The Land of Haggis

After being in bustling London for a few nights, Scotland offered a much more relaxed pace. From the moment I first laid eyes on the rolling mountains and the expansive fields, I knew that Scotland is a place to get away from it all. The air was cleaner and the wind was wild. I like to think that the Scottish wind got the London smokiness out of my clothes.

The word that Lauren and I kept using to describe Scotland was "quaint". We had decided rather early on that London is "fab" and Scotland is "quaint." That's a description that I still stick to whenever someone asks me what I thought about those two countries.

St. Andrews 

The first major stop on my Scotland trip was St. Andrews where my friend from home is also studying abroad. One of my favourite vacation spots in Canada has to be St Andrews, New Brunswick so it was really nice to visit it's namesake and see all the similarities. The sea, the small-town feel, and the cute independently-owned restaurants and cafes are what reminded me of the Canadian St. Andrews.

{downtown St. Andrews}

{One of the gates to the University of St. Andrews campus}

{The University of St. Andrew - where Will and Kate met!}

{wild water}

{shoreline}

{Scottish thistle}

{Scottish thistle}

Haggis and other Scottish food 

Since I was in the Land of Haggis, I had to give the traditional Scottish dish a try. For those of you who don't know, haggis is a sheep's heart, liver, and lungs minced with onion, stock, and spices and is encased in the sheep's stomach. Very economical if you ask me! At home I would definitely stay away from things like haggis but I thought that I'd be adventurous when in Scotland. And I found that I actually didn't mind the taste! As long as I didn't dwell on what I was eating it was pretty good.

However, I wasn't brave enough to try blood pudding which is a type of sausage made by cooking blood  with meat, fat, and bread. But I did try an empire cookie which was extremely tasty! An empire biscuit is a traditional Scottish cookie which has a layer of jam in between two cookies. The top of the empire biscuit is covered with white icing and topped off with a maraschino cherry.

{Empire biscuit, so delicious!}

Berlin

Although I just got back from a trip, another travel opportunity arose and I decided to take part in it. I am leaving for Berlin tonight and will be back on Sunday. I thought I might as well travel now while the flights are cheap, it's cold in Copenhagen, and school isn't very busy.

All this tripping is causing me to be behind in my posts - I still haven't even posted about Scotland yet! So in the next couple weeks expect multiple posts about two very lovely countries.

London Calling Part II

Despite the delay this post is a continuation of my last one about London! All the photographs from the previous post were from my first full day in London (on Saturday January 28th).

Saturday was extremely busy - we saw Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, and Abbey Road. It was so great to go out to dinner that night to be able to sit down and rest for a couple of hours!

I definitely got a crash course in London! I am glad that I did most of the London sightseeing at the beginning because by the end of the trip all I wanted to do was sit around all day and drink tea and eat scones with jam and clotted cream. 

So without further adieu, here are the pictures from my final touristy excursion of the day on that very busy Saturday.

{Abbey Road}

{I get by with a little help from my friends}

{the wall opposite Abbey Road}

{my contribution to the wall}

Then the day was wrapped up with a trip to Piccadilly Circus for dinner.

{busy London night}

{Picadilly - the more commercial area of London}

{decked out for the Chinese New Year}

Then the following day there was a Chinese New Year celebration! London was decked out in Chinese lanterns and Chinatown was bustling - the wait for chinese restaurants in Chinatown were at least an hour, but it was worth it!

{Chinese New Year festivities}

{creeping on a father-son moment}

{very busy Chinatown. The crowd around the restaurant we were waiting in line for}

{now creeping a father-daughter moment}

Other sights seen include

1 Big Ben

{far shot}

{shot through the fence}

{extreme close up}

2 Westminster Abbey

{Westminster}

3 A London Telephone Booth

{a very British picture}

4 Denmark Street - a street notable for its connections with British music. On this street: Elton John recorded "Your Song", the Sex Pistols lived and recorded, and the Rolling Stones recorded their first album. 

{Denmark street}

5. Camden Market

{very vibrant Camden Market}

{Camden Market}

{Missing elephant}

{Camden market jewellery}

6 And of course a visit to London isn't complete without scones and tea!

{roobios tea, and a scone with jam and clotted cream}

6 The last touristy thing visited in London was the Tate Modern Gallery which I really enjoyed!

{a close-up of Monet's waterlilies}

{Roy Lichtenstein}

{admiring waterlilies}

{Andy Warhol self-portrait}

{David Shrigley's horoscopes}

London Calling

The first (and final) destination on my trip was London England, a place that I have always wanted to visit. It was awesome to explore London Ontario's namesake and I could definitely see the original London's impact on Ontario's version. For example, I recognized many London Ontario street names copied from London UK such as Piccadilly, Oxford, and Regent to name a few.

Here is a list of 3 things that I did and saw during my first couple days in London. I will not post everything at once because that would be photo overload (if that's even possible!) My four days spent in London was definitely not enough time to see and do everything, which is why I am very excited to be visiting London again in early August! 

1. Billy Elliot 

 On our first night in London Lauren and I saw the musical "Billy Elliot". It was a musical full of British humour (which I love), amazing dancing by people of all ages, and of course British accents! Since photography was not permitted in the theatre I sadly don't have any videos or photographs of the show, but here's a youtube link to a song that I really liked.

It's called "Electricity". When this song was being sung it was the many moments where my eyes were glued to the stage. 

2. Buckingham Palace

A trip to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards was necessary. There was a band playing theme songs from British pop culture (Harry Potter and James Bond). Which reminded me once again of the fact that Britain is very rich in culture and history!

{a large crowd awaiting the changing of the guards}

{Victoria Memorial}

{and then the sun made an appearance}

{Buckingham Palace}

{the marching guards}

{Lauren and I in front of the Victoria Memorial}

{the wonderful Buckingham Palace band}

3. The Tower of London 

A site as iconic as the Tower of London had to be visited. The cloudiness of the day was perfect for the eerie setting where gruesome things once occurred. 

{the tower of London featuring the iconic London Underground sign}

{the monogramed fence}

{tour guide giving a brief history of the Tower of London}

{one of the towers}

{captures the eerie feeling of site}

{a view of the Tower Bridge}

{sinister raven}

{a view out a window}

More photos to come!

Hej København

I am back from my UK adventure! After 9 tiring and exhilarating days in Scotland and England I am really happy to be back on Danish soil. Being away from Copenhagen made me realize how much I love it here, I even caught myself referring to it as "home" whilst I was away.

The Copenhagen that greeted me this morning was more snow-covered than usual. It had snowed in London but I was unsure if the rest of Europe experienced the snowfall. It sure did! The Danes seem to be enjoying the snow since I saw many young families out with their children who were either bundled up in a stroller, or a toboggan. Public transit seems to be the preferred mode of transportation today but I still saw the occasional cyclist!

{this was taken during my first Danish snowfall. There is even more snow on the ground today}

I will be posting more than usual this week to make up for my lack of posts. Expect tons of pictures and quite possibly a video or two.


On a another note:
Tomorrow is my first day of school at the University of Copenhagen. I am sure that I will be experiencing some first day of school jitters tomorrow morning! I will be taking Master level classes for my major which is a little intimidating, but I am sure that I will gain a lot from it.