Cornwall Part 3

The day before our last day in Cornwall Bronte, Chris, Kim and I went to the Eden Project (the others fancied a cider farm and walking).

The Eden Project is a large botanical garden with outside plants and then two biomes, one which creates a rainforest environment and one which creates a Mediterranean environment.

The tickets were about £30 which is pricey but you can visit as many times as you like for a year and walking around you could tell it must cost a lot for the upkeep. Everything was geared towards conservation and sustainability.

We had a nice morning ambling about the plants and reading the plaques. The Mediterranean Biome was a pleasant temperature and they hold weddings in there.

 The Rainforest Biome was boiling hot.

It had a waterfall and huge water feature which made it humid as hell, it had it’s own cold room you could rest in part way round. I think in the summer when there are a lot of visitors it must be horrible to queue in that heat.

Roul roul partridges live in the Rainforest Biome as well as lizards.

Once we were done and had had coffee and cake (vital part of all trips out) we took a ride back up to gift shop up a ridge in a tractor and we could see all of the gardens from above, it was built in an old mine.

After that we met Mum, her boyfriend Kerry, Charles and Ellen back at Crantock and took a trip down to the beach.

I made a highly artistic sand sculpture as I’m not much of a sunbather.

Then we looked round the caves and rock pools the others had found a few days before.

One of the caves had carvings in them, they had been head height but over time the sand had eroded away which made them look a lot higher up.

Charles and Chris headed up a sadly unsuccessful crabbing expedition which mainly involved them throwing bits of bacon in the water and poking rocks with a hot pink fishing net.

And then we walked back up the beach which took ages because it was a very large beach. We were lucky with the weather whilst we visited but the sea was freezing.

The next day we left Cornwall and drove back to Wiltshire.

We stopped off in Devon.

For a good old cream tea (for any American readers a cream tea is a pot of tea that comes with scones, clotted cream and jam – not tea with cream in it).

Once back in Devizes, Bronte showed Kim and I the miracle that is Derek’s Deals. Derek is the manager of a Spar shop who seems to have a lot of time on his hands and has become a cult figure in Devizes. Every week he releases a new youtube video every week detailing his savings often with a current affair theme. The video the week we went had Kim Jong Un in it.

Then we visited the white horse carved into the hill near my Mum’s house and petted the cows.

Mum drove Kim and I to Heathrow the next day, Harrods and a lot of the other shops were cashing in on the latest royal wedding. We picked up Kim’s Auntie Debbie a themed tea towel.

Our flight back was a day time flight this time and it was lovely, we had a nice lunch.

And watched some movies, although I was distracted half the flight wondering what the hell this man’s belt was supposed to be made of and why he thought that gold, silver and orange was a winning combination.

Then we had a little snackette before landing.

I had to have my photo taken a billion times re-entering the USA and made a game of it by pulling stupid faces until a security guard told me to stop smiling. Spoilsport. And that was our trip to England.

Cornwall Part 2

Our second day in Cornwall we went to St Michaels Mount which is a tidal island with a castle.

When the tide is out you can walk to it from the mainland across a cobbled pathway, when the tide is back in you have to sail there or get a bit wet.

It was very pretty to look round, the style of the old fashioned buildings had been preserved, there was a free tour and a couple places to buy snacks and ice creams.

A few people still live on the island that work on the island for the National Trust as well as Lord and Lady St Levan who live in the castle.

A movie was filmed here a long time ago and they painted a mural on the side of a cottage of St Michaels Mount, they were going to paint over it once filming was done but everyone liked it so they decided to keep it.

We paid for a ticket to see the castle, you had to climb a steep cobbled hill to get up to see it.

But the view was worth it.

There was a church at the top and quite a few stately looking rooms with the usual castley type things like weapons etc. There was a picture of the Queen up there showing her visit a few years before.

I was wondering how the hell the Queen and Prince Philip made it up the steep hill but I asked a staff member and they said they were driven most of the way in a golf buggy and then the back entrance to the castle has a lift – cheaters.

So that was nice, we stopped for an ice cream and got fish and chips on the way home.

The next day Bronte, Chris, Kim and I went to St Ives (the others had a beach day) for an explore. We found an arcade and were wowed by Chris’ shooting skills… I wouldn’t want to be a pest on his farm!

We introduced Bronte and Chris to pacman smash air hockey where 20 little pucks come out at random intervals confusing the hell out of everyone.

Bronte won some key rings which she broke 5 minutes later and Kim and Chris showed off their dance skills on dance dance revolution (Chris wasn’t as good at dancing as he was shooting).

We walked around St Ives harbour and browsed the shops.

Then had a coffee served by an over enthusiastic waiter who was so friendly I thought he was going to sit down with us and drink our coffee for us.

