Inverness.

Last 23rd of May, I made a visit to ga in the UK for a short vacation. All plans were set as she planned the itinerary for 10 days, a trip to Scotland, a guided tour from Glasgow to Inverness and to the capital Edinburgh. A week after that was a trip to city of Bath Spa, a Roman conquered city in its history.

Heathrow. 13.00. Lost Baggage. I was disappointed when I cannot find my luggage where my clothes were. Authorities said that it was aboard on the next flight from Dubai and scheduled for delivery after a few hours late in the afternoon. Unfortunately, that same afternoon was our flight from the recently opened terminal 5 to Glasgow. That disappointment though did not hinder my excitement and happiness to see her. :)

Staines. 14.00. Lunch Date. I fetched ga from her office. As always, she looked stunningly gorgeous. We had a lunch at the Portuguese restaurant that we have always been fond of and talked about the lost baggage experience and the schedule for the next 10 days.

Heathrow. 18:00. Walk. Ga and I explored the newly opened terminal 5. It is quite luxurious and from the looks of the interior, no one will never notice that it is a terminal not until you see the boarding planes outside. From high street shops to popular cafes and bistros, you surely thought that it is a mall. As we wandered around the terminal, we have spotted Godiva chocolates around the corner glittering to our own eyes. Yep we bought a couple of boxes of dark chocolates, our favourite that we savour each minuscule of it.

Terminal 5.

Glasgow Central. 22.30. ScotLAND. We have indeed landed in the 2nd most populous city of Scotland. The natural breeze was chilly but the crowd that we saw did not seem to stop them from going out to attend to their gimiks. On the other hand in the middle of somewhere, the gorgeous hotel seeker and the kargador (me :) ) had their own way of gimik, exploring the area and enjoying the picturesque city while looking for directions to hotel ga had booked. That took a while before we found the hotel. We have expected the same quality of hotel where we had our very comfortable stay in London last Christmas since it carries the same name but we were disappointed, it badly needed a total revamp on everything. Anyway, it was just for a few hours before we prepared ourselves for the guided tour the following morning. :)

Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station. 10.30. The Scottish Tour. All set for our much awaited trip to the famous Highlands of Scotland. The journey took hours but we never felt the tiredness. Every bit of Scotland awed us. The mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, marshes, waterfalls, the lush green fields, wild flowers such as thistle made us appreciate more of mother nature. Days before our trip, Scotland experienced lots of rain but since Mr. Sun was so kind to accompany us in our trip hence we had a very lovely weather. :) Lakes of Scotland are known for their beauty. The very famous Loch Ness (where the mysterious sea creature named Nessie was allegedly seen) is 42 kilometers long. Ga and I have ridden the boat cruise around it to hunt for her but none was seen (as if magpapakita at totoo hehe.)

Inverness.

Inverness. 4.30. In the Mouth of the River Ness. That is the meaning of this lovely and nice city along the river. As we arrived to the Bed and Breakfast shelter, I have told ga to look for a fine dining restaurant with a good view of the river to celebrate our monthsary right after we explore the city. I have brought with me my birthday gift to her which she have been longing to have, a hand bag. To make it more extra special, I gift wrapped it myself. :) So after a short stroll and searching of a restaurant with that kind of romantic atmosphere, we found ourselves one overlooking the river. They claimed that the restaurant have garnered prestigious awards, we cannot argue with that for the service and the food was just simply fantastic. After a sumptuous meal, I finally handed over my super delayed birthday gift to her. The funny thing was, she kept on smiling all the time. :p So she opened the gift delightedly. So delighted that she wanted to use it right there and then. As she opened the bag to put her things, she noticed a small box that I have placed inside. Puzzled, she asked me what was inside, I smiled and told her to open it. She was absolutely surprised when she saw what was inside, a diamond ring. I look at her, held her hand and popped the question that separates men from boys... and when she said 'yes', that gave me a huge relief, no, humongous relief. :)

Georgia and Harley.

We headed back to our place... walked along the river banks, savoured each minute of that very special moment of ours, visualized our future and made plans.. It does sound corny but for us, it was a blissful moment.

Yep we both love movies, dark chocolates, travelling and exploring new things together to name a few. Next year, we know we are going to discover more things and explore more places but the greatest discovery we ever had? Each other.

Three - Christmas and New Year in London 2007.

A traditional UK postcard you see is the Tower Bridge. If you have seen Tom Hank's portrayal of Robert Langdon in the movie The Da Vinci Code, you will see well almost completely the bridge when he and his leading lady partner were in the black cab passing it. Another famous landmark of UK aside from Big Ben and the bridge is the Tower of London. This castle, home to the royalties and prisoners centuries ago still stands in central London, a few steps away from the Tower Bridge. Pangga and I visited the historical place which was swarmed by tourists lining up in queues. Luckily my genius gorgeous gf purchased us London Pass cards. Yup, having this card put us in a fast track lane. The tower has a moat around it as seen below and during winters, they turn this into a skating rink for kids to enjoy.

