Suburban Homestead

UK Trip - Day 15 - Wordless Wednesday - Glasgow to Cumbria

 

UK Trip - Day 13 - Highland Folk Museum to Glasgow

This post is dedicated to all those incredible humans who get the urge to dedicate mass amounts of time and money to restoring some tiny part of our history on a local level. We owe these folks a huge amount of thanks for their gifts to our cultures.  The Highland Folk Museum is the perfect example. Founded 80 years ago by Dr. Isobel F. Grant, this living museum continues to grow well beyond the collection Grant built in her lifetime.

UK Trip - Day 12 - The Train to Malaig

The town of Fort William isn't anything spectacular, but the drive leading up to it certainly is. (It seems like it might actually be hard to pick a bad drive in Scotland. So far, all have been spectacular!) We came here to catch the train to Mallaig, on the west coast. The ride roundtrip is do-able in an afternoon and boasts some of the best landscape in all of Scotland. We had hoped to ride The Jacobite, made famous by Harry Potter as the train to Hogwarts, but missed the summer schedule and had to settle for the Scotland Rail ticket. No terrible difference really - same tracks, less romantic train, fraction of the price. 

UK Trip - Day 11 - Plockton to Fort Williams

We left our magical town of Plockton today. In our two days of touring the Isle of Skye I've yet to see a town sweeter than this one. Tucked down deep at the base of tree covered hills, and only accessed by a long, winding, single-lane road, this tiny village took good care of us on our first days in Scotland. But before departing, we had to take a seal tour with famed local, Calum.

 

UK Trip - Day 10 - Isle of Skye

 

UK Trip - Day 9 - Isle of Skye

Our first three nights in Scotland were spent in the tiny, picture-perfect fishing village of Plockton, with easy access to the Isle of Skye. Our house, our views, our temporary fantasy world, were all just perfect. I only wish we could have stayed longer and done a little kayaking, hiking, and maybe some relaxing. As it turned out, we spent our mornings and evenings in the house and surrounding village, but during our two full days, we drove down (and up) to the Isle of Skye.

UK Trip - Day 8 - Wordless Wednesday - London to The Highlands

 

UK Trip - Day 7 - A 6yo's Birthday @ Kidzania, BB Tea Bus Tour + Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Musical

Tiny Buns has knocked-out another year! We celebrated his big day with four surprises that could only happen in London!

UK Trip - Day 6 - The Making of Harry Potter at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London

 

UK Trip - Day 5 - Hotel Chocolat Kid's Workshop, Tower Bridge + Medieval Banquet

 

UK Trip - Day 4 - The London Eye + South Bank

UK Trip - Day 3 - Sketch for tea, Charles Dickens Museum, Jamie Oliver's for dinner, Matilda Musical for dessert

Afternoon tea at Sketch was at the top of my *Can't Wait* list for London. I'll go anywhere to see a fabulous interior, and I had read that Sketch was said to have the best one in the whole of London!

UK Trip - Day 2 - London's Regency Cafe, Double Decker Bus, Harrods, Laduree + Churchills War Rooms

This trip marks a new start in travel for me. I decided I couldn't carry my prized 3.5lb, 6D Canon camera around with me all day anymore and invested in a FujiX30 instead. I was very nervous about switching so close to our departure - nervous I might compromise the memories I was responsible for collecting. A friend of mine with deep, digital intuition, heard my concerns and came over to help me navigate my latest *screen*. Within an hour, I felt ready for adventures in pocket photography. So far, I'm very happy with the results!

Here are some shots from our second day in London, starting at the famed Regency Cafe, said to have the best English Breakfast in the whole of London. 

 

UK Trip - Day 1 - London's Museum of Transport + Dinner at Dishoom, *A Bombay Cafe*

Six months in the making and we are finally here in London - one of my favorite cities in the world, and one I was lucky enough to call home for a short time in college.  I will be alone with the kids for a week, then Hubs is meeting us, at which time we will fly to Scotland and road-trip all the way back down. 

We landed yesterday afternoon. Some of us had slept a little, some of us not at all. By some miracle, everyone rallied and powered through. After dropping our bags at our apartment in South Bank, we headed to Covent Garden in the pouring rain, hoping to put some smiles on little faces at the London Transport Museum.