Wednesday, June 08, 2011

UK Trip 2010

Ok a real post about my trip. Our main focus of this trip was Scotland, so we did not stay in London for long. We did spend some time walking along Thames though, sight seeing places like Tower of London, Tower Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral.

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Swiss Re tower as seen from Tower of London

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Tower Bridge

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Entrance of St Paul’s Cathedral

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We were supposed to drive to Manchester the same day that we arrived at London. However, when we collected our car at the rental car center, we discovered the GPS they provided was not working. Upon returning it we were told that they did not have any other working GPS! So we had to actually buy a map (from a gas station nearby) and figured our way out of London. It was definitely an unforgettable experience…took us about 6 hours to finally get to Manchester.

In Manchester we stayed at a UofM senior, Zhi Wei’s place. He was such a great host! (it was his n-th time hosting a friend). Our stomachs were constantly stuffed with awesome Manchester food. Between stuffing ourselves and visiting places, I managed to get myself a parking ticket. I could blame no one except for me own stupidity (or maybe it’s the stupid MU’s fault)…I did not display the ticket face up!

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My mere presence (and my deposit in the loo) was not enough to stop MU from taking its 19th title…sighz

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University of Manchester…group photo with Zhi Wei (right photo)

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Our next stop was Edinburgh. It was definitely one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever visited. We covered quite a lot in one day, among others the Edinburgh Castle, which sat majestically atop the volcanic Castle Rock; the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the monarch in Scotland; and Calton Hill, which offered spectacular views of the city.

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Cannon, Edinburgh Castle

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National Monument, Carton Hill

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Salisbury Crag and Aurther’s Seat as viewed from Carton Hill

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Old town in background

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Edinburgh Floral Clock

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Perhaps the most anticipated part of the trip was the Scotland highland tour. One of the attractions on the list was the Eilean Donan Castle. It was a place I fell in love in since I saw it on a jigsaw puzzle and had made it the subject of my form 3 oil painting. It felt surreal to finally be able to view it up close, and even entered the castle!!!

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National Wallace Monument viewed from Sterling Castle

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Sunlight flooding the valley

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Eilean Donan Castle!!!

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The bridge leading to the castle

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The day before we left UK, we still managed to squeeze in Stonehenge and Bath into our schedule…

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Stonehenge

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Bath

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To summarize everything in two words: great trip!!!