Where in the World is Chelsea Gibbs?: UK: London to Scotland

Last time I wrote, we were in Amsterdam. We really loved Amsterdam. Everyone there has a really carefree attitude. I can think of a hundred innuendos about why they're all so carefree, but I think that's just the way it is there. Rain or shine, there are always people biking. Everyone is friendly, they're extremely open minded and non-judgmental. I guess they have to be if they live in Amsterdam. We had a good time and our time there was quite interesting. It's obviously not a PG town and we didn't do anything crazy, but I don't want to write anymore explicit stuff (PG-13 things we saw) on a public blog. I've decided what happens in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam. That's really the way it should be. That place makes Vegas look like a children's nursery. If you want to know more about it, ask me :)

On Tuesday, the 7th, we left Amsterdam for London. Unless you're living under a rock, you know that the Olympics are being held in London this summer. It was really cool being there during the Olympics on one hand, they were definitely decked out in all things Olympics everywhere. On the other hand, it was a lot more crowded than normal, and we weren't even going to see the games. The night we got there, I wasn't feeling great, so we just took it easy and called it a night. The next morning, which was the only full day we had in London, we decided to another free (tips only) walking tour like we did in Amsterdam. We had some time to kill before it started so we went and walked around Hyde Park, where they had huge screens set up where you could watch the games for free. There were games for kids, music and food vendors and all kinds of stuff. It looked like it could be fun, kind of a fair atmosphere but no rides. We walked around for a while before it was time to meet our tour. One thing that's been nice about the UK is seeing grass again. I swear, except for being on the train and going through the countryside, I haven't seen grass since I left the states. There is plenty of grass here though.

Our tour started at the Wellington Arch which was built to compete with Paris's Triumphal Arch, but it's actually really small in comparison. We walked for almost 3 hours. We saw things like Green Park, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Cathedral, etc. I have to say, when we got to Buckingham Palace, and our guide said what it was, I honestly thought she was joking. I thought it was a Parliament building or something. It was really anticlimactic, and the palace is nothing special on the outside. On the inside, I'm sure it's spectacular, but we didn't go inside. There were lots of things we didn't get to see, like London bridge and the tower of London. London is so spread out, there's no way we could have seen all that in a walking tour. That night we met my mom's first cousin, Laura, for dinner. She's from Suri, about an hour outside of London, and mom hadn't seen her since she was a child, and I'd never met her. We really enjoyed talking to her and sharing stories and getting to know her better.

Today we left London for Edinburgh, Scotland. It is really beautiful here. It's pretty chilly too. We ate Scottish food tonight. Mom had some kind of pie with brie, and I had chicken, but it had this stuff called haggis on it, which I don't think I'm a fan of. Overall not bad. There's a festival going on all month and tomorrow we're going to check out some of the sites and then see what the festival is all about.

Best things about today: Seeing Scotland for the first time
Worst things about today: Feeling homesick

Pictures from London: