Edinburgh

Edinburgh is by far my most favourite city of all time. I cannot explain in words or pictures just how beautiful this city is. The old town's victorian architecture is charming, and the people here are friendly. There were so many free tours that we can choose from, and they were so informative too. I have learnt so much about the rich history of Edinburgh. Gardyloo!

17 June 2018, Glasgow > Edinburgh, Cloudy

I arrived in Edinburgh via bus. Since I was feeling a bit peckish, I stopped by McDonalds' to get a cheap burger before checking in and rested.

18 June 2018, Edinburgh, Cloudy

I woke up rather early so that I could go to the Camera Obscura. I ended up being too early, so I went to start collecting pictures of Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. Camera Obscura is an installation of lens and mirrors on top of a building so as to project a 360 view of the surroundings onto a screen. The building also houses many common optical illusions and activities, a mirror maze to name one. Next, I had a Scottish baked potato for lunch. I then began a free walking tour very nicely conducted by a volunteer. The guide was very good and explained many things about Edinburgh. Next up was a Harry Potter themed walking trail. In the Greyfriar's Kirkyard, we saw the stone that imspired the name Tom Riddle. The guide also showed us the places that inspired J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter series. I then went for dinner at Makas. I tried their Haggis and black pudding mash. The ingredients used to make this dish are actually quite gross: animal internal organs. However, they made it taste pretty good. I took an after dinner stroll to Scott Monument. Scott Monument is the tallest monument that was erected to commemorate a person. I then went back to the hostel to rest for a while, on the way, I took very nice pictures of St. Giles Cathedral.

At about sunset, I came back out again to do a small hike up to Calton Hill. There, I witnessed a remarkably beautiful sunset. It was really cold and windy, but I took awesome pictures. The cover picture for this post was just one of them.


19 June 2108, Edinburgh > Sheffield, Cloudy

I went for the free breakfast provided at the hostel. My first stop of the day was the national museum of Scotland. On the way there, I went inside the St. Giles to check out the angel playing a bagpipe. It was quite underwhelming actually. The museum of Scotland was huge. Their collection ranges from prehistoric Scottish to Asian, modern items from land travel, to space and energy. I skipped the Gallery of Scotland because it seems to be an art gallery, and I can't appreciate that. For lunch, I checked out a place called 'Oink'. They sell roasted pulled pork. It was soft and flavourful and the skin was crispy. After lunch, I went to hike up Arthur's seat. Like everyone else I was fooled. I thought Arthur't seat was an easy climb and the peak is easily seen from the bottom. I did not follow the signboard and climbed the small peak unknowingly. As it turns out, that wasn't Arthur's Seat. From there, I can still continue to hike towards Arthur's Seat, but it was more dangerous. Since I carried all my luggage with me, it turned out to be quite difficult. After about two hours of climb, I finally reached the peak. Edinburgh was too far away to be beautiful, although the view was still nice in its own way.

After I had enough of the views, I descended the hill and went back into Edinburgh by the proper and safer way, checking out some ruins along the way. I walked up the Royal Mile starting from the bottom. I had a long KFC dinner and also wrote my postcards. Finally, it was time to board the train to head back to Sheffield. I'll leave it to the next post to describe the unfortunate incident while I was trying to go home.

Glasgow

More of my own solo trips, I was very interested to visit Scotland. Since the train trip up from Sheffield takes more than three hours, I decided to visit both Glasgow and Edinburgh. I did not regret making this decision. Glasgow is another one of those old cities with a very rich history. Glasgow has a long shipbuilding history, but is now a city full of the arts.

16 June 2018, Sheffield > Glasgow, Partly Cloudy

After community day, I had a nice lunch with a friend I made because of Pokemon Go. I quickly went back home after lunch, packed up and went to take the train to Glasgow. The train ride to Glasgow was really long, probably the first time I am travelling so far by train, but more to come. The train went through so many change in bouts of sunny weather, then rainy, and back to sunny again. Thankfully, it was not raining in Glasgow. I took some pictures before checking into my hostel.

