Glasgow 21 Dec 2013 - Pt 1

Left London Euston mid-day on a Virgin Train to Wigan . Euston was chaos, making it difficult to manoeuvre around with our large suitcases. Carollers pipped out Christmas tunes while Lauren and I bought lunch for the journey North. Train journey itself was interesting. Sat near a family from Liverpool, probably the first time I've heard a scouse accent in the wild. Behind our seats a group of woman shared several cases of beer and a bottle of Prosescco. Their conversations increasingly grew louder as the trip wore on. Definitely enjoyed a good eavesdropping session. They were quite posh, having attended Oxford University together. One of the women was the marketing officer for the women's english cricket team, and she was about to travel over to Australia for the women's Ashes tournament.

Finally, at some point Lauren went to pull something out of her rucksack and in the process her purse inadvertently fallen out. Of course we did not discover this until we arrived at our hotel in Wigan and Lauren went to look for her credit card. Several hours of stress culminated in a happy ending when the purse was was found by a train employee in Edinburgh and given to Amy (yes that Amy - our emotionally unstable ex-flat mate!- who now lives in Edinburgh) She has redeemed herself by going out of her way to help Lauren out, almost enough to make us forget that difficult year together. 

We arrived in Wigan around 4. A small working-class town roughly half-way between Liverpool and Manchester, it is the home of the northern franchise of Lauren's drama university. We dropped our bags off at the hotel - commence purse stress out time - and had Subway for dinner. Locals are friendly here, all questions and statements are followed by a "love". "Would you like tomatoes with that, love?". Chavs (google it) also roam the streets without abandon. London is fortunate enough to be relatively free of this scourge. 

Post Subway dinner walked to the a large former Victorian mill complex, housing among other things flats business and ALRA North. At this point Amy notifed Lauren she was in possession of the purse - conclude purse stress session. I watched the final performance of the Jungle Book- Lauren did the all the set design and costume design. This was probably one of the best ALRA shows I've been to (and trust me, I've been dragged to many). For a month, our living room was covered in fabric and fur.

We then had drinks with the cast and stage managers in the theatre bar. Everyone at the school is very friendly and unpretentious (unlike those London-based actors!), and they helped Lauren with the show. She's very excited to be returning to design a show for them in Feburary-March time. 

We then got some dominos (only place we could get decent food at midnight in Wigan), and headed back to the hotel with Katy, the stage manager, who was also staying at the same hotel. 

Now on the train going up to Glasgow, enjoying the scenery of forests and endless hills/mountains in the Borders area. The train inspector came up to check our tickets and he wanted to see Lauren's ID/Card that she payed for the tickets with/Rail-card. Due to not having her purse yet, she was unable to provide him with any of this. He seemed unsure what to do, but was finally convinced him to let us go when Lauren showed him her Facebook page where she had put up a status about her lost purse yesterday. Possibly the first time Facebook has been used as ID on the train? 

Looking forward to spending time with Lauren's friends and family and enjoying a well-earned rest. Lauren has been put on the insurance of her parents' Audi, so she's looking forward to driving about Scotland in it! 

Amsterdam November/December 2013

Left work early, which actually was unnecessary as I arrived at Heathrow in plenty of time. Actual flight was only around 45 minutes and British Airways served us drinks and snacks. Landed and took a train from Schipol Airport to Amsterdam Centraal Station. My pals I arranged to meet, Kieron and Amna (they had already been in Amsterdam for a better part of a week now) were nowhere to be seen. They finally showed up about 25 minutes later, on another planet. We immediately walked into the center of town.

 We pursued several coffee shops before settling on a delightful spot called Abraxas. Hung out downstairs for several hours, enjoyed some amazing juices and good banter. We concluded the evening with bought chips from an amazing falafel place called Maoz and walked 30 minute journey to our apartment. It was very comfortable, one bedroom/bath, though there was a second bed in a nook in the living room. We could hear many noises in from our neighbors, kids crying, vacuums, showering etc. Shared a bed with Kieron the first night and woke up to Baltic weather conditions.

Next morning we went to a Albert Heijns market for juices and snacks. This chain of markets is like the Sainsbury’s of Amsterdam. We proceeded to make our way to the "I Love Amsterdam" letters, snapped many a photo and gawked at our fellow tourists.

We made our way over to another coffee shop, Dampkring (sp?) and enjoyed a nice juice and the atmosphere. They filmed a short scene from Oceans 12 here. We continued into the center of the city, admiring the canals, friendly locals (who actually make eye contact with you) and the sheer number of bicycles. For lunch we went to Maoz and inhaled some of the best falafel I've ever had. We enjoyed watching patrons from the neighbouring chip shop get busted for sitting in Maoz chairs.

Later in the day we took Amna to Centraal train station and sent her off back to London. Kieron and I made our way to another coffee shop, