A Semifoodie Adventure to the United Kingdom!

So on September 5, I wrote a post thinking that it was going to become a regular occurance again and I'd finally be back to blogging regularly.  Well, it's October 5 and I haven't posted since.  Whomp whomp.

But anyway, I finally remembered to change over my calendar in my office this morning, and the October page is a gorgeous picture of a tea house in Llanrwst, North Wales.  This reminded me that I hadn't shared any photos from our trip in July yet!  Here goes!  This promises to be a loooong post, so I'll try to keep the commentary short!

 Tea, skyr and some sort of granola bar-ish thing during our early morning Iceland layover!

 Sherbrooke Castle Hotel, Glasgow

NES's first British breakfast.  Being a fan of neither eggs nor beans, he ate a lot of toast.

Oh, you know, sitting behind a rest stop coffee shop.  Because clearly all rest stops have this kind of view.

Biscoff-filled Krispy Kreme!!

 White Court Hotel, Llandudno, North Wales

Lewis Carroll summered in Llandudno, so there are lots of Alice in Wonderland statues

Conwy Castle!

Anytime ginger beer wants to become a thing in the US, I'm ready for it.

The world's largest, heaviest hamburger.  And chips.

A "small bite" fish stick sandwich.  Ummmmmm . . .

The smallest house in Great Britain!

Our very distressed juvenile seagull in Conwy castle.  We learned so much about seagull patterns in Wales . . . SO.MANY.SEAGULLS.

I'm pretty sure this was right around the time when NES decided he was done with the British food thing.  We got pizza for dinner.  It was super tasty.

Ice cream!!!

The Llandudno Pier.

BS and MS!  Our primary reason for visiting Wales.

 The view of Llandudno from the Great Orme.

 There are goats on the Great Orme, and it turns out they are related to the goats we visited last year in Quebec City!  Except rather than being paraded around a fort every day, these goats hang out on the giant rock.

 I think this is the first British meal that NES was actually impressed with.  Steak and ale pie, chips and peas!

We discovered that "lemonade" generally means something closer to Sprite than actual lemonade in the UK.  However, this stuff was pretty good, and I've actually found it in Target since we got back!

Llanrwst tea house!!

 This is the outside of the tea house.  It's a cottage from the 1500s.  The river floods during the spring, flooding the building.  In the fall, the leaves turn a beautiful red color.  (Insert all the heart eyes here.)

We actually found our way to Llanrwst and back on public transport!

 Sunset on the pier.

Chester, England.  Chester is a walled city with history going back to Roman times, including a Roman market.

 

Honeycomb ice cream with a flake bar.  The flake bars were standard for UK ice cream shops, but just ok.  They were kind odd.  But the honeycomb ice cream = all the heart eyes again.

Chatsworth House, Peaks District

If you're a Pride and Prejudice fan, this should probably look familiar.  (More heart eyes!!!)

 

Hedge maze master!

 

I must have had 3 cups of tea each morning with breakfast.  I totally went through withdrawl when I got home.

Breakfast at Whetland Lodge in Windemere.  I tried the "vegetarian black pudding," and it still wasn't my cup of tea.

 An awesome coffee shop in Windemere.  We didn't find many cute little coffee shops (just tea houses!).

Rhubarb soda!  I've also found this since we've been home!

Nathaniel's iced coffee!

Dunkin Donuts in the UK!

4 Morningside Place, Edinburgh

 The view out the door into the gardens.

Local sodas in Edinburgh.

Meltmongers!!! (More heart eyes!!!!!!) The best grilled cheese I've EVER had.

 Edinburgh Castle.  So amazing.

 Runrig is apparently a really big deal in Scotland.  They were on tour in Edinburgh.  This was the line to get into the concert.

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh

 

 So why is this on the wall in Scotland?  Like the home of Scotch?

 Dinner at Edinburgh's oldest pub!

 

 Ice cream at what we were told was the best ice cream place in Edinburgh!

Did I mention heart eyes??!

We didn't eat here, but I have to say we did wonder exactly what type of food they really had.

 

Tea at Clarinda's tearoom at the suggestion of RS and MS.

The Scottish Parliament Building

Holyrood House Palace.  It was pretty spectacular!

We ditched the British food for some Asian fusion during our last day!

The Scottish National Museum.  We were dead tired and wet by this point, but I'm really glad we decided to stop in!

Ashtree House Hotel, Paisley, Scotland

 NES was soooo glad to give up the driving on tiny roads on the wrong side!

Flatbreads at the airport.

My ever so brief moment in Iceland on the way home!  We had to walk from our plane to a bus to get to the airport itself.  So I say I've been to Iceland now, too!