A friendly Argentinian greeted me and we talked for a little bit, and even became friends on Facebook.

17 June 2018, Glasgow > Edinburgh, Cloudy

I woke up and checked out of the hostel at ten. I first visited the botanical gardens by taking their very cute subway/metro/tube. The gardens were average. The central part with marble statues was pretty. Next, I went to visit the University of Glasgow. This was perhaps the highlight. The university is so beautifully gothic, it seems like it was straight out of the Harry Potter scenes.

The cloisters is perhaps the most photographed area in the university. Next, I visited Ashton lane. It is a bit like our Hagi lane, really. I bought a sandwich and continued my way to Kelvingrove Art Gallery. I cannot really appreciate the art on display here, but the exterior of the building is pretty awesome. I then took the train to the People's Palace. Too bad, it was already closed, and I can only appreciate the outside. I then walked around Glasgow Green, it was quite pretty. The final stop, and also a rather iconic place in Glasgow, is the George Square. There was a busker there, lifting the atmosphere of the place. The poor statues always have their heads covered in guano. This is true for every city I have visited in Europe... Had KFC for dinner, then got onto the bus heading for Edinburgh.

Manchester

I originally planned to have one day in Manchester, but surprisingly, I finished seeing the buildings I want to see on the first three hours! As such, I bought a new train ticket home, cutting short the entire trip to about three hours. Manchester is actually still rather beautiful. I just didn't have a proper guide to show me around.

11 June 2018, Liverpool > Manchester > Sheffield

I arrived at Manchester Victoria via train. The Football Museum is closed, so I couldn't take a look. I checked out the Manchester Cathedral. Half of it was under construction. The other half was less nice.

I then walked around, visiting St Ann's Church, Exchange Square, Market Street, Manchester City Hall and Central Library. Everything went smooth, perhaps too smooth that I finished everything that I want to see so quickly. I then decided to walk to the train station to go back home. It might be because I don't wish to stay in a hostel anymore, and I am slightly tired of travelling. I used my phone to book a cheaper train ticket, and visited Manchester University along the way to Picadily station. Fast and straight to the point, really.

Liverpool

A short 2 day trip in Liverpool, followed immediately after my trip to Ireland. Two days were probably enough. Liverpool is more famous for having two great football teams, but my purpose here was more to travel. Traces of the Beatles were everywhere, it gets a bit boring. Liverpool actually has a long history as a port city. The major buildings in Liverpool are really beautiful.

9 June 2018, Sunny, Dublin > Liverpool

The flight from Dublin was delayed, but thankfully, everything in Liverpool went so smooth, I was on the bus towards Liverpool city centre in no time. I grabbed a cheap burger from McDonalds' as supper and checked into the hostel. 

10 June 2018, Sunny, Liverpool

I have to admit, I have been blessed with sunny weather during my travels. I woke up late, ate McDonalds' for breakfast and started my exploration by first visiting Albert Dock, passing by many iconic buildings along the way. Finally, I reached Albert Dock. I took my own time and walked many rounds around the dock, trying to get a nice angle for the pictures. I went inside the Merseyside Maritime Museum, which is a combination of many different museums inside. The customs museum is quite interesting and had many hands-on activities and games to play. I only left the compound at about 3, and was still not particularly happy with the pictures of Albert Dock. I made my way to Johnson shopping centre. There, I ate fish and chips for lunch. I decided to do that because it is a rather iconic British food, and Liverpool is next to the sea. After lunch, I walked around to explore the churches in Liverpool. The first was the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. It was quite beautiful, but what impressed me more was the next church: the Liverpool Cathedral.

The scale of this church is really impressive, it was breathtakingly huge, to be more precise. From the outside, I was not expecting much, but when I get inside, it was jaw dropping. It was huge, high ceilings and all. This church is by far my favourite (maybe also because I have not seen many churches?). Next I passed by Liverpool Chinatown on the way to my dinner place: Cowshed. I probably ordered a cheap cut, resulting in a rather unpleasant chewy meal. I then went back to Albert Dock to get nicer pictures, but to no avail. I returned to rest.

11 June 2018, Sunny, Liverpool > Manchester > Sheffield

I checked out of the hostel and ate at the same McDonalds' again. Since there was less clouds today, I retraced back the same steps I took yesterday, taking more awesome pictures. My personal favourite is this, side view of Port of Liverpool building, with a little peek of Cunard Building and Royal Liver Building.

Again, I ate lunch at Johnson shopping centre again. Since it requires booking in advance to visit Anfield stadium, and entrance is not free, I gave that up, and just walked around the city more, hoping to discover more things. At six, I made my way to the train station and took the train to my next destination, Manchester. 

Dublin

I have been waiting for good weather to do an extensive travelling and it seems that it doesn't work. In the end, I just went ahead with it. Coincidentally, the weather turned out to be nice. The whole trip was just perfect. It is the first time I travelled to a different country for a while. The adventurous spirit rekindled! Dublin is a nice and peaceful city with River Liffey splitting the city into two halves, both equally exciting. Statues can be found everywhere, and it adds to the charm. Dublin also happens to have the widest road in Europe, the O'Connell Street.

6 June 2018, Sunny, Sheffield > Dublin

It was a hot day. I packed up and rushed to the train station and I reached the train station just in time to see the train arrived, while panting rather heavily. The train took me to Manchester Airport, and then I took the Ryanair flight to Dublin. Sounds of seagulls were constantly heard, reminding me that I am very close to the sea. I checked in a budget hostel, Generator Hostel, got a simple dinner at a nearby store, grabbed some food and water for tomorrow and slept.

7 June 2018, Sunny, Dublin > Cliffs of Moher > Dublin

Woke up really early since I planned the day tour to the famous cliffs of Moher. I deliberately put the day trip on the first day because the weather is good, and the tour guide would be able to share a lot of secrets about travelling in Dublin. As we departed Dublin, the nuce guide filled us up with the history of Ireland, how there were kings of regions, thrones, and warfare. It all sounds like a game, and was very interesting. Ireland is full of stone ruins here and there. As we travel eastwards to the cliffs, I also saw for myself how it was greener in the west, and more bogs and stone walls of the east. After 2.5 hours, we reached Galway. Galway is also known as the city of the tribes. I ate cheap McDonalds' burger as further breakfast. Next, we headed off along the Atlantic Way. The guide also shared that Bailey's Irish cream, one of my favourite alcohol, requires very good milk to make, and the milk comes from the cows here, locally produced, as fresh as it can get. As the bus moves along, I also can't help but notice that the houses in Ireland are all very beautifully designed. After a short drive, we finally reached the world famous Cliffs of Moher. The weather today was perfect. We had sunny weather, which means that the pictures that we took have beautiful blue skies.

The path goes along the cliffs and went very far. I walked till a certain point when I realized I should not go any further or I will not make it back in time. Our next destination was a random abbey, which was a graveyard. Pictures here tend to be a little dreamy. We just took a few pictures before returning back to Dublin. We reached back to Dublin at about eight. I had ramen for dinner before returning to the hostel for a good rest.

8 June 2018, Dublin, Partly Cloudy

In the morning, I went to visit the Guinness store house, the place where they make the famous Guinness stout to ship worldwide. It was overall a very organised tour of the place. I learnt some of the processes of making the black beer.

