Edinburgh - December 2008

Edinburgh is a lovely town.

The capital of Scotland no less.

Of course, Glasgow and the rest of Scotland is great also....indeed, the home of my ancestral background.

So it was that I trundled up to Edinburgh to check my ancestral history with Scotland People, the national registry.

Was rather interesting too as I traced back to my Great, Great Grandfather who was born in Scotland in 1847. I also traced my Grandparents and various Great Uncles.....and still so much more to discover....will take time. At the very least, the building featured a magnificent dome.

Another discovery in Edinburgh was the Museum of Scotland, which is brilliant. A great expose of the history of Scotland and its brilliant people. I wandered through this museum for a few hours and took some shots of the Castle and Arthur's Seat from the roof terrace.

As is the case in December, there were the Christmas Markets to enjoy also but overall, a great place to wander around and discover.

London - December 2008

London is a great city and it's always good to get back down there for a wander around.

It was fairly cold to be honest, (as you can see Kenny at Chester Le Street Station before we left)but the sun actually managed to stick it's head out and that really made Westminster stand out with the rays hitting the stone and the blue sky in the background.

I had actually travelled down there for a job assessment for ITV and then Samantha joined me the following day.

London has loads to see, museums and parks aplenty and as it was December, some new Christmas markets...plus, the general walking around that is really cool in London anyway.

We checked out Wellington Arch, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, the unfortunately named but beautiful St James Park (thankfully nothing to do with NUFC) and the National Gallery which has some amazing paintings.

We hadn't been to the Borough Markets, despite having wanted to for some time....it's featured on cooking shows from time to time as the quality chefs visit there regularly it seems....anyway, we ventured on down there and it is really interesting.

Loads of great food to be bought, from fresh vegetables to a whole range of cheeses and who can resist a decent cheese?

Anyway, the Borough Market will definitely get another visit when we next travel to London.

Sometimes Samantha worries about us carrying Kenny around and getting him out of the bag for a photo....well, worry no more. Check out this family with their HUGE lion! Amazing.