Exploring Edinburgh, UK

I didn’t really expect to fall in love with Edinburgh – before the start of our trip, I thought that I would moon over London, but that wasn’t the case. Edinburgh was the first stop on our trip; as our flight arrived at 8 in the morning, we immediately got to explore Edinburgh, as well as made a quick stop at Rosslyn Chapel. We were only able to stay in this beautiful city for a day, but I think that we at least saw some of the important sights to be seen here like Calton Hill, the Royal Mile, and, of course, Edinburgh Castle. Too bad though that we weren’t able to go to the Elephant House, where Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, wrote the books while enjoying the cafe’s coffee and cake.

So as soon as our plane landed at Edinburgh Airport, after getting through customs we were fetched by our coach driver and we headed into the city to start our tour. We first fetched our guide, and then we were off to Rosslyn Chapel, which was quite a drive (around 30 minutes) from Edinburgh, and after staying there for a while, we drove back to the city, went to Calton Hill, and then had lunch. After lunch, we went to Holyrood Palace (which I’ll probably have a short post about it up sometime soon!) and then Edinburgh Castle – on the way, we were greeted by this.. This creature. Haha, I honestly don’t get what it’s supposed to be! 🙂

A shot of the castle I took while waiting for our tickets. The structure is massive! Images of Game of Thrones popped out unbidden in my mind when I finally saw it for the first time. It doesn’t help that Edinburgh Castle stands on Castle Rock – Castle Rock.. Casterly Rock? Lannisters! I don’t even know anymore, haha.

Snapshot: Stonehenge

I think that it’s almost in everyone’s bucket list to see Stonehenge. Well, if not bucket list, at least the sights to see when in the UK. We were already running quite late and behind our schedule, our coach driver warned us that we may not be able to arrive on time. Lucky enough, we managed to get there just in time! Anyway, during our visit to Stonehenge, I was feeling quite under the weather so I wasn’t able to take as much photos as I wanted to. I have managed to take quite some decent shots of Stonehenge, the  main attraction of the place, but not of the small cafe and centre where the toilets are located.

Anyway, before being able to come near Stonehenge like this, you would have to ride a bus to go there. The ride takes around a couple of minutes, it was less than five minutes I think. The lines do get quite long though and some people don’t want to wait. Instead, they opt to walk the more ~scenic~ route on the way to Stonehenge. I think that there are various walk paths available if you’re the type who doesn’t like to wait, but I think that it’d take you quite longer to reach Stonehenge if you choose to walk there – like maybe half an hour to an hour at least, and that depends if you walk fast or not.

Snapshot: Cardiff and St. Fagans National Museum, Wales

During our UK trip, we had a short half-day tour of Wales. One (of the two!) of the places that we went to see was the Wales Millennium Centre, or what they call Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru in Welsh. Apparently, if I remember right, one of the episodes of Dr. Who was shot here.

Rizal Park, Manila

For a person like me who has lived in Manila all of her life, Rizal Park, or Luneta as it is also known, is a place that I’m used to seeing almost everyday. As a kid, I used to have field trips here. During my college days, I went here with a couple of friends to shoot for one of our classes. I also have fond memories here that’s unrelated to school, that is, of my dad teaching me how to ride a bike, and then an electronic scooter (if memory serves me right, we were shooed away by the guard haha). Some years back, my mom and I would also come here to jog, or well, just to walk around. These days though we don’t really stop by Luneta, we still usually pass it by on our way to other places like Manila Hotel, malls within the vicinity, or even the airport just to name a few.

Some days ago, feeling a sense of nostalgia, and the fact that we had no plans for the day, we made a brief stop to Rizal Park.

Luneta is actually one of the largest urban parks in Asia. It’s really close to Manila Bay, and it’s one of the most important historical landmarks that you can find in Manila. The remains of José Rizal is enshrined in the monument.