I chose to have a hand in trying to pour myself a pint of Guinness, and even got a certificate for it. After enjoying the pint, I felt like my time in Dublin is already nearly complete. The next things I need to do was to do the city exploration. I visited many places on foot, starting from Christ Church, then Chester Beatty Library and City Hall. Lunch was at Beanhive cafe. Their wrap tasted wonderful. After that, I went into St. Stephen's Green, which was a park, then to Trinity College Dublin, then Temple bar and O'Connell street. At this point, my legs were very tired. I went back to my hostel and rested for a while. For dinner, I tried to go to The Cobblestone and The Brazen Head, both of which were Irish Pubs. As usual with all the Irish Pubs, both were packed with people. I was unable to get any food in the mess. The music was pretty good, it was performed by local people. Since I had no company, I left after a whole minute. In the end, I ate at a place called My Meat Wagon. It was pretty decent. After that, I went to the Ha'Penny bridge to catch a nice sunset and took an awesome picture alongside many professional photographers. The picture is the cover photo of this post.

9 June 2018, Dublin > Liverpool, Clear

Today, the skies turned clear again. I basically retraced the steps I took yesterday, but this time, taking really beautiful pictures. My favourite is Dublinia, Christ Church and the bridge between them. The framing was the same as a postcard I found later.

I had lunch at Tang, very close to the one I went to the day before. It was a healthy lunch. I walked back to O'Connell street. There, I bought myself ice cream made from irish cream. It was delicious. I then took a bus to go out of Dublinc city centre, out to Phoenix Park. Phoenix Park is a very large green space with a gigantic Papal Cross. Why did I come here? That's a wrong question to ask. Why can't I come here? That's more correct. After walking around collecting pictures of green fields, I went back to Dublin, intending to try The Vintage Kitchen, but it was packed. I ate the sushi rice next door. It was not too good. That ends the trip to Dublin. I took a bus to the airport, to start the next part of my travel. Liverpool.

As it slowly transits from spring to summer, I have finished my collection of beautiful spring pictures, many flowers of which I am unable to name. Incidentally, I am also already past the halfway mark of my exchange. Spring is a wonderful season, and this was the first time I experience a proper spring. A sunny day and beautiful flowering trees will be sure to brighten anyone's day. I spent a long time trying to get a perfect frame of some places in Sheffield...

I guess I am used to living in Sheffield now, I know where to get all I need, and know what I cannot get. I am also getting comfortable with the people I know here. Seems that all is well. I like the life here, and I am definitely going to miss it. I have this feeling that I have not travelled enough. I did increase my 'cooking level' a lot, however.

Kinder Scout Peak District

Not intending to waste the wonderful weather that is to come, I planned a quick hiking trip to Peak District. Looking at all the possible walking trails, I ended up selecting one of the harder ones that will take me to the highest point in Peak District, and that is the Kinder Scout, a flat high peak.

6th May 2015, Sunny, Kinder Scout

The day began with me walking around Sheffield to collect spring pictures. I thought I had a lot of time, but I got too complacent. I arrived at the train station five minutes early, but queuing to collect the tickets made me miss the train. I had to wait an hour for the next train, setting the whole schedule back by an hour. The train took less than half an hour to reach Edale. I started the hike from here. It is very difficult to hike in UK because there are no road signs along the hiking trails. I basically navigated my way using memory from the routes I saw last night, and by looking at where most people are walking. The sun was hot, and I regret not using sunblock lotion. After walking through green pastures, the path led into a valley with small rapids and waterfalls. Here is where the climbing began. It was a rough climb over large rocks beside the waters. After about half an hour, I reached a gathering area. The view up here is quite good,

I took a wrong turn and I ended up cutting the route short. I kinda felt that I was on the wrong track and kept trying to walk to the correct track by walking over the grasses, but I always end up walking into wet bogs. After trying to about half an hour, I gave up and walked the regular (wrong) path. I did manage to locate the highest point in the area, the Kinder Scout trigonometrical station with a little bit of detour, so all was not wasted. After that, it was the descend. I descended till I reached Jacob's ladder, which was proper stone steps down, to a long path, and to a small village.

Here, I walked the wrong path again. I ended up not walking on the Penine Way trails, and instead, walked on the main road in the area. I guess I am too used to having signboards telling me where to go, and this was just absent in the Peak District. I reached the train station and realized that the next train is in an hour and thirty minutes. Hence I just walked around the village for a small exploration. Soon, the train arrived and it brought me home.