KALEIGH TAKEOVER: SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, FRANCE
Edinburgh Castle :: November 2021
Kaleigh, Nancy’s daughter, TAKES US TO SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, FRANCE
Part two of a five-part series
Scotland
Up next, Becca and I had to say goodbye to Maddy, since they had only joined us for the Ireland portion of the trip, then we headed off to Edinburgh, Scotland. Here, we stayed with Becca’s friend at her flat, which was incredible and helped with the “balling on a budget” situation.
We stayed the longest in this country, not only because we had a place to stay for free, but because it is such a beautiful and historically rich city. There was so much to do in the 12 days that we were there, that it was difficult to even know where to start.
Edinburgh/Victoria Street/Architecture/Colinton
Our first day was a typical day in Edinburgh — super cloudy with sporadic rain. We decided to explore all around the city. Since Becca had been there before, she showed me some of the cool spots. We visited Victoria Street, which is an iconic spot for photographers and is featured in many films. We also toured St. Giles Cathedral; the architecture was absolutely amazing. We were able to shop around the Royal Mile on the way up the hill to the Edinburgh Castle as well.
The next day was one of the absolute best days, even though there were a couple of unfortunate events. Yet again, it was a rainy day, but we decided it was the perfect time for the three of us to explore and find some wild highland cows (wee coos, as we learned to call them).
When we arrived in Colinton at the café, we were at the bottom of the mountain. A server told us that the cows were probably far out in the mountains back in the fields. But, Becca noticed cow-like figures in the distance and we were determined to find them! The server had no faith in us finding them, so of course we had to go out in the pouring rain, hike a mountain for a few hours, and find the highland cows just to prove him wrong.
It was a trek, to put it mildly. The rain was beating down on us, the temperature was getting colder and colder as we hiked, and of course we were all wearing jeans with no raincoats because why would we have been prepared for something like this. Ha! We were hopping fences, dodging rivers, and tripping over the slippery rocks. BUT THEN, we saw movement in the distance and could make out a group of cows. Woo hoo!
Wee Coos
As we got closer, they became clearer and indeed they were cows. They are such cute, gentle giants, but at the same time, their horns are kind of scary and we didn’t want them to charge us, since they were, of course, wild animals. We got pretty close to them and took many pictures and selfies to commemorate the long journey. And of course, so we had evidence to show the waiter. It truly was an incredible moment in my life, since I am obsessed with cows and my favorites are the long-haired highland cows. But sadly, we couldn’t stay long, since the three of us were freezing and completely soaked through.
As we were descending and almost at the bottom of the mountain, I proclaimed, “Wow I’m shocked that none of us have fallen” and I kid you not, three seconds later, I hit a mud patch and slowly tumbled to the ground landing on my knees, as I rolled through the mud. Now, if you know me, I’m pretty used to falling in unfortunate situations, but this was just too good. We were all hysterically laughing, as I was still in the mud and then, with no shame, we proceeded to go into the café, soaked with rain, sweat, and covered in mud to prove to the server that we had actually found the cows.
A lot wet and a little muddy after literally falling for the cows
Castles/Dungeons/Fireworks
I’m not sure if any day could truly top this event, but the rest of our time in Scotland continued to be full of fun times and crazy adventures:
We went to another one of Becca’s friends’ flats for a Halloween party
Woke up early to watch the sun rise at Calton Hill
Bar-hopped around Edinburgh
Toured the whole castle complex
Visited the Holyrood Palace
Explored The Real Mary King’s Close
Went through The Edinburgh Dungeon
Ventured through The National Museum of Scotland
Had family dinner with Becca’s friend’s family
Went to see fireworks for the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day
We got some pretty amazing photos throughout our two weeks in Scotland that we will be able to cherish forever.
I cannot wait to go back and explore more of Scotland; it was everything I expected and so much more!
England
Moving forward, we traveled over to England on our first train of the trip. It was the best train ride ever, since we had two cute puppies sitting at our feet and we arrived at Kings Cross Station, which is the home of Platform 9 3/4! We ended up staying a few days longer in Scotland than we had initially planned, so we sadly only got a quick, but FULL, 40 hours in the beautiful city of London.
40 Hours of Fun!
A big plus was that we were staying with another one of Becca’s friends for free, plus Becca had already been to London before, so we were able to fit in a whirlwind of the most interesting and well-known parts. Some of the places we visited were:
The Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Big Ben
Hyde Park
Buckingham Palace
The London Eye
Westminster Abbey
Trafalgar Square
Harrods outlet
The Tower and the Eye allowed for some breathtaking views and photo opportunities where we both took hundreds of pictures. Although we didn’t have much time, we truly made the most of every minute.
Becca had just commented about how great the Tube had been, always on schedule. Nope. Big delay!
We also happened upon the Duck Island Cottage: Swiss Chalet for a British Bird-Keeper on our stroll through the city, which reminded me of my bird-loving mother. It had been turned into a bird sanctuary that had hundreds of birds flying around and hanging out in the water. Of course, I took a bunch of pictures to send to my mom.
