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Published: December 31st 2007
Spending a few days in London we'd hoped to see some of our favorite sites, but instead mostly took it easy catching up with our friends Russell and Sarah. It was nice to be somewhere familiar, but we were soon on the road again driving up through England to our new home city - Edinburgh. On the way up we saw a real spectrum of places including Bath at one end and Blackpool at the other!
In Bath we were fascinated by the layers (quite literally) of history. From Roman ruins to the beautiful Victorian terraces. In the Bathhouses, the most popular attraction, you could walk through the once buried and still underground Roman baths that were only recently discovered under the most recent construction. Above, was the grand victorian Pumphouse restaurant where we shared coffee and cake in the space once frequented by Queens, Nobles and the rest of societies elite. It was almost requirement we taste the water that has been drunk for centuries, for its curative properties and pumped straight into the room - It smelled and tasted like sulphur - very unappetizing.
Visiting Birmingham next, mostly to see the wonderfully designed new(ish) Selfridges store. Covered
in steel discs the strange blob of a building seems like some giant alien ship that has land amongst the very ordinary buildings. We unfortunately didn't get to see any more of the city before leaving the next morning to go on to Liverpool. Stopping for a few hours to get a bit of a feel of the city we went on further to find a bed in Blackpool. Knowing very little about the place we were very surprised to find what we did. It was like some sort of vegas for the midlands. More neon, bad food, cheap booze and very unattractive people we'd ever seen in one place. Lets just say it was a real eye-opener to English cultcha!
Moving on. We drove up through some great scenery near the lakes then into Edinburgh where we hoped to find somewhere to stay. Unfortunately the Rugby was on and there was literally nowhere available. Leaving as quickly as we'd come we went to Stirling via Falkirk and its famous new wheel. This did give us the chance to see some of Scotland prior to settling into Edinburgh but was a bit of an anti-climax after our triumphant entrance
to our new city. Once back we found a great and very reasonably priced bed and breakfast in the beautiful Royal Terraces at the side of Carlton Hill. From here we went about looking for an apartment. Within only a few days we received the keys to a wonderful old town apartment.
Sometimes it seems too good to be true living at the top of one of the cities grand old buildings overlooking Princes Park and the galleries. Often we forget where we're living until suddenly we'd realize why all the tourist are around.
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