Great Scot!

My next summer destination was Edinburgh, Scotland. Mom and I arrived just in time to watch Scot Andy Murray win Wimbledon. It would have been cool if we had known a good place to go to watch the match with some locals, but one thing we learned this summer is that not too many UK pubs have TVs to watch sports. But we did buy the local paper the next day to see how the locals were celebrating the win!

I rented an apartment right by Edinburgh Castle on the Royal Mile, so we were really conveniently located to much of the city's highlights. We went to the castle on our first morning and shopped the tourist traps along the mile. It's a shame that my immediate family lives in a really warm climate- I had to leave all the cashmere scarves behind!

Edinburgh Castle

Royal Mile

One of the last things we did on that first day was a whisky tasting. It was a little hokey, but they told us about the four different regions that make Scottish whisky and based on the notes you expect to find in that region's whisky, were able to choose which to sample. Unfortunately, I could barely drink the stuff! Does your affinity for it grow over time? However, the last room of the tour was filled with bottle upon bottle of whisky. It was really cool!

the whisky tasting- each region was color coded and we had a scratch and sniff card

some of the bottles on display

Mom actually finished her sample of whisky.

The next day we toured the H.M.S. Britannia, a ship used by Queen Elizabeth II and her family for more than 40 years. I'm relatively fascinated with British Royal history, so this was pretty cool. I especially liked being able to see rooms that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had designed for themselves left intact from their days on the ship.

the Queen's ship

We wandered the newer part of Edinburgh and a park loaded with locals soaking up the sun (gasp!)

love this pic!

One highlight of Edinburgh was a restaurant called Oink. It served some pretty amazing pulled pork sandwiches with stuffing (or haggis)- we went with the stuffing- and applesauce. Really good. If they had sold t-shirts I would've brought two home for Sheila and Janet- just look how fun their logo is!

You should get lunch from here!

And what trip to Scotland would be complete without a bagpipe player in a kilt.

Yes! So cool! 

Bath and Small Town England

After five nights in London, we headed to Bath, England. You don't realize how busy London is until you leave. The quiet of Bath was quite refreshing. I loved being able to cross the street without too much worry about the cars that are coming.

We spent our afternoon checking out the Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths. We didn't take advantage of the actual baths that you can soak in because time was limited and the prices are relatively ridiculous!

Bath Abbey

Roman Baths

The Roman Baths that you can tour were okay, but pretty boring overall. I was glad that the next day we had planned a full day tour with MadMax Tours to take us out to Stonehenge and several other places.

Our tour left fairly early to get to Stonehenge before the major crowds and other tours arrived. Thank goodness for that! Stonehenge was not the highlight of my day and I can't imagine fighting large crowds to stare at some rocks.

Stonehenge

After Stonehenge we headed to a lesser known rock circle in Avebury. Along the way we were able to see an example of the white horses that have been carved out in the hills around the area. I guess the grass and other foliage was cut back to expose the chalk underneath.

see the white horse on the hill?

The rock circle in Avebury was a little more interesting and I was happy to see that there were a lot less people here. It's a smaller area and the larger buses aren't able to travel the smaller roads into the town.

part of the Avebury rock circle

in Avebury

Avebury

We also traveled to Lacock for lunch and had enough time to walk around the four street village. This small town has been used frequently for scenes in Harry Potter movies. Then we headed to Castle Combe, which is a village that is only one street. It was quite quaint, but I can't imagine living there!

Lacock

Lacock

Castle Combe

Castle Combe

Castle Combe

One of the World's Greatest Cities

London is one of the world's greatest cities. Having been several times now, I find myself looking forward to visiting one of the world's most global places each time I have a trip planned.

After our day at Wimbledon, Mom and I spent 4 more days sightseeing around the city. We hit all the major sites, easily getting to the Tube from our apartment between Vauxhall and Lambeth North. I use Airbnb to find apartments when traveling. I've had pretty good luck with most of the apartments I've rented in the past couple years and would recommend it to those of you looking to get out of the hotel scene.

the view from our apartment included Big Ben

While in the UK most of the summer, I tried to sample as many different ciders as possible. This proved to be one of my favorites.

perfect way to cap off a day in London

Despite the somewhat gray and cloudy skies you see in this picture, we had some of the best weather the UK has seen in years. Sunshine and warm weather, which meant we had totally packed inappropriately!

Mom with Parliament and Big Ben in the background

Mom thought M&M World was pretty impressive- at least the M&M selection!

hmmm...I wonder whose gift she's holding!

The Harry Potter fan in me insisted on finding the fake Hogwarts train platform!

I did, however, refuse to wait in line to have a picture of myself taken at said platform.

In an effort to avoid Italian food in Milan, Indian has become a favorite. There's no better city in the world to eat Indian food (at least, outside of India!).