France
Next, Becca and I took a train to Paris, which was one of the cities that I was most excited about visiting, since I had taken six years of French in school. And of course, growing up I heard amazing things about French food, art, museums, sights, and culture.
Luxembourg Gardens/Ponies/Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame
We stayed in the 6th arrondissement of Paris near the Saint-Germain area. We were right next to the metro for easy access to the whole city. We were also in walking distance to the Luxemburg Gardens, where we went on evening walks to see the sunset over the gardens with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. There were also adorable ponies in the gardens, and we came across a commercial being shot at golden hour. It truly felt like we were in a movie sipping our coffee with not a care in the world, so peaceful.
From our Airbnb, it was also a short walk to the Notre Dame Cathedral, so we visited a few times, even though they were still rebuilding it after that horrible fire from a few years ago. All throughout this area there were creperies on every corner and dozens of cute cafés, markets, and street vendors, where we bought many baguettes and croissants. At this point, I quickly realized I could say au revoir to any hope that all my French classes were going to help me communicate with the locals. Sorry, Madame Flanagan!
yummy crepes
Versailles
Our longest day on the trip so far was definitely the day that we visited the Château de Versailles. Walking up to the golden gates at the entrance was like nothing I had ever seen before. The Palace and the gardens surrounding it were enormous and enthralling, and yet again it felt like I was in a scene from a movie.
We toured the Palace for a couple hours and then went to walk around the gardens. We saw that you could rent a golf cart to explore the gardens and we got SO EXCITED, since we had already been walking a lot and we LOVE driving golf carts. But to our dismay, we found out you must be 25+ to drive the carts. It was disappointing news, but we trudged to the gardens, eager to explore.
We ended up walking around for hours and we happened upon the Grand Trianon (also called the Marble Trianon), which apparently is located deep within the gardens. The fancy pink marble was stunning, but at this point, we were losing steam. We had been wandering around for so long and we were ready for bed. We ended up walking a total of 10 miles that day, almost a half marathon!
Montemartre/Sacré-Cœur/Paris
We also visited the beautiful and quaint area of Montmartre, which was bustling with people and artists. While we were here, we also went up the hill and wandered around Sacré-Cœur and listened to some fantastic street performers.
Paris continued to get better and better. One night, we went out to get omelets from a small restaurant near our place and we ran into someone interesting. Everyone around us kept looking at the man sitting next to us and some of the waiters had asked for pictures with him, so we were curious about who he was, since we didn’t recognize him.
He continually kept chatting with us and we told him all about our travels. He was so nice and gave us tips and tricks for our travels. He talked about his days as a pro basketball player before he retired and got more into fashion. He even played with Magic Johnson!!!
But of course, we had no clue what to say and didn’t get his name, we were just enjoying chatting with him and sharing a glass of wine. When we got up to leave, he hugged each of us goodbye and wished us well on our travels and told us to follow our hearts with whatever we do in life. Of course, that has stuck with me to this day, and we are still unsure who he was after hours of Googling. LOL.
Museums/Fashion/Arc de Triomphe
Now I can’t forget all the amazing museums and art that we saw, too:
The Louvre
The Picasso Museum
The Rodin Museum
Musée D’Orsay (My favorite!)
Oopsy!
They were all magnificent and the art was just breathtaking and so full of history.
Me and my boy, Picasso
We bebopped around the fashion district and stopped at the Arc de Triomphe, too, which was cool because I had seen it in so many movies. Coming home from this area, Becca and I had picked up McDonalds and we were on the Metro almost back to our Airbnb. I was just sipping my smoothie, munching on some French fries (hehee) when a man ran across the car and swiped another man’s phone. He jumped off the metro, but was followed by yet another man, who attacked him and took him down.
Now me, being in my own world, I thought this was just a Good Samaritan trying to retrieve that poor man’s phone from the pick-pocketer. But, apparently Becca had been watching all these men and it turned out the Metro car that we were in was full of pick-pocketers and undercover cops! They took down a few of the guys and put them all in handcuffs right as the doors shut, and we continued on. The biggest kicker was that the recorded announcer came on just after saying, “take care of your belongings and watch out for pick-pocketers.” It was a crazy experience, and we were just thankful that the men didn’t try to take our belongings.
Ending France on a high note, we went to Café de Flore, one of the oldest coffeehouses in Paris, where high-profile writers and philosophers have frequented for the past century-and-a-half. It was some of the best food I have ever tasted, and of course, the coffee was pristine.
Oh, and I can’t forget to mention… we went to the Eiffel Tower and went all the way to the top. Honestly the tower was smaller in person than what I had imagined, but it was still so cool to visit this iconic landmark.
The view might have been a bit foggy at the top, but as it got darker, it cleared up and the tower lit up with twinkling lights, which was the best way to conclude week four of our trip!
Why blend in when you can stand out? Because it’s fun sometimes, especially in Paris!