That evening Kim and I met up with my lovely friend Amy who is working as a doctor in Truro.

We hadn’t seen each other in years so we got to catch up over pizza, we shared a dessert pizza too which I hadn’t had before (thin crust is the best).

What I Got Up To In Tenerife

I’m not gonna lie, I was lazy by the pool most days in Tenerife but here’s what I did get up to…

Our first day away from the hotel we went to Siam Park, the worlds best water park. There were some pretty cool rides but my favourite part was the cool beach with imported sand and 4ft wave machine.

We picked a good day to go too because it was boiling, the floor burned my feet!

The day after that the boyfriend’s mum wanted to go to a musical night… you guys, musicals aren’t really my thing… at all. In fact I don’t really like them. But saying that the show wasn’t too bad, the performers worked really hard. It was ok, however unlike an older couple who were chatting to us I don’t think that I would go 3 times.

The next night for dinner we went to… jousting! If you’re a regular reader you might remember I saw some jousting just recently (25 years with no jousting then twice in one year?!).

So it was kind of similar to the Medieval Times in Canada until it got uncomfortable. They had a black dwarf who worked there only they had made him dress as a jester, so this made me feel a little uncomfortable. I felt much more uncomfortable when they sent him on stage in a grass skirt, greased up to juggle fire… so yeeeah.

They also had dancing afterwards which they didn’t have in Canada.

The last day we went to Loro Parque which is a zoo.

They had a load of animal shows including Orcas.

And dolphins, parrots and sea lions.

They had a penguinarium with a moving floor revolving around the outside which was really cool.

There were a ton of other animals and about a million parrots!

They even had a breeding program and baby centre. These parrots were only a couple weeks old.

Cute!

Off To Tenerife

I was off again after just getting back from the USA. The boyfriend and I went to Tenerife with his mum and her partner.

We stayed in a two bedroom apartment which was pretty big and had a wrap around balcony which was nice to relax on.

And the apartment was in a hotel complex on the more arid and volcanic side of the island.

The beach was really rocky but the pool was lovely and warm so we stayed at the complex a lot of time. There weren’t loads of shops in a walkable distance but the hotel complex had a little supermarket so I could buy my obligatory inflatable rubber ring for the pool.

Every time I go on a hot holiday I buy an inflatable something and then my good deed at the end of the holiday is to give it away to other people to use.

I think normally the entertainment at hotels in foreign countries is usually a little… dodgy? Cringy? But I didn’t think it was so bad, most of the acts had been booked in from outside the hotel.

Also I trounced the old people twice in contests and won a bottle of wine and a cocktail. Hurrah!

Boston – Day Two

Day two was a bit manic, we got the subway (no rats sadly) to downtown Boston.

Then we went to take a historical freedom trail tour through parts of the freedom trail for an hour and a half.

It was really good, the guide was dressed up in period costume (he must have been so hot in the sun!) and was very funny.

As the only English person on the tour I was the enemy of course but it was all in good fun.

Then we took a really quick trip to Salem, we’d planned to spend the afternoon there and left our luggage at the train station but the left luggage place closed at 5 (lame) so we only got to spend an hour and a half looking round.

And buying tat… And watching witches get dragged through the street.

The graveyard was interesting and sad, there were lots of children and young people that had died.

Then it was time for ice cream (this was a small).

And a walk back to the train station where we had to wait for five long hours

😦

The Melting Pot

I thought this post deserved to be separate, this is where we ate in boston – The Melting Pot. It’s a fondue restaurant and each table has a hot plate on it per two people.

And the waiter brings ingredients to your table and makes the fondue in front of you.

And you get things to dip like veggies and bread.

Next they brought us like this stock and you had things like prawn and chicken and potatoes and you added them in then took them out to eat a few minutes later.

Here’s some of the stuff we had to cook.

Lastly the chocolate fondue… I was so full but I powered through just for this.

Milk chocolate and peanut butter fondue… Then I had to be rolled down the street back to our hotel. Yum.

Boston – Day One

So we took a greyhound coach to Boston (Bwoarston!), which was surprisingly comfy and had free wifi (score).

You guys, the USA has prettier motorways than we do, they’re so scenic. And so far during my stay I’ve seen loads of deer and 3 groundhogs. FYI groundhogs look so cute.

Then we checked in our hotel, and got out to see the city.

We went and got lunch at Cheers, one of the replica Cheers bars which was busy but very nice.

Nom nom nom.

Then we looked round Quincy Market and I got a Christmas decoration shaped like a lobster and some Boston Red Sox red socks.

There were loads of street performers there, apparently you have to audition before you’re allowed to perform.

After we mooched round, my dear friend Kim and I went for a Duck Boat tour which was surprisingly really good.

