I’m not much of a liquor drinker.  I’ll have a margarita on a somewhat regular basis, but generally I order beer or wine.  As we settled down to 99 Hanover, a restaurant/bar in Edinburgh, a cocktail sounded so refreshing. I asked our waitress to recommend one and she produced an absolute delight.

I had the *best cocktail of my life.

I tend to keep track of extraordinary moments in food/drink in my life, and so far I’ve been able to say that I’ve had a *best breakfast (divine plate of eggs benedict and fruit in a Santa Monica cafe/ 2004) and a *best lunch (warm goat cheese salad with bread in Luxembourg City 2001), but a best cocktail had yet to occur.

It was vodka, fresh raspberries (muddled and for garnish), simple syrup and ginger ale served in a tall glass with a straw and side of rapture.

Emily drinking the creation below:

The cute restaurant:

Fun factor: 10

*subject may be trumped by a better contender at any given moment in time

We ate lots of fried objects on our trip.  Emily justified this with the fact that we walked all day long everywhere- we only took one cab on the entire trip.  Perhaps it would be justifiable to me if I too weighed EIGHTY POUNDS.  I’m nice and roundish and weigh, well, more than eighty pounds. 

Among other local delicacies:

I ate fish cakes.

Yes, it’s what you’re thinking- similar to crab cakes but with fish.  Delicious.  We had these in the adorable fishing village of Oban. 

Fun factor: 7

While in Dublin, Emily and I took a stroll through the famous St. Stephen’s Green- a huge park located in the middle of the city.  It was really peaceful and beautiful and we had had an exhausting day of eating, shopping and eating, so we picked a spot near the water and sawed some logs.  Imagine my surprise when I awoke to this:

The photo wasn’t taken using the camera’s zoom function.  So,

I took a nap next to a swan.

Fun factor: 7

The first thing Emily and I planned on this trip was a concert.  So, yes, we bought the concert ticket before we had our plane tickets.  The odd part was I did this for a group of which I wasn’t even a fan.  Yes, I’m fiscally responsible.  Why are you looking at me that way?  So:

I went to a Radiohead concert.

I took some footage of the scene and hesitated in posting it, because it makes the place look really lame.  It looks tame because we are old ladies and stood about 100 yards away from the stage since the sound was good enough to do so.   The dude who takes a pause out from his jaunt to boogie makes watching the clip enjoyable.  And if you think the stage looks like a scary haunted house, you’re not alone.

Anyways, we went to see them in Glasgow and it was great.  It was raining a bit and we were exhausted from taking an 8 hour day tour, but it was lots of fun.  I even developed into a bit of a fan if I do say so.  

You thought I was joking with this title, right? Come on now.

Fun factor: 10

While in London,

I went to Wimbledon.

Emily and I packed a picnic lunch, took the 120 degree train to the Southfield stop, and planned to relax in a park to watch some tennis on the community big screen.  We stopped to ask a traffic guide for directions, and next thing you know we were heading to the queue to go inside the grounds.  For $20 we were able to see any court aside from the big dogs- 1, 2 and centre.  It didn’t matter- it was still an unbelievable scene. We plopped down on one of the benches and watched a few matches.  When the second one ended, we discovered that we were watching the juniors.  Think that’s funny?  Well guess who can say that she’s seen that one Australian dude play tennis back in ‘08 when he’s strung out on uppers in five years?  Me.  

Fun factor: 10+

While in Glasgow, we took a day trip that involved seeing lots of the countryside and western highlands and some fishing villages.  One of the stops, the village of Luss, was an adorable quaint cutie-pie of a town, built around Loch Lomand.  Side note: did you know that Scotland has over 30,000 lochs (loch= lake in case you were unaware)?  That’s a shitload, huh?  Back to the entry at hand.  In Luss, there was a very old tiny church and in its backyard lived lots of history, and:

I visited a Viking graveyard.

It was quite beautiful, but we were reminded of the terror that the Vikings brought to the Scots so many years ago by our tour guide, Billy.  Emily and I developed a bit of an obsession crush on Bill, and at one point he asked if there were any Norwegians aboard the tour.  The shy couple to my right raised their hands with excitement.  He looked at them and said perhaps we ought to pull over the bus at the next village so they could apologize to its residents.

Fun factor: 10

During our first stay in London, the Euro Cup was still going on, so we decided to grab some grub and then head to a pub for the Spain vs. Italy game. We had passed Little Italy on our walk, and every bar was overflowing with humans, so we were a bit nervous about finding a place. We came upon an unassuming little place in Soho. We ended up getting the last seat in the top level, where they were showing the game on a big screen. It was a super fun scene and by the end Emily almost passed out because of how crowded it was. I was hoping she’d wait until the game was over to faint, but was fairly prepared to leave if she gave the signal. So,

I watched a football match with the locals.

You know how when you see the European soccer (football) games on TV, you can almost feel the crowd because they’re so loud and into it? Well, that’s no joke.

A short video on the mayhem that followed the win. Keep in mind, Spain won, and the bar was mostly filled with Italian fans. I hadn’t felt that alive since eighth grade when I went to the Janet Jackson concert at Blossom with Kim Horton and her dad.

Fun factor: 10+

Jo came over tonight for dinner with Nick and I.  We ate pizzas and salad.  Post meal we were feeling particularly crazy, so:

I cooked a s’more on the stove top.

We enjoyed them on our balcony and they were as delicious as their more rustic counterparts that are traditionally made over a campfire. It was definitely a suitable method to use if you’re craving such a treat.

Me in action:

Then a nice flattering picture of a true lady:

Fun factor: 10

I promise you we didn’t ONLY do things strictly manufactured for tourists on the trip, but this entry won’t do much to convince you.

I took a double decker bus tour.

We hopped on after completing our tour of the Guinness Factory; I in my Nike Air Max sneakers and fanny pack, and Emily holding a foam Guinness mug and wearing a ‘kiss me I’m Irish’ sweatshirt. The tour itself was uneventful.  We could hop on and off at any of the various stopping points.  The real magic happened when we were yet again ripped off by a townie.  The driver, conveniently named Patty, charged us ten more Euro than the actual price, and when confronted by Emily he insisted that we wouldn’t do that to us.  Tell that to my five year old nephew is now out a leprechaun figurine, Patty.

Fun factor: 5

On about day 10 of the vaca I realized I didn’t pack enough unmentionables.  So, 

I washed my undies in the sink.

With the amount of time I generally wait between trekking to the laundry mat, I’m surprised I’ve never done this before.  For some reason I actually packed a miniature bottle of laundry detergent, so I went for it right there in a Glasgow sink.  

Fun factor: 7