Let us love and sing and wonder: Our amazing UK adventure!

Okay so I have a bunch to do and don't have time to be too detailed but do ask me about our wonderful trip when I get home. I'll put the skeleton of events here so I won't forget.

April 12th: Stephen arrives in Sweden!! Little tour of Uppsala.

April 13th: Wake up sooo early. Taxi to Arlanda Airport. Fly to Heathrow. Our plane is a bit late and we miss our bus to Bath. Eat lunch at Cafe Nero (as Stephen said, kill enough Christians and they'll name a coffee chain after you). Take the next bus to Bath and enjoy the LOVELY scenery of the English countryside. It's so green! Check in at the Bay Tree House B&B, see the Roman Baths, eat some satisfying BK, and enjoy a relaxing evening.

April 14th: Eat the first of our delicious full English breakfasts! Take an overly-expensive trainride to London and head to our second B&B, another Bay Tree House B&B with no relation to the first. Chat with our gracious hosts for a while. Go on one of those touristy-but-practical bus tours of the city. See the Tower of London (which isn't just a tower, was I the only one who expected just a tower?). Have a nice dinner at Max's. Walk around a little and find a beautifully lit up King's College complex with fountains- how romantic :)

April 15th: Chat it up with folks at breakfast, some Danes and a nice Australian guy. See London by foot. Saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Loved Westminster Abbey and saw Big Ben and Parliament. Walked 2 hours across London (mostly through Green and Hyde Parks) to get some real English afternoon tea- the distance looked much smaller on the map! Stephen had some excellent tea sandwiches and Queen's cake and I tried clotted cream and jam on scones. We walked by lots of Londoners sipping coffee in Starbucks (out of real mugs). This was such a busy day, I think I'm forgetting some of the stuff we did, but we saw a lot. Then a major highlight: we saw Les Miserables. It was sooo good!

April 16th: Quick breakfast and then to King's Cross Station to catch our train to Edinburgh (with a comfortable for me but not for Stephen margin of about 10 minutes). Long train ride in which we talk a little with the English couple across the table from us. Eat some very tasty and authentic Italian food in Edinburgh... delicious roast duck and the best fresh mozzarella I've ever had! We walk around and almost climb a fence to take a shortcut, but I've been too well socialized not to climb fences! We climb a lot of hills to see Edinburgh Castle and some great views. Eventually we went to Hertz downtown to pick up our rental card, the fiesty little Ford Fiesta. Getting into the passenger side on the left of the car was certainly an experience, driving it off the lot into a steady stream of downtown traffic was terrifying. Of course I left all the driving to Stephen who is far more capable and managed to stay calm despite the craziness. We made a wrong turn somewhere but managed to end up at Micky D's where Stephen enjoyed his dinner emmensly. We hit the open road as the sun was starting to set. Needless to say, Scotland is beautiful. Despite one wrong turn that cost us about 45 min (my fault) we made it up to Inverness and our last B&B, the Blue Bell House.

April 17th: Our first full Scottish breakfast, complete with potatoe scones and black pudding (got to love that coagulated pig's blood- but we didn't find that out til Friday post-breakfast). Drive around the Inverness area, see Loch Ness (home of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster), and see Urquart Castle. Stephen buys some sweet euro-clothes. We manage to find a late dinner (which was harder than you'd think) and try some Scottish ale.

April 18th: Chat with an Australian couple at breakfast and then head west. See some STUNNING scenery and eventually arrive at Elien Donan Castle on the western side of the Highlands (Inverness is on the east coast). Drink some cappucinos and visit the castle. Make our way to the cute and isolated coastal village of Plockton. Eat at Grumpy's (fish and chips and scottish meat pie). Enjoy the scenery all the way home. Eat Thai food and groove to some cool Scottish music at Hootenanny's. Stephen decides scotch whiskey is really only tasty on the first sip. The band encorporates bag pipes and a fiddle into rock music, good stuff.

April 19th: After another delicious breakfast (I especially love the tomatos and beans), we head towards Glasgow. Pass through Perth and stop for lunch in Stirling. So many SHEEP! Drive through Glasgow but don't stop because traffic is backed up for miles. Hang for a bit in Prestwick before our flight back to Sweden. Fly to the Ryan Air airport, Skavsta, then bus to Stockholm center and taxi to Stallmastaregarden Hotel (a really romantic place actually), arriving past 1 am.

April 20th: [Not technically part of our UK adventure] Great Scandinavian breakfast and leisurely walk to Stockholm's train station. Upon arrival in Uppsala we got some ice cream (short lived though) and sat with a whole lot of other students along the river reading in the sun. Even played ultimate frisbee with my corridormates. Stayed up talking and reminising about our lovely time together.

April 21st: Really sad day! Took Stephen to the airport and said goodbye around 1:00 pm. That afternoon was probably the most sad I've been here. I ended up sitting on a bench on my way home reading for a few hours and then spent the rest of the night reading in bed. Seriously, I don't know what I would do if I couldn't read.

So that was our action-packed 9 days together. Spent a lot more $$ than I expected, but it was definitely worth it. Now I'm looking forward to the summer and more time with my favorite accountant. The days are flying by but, babe, I'm missing you so much! Can't wait to hang out with lise too :)

See facebook for a bunch of pics. If you're really curious, I have a whole lot more that didn't make the cut and would be happy to show you. Here are a few: