Return to Edinburgh

I had such a lovely time in Edinburgh that I wanted to go back as soon as possible and as Tim was going on a 'big holiday' with his friends we decided we'd go to Edinburgh for a little holiday for a few days at the start of September. We went for 3 days and like Frankie and I did we stayed in a Travelodge (different one) near the city centre. 

We had such a lovely time and did lots of stuff to fill our days and visited lots of different places, it was really nice to get away together for a few days and see some new things. We walked a lot, did a bit of shopping, climbed the real Arthur's seat, visited the museum and the museum of childhood, went to the cinema, had food at the Hard Rock Cafe, and visited the Camera Obscura and the tartan weaving mill and lots more and oh my gosh I had such a good time. I also got to see the Paralympic rings up on the mound, to go with seeing the Olympic ones in June, I'm happy I got to see both, feel pretty lucky. 

I love Edinburgh so so much and I fall more and more in love with it everytime I go. I didn't get many blog-worthy photos but here are a few:

Summer things

Over summer (after Edinburgh and Barcelona) I did the usual stuff really, going to Leeds and seeing friends, shopping, relaxing at home after the year at uni and stuff like that. However, in between the usual I did do some pretty cool stuff with Rae, and then Connor too once he arrived, as well as going to Telford for the weekend for Sacha's birthday.

First up me and Rae went to the MCMExpo in Manchester, basically one of the UKs Comic Cons. We went by coach and although we both felt poorly for some reason we still had a great day. It was so cool seeing all the artists and illustrators, as well as people dressed up in Cosplay and all the cool stuff you could buy. I'd definitely like to go to one again, hopefully the one in London which is supposed to be huge.
 

Myself and my Girl&Boy comic

I also watched my first american football game at Rae's with her and Connor. We had snacks and things but we also had our first attempt at making skittles vodka. Not really sure how I felt about it, it wasn't anything massively special sadly :( But look at the cool hates we wore whilst we watched, both Connor's :)

We also went to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and we stroked a wallaby :D There were so many lovely animals there and we all had a really good day. I especially loved the lemurs and the owls. Definitely want to go again this summer and take Tim.

For Sacha's 19th she had a fancy dress party at her house and I finally got my Stitch onesie I'd been pining over for months, I finally had an excuse now and argh I was so excited. Sacha dressed as Fantastic Mr Fox and it was just such a nice day and aah I had such a lovely time at her house, meeting all her family and being so welcomed into their home and aah such a good time, all in the confort of a onesie. 

It turns out I didn't have as many photos of things I did over summer as I thought, oops. Note for this summer: more pictures for blogging. 

Barca-barcelona

At the beginning of July Frankie and I began our next adventure: BARCELONA! For 3 days, with just a rucksack each. It was incredible. We saw a lot of things, ate nice food, walked everywhere possible for as long as possible and it was just amazing. We kept busy every minute of the day which definitely made it better. We stayed in a hotel right on Las Ramblas (basically one of the main streets which is very busy and has a lot going on) and only 5 minutes walk from the nearest metro station.

We saw alot of general things just by walking around for hours, but the main 'attractions' we saw/visited were Park Guell, La Sagrada de Familia, the Arc de Triomf, we rented a rowing boat and also found lots of small places that weren't 'famous' but we really enjoyed seeing. Basically, we had a few days of exploring and taking in a hell of a lot of culture and it was awesome! It was relaxing even though we were so super busy all the time. 

As always, a selection of photos to follow :)

Above are some photos from an incredible market that we visited everyday. The smells and textures, along with all the bright colours and the hustle and bustle made it a really nice place to visit. We boughtfruit and fruit drinks from there every morning. I wish there was something like that here but it'd never be the same.

Park Guell was an amazing day out, we walked round it several times and saw so much stuff. It was also an amazing day weather-wise and we got a good bit of sun. There's so much beautiful artwork and architecture in Barcelona, a lot of which can be found in the park, and it was just beautiful. It took us around an hour to get to the park as we had to use the metro and then climb up a few large hills, some of which also had escalators built into then (something quite common in Barcelona but I still found it pretty strange). All in all a really fun day exploring. I also bought a pretty evil eye bracelet there too :)

This was a park we found near the Arc de Triomf. I loved the elephant statue, a lot of people were climbing up and sitting on his trunk but I couldn't quite manage it :( I also rowed my first boat ever!

Sagrada de Familia was incredible to look at, we didn't go in as you have to pay and we are poor students but seriously the outside was enough. It was absolutely beautiful, I never really look at architecture enough but you can't help but get lost in this, I could have stood there for hours. We also found this car up in the air. 

All the photos that were just everywhere. Fruit! and Frankie!

I'd definitely go back to Barcelona again, I think going for a few days really pushes you to keep busy and do a lot in a short space of time, rather than dawdle about and waste time. Barcelona isn't really a beach kind of holiday, well it wasn't for us anyway. We like keeping busy. But yeah it was incredible and I loved it and now I want to travel more and more!

Hasta la vista for now Barca!