Edinburgh, Scotland

July 26 -28 

Just when we thought we were finished traveling before the arrival of Baby Brooks, we decided to fit in one more short trip to Scotland! I think it is safe to say that we are done exploring for now though. I have officially entered the 6 weeks prior/6 weeks after zone of not being able to fly and let’s be honest, I’m now just about 36 weeks pregnant - I don’t feel like doing anything at all. But we did manage to make it to Scotland and spend Saturday-Monday exploring the city of Edinburgh. We used the National Rail train system to ride from Peterborough, which is about 40 min from our house to the main station in Edinburgh. The command that Aaron is currently at allows him access to the HM Forces Railcard which provides a discount on rail tickets. We paid £15/each for the rail cards and knew that we needed to use them for at least one trip to get what money we paid into them. This trip to Edinburgh saved us about £70, so I’d say the card has been worth it! 

The train ride took about 4.5-5 hours to get there. There were several stops along the route and Aaron and I were in a “quiet coach”, so we were able to sleep for a little bit on the way there. We arrived in Edinburgh at its main train station - Waverly around noon. We were hungry and not able to check-in to our hotel until 3pm, so we decided to find a place to eat. We wandered down Princes Street and got our first view of the castle and also saw Sir Walter Scott’s Monument up close.

This massive Gothic spire was built in memory of the novelist, Sir Walter Scott after his death in 1832.The outside of the monument has carvings of characters from his novels. You are also able to climb to the top if you so desire.

We found a little pub to eat outside at and were quickly questioned by our waiter whether we were in town for the Military Tattoo. 

Shortly after moving here, we were told about the Military Tattoo which you can find out more about here: http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/. Basically it is a big festival celebrating Scotland’s rich military history. It didn’t actually start until Aug 1 but people were already arriving for the festivities. We hope to make back to Edinburgh to attend in the next 2 years. 

We took our time walking to the area our hotel was in. We made a last minute decision to go to Edinburgh and when I started looking at hotels, there weren’t many options and they were very, very expensive. Not only was the Military Tattoo festival upcoming but the Commonwealth Games were taking place that very weekend in Glasgow and we believe some of them were in Edinburgh as well. We understood that the Commonwealth Games are sort of like the Olympics with only countries that were part of the British Empire participating. So we used hotwire to book - which is where you commit to the hotel without knowing the name and specific location until after you pay for it. I was hesitant to do this because I knew we’d be relying on city transportation and wanted to stay close to all the things we wanted to see but we took the risk and were granted a stay at the Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa, a 5 star hotel with a perfect location. We were able to check in a little bit early and were impressed with the Sheraton from the very beginning. The pool was under renovation but the front desk offered to arrange us a taxi to one of their partnering hotels to ensure we were able to swim if we wanted to. The bathroom had mood lighting along with a shower and a separate bathtub, the closet had plush robes and slippers and there was air conditioning! You don’t really miss it until you have it and then it’s gone because coming home was rough having to adjust my life back to only having a ceiling fan. Despite resting on the train, I took another nap (story of my pregnant life) and then we ventured out to the bus stop across the street from the hotel and got on a hop on/hop off tour bus. The tickets were good for 24 hours, so we took advantage of getting our bearings and taking the bus the entire loop around the city to get a better idea of where and what we should do first the following day.

A view of Grassmarket, the former site of a cattle market and also the city's place of execution where gallows once stood.

We returned to the hotel area to eat dinner at a chain restaurant across the street, Nandos. We relaxed for the rest of the evening. The next morning we had ordered breakfast to be delivered to the room and it was wonderful. We only ordered one tray and it was enough food for the both of us. We decided to go to the National Museum of Scotland first by using our bus tickets. The museum was awesome with 5 floors tracing the history of Scotland and the best part was that it was free! There was even an entire area dedicated to fun learning activities for kids.

Victorian Grand Gallery part of the National Museum of Scotland

The museum also had a roof terrace where we got to enjoy some stunning views of Edinburgh. Little did we know that the views would only continue to improve with our visit to the castle the next day.

From the museum, we walked part of the Royal Mile to grab some lunch at a cafe. While there, it started downpouring, so our timing was pretty good. By the time we finished eating it had cleared and we were ready to head to Holyrood Palace which is the royal family’s residence while in Scotland.

The palace is also famously known as the 16th-century home of Mary, Queen of Scots. We took the rest of the afternoon to explore the palace. There was an audio tour included in our admission and luckily I still had the headphones from the bus tour in my pocket and was able to plug myself into the set hands free (your arm gets tired after a while of holding the audio tour up to your ear!). Most rooms during the tour offered a chair or two and I was usually able to take a seat which was nice because I was starting to feel like my legs might fall off from so much standing and walking. The highlight of the tour is Mary's bedchamber - it was here that her first husband restrained Mary (who was pregnant) while her rumored lover who was also her secretary was murdered and left to bleed to death in the neighboring room.

Holyrood Abbey

After the palace we exhausted our bus passes and rode back to the hotel. We relaxed for little bit before walking to the Grassmarket area right below the castle to eat dinner at a local pub. 

We ate at Maggie Dickson's pub which you can read her story above. The food was nothing spectacular but the pub had an interesting story. The views of the castle were pretty great too, but I was already dreading the uphill climb it would take to actually get up to the castle the next day.

The next day, we checked out of the Sheraton and headed towards the castle. We stopped for breakfast at a Costa’s which is the UKs version of Starbuck’s, although you’ll find a Starbuck’s pretty much wherever you travel to - it’s pretty amazing. We climbed cobblestoned hills and many, many steps until we were finally at the entrance of the castle. While walking in, Aaron noticed a sign about English Heritage members buying their tickets from the information booth for a discount. We were able to get our admission price 50% off! Getting an English Heritage pass has been on of the best decisions we have made as far as exploring England and now we were putting it to use in Scotland. 

Edinburgh Castle was amazing. It wasn’t just one building but several spread over more hilly cobblestones and gradual uphill climbs. The views of the city were amazing and it is easily the highlight of Edinburgh. 

Poster child for our Edinburgh guidebook.

We were able to explore the Royal Palace which contained the Scottish Crown Jewels. The jewels were locked away in a chest in 1707 and the crown, sword and scepter lay forgotten until 1818. We stayed for the "One O'Clock Gun" which was an ear-splitting shot from a WWII 25-pound gun that fires at 1pm.
Pretty soon after leaving the castle, once on the Royal Mile (actually more than a mile but called that because it was the street that was traveled by the king to get from the castle to the palace) we came upon a street entertainer dressed like the main character of Braveheart. Aaron donated some money and donned a costume to play out some of his Braveheart dreams. 

Too excited to join in the "Freedom!" battle cry. 

Further down the street we were able to listen to a bagpipe player and get some souvenir shopping done as well. We found a place to eat lunch down a side street of the Royal Mile. We went off in search of dessert and found the cupcake shop I had seen the previous day. 

Not too far from there was the main square and train station area, so we headed that direction and caught our train around 5pm back to Peterborough. The ride back was only 3hr45min but it seemed to take longer to get home than it did to get there. We had a wonderful trip and hope to return to Scotland again to explore Glasgow and more of the countryside.  

The Brooks' and Mattie's go to Paris

July 1-4

We recently had our first visitors from the States come to England for a 2 week visit. While we thought we would have plenty of time to do things, time went by so stinking fast. We had a trip to Paris planned but determining the location of our trip was honestly about all of the planning that we got done beforehand. We found ourselves the night before looking into things to do and finally, in our exhaustion, decided to just go with it. We discussed the Paris Pass which allows you access to lots of the big sights and also included transportation but we weren't able to justify things and knew we’d have to pack things in at a pretty fast pace to break even on the price. Fast pace and 30 weeks pregnant do not belong in the same sentence together. So looking back, I am super grateful that we didn't go with that plan.

We traveled into London on Tues, July 1. Our train to Paris wasn't until that evening but we took the day to explore London. We attempted to park at Epping car park, which is the tube station we usually park and ride from but seeing that it was a work day versus a weekend, the car park was full from commuters. So we went on to Debden and found a spot there. Aaron accidentally paid for parking through the weekend which actually only ended up being a couple more pounds. We were about to discover what traveling with another couple would be like as it was me, Aaron, his sister, her husband and their 15 month old daughter. Aaron had a backpack, they had a big suitcase (which they were able to fit my backpack into), their jogging stroller and a pack and play - just in case the hotel didn't have a crib. Most of the time, I found myself wandering aimlessly without anything to carry while the others struggled with carrying the stroller, luggage and pack and play up and down stairs (we discovered many places that weren't stroller or even handicap friendly in general). I quickly assumed the important role of scanning our Oyster tube cards in and out of each station though and felt like I was contributing a little bit to the process. We tubed into King’s Cross/St Pancras and checked the suitcase and pack and play (Brad creatively, yet unsuccessfully, tried to get away with making them into one item so he'd only having to pay for one) into a locker/secure area so we didn't have to lug them around London for the day. We were able to see all of the places in London that was on Brad and Melissa’s wishlist, including Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben area, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. My favorite part of this trip to London was discovering that Lucy seems to have perfect pitch and would continually hum the tune the tube played when the doors opened and closed. 

Our train for Paris left around 6pm. We left from St Pancras and traveled via Eurostar. With the time difference, we arrived in Paris around 915pm local time to Gare du Nord. I had printed directions to the hotel and we had a map to look at but we still managed to walk in a circle before getting onto the right boulevard. We used Hotwire to book our room and I had called ahead of time to let them know we would have a baby with us, to see if there was a crib available. They told me that their two cribs were reserved but they would see what they could do, which is why we brought the pack and play. After some difficulty at the front desk with my confirmation email not being a hotwire voucher we got the keys to our rooms. Brad and Melissa’s room included a loft, pack and play (so now we had two!) and a single bed. Our room felt about 10x smaller than theirs and would have never fit a pack and play into it in addition to their stroller, so I’m glad I called beforehand. We decided to meet the next morning and get started on some sightseeing from there. Aaron was anxious to watch the US world cup game that night and after scrolling through the TV channels, all he found sports-wise was rugby. After going back to work this week, he told this to the French man he works with at his NATO command and Charlie told him that was “Impossible!”. Aaron looked and looked again, but he was unable to get the game and had to update the score every now and then on the internet.

The next morning, Lucy was still sleeping after having been up during the night, Aaron and I decided to walk and see what we could find out about the Big Bus tour tickets. We talked to the woman at reception and she gave us brief, confusing directions to the metro. We decided to try and walk to the ticket office and didn't get very far when we found the metro station and just decided to figure out how easy it would be take the metro with our group. We did find a boulangerie that sold all of the delicious baked goods I learned about in French class many years ago. Aaron got a donut and I tried un pain aux raisins - which was delicious. 

The metro was very similar to the London Underground - color coded and easy to get the hang of. We bought a book of 10 tickets from the Information Booth. This was where I got to experience Aaron’s attempt at French for the first time. I had kind of zoned out when we got to the head of the line and he panicked a little bit and started speaking in that extra loud, slow voice you use when you don’t think you’re being understood. I should have been there for him. A lot of the French that I did learn in high school focused on effectively traveling and being able to communicate in places like Paris. I was amazed at how many things came back to me over the couple of days we spent there. We obtained tickets for the Big Bus and headed back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of our party. We decided to get the two day Big Bus ticket plus the riverboat cruise because it would provide transportation to all of the big sights that we wanted to see. So we walked to get the bus and hopped on. We rode past the Louvre, Notre Dame, down Champs Elysees, around L’Arc de Triomphe and got off right before the Eiffel Tower. 

The tower was constructed for the 1889 World Fair and had a license for 20 years, at which time it was due to be dismantled. On its completion, the tower was 986 feet tall and became the tallest building in the world - a title it held for 41 years!

We got some good pictures and made our way down to the base of the tower where there was a section of tents with lots of different food. We ate there and then decided to go on the riverboat cruise. We had sat up on top of the bus for the ride there and were already starting to feel the effects of sunburn and the warm day. We were separated from Brad and Melissa on the cruise because we were towards the end of the line getting on. Aaron and I sat in the middle of the boat while they found a seat outside. Aaron fell asleep at one point and I started crying at another point. It was so warm and I was dizzy and not feeling hydrated enough and also very, very tired. Melissa came to give Aaron the camera at some point and and said, either they just had a big fight or they’re really tired. Once the cruise was over we decided to head back to our hotel area and find something to eat and call it a night. We rode the Big Bus from the Eiffel Tower area back to the Opera House and started walking towards our hotel.

Palais Garnier - The building sits on top of an underground lake and cellars and in 1896, a large chandelier fell and killed someone inspiring the setting for Phantom of the Opera.

We encountered many brasseries which are comparable to our version of a restaurant/bar. We found one to sit down at and eat. Aaron and Brad ordered some rather rare/borderline unsafe steaks and we were finally able to communicate to the staff that we wanted some fruit for Lucy and they brought her out a big bowl full of strawberries with an equally big bowl of sugar to go with them. Something else that we noticed was that Paris didn't seem to be too kid friendly. We may have been looking in the wrong places, but there weren't any kids menus or many options for kids in general as far as food went. After dinner, Brad and Melissa decided to continue walking for a bit and Aaron and I headed back to the hotel. We went to bed extremely early hoping the next day would go better energy wise.

