UK Day 6 - City of Manchester

27 Feb - City of Manchester, to me, looked like a city that was born out from the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Most of the building we saw were seemingly from that era, which was a huge contrast compared to York's medieval feel. As there were no LNER train going to Manchester, we settled on the TransPennine Express train, which was also covered by our Britrail Pass.

Welcome to City of Manchester

Manchester, being well known for soccer as they have 2 very well established clubs here - Manchester United in the west and Manchester City in the East. It is no wonder they also have a football museum! Sparing no time, we hop onto the Hop-on-Hop-off bus and off we go to see Old Trafford!

Stadium: Old Trafford

Capacity: 74,994

Field size: 105 by 68 metres (114.8 yd × 74.4 yd)

Opened: 19 February 1910

Hotel Football, Old Trafford

The legendary Old Trafford Stadium

The United Trinity, a statue of Manchester United's "holy trinity" of George Best, Denis Law and Robert Charlton

Sir Bobby Charlton Stand

A plaque honoring the victims of the Munich air disaster

Stretford End

After walking one round the stadium, we visited the Megastore to hunt for discounted jersey that we can buy and bring home as souvenirs. Unfortunately, the jersey sold here isn't that cheap either, with the plain ones selling for £60, which is equivalent to S$105. By God's grace, we managed to find a Paul Pogba third kit (Blue color one) with his name, player number and UEFA Champions League Logo imprinted selling for £60! Truly a bargain! After the purchase, it is time for our return trip to the city as the Hop-on-Hop-off bus only runs 3 trips during the low season.

Manchester City Hall

Manchester Central Library, an interesting building design that reminds me of Pantheon in Rome

UK Day 5 - Exploring York

26 Feb - Met up with one of our friends who is currently in York who took the day off to accompany us around the city. Visited quite a lot of attractions that are free of charge (thanks to her pass) such as the Jorvik Viking Center where we learnt about the history of Viking in York. There is even a motion coaster where they bring you through exhibits replicating the Viking daily lives and accommodations complete with narration and scent! Apparently, there is even a Viking Festival that just ended a week earlier where people dressed up in medieval costume and re-enact a Viking battle! For now, there are still a few exhibits on display at the city center leftover from the festival.

Clifford Tower

York Castle in the city of York, England, is a fortified complex comprising, over the last nine centuries, a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings on the south side of the River Foss. The now-ruinous keep of the medieval Norman castle is commonly referred to as Clifford's Tower

York Crown Court and Castle Museum

Did not get to visit the interior as it is closed after 4pm

York Minster in the sunset

Walking along a section of the York city wall. Not a bad view though

UK Day 4 - York, here we come

25 Feb - Having spent 3 days in Edinburgh, it is time to bid the city farewell as we embark on our next destination, York. As we have the Britrail pass, we timed our departure to take the LNER train again to enjoy its fabulous service.

It is said London have The Kingsman, well Scotland have The Scotsman

Edinburgh Waverley Station

After a 2 hours journey, we rolled into York, a small city that still retains most of its medieval buildings 

York Minster

The Shambles, which is said to be an inspiration for the fictional Diagon Alley, the magical merchant market from the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

Leisure stroll down a riverbank. Ducks here are huge!

UK Day 3 - Calton Hill and Arthur's Seat

24 Feb - Today was a free & easy day with nothing planned in particular. As a result, *mds* and I decided to make full use of the cool weather to explore Edinburgh. First off, we walked up Calton Hill which was located just behind our hotel.

Name: Calton Hill

Elevation: 103 m

Brief description: Calton Hill, with its city views, is home to the Collective contemporary art gallery and an unfinished National Monument. 

Good day for some exercise huh...

Apparently, there is some attraction at the top of the hill

View of Edinburgh City from the top

The unfinished National Monument which was modeled after Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Halfway through the project, they ran out of funds and it was left unfinished

The photogenic shot of Edinburgh, with the castle in the background

Scott Monument

Edinburgh Castle. As we are short of time, we did not enter the castle. There is too much crowd and tourist anyway......

Playing with my camera glittering illumination effect during lunch

After lunch, we walked to Arthur's seat. You see the highest peak in the middle of the picture? That is where we are heading!

Name: Arthur's Seat

Elevation: 251 m

Brief description: Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design".

As we walk, out came our thick jacket and after 90 mins of climbing, we are almost there. Yup just 100m away from our destination in this picture

View from the top, simply amazing!

As we decent, we have a chance to witness clouds rolling by the hill. Heavenly!

I think sakura is just starting to bloom

I must say we are truly blessed, loved and protected by God. After we leave Edinburgh, two days later, we saw the news that Arthur's Seat is on fire and the authority has closed the park.... 0.0

UK Day 2 - Glencoe & Loch Ness

23 Feb - Woke up early to start the day with a day tour to Glencoe and Loch Ness with Rabbie's. We found this agency through Klook which has a relatively good review. It is a short walk from our hotel to the meetup location at Rabbie's Cafe Bar (Pretty convenient huh, placing the meetup location at its own cafe bar =p) at 0745. The tour guide mentioned to us at the beginning that everytime he pass by Glencoe, he just cannot resist to stop and goes "Ahhhh" looking at the mountains. At first, we did not understand what he meant but later, we got it. You just have to see the pictures to understand why....

First pit stop - Loch (pronounced as "loft") Lubnaig, which means Lake Lubnaig

Reminds me of the NZ fjords... so scenic

Playing with my camera on Impressive Art mode

Glencoe

Ahhh

Ahhhhhhh....could have stayed here forever.....

Loch Ness, too bad no monster sighted today

Over here, we have a short break to explore around the town and have lunch if we are hungry. At the tour guide recommendation, we have a taste of Scottish food known as Haggis, which is essentially a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach. The dish is normally served with mashed potatoes and mashed turnips. The taste is meaty and strong with the first mouthful, but it gets increasingly unappetizing if you ate too much. 

UK Day 1 - Onward to Edinburgh

22 Feb - Arrived into London on a foggy early morning. I think we are one of the first flight that landed at Heathrow Airport as the whole terminal 2 is literally devoid of passengers except us and the airport staffs. We proceed smoothly and quickly (Thank God) through the custom and we are on our way to board the Heathrow Express to London!

Empty Airport

Heathrow Express that will get you to London in 15 mins

From Paddington Station, we took an Underground subway to King's Cross Station for our National Railway train journey (About 4.5 hours) to Edinburgh Waverley Station. We must really thank God for He really has planned this trip well for us. Not only we managed to get a low season First Class Pass that is only available for the month of February for foreigners, we also obtained this pass at a further discount through Klook promotional events. Having researched thoroughly on the different railway companies available, we settled on the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) for they have the best review for their first class seats, services and meals. We really did not regret our choice as the staffs keep feeding us with drinks, snacks and a complimentary meal on board which comes with charging station and WiFi.

As we are early, we checked out the surrounding at King's Cross and were pleasantly surprised at what we found - The entrance to Hogwarts Castle train platform (Platform 9.75). Not surprising, there is a long queue for photos with the half trolley that has gone into the wall.

Time's up. Boarding at Platform 2 for our LNER train.

And 4.5 hours later, we are at Edinburgh!

After check in, we visited the National Museum of Scotland as recommended by the hotel staff since the entrance is free.

Museum exhibits

On the rooftop, we managed to have a good view of Edinburgh Castle and a clock tower

Before the sun set, we have a leisure stroll down Victoria Street to see these multi-colored shops that seems to breath life into the boring landscape. =p