It went round the city and then into the water and round the harbour (haahbaa). This is the US Constitution, looks a bit piratey doesn’t it? Apparently it’s still in active naval service but like… Come on… It’s obviously not is it. Who’d send that to war?

Anyways more later about my trip to Boston.

Out And About in Connecticut

So I’ve been visiting my friend Kim who lives in Connecticut and before Boston (more on that later) we spent some time around CT. It’s pretty here, look at the university Kim went to… makes my university look like a bag of crap… concrete crap.

I’ve enjoyed doing more mundane tasks like grocery shopping, taking time to examine all the weird things I find, do you know they don’t sell squash? Just this nasty stuff you squirt in the water (don’t even bother trying it, it’s so gross). I found a bottle of Ribena in the foreign food section. For real, next to chocolate digestives that WEREN’T McVities. Disgusting.

We went bowling, where they DON’T take your shoes… is this because Americans, unlike the English don’t want to steal bowling alley shoes? Who knows.

And we won Spongebob themed temporary tattoos at the arcade.

I went to the mall one day whilst Kim was at work. You guys, the mall is full of old people that meet up, not to go shopping, but to power walk round the mall. Seriously, they didn’t go into any shops, they just were walking round the mall in twos and threes. Despite being surrounded by beautiful countryside. It’s weird.

Coming up… my trip to Boston.

New York

So after a crappy flight the day before my travelling chum Kimberly and I took the subway from the ghetto into New York, here’s a photo of a rat we saw.

We had tickets for the Top of the Rock observation deck so that was good, the view was good that day.

Then we walked over to times square and had a mooch round the shops there.

Then it was off to see Cinderella on Broadway.

The costume changes were so good, I was really impressed.

It was baking outside but the air conditioning made it frrrreeeezing. Before we drove back to Connecticut we went to Ninja, a restaurant. It was pretty dark and all the waiters were dressed as ninjas and kept jumping out at everyone, the place was full of screams every now and then.

Everyone had their own private alcove to sit in and we got some drinks, the menus were scrolls (that the waiter jumped to our table with and unfurled them in one move making us jump again!).

All the dishes with a ninja death star next to them came with a performance, we saw our neighbours get dishes that were on fire and all sorts.

As the place was pretty gimmicky I figured the food probably wouldn’t be amazing but it was actually really great (and such huge portions!).

Between our main course and dessert a magician came to our table and started doing different magic tricks (which again were very good), although he did think I was Australian (surely not guys?!).

And then we shared a dessert because the main course was so huge and it came complete with dry ice. Very cool… you know, if you’re immature like me. I thought it was expensive for a meal out but for all the performance and atmosphere you got with it I think it was very reasonable.

Gatwick – JFK

You guys… My flight sucked, firstly I was super early to the airport and had loads of time to kill, and then whilst I was charging my phone I got accosted by some random man that looked like crocodile Dundee and then preceded to tell me his life story, literally down to his family tree. I then made my excuses to leave after I’d charged enough where upon he shook my hand and said his name was Rob and that it was lucky he’d got back to England at all as he’d had pneumonia for the last three weeks… Several liberal dousings of hand gel later I decided to wait at the gate.

I boarded the plane which was fully booked, not only did I have a screaming child in front of me… Check… His mother who hand her seat continually tilted back so I could see the tv (until I accidentally in purpose kicked bumped and pulled on her chair and this was rectified), check… Not only that but two randoms sat next to me who then went on to what I could only describe as a plane one sided romance.

I had the window seat, in the aisle seat was an American in her mid twenties flying back home and inbetween us we had Mr sanctimonious twat. A posh wannabe hipster who bored Miss America to death with his overbearing musical taste of what’s “decent these days”. Oh what a bell end. As I gathered from over hearing his pathetic attempts to woo poor Miss America he was going to study for a year in “Philly” only he knows that’s such a “preppy school” and “um yar, that’s totally not what I’m about, harhar”… Ok… Douchebag.

Then I watched the book thief which was actually very good… And then the meals. You guys I’m one of those people that love aeroplane food, I love the little tray with compartments and everything fits in it’s little area… Not this time. It sucked so much, firstly the crappy air hostesses stood next to Miss America, Mr sanctimonious twat and my row of seats and discussed at length if they had enough meals for us. Then we had no choice and all got chicken with rice which was worse than hospital food… I know because I work at hospital. If they NHS can afford decent food then why can’t an airline I’m paying bloody loads to? Although Mr sanctimonious twat obviously enjoyed it as he are both his meal and Miss America’s as both her and I declared it inedible.

When we landed it was 7.35pm.

When we got off the plane finally it was 8.30pm..

And after immigration it was 9.45, worst flight ever!!!!