We got up early to head to the Eiffel Tower. We weren't able to book tickets online, so we knew we’d need to get there early to stand in line for hopefully not too horrendously long. We decided to take the metro to the area because the Big Bus didn't start running until later that morning and we wanted to be in line before the tower opened. So we hoped for the best as we entered the metro with the stroller. Aaron and I scoped things out the day before and didn't really see many places where the stroller would be able to enter the turnstile. We ended up just passing the stroller overhead as we passed through. We were traveling during rush hour and had to deal with angry people trying to get around our group, but all was well in the end. The line for the Eiffel Tower moved pretty quickly and we were able to spend a couple of hours there. 

The views were amazing and I’m so glad we decided to go! 

We ate lunch again at the same food market place we had the day before. We tried some crepes this time, despite my attempt at getting strawberry and nutella together, we had just a nutella one.

We walked down to the base of the tower and let Lucy crawl around for a little bit. It was nice to just sit and relax and pretty amazing to do it with the Eiffel Tower in the background! 

From there, we caught the bus to the Louvre area. Initially we were going to pay to go in and see the Mona Lisa, but ended up just walking around the area for a bit. 

The Louvre - the world's largest and most visited museum.

We started walking towards Notre Dame and came across the Pont des Arts where many people have attached locks to the bridge. 

The tradition involves a couple attaching a padlock with your initials to the Pont des Arts and then throwing the key into the Seine River as a sign of your love. We had fun looking at all of the locks and then discussing how much money has been made from this epidemic. There were salesmen on the bridge selling the tiniest of locks for 4 euros. 

From there, we took a short break and sat down somewhere on a street near Notre Dame. I was hot and tired but wanting to continue on to see more things for the day. I was personally jealous that Lucy was on her second nap of the day. There needs to be some sort of invention for an adult carrier that accommodates pregnant cranky women. 

Construction began in 1163 and took 185 years to complete.

We went over to Notre Dame and decided to wait in line to go inside, the line moved pretty quickly so we were soon inside the magnificent church. From Notre Dame we hopped back on the Big Bus and rode it to the Champs Élysées. 

L'Arc de Triomphe honors the soldiers who fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

 

At the base of the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where a flame continually burns as a memorial to fallen soldiers from WWI.

We checked out L’Arc de Triomphe and decided to find something for dinner. There were plenty of choices along the boulevard and we finally settled on a briocherie/outdoor cafe kind of place. We tried some 3 cheese pizza, ham baguette, a macaroon and an eclair. 

Aaron and I decided to take the metro back to the hotel while Brad and Melissa walked, wanting to the see the Pantheon on the way.

Once back to the hotel, we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower later that night to see it all lit up. We headed to take the metro a little after 930pm and got to the tower a little after 10. 

30 Weeks!

The tower lights up on the hour for about 5 minutes so we found a spot and waited until 11. The light show was amazing! 

Definitely worth staying up for! We were pestered by the daytime souvenir salesmen of trinkets only now the trinkets were replaced by, “Beer, wine, champagne, cigarettes?” At one point, one of the salesmen started running back away from the tower yelling rapidly and we thought a fight was about to break out, but here it was a policeman ineffectively chasing all of the salesmen illegally selling alcohol. On our journey back to the hotel via metro, we encountered a very drunk group of American teenagers that probably obtained their alcohol from said salesmen. You wonder why Americans get such a bad rep when traveling abroad, all you really had to see was this group of teenagers to confirm why. The metro randomly stopped running at one of the stops and we were told to disembark. After a quick conversation with a local, we discovered that the line was under repair and we would have to find a way to get back to the hotel otherwise. We quickly re-routed ourselves but we found ourselves among mass crowds of people in sheer panic. There were people crawling over each other and over the turnstiles because they couldn't get their tickets to work and one child was literally screaming and practically frothing at the mouth. It was rough, but we finally made it back to the hotel.

Our train the next morning left from Gare du Nord around 1015am and with the time change we were back in London by 1140am. It was a successful trip overall and Aaron and I are looking forward to going back. Paris is so easily accessible by train from London that we can easily monitor ticket prices and plan to go back eventually! 

This post is dedicated in loving memory to my Camelbak water bottle and Lucy's baby doll which we managed to lose while on this trip.