Safari Park!

I got to pet a ZEBRA!!!

So yesterday, Jon's cousin Ray, took us to a Safari Park! I was so very excited by this, as I have never been to a zoo in my life. (Note: we could have went to Edinburgh zoo, but we were slightly stupid.)

So, here's a bunch of photos!

All in all, I had a fantastic day!

Edinburgh

So, we spent 3 nights in Edinburgh! (got in the 1st, left on the 4th), and in that short time, we saw sunshine, rain, hail, snow, sleet, sunshine, and back again. It was the most bi-polar weather I have ever seen. We loved it! We were laughing half the time. And each stint of weather didn't last very long! One minute it was like a blizzard outside, the next, it was sunny and there was no trace of snow on the ground. Just some damp stone. It was crazy!

Anyways, due to not feeling all that well, and the weather, I wasn't able to get many photos. So in this post, I will mainly be using Jon's!

So, on the 1st, we flew into Edinburgh from Birmingham. It was a nice short flight. It only took about 45 minutes I think. Then we hopped off the plane, breezed through the airport, then onto the bus that would take us to city center!

Luckily, due to road works, (now how often can I say that!) the bus ended up going right by our hotel just before it stopped! So once we got off the bus, we walked the short distance to our hotel.

On the way, we got to see the Scott Monument (aka Thunderbird 3)

Then we got to our hotel, and slept the night away!
The next day, we trucked up a very steep hill, and stumbled on Camera Obscura, where we then spent a few hours.

After we were done at Camera Obscura, we continued up to Edinburgh Castle and spent another few hours in there. By the time we were done, we were ready for a hot cup of tea! So we went and grabbed a small lunch of tea and a sandwich, and headed back to our hotel room.

Then we went for a lovely dinner at the Living Room, then got back to the hotel and went to bed.


Day two, we mostly did a bunch of walking around. We went for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (which happened to be right across the street from out hotel.), did some more walking around, then back to the hotel where I ended up taking a nap (I really wasn't feeling well that day. =( ). Then we went out and grabbed dinner. In which the weather went from clear skies, to absolutely hailing. You could scoop handfuls off the ground!

On the last day, we packed our bags, did a few bus tours, walked around a smidge more. Haggis is actually quite good. Especially if you don't think about what it is, or how it's made. Haha.


Then it was off to the airport again, for our flight back to Birmingham, where we were picked up by Jon's aunt and cousin, Liz and Ray.

Cardiff

Right then! Cardiff.

We were really disappointed to see that in Cardiff, there wasn't very much Doctor Who related stuff at all!
The closest we got, was a Ianto Jones (Torchwood) memorial wall. Which in itself was pretty awesome.

Seen here.

There wasn't much (or really any at all) Doctor Who, or Torchwood stuff in any shops. But all in all, getting to see the Millennium Center, Roald Dahl Plass, (no clue he was from Cardiff!), and our hotel was right on the water front, it wasn't too bad of a trip!

The hotel

Jon with the Millennium Center, and Roald Dahl Plass. 

Oh, and we did a bit of shopping. That's about all to our day in Cardiff!

Model Village

I forgot to mention that a few days ago Jon, Liz and I went to a model village at Bourton-on-the-Water. (The same one we tried to go to near the beginning of the trip, but we got distracted by the Cotswold stone.)

The village was really well done, and amusingly enough, in the model village, there was a model village of the model village. And in that model village of the model village, of Bouton-on-the-Water, there was another model village! Huzzah!

Seriously. I was super excited about that.
Anyways, here's just a bunch of pictures of the day!

Jon and the resident kitty

Jon the giant

Monster kitty is here to attack you! -chews grass-

Mini playground

Mini sweet shop

Model water wheel

Beautiful model river

Model village cubed.

Models, models everywhere!

Wales!

I, have a tan.


Well, a bit of one. We spent most of yesterday on the BEACH at Swansea! It was gorgeous. We even got to play in the water. (it was a little chilly, but I got used to it fast, Jon didn't! haha).

Charlotte, Jon and I, playing in the ocean!

We started the Swansea trip, by going to Joe's for ice cream. My goodness it was DELICIOUS! Then came the walk down the beach, lunch, then more beach walking!

Jon was really fun to watch walk on all the rocks. He's been wearing Converse instead of his combat boots for most of this trip, and he's not used to feeling the ground under his feet!

 

Then we continued off to Cardiff!

Our hotel, was wonderful. The view was spectacular. And it had free wi-fi.


After we got into our hotel, we watched a bit of telly, then decided to go out for a walk. The smell of sea water was everywhere, and we were loving it. We walked around for a while, took a ton of photos, then decided it was time for dinner.

Soon after we finished eating, we decided to go and walk around some more, and see the Millennium Center at dusk. It was even better in person!

Then it was back to the hotel for some more telly, and some sleep.

Now today we are off to do some shopping, and explore some more of Cardiff!

The sparkly ocean at Swansea!

British Camp

The last few days have been pretty low-key. Thursday, we went back to Great Malvern, and boy, were we glad to be back!

Then onto Friday, we spent the day not doing too much, then went for dinner with  Charlotte, Will, and a few of their friends. A great meal was had by all at The Blue Boar (not the Blue Ball).

Saturday, we went for a jaunt up to British Camp, which was a really steep walk! Unfortunately, I haven't been feeling all too well, so it was a bit harder than it should have been! I'm either coming down with a cold, or have allergies, as it is spring in full swing over here! (Feels like summer though with the weather we've been having!)

Then yesterday, we just hung around Jon's aunt and uncle's place, watched a bit of the Grand Prix, then just hung out and chatted.

After we were done there, we came back to homebase, and made a dinner of sausages and perogies (which, are really hard to find over here, plus aren't the same as back home! We might just have to make some of our own!)

And on to today, it was ASDA's grand opening in Worcester! ASDA is pretty much Walmart. The store was absolutely packed when we popped in around noon, when Charlotte was heading in to work.

After we wandered around for the day, and did some shopping, we headed back to ASDA, and picked up a few things, and headed home with Charlotte!

So, that's about it for the past little while!

London, Day 3; Shopping in Camden Market

So Day 3 was pretty much just shopping! We spent an entire day in Camden market. I got a few awesome things, as did Jon! As well as we found a few gifts for people. Yey!

There's nothing else really to report, sadly!