This was Mom's 1st Indian meal..."It was better than I expected, " says Mom.

And, we made sure to catch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. This, by the way, is SUPER BORING! But, I guess you should be able to say it's something you've seen if you have traveled to London.

I had heard about the Borough Market online and we made sure to check out this local favorite.

this grilled cheese came recommended!

One of our last stops was Kensington Palace Gardens. We didn't make it inside the portion of the palace that's open, but the small gardens were really pretty and the local park was full of people enjoying the unusually sunny London weather!

pretty!

Next up...Bath and a tour of Stonehenge and small town England.

A Day at Wimbledon

Within 24 hours of returning from my Amalfi Coast adventure with Kate, I left again to meet Mom in the UK. It was a quick turn around of laundry (if that's even possible in Italy) and a luggage repack to head to the airport.

On our first full day in London, Mom and I dragged ourselves from bed around 4:30, walked to a nearby train station, and made our way to Wimbledon. We met a couple of fun Scottish ladies right at the train station and shared a taxi with them to the infamous queue. By 5:30 AM we were in the line, with queue cards to show for it!

The first 1500 were able to get Centre Court, Court 1 and Court 2...the rest wait for Grounds Passes.

The entire system was unbelievably organized and the idea that we could get in line for a major sporting event and buy tickets for only 20 pounds is incredible. We were able to get on Wimbledon grounds before they were officially open for the day and waited for the stewards to let us run towards the other Main Draw courts. We made a dash for Court 12, which was slated to have a Men's match on first. We were able to get seats straightaway (I feel like my summer in the UK has helped me develop a more British vocabulary!) and were then told that the instant you left your seat, it would become available to someone else. So, no bathroom breaks allowed. Then Men's match was Jerzy Janowicz v. Jurgen Melzer and went the distance, ending several hours later after 5 sets of great tennis.

At our Court 12 seats- Centre Court in the background

Here are some other pics from our day at Wimbledon!

the queue...

Janowicz- after his win! He made it all the way to the semis this year.

Waiting for the stewards to let us on the grounds!

We also spent a little bit of time up on Henman Hill watching the Murray match. There wasn't a spot to be had on the main part of the hill, but we found a little corner off to the side and made space for ourselves. 

from the top of the hill

Amalfi Coast and Capri

Last year Kate and I loved Capri so much we knew we wanted to go back again this year. I really wanted to check out the Amalfi Coast as well, so after Naples we left and headed to Amalfi via ferry from Salerno. (Most websites advocated taking the SITA bus from Sorrento to get to Amalfi, but the hotel owner we spoke to suggested the ferry from Salerno instead. This proved to be a fairly easy option and only cost us about 18 Euro each.)

Salerno's harbor

Amalfi and the other coastal towns proved to be quite beautiful, but bustling with tourists. I suppose we should have expected this but we were hoping for something a little different.

arriving in Amalfi

After spending a day on the beach, I found a little shade overlooking
the Duomo in Amalfi with a glass of wine (or two!)

The next day we went to Positano, another nearby town on the Amalfi Coast by ferry. We were there for about 5 minutes when I wondered if we were going to find anything to do, but we soon discovered a large selections of shops to peruse and I continued to stock up on ceramics made by locals. 

Positano

Positano, from the hill we climbed up...it really was quite spectacular

After returning from Positano, we took a local bus up to Ravello. Ravello is part of the Amalfi Coast area, but isn't along the sea. Instead it is one of the towns higher up in the line of cliffs. We had heard that it was quite beautiful and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. In my opinion, the best thing was the view we had over a glass of wine. 

a glass of wine in Ravello

Overall I think I was fairly underwhelmed by the Amalfi Coast. Having been to Cinque Terre before and spent several days in Capri, I was just not as impressed as I expected to be. Happily, Kate and I headed to Capri for two nights from Amalfi.

We stayed at the same hotel this year as we did previously, Hotel Weber Ambassador. It's close to the beach, has a great pool with amazing views, and provides a regular shuttle into town. The same cute driver was back again this year and that was definitely not disappointing. 

We even made a return visit to our sandal maker, Francesco, and bought some more of his wonderful custom made designs. 

Kate getting her sandals fitted

I bought a new pair of white sandals to sport this summer and as a present to Kate (for her going away gift and for her upcoming beach wedding) I offered to buy her a pair as well. 

new shoes! 

In Capri, went spent our time by the pool, reading and relaxing. It was a nice way for Kate and I to wrap up our two years at ASM together. We made our way back to Milan a couple days later and then it was time to say goodbye! 

Getting my book club book read early!

Not sure what this new school year will bring, but I'm sure to miss my traveling buddy and neighbor!