Tuesday 10/25: Clotted Cream and other travels

This morning we slept in until 11:30am (which, technically, isn’t that bad since we didn’t go to sleep until 4:30am!) and had the leftover plums and some flapjack for breakfast. Flapjack is pretty much a moist oatmeal granola bar—not that amazing, but it probably would have been better if we’d had jam or syrup on top.

I packed up my bag (including a block of cheddar that I had purchased at the store) and we walked down to the tube station. Man, was I sore!! I was hobbling along and my quads hurt with every step. Apparently going running doesn’t really train you for doing lunges, etc. Ow.

We took the tube downtown and found Central Station, where my train would leave later in the day. I picked up my ticket and found a place where I could leave my bag for £3, which was great since we wanted to wander around downtown.

Near the station, I noticed a bookstore and we went in to look around. I immediately searched out my favorite British author (whose books aren’t sold in the US) and noticed there was a new book! I ended up buying it as well as a copy of The Princess Bride (I really want my host mom to read it!).

Photo: Tea and a scone with clotted cream and jam

We continued walking and ended up at the Willow Tea Room, where I had gone for tea the last time I was in Glasgow (June 2009, with Maria!).

Crystal had a sandwich and I had a salad (it was okay, but not really worth the price)—then we had scones with clotted cream and jam! YUM! Clotted cream is definitely one of the most magnificent creations on earth. Truly. We used the entire dish of clotted cream (making sure every bite of scone was smothered in it) and Crystal managed to finish off all of the white sugar cubes in the bowl. At least we got our money’s worth!

Photo: Crystal nabs the last white sugar cube...

We wandered around for another hour, just looking around in different shops downtown. At 4:15pm we headed back to pick up my bag and wait for my train at the station. I hope Crystal will make it over to France at some point in the next few months so we can meet up again! :)

Photo: Having fun in Glasgow...

My train ride was lovely—the sun was setting and we were riding past gorgeous views of fields and hills and streams. I wish I could have more time to just hike around all the hills and just look and look and look! So beautiful!

Photos: The sunset

When I arrived in Manchester around 8:30pm, Aurore was there to pick me up! She was a French exchange student who stayed with my family in 2006 and we’ve kept in touch ever since! It was great to see her again and to meet her boyfriend, James. They have a flat just on the edge of Manchester and James is a student at the university there, while Aurore does her work online for her university in France. We enjoyed some delicious Indian food for dinner and talked for a while, but headed to bed around 10:30pm. They had a magnificent air mattress (the biggest I’ve ever seen!) that filled up their living room and was probably 3 1/2 ft tall! Deluxe!