Thursday, January 4, 2024

Did you read Hello Monday and UK Christmas Trip Part One? If not, go back and read those first!

I am a bit sad today as semester two begins for my college seniors! Jack is still living at home like he did last semester, but Mason has moved back on campus with his roommate of all four years. Jack will be super busy again like last semester, so we won’t see much of him. And, now with Mason on campus, I am sure he will hang with him while there, too. Campus is closer than England, so I am all good with that! I still have until Monday, and I guess I am looking forward to a bit of alone time at my house to get things in order. 

Back to the trip…

I left off with our arrival in York, England on December 22nd and this view from our roof windows in our charming Airbnb: 

The host left us this and a bottle of prosecco in the fridge: 

After checking in around 1:30, Jack and Mason wanted to settle in and rest and chat but Tom and I were raring to go out and explore our neighborhood and we could see the wall from our flat! I definitely had the most energy on the trip. I was not the fastest walker, but I needed the least amount of down time in the apartments. 

How cool is this? I was so excited! 

We noticed people on top and we decided to explore: 

We found a coffee shop inside the tower!

And, on the next floor up was the cutest little area and I was really in heaven!

Tom had a Coke and a lemon bar and I had a coffee and a millionaire shortbread bar. Tom had to help me eat mine and we both agreed that millionaires eat well – it was so good!

We kept walking and it just kept getting cuter and cuter…

And, you could see the York Minster cathedral in the background…

We walked around for a few hours, but then had to head back to get ready for our dinner reservation and to pick up Jack and Mason. 

We walked back to the same area where we had been to go to Guy Fawkes Inn, which was recommended by Joanna who used to blog. She is still on Instagram as jgardnerbarlow and some of you might follow her? 

Cheers! It did not disappoint! 

I had my first fish and chips of the trip! Don’t worry – I only had two total on the whole trip!

Tom had “3 little pigs” which was pork done 3 ways: 

Jack had a burger:

Mason had the steak pie: 

After dinner, we walked around the quaint streets and the Christmas market – the lights and atmosphere were so festive. 

None of my people like having their pictures taken, but they were happy in real life!

We walked back to our apartment and fell asleep shortly after.

The apartment had a fancy coffee maker that I really enjoyed the next morning!

We left around 10 to walk up to the same area for our chocolate tour, but first we wanted to find some breakfast. We didn’t quite have enough time for a sit-down meal, so we went to a fabulous bakery. It was December 23rd, so you could tell people were preparing for their Christmas meals. It was hopping! 

Then, we did the York Chocolate Story which was really cute and fun and went back to the very beginning of chocolate’s history. They gave us tons to sample and now we are in love with British Kit Kats. They are so much better! 

We each got to make our own lolly: 

After that, we split up to do some Christmas shopping and I went in Poundland – their version of Dollar Tree. It was fun!

We met back up and were hungry, so we found ourselves at a Spanish tapas restaurant. 

We split several things, and it hit the spot!

After we ate, we walked around and shopped some more. 

Walking the wall: 

We went back to the apartment for a bit and then went out to the fish and chips place on our street for dinner – yum! This was even better than the restaurant the night before!

After that, we popped into the cute pub on our street for a drink; 

I did not want to leave York the next morning! I fell in love with it! Tom and I took one last roof photo, or as I called it “a roofie”: 

We Ubered to the train station and boarded the train for Edinburgh! It was about a two hour ride and we saw the most beautiful rainbow!

Again, we couldn’t stop staring out the window and loved seeing the landscape. I love train travel so much! 

Our train was a bit late getting in, so this was a bit hairy. We had a 5:00 reservation for Christmas Eve dinner and had to meet our host of the Airbnb to get our key and I wanted to get groceries for Christmas Day in case we couldn’t find anything open. Mason had said he wanted to cook with me for Christmas Day. 

The Edinburgh apartment was two stories with really high ceilings, and it felt like staying in your Scottish grandma’s house. It was charming but a bit rough around the edges! Ha!

It was in a great location with a Sainsbury’s around the corner, so I took off on my own and did the quickest shop I have ever done. I did make a list prior, so I knew what I was looking for.

I wasn’t in too big of a hurry that I couldn’t snap a picture, though! I felt like Cameron Diaz in The Holiday throwing festive things in my basket. 

I made it back to the apartment and we left for our Christmas Eve dinner at The Auld Hundred. So, it all worked out ok!

Our dinner place was super quaint and festive and let you order off of the regular menu. We didn’t want a special Christmas menu or anything like that. How many times can I use the words “quaint”, “festive”, and “charming”? 

We all had variations on this, but Jack had the macaroni and cheese, which looked really good, too!

They bring you “tablet” which is a Scottish candy at the end of the meal with your bill. 

I loved it! 

The next morning was Christmas, and we woke up slowly because we had had a lot of activity up to this point. We had done laundry in York and that was the only time we did laundry on the trip as it turned out, even though we had washer/dryer combos in most of the apartments. 

I bought a roll of wrapping paper, and we had a little spread next to the plant that had been decorated with beads by the host: 

Mason and I had prepped our French Toast casserole the night before and the oven did not cooperate, and we burned it. Oh well. We realized this flat was not going to be conducive for cooking the meal we had planned for dinner after all, but we made some scrambled eggs and toast. 

I got a Scottish scarf, shawl, and hat! 

I had joined a Scotland Facebook travel group during my trip planning, and they were very adamant that nothing would be open or available on Christmas Day or Boxing Day December 26th. I found it to be similar to here on Christmas Day – there were convenience type stores open and a few bars and restaurants open. And, on Boxing Day, it looked pretty much like business as usual. So, take that kind of stuff with a grain of salt, I guess. The Facebook group was also kind of nasty and judgey. Ugh. I hate that. But, I did get some good information there, too. 

That is one potential pitfall of traveling for the holidays. Also, it did not get light out until about 9:00 a.m. and it started getting dark around 3:30 p.m., but for me, this added to the festive atmosphere and the street and holiday lights they had were just so perfect. 

After opening gifts, we decided to explore the city because we really hadn’t seen much the day before. It was perfect. We were in a very walkable location, and we headed to the city centre and the monuments you could see from outside. It was very mild out and only slightly drizzling. 

I wore my Aldi turtleneck sweater dress and my Scotch tape plaid leggings on this day and I was cozy. Ignore Tom’s face – this is when he started to get sick I think! He looks like he is about to sneeze!

We had 1:00 reservations for a fancy bar in a hotel: 

I thought this would be fun since the boys turned 21 right before Mason left for study abroad. As it turns out, I don’t think anyone is into cocktails in my family and I am just fine with that! 

After drinks, we walked into Old Town and on The Royal Mile. 

We headed back to the apartment after walking around for a while and made it in time to hear the King’s Christmas Day speech on tv, which I thought was really cool! I made some snacks!

And, for dinner we decided to wander around our street, and we found a Japanese restaurant open, and all really enjoyed our food!

I can’t even remember what we ordered, but we all loved it!

And that is where I will leave you! We will start again on the morning of December 26th and should be able to wrap this trip recap up in the next post. I will also give you the breakdown of what we spent. It will hurt me more than it will hurt you! 

Amy