it feels like it should be Day 3, at least).  We are currently sitting in our hostel lounge, catching up on emails and facebook notifications as well as flipping through all our photos taken so far.
We saw a LOT today.  Accidentally got off at the wrong station coming from Gatwick (would you believe Victoria Station made a second accidental appearance, Sarah?) but it worked out for the best because we were able to store our luggage and immediately saw signs pointing us in the direction of Westminster Abbey, Parliament, the Thames, etc.  Dad - we saw and took lots of pictures outside of Westminster Abbey, but didn't go in because we still had our heavy backpacks with us, but we may go back tomorrow if there's time!

Sat for awhile on a bench by the Thames.  Which was lovely.  And gave our legs a bit of rest.  Finally made our way to our hostel in Russell Square and walked from there to the British Library and walked through their permanent collection.  So cool.  We got a chance to see the illuminated manuscripts (Magna Carta, Canterbury Tales, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Virginia Woolfe, Oscar Wilde, Mozart, Beatles....and on and on)  Kayla and I were slightly overwhelmed by how extensive and impressive their collection is.  And we only saw a small part of it.  Definitely worth the trip (thanks for the tip, Jesse!).
Tomorrow we plan on maybe going to the Tate Modern and exploring around there after my BUNAC orientation.
Unfortunately, I left my camera cord at home so until I buy a new one we won't be able to post pictures. I'll try to find one tomorrow.

That's it for now!

Love,
Amy & Kayla

Packing!

Getting ready and packing everything away... tough to do with the one-suitcase policy. Amy is desperately flipping through city maps and muttering to herself about the pros and cons of subways. We will be arriving in London at about 6:30 in the morning so we are trying to make plans for our day while remembering how incredibly tired we are going to be. Should be fun!
Between the two of us, I'm pretty certain it's my job to keep anxiety at ease. We are not short of determination. IT STARTS...

Love Kayla (and Amy)