As we stepped on the cobbled stones inside the castle, a stray fox greeted us, scared from the crowd of people going in and out from the main gate.

Fox snot :D

The castle has towers within its huge walls. The Bloody Tower (pangga's favorite) where they house the prisoners and a place of execution, White Tower where the royalties stay and the Green Tower where they torture the prisoners. Most of the prisoners executed were of royal blood, Anne Boleyn was one.

Royal pose from one of the actresses

The Tower Bridge view from the Tower of London

The attractions that I liked most was the armory. Being fond of knights, the armor they wear and weapons they wield have always fascinated me. The armory was full of the breastplates worn by each king. Also on the display were the armors worn by each champion horse of each king. I have also known that the lance used for jousting weighs 20 lbs. No wonder in movies knights have difficulty in carrying them and once it hits the other knight, it has a tremendous impact. The different types of weapon were on the wall from morning stars, scythe and swords. It is amazing how they invented these weapons. The wielder must also have the physical strength to use them.

Inside the armory

The other armory however was a restaurant. It is a typical restaurant and nothing special about it. Rather than fish and chips (British de facto meal), we had for ourselves burger and fries (American counterpart).

It was almost 6 in the evening when we were almost done except for the jewel house of the queen. We have decided to skip it since the queue to that attraction was half kilometer.

Two - Christmas and New Year in London 2007.

Our first stop was the National Gallery in Trafalgar. I never thought I would see the art paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh in my entire life. Pangga did surprise me taking me to a place full of masterpieces. Right then and there, we've seen the differences of their styles. Leanardo is not only good at paintings, his drawings exemplifies the brilliance of a genius. Some of his drawings were in the gallery displaying such awe and these drawings are at par against the other paintings in the gallery in fame. The sad thing though the famous 'Monalisa' painting is in Louvre, France. Our eagerness to view his work was turned to The 'Madonna of the Rocks', which portrays Mother Mary with angels around her in front of rocks. Picasso's style is cubism, a form of abstract. The gallery had a number of his colorful and abstract paintings. Van Gogh's style on the other hand is unique, well in my opinion. It's quite difficult to decipher his paintings of pure brush strokes of few colors. However, these paintings leave a 'mark' once you see beyond his painting the meaning it extends to the viewer. Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed in the premises of the gallery. The flash could destroy the paintings due to the sensitivity of the materials used. Below are some of our pictures outside the gallery.

The National Gallery entrance.

The towering Christmas tree behind pangga was a gift of Norway to the UK. I forgot the reason behind though of such generous act.

Trafalgar plaza in a very chilly night.

In front of the National Gallery.

One - Christmas and New Year in London 2007.

The recent Christmas and New Year seasons, I was in UK with pangga. It was the 22nd of December when I arrived at Heathrow airport 7 am in a very chilly and still dark morning. After getting through the immigration crowded with tourists comprised mostly of Europeans and Asians, I was waiting for pangga to show up. It was already 8.30 am when I sent her an SMS 'ga asan ka ? nandito ako sa 'bureau exchange'. (Bumabawi ata si pangga sa unang date namin na na-late ako ang 1 hour). So I sat down on one of the benches in the waiting area under that big exchange sign while watching people pass. It's quite entertaining seeing a lot of people walking, running from all directions with smiles on their faces. As for me, I was searching for the gorgeous face of pangga. Ayun, there she was fully covered from neck to toe and flashing that smile. Nakalimutan ko na tuloy na nag-antay ako ng 2 hours. Nawala pala siya + masyadong maaga at madilim na akala niya e 5 am pa lang. Alibi accepted. Actually alam ko ng malalate siya. :p And besides, I was the one who asked for the favor. :) So off we go to the bus station, where our adventure in UK together start. Here's our pic in the bus bound to where she is currently assigned.


Upon our arrival, we journeyed by foot to her place. I actually didn't notice that it was that far at first when I get astounded by the area especially the river. The site of the river Thames walking along its banks is a pretty cool experience. :p Below is our pic at Nando's. It was introduced to me by a friend during my first visit. Famous for it's grilled chicken and peri-peri spice of Portuguese origin. And of course, it was my treat.



After that lunch, we were so full and pangga did love the food. Aside from the chicken, she loved the fries or chips as what the Brits call it and the corn on the cob side dishes. :) The chips had peri-peri spice on them that gives a spicy taste just right to tickle the senses. I was glad that she did. As we walked out from the place, the weather became chillier. She suggested that we'll just have to stay home and rest until we get to central and buy a pair of gloves and scarf from there on the following day.