Rainy day in Newcastle

One of the best and worst things about high school was meeting people from all over the world. It means that one of my closest friends lives all the way across the Atlantic, so you can imagine my excitement when I found out she was spending a few days in the UK earlier this month!

Unfortunately timing only allowed us to catch up for one day.....she was in London and I live in Aberdeen so of course the best solution was to meet half way in Newcastle.

We timed it so we both arrived mid morning at the train station, I was so excited to see her I almost cried, its been 4 years since we were in the same place, now that is way too long!

Unfortunately it was a miserable day so we decided to be the ultimate tourists and get on one of those big red sightseeing buses so that we could at least say we saw some of the city....as it turns out there isn't much in Newcastle apart from bridges.

Millenium Bridge

After our little tour around the city we decided to do some exploring on foot and take in a few of the sights we'd spotted on the bus. One of which was an art gallery, but when we found it, it was closed so that blew our idea of getting some culture! We decided a nice cup of tea was in order to warm us up a little and so we could continue our much needed catch up.

Check out this rollerskating horse we came across! so random, I just had to take a photo

I can honestly say I don't think Newcastle is the most exciting place I've ever been, apparently the night life is amazing, but we both had trains to catch at 7pm so we thought that was a bit early to drink before that. 

Anyway the whole point of the day was to catch up with Taylor and I'm just so glad we got the chance, it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, its the company that matters and I can't think of anything better than spending the day with an old friend.

Family Catch-Up Part 2

So I've finally got around to the second part of our little adventure....

After the Spa it was time to eat again, we found this restaurant as we were walking back to the car, and they served exactly what I was in the mood for. A nice fresh burger and chips! The Tramshed serves a variety of different dishes so theres definitely something for everyone from fish and chips to lamb. Its great for those days when no one can agree on what they fancy. Oh and the staff are really friendly which is always good.

After finishing our amazing lunch it was time to take my wee brother back to school before our drive up North. But before we left him we had a little wonder around Street which is such a cute little place and home to the Clarks outlet shopping village!

It was a little sad to leave my baby brother but being so far apart means we make the most of the family time we do have.

Family Catch-Up part 1

Last weekend my brother had to be out of school for the weekend so my parents were travelling down to Bristol to visit him, I decided to take a few days off so I could join them. What I really wanted to do was escape to the sunshine, but moving has put a hold on that for this year.

I travelled to Edinburgh to meet my mum and then we hoped on a plane to Bristol where the boys picked us up. We all love our food so priority number one after checking into the hotel was dinner and check this out....

My dinner was the size of my hand! and I must say it was the nicest piece of veal i've had in a long time, everyone else chose well too and thoroughly enjoyed their meal. If you live in England you may have been to one of these restaurants but for me, living up in Aberdeen i'd never even heard of Piccolino before. We were there on a busy Friday night but still managed to get a table without waiting and the food was incredible so I'd definitely recommend it and I shall be returning when I next get the chance.

I woke up the next day feeling awful, I had the worst cold, so struggled to even function let alone take some nice photos of our family day out. We travelled to Cardiff as it was only a 30 minute drive and we'd never been to Wales before, hopefully i'll get to go back one day and actually enjoy my time there but all I wanted to do was get back to the hotel, lie in bed and feel sorry for myself.

By Sunday I was feeling a bit better and was excited by the prospect of a trip to the spa, which even helped me feel a bit better. We spent the morning at Thermae Bath Spa and I'd say the best part was the rooftop pool. It was a perfect day to relax on the roof, a little cold but the sun was out and thats all you really need!