Mum and Dad's visit

At the beginning of October Mum and Dad left for their first overseas adventure. And what an adventure it was - at the end of their trip they'd visited more countries than me!

After a few days in Singapore, they came straight to Edinburgh to see meeeee! I was very excited to see them and had been missing them so much - more than I ever thought I could. They arrived at the airport looking exhausted after a bloody long time stuck in aircrafts, and of course the first thing Mum pointed out was her flat hair - like mother like daughter, always on about the important stuff!

They were in Edinburgh for 7 nights but really only 5 days to sightsee. I stayed with them in the apartment they rented and we were very comfy on the fringe of the city. We had full on days doing lots of touristy stuff and seeing the sights.

My favourite part would probably be our visit to the Botanic Gardens, it was a lovely afternoon for a late picnic lunch and enjoying the surroundings. This was also Mum and Dad's first peek at squirrels which delighted Dad no end. The pidgeons were so well fed we were amazed they could even leave the ground to fly. Being Autumn, the gardens were alive with colour as the leaves have started to turn.

Amongst other things, we

-had dinner with briony at the Tower Restuarant at the royal museum. Dad ordered the yummiest white wine I'd ever tasted (it was German, that's as much as I can remember), and I had pidgeon as a starter. i finally got my revenge on my worst enemy over here!
-went to the Royal Yacht Brittania. The Queen has simple taste when it comes to decorating her boats!
-Holyrood Palace, the Royal residence in Edinburgh. The Queen was last here only a month before.
-Edinburgh Castle
-day trip to fishing village Anstruther and a few other towns in Fife. Spent the afternoon in St. Andrews, very nice.
-went to a scotch whisky exhibition and I now know the 5 steps to appreciating whisky:
1.Colour. Is your whisky light gold, bright copper or rich amber in colour?
2. Body. Does your whisky have a light, medium or fulll body?
3. Nose. Which aromas do you recognise when you nose your whisky - is it malty, smoky, fruity, chocolatey?
4. Palate. What characteristics do you notice on the palate - is it softly sweet, rich and fruity or peppery and spicy?
5. Finish. Does the flavour remain for a long time or does it disappear quickly?

It was great to show them around the place I've called home for the last little while and see the sights, but the best part was just relaxing with them at the apartment in the evenings. We'd just sit around and talk and nibble yummy things from Peckham's.

Here are some photos from Edinburgh:

After they toured Europe and Ireland, I took a few days off work to meet them in London before they went home. I caught the train up (down!) which was pleasant enough although halfway through the trip dad rang to tell me that the hotel Andy (their travel agent) had booked for us was like Fawlty Towers. It was certainly that and not a nice ending to the trip for them, more like a B&B than a hotel. We were that close to finding another nicer hotel but we ended up sticking it out and just having a laugh about the incidents that included:
-Reception that seemed baffled upon Mum and Dad's check in
-Weird staff
-Missing lightbulbs in the breakfast room
-An extra bed appearing in the room for no apparant reason
-A bathroom the size of a cupboard.
-The electricity mysteriously going off in our room one afternoon
-only 2 cups for tea/coffee, despite there being 3 of us (and beds for 4!)

That's London accommodation I suppose! On the bright side, it was a great location, right in Paddington and quiet at night.

On the second day in London it was Mum's birthday and as Mum and Dad's birthday presents for this year I bought us all tickets to go to the London Eye and a Thames River Cruise. We had a nice lunch and later in the evening I caught up with a mate of mine in London and saw Picadilly Circus all lit up at night. I went back to see Mum and Dad and drag them out to see it, so iconic.

The next day we did a bus tour around London and saw more sights, got tickets to the tower of London but arrived to late to enter. Got in touch with Jas Luteria, a family friend who's been living in London for a year and a half. We went to dinner that evening and it was really good to see her again.

Saturday was jam packed. We went back to the Tower of London to see amongst other things, the Crown Jewels. Amazing. not the sort of stuff you'd see down at Bevilles!

A small relax in the afternoon (that's when the electricity went off) and then off to a matinee performance of Les Miserables. We all admitted to nodding heads in the first act, but a Haagen-Daaz icecream at the interval perked us up and we all really loved it. The voices of the cast were so powerful and the theatre space so intimate, it was very moving.

Lots of yummy lunches and dinners, a little bit of shopping, bought cara's birthday present and time was up. We spent a few hours at Heathrow Airport together, Mum and I were absolute messes before they went through the gates but it won't be long until I'm home again.

London: