Kiki's UK Adventure

Although we are already in 2012 now, I am slowly catching up with the events of the rest of 2011. I am chipping away at it slowly! Hopefully you will still enjoy these recaps :)

In October, Kiki came to visit me in London and we spent the time in London as locals and then traveled to Dublin and Edinborough to become tourists.

On Kiki's first day here, we got down to business and went straight to the ICE bar. It's a bar completely made of ice, including glasses made of ice. We didn't last long in the cold though, just enough time to take some memorable photos!



After Ice Bar, we went to a London beer festival...with high hopes that it would give a taste of the best brews in London. It ended up being a bit of a floozy...just a few beer stands in a windowless room. Some how we stayed there for hours and ended up trying half of the room. We ended the night with a classy london experience of chicken wings! Kiki was such a trooper, looking back I am not sure how she survived such a hardcore day in London with jet lag!

During Kiki's first weekend here we also had a traditional Sunday roast and walked around the markets in London, including the Columbia road flower market. The flower market was closing unfortunately when we got there, but I have heard wonderful things about it!



We then jet-setted to Dublin. We tried to see as much as we could before darkness and before impending rain. We saw most of the big landmarks in Dublin, including St Patricks Cathedral in our few hours before dinner.

For dinner, we went outside of the city to see the Merry Ploughboys perform and have a traditional Irish dinner. It was definitely the highlight of the trip! The Merry Ploughboys played traditional Irish music and were comical as well. It was the perfect environment!

After the band performance, there were also traditional Irish dancers on the stage...think Riverdance!

We actually had quite a traumatic experience getting to and from the Merry Ploughboys pub. During that evening, about a month's worth of rain hit Dublin, flooding most of the streets. We actually drove through some roads that had debris falling down it. I was pretty freaked out! On our way back from the Merry Ploughboys the car actually ended up dying because the taxi driver drove it through a street that had water that ended up getting into the engine.

The next morning though the weather was stunning, with blue skies, which was pretty gorgeous considering we were in Dublin at the end of October!

We also toured the Guiness Brewery where there was a bar at the top that had a 360 view of the city. Perfect for a day like this! (even if both of us sipped cokes instead of Guinness)

We also took some more time to take a better look at Dublin's beautiful churches.

Next we ventured to Edinburgh, a beautiful old city. I really liked the feel of this town.

We were also blessed again with fabulous blue skies. I think Kiki brought the Texas weather with her.

We took a 14 hour bus tour of the Scottish Highlands with a quirky tour guide, fully playing the part- kilt and all.

Lake Lochness

The Scottish highlands were beautiful, but there wasn't too much to do other than enjoy the scenery lol.

The castle in Edinburgh.

Palace at Holyrood, where the royal family still spends part of the summer.

Ancient church on the grounds of the palace.

Halloween

Kiki was also here to experience Halloween in London. My expat friends had decided to do a "flat crawl" with a different drink and appetizer in each flat. Everyone lived close together, and we went to about 8 or 9 flats!

Everyone was in costume of course. After the flat crawl, there was a Halloween party nearby, which was ironically being hosted by the London Texas Exes chapter.

We were mainly observers of the Halloween festivities :)

But Michael did take part, showing up in his Mr. Blobby costume. It was a hit that people still speak about to this day. What a boyfriend!

Sadly Kiki's trip came to an end. I hope she and more Texas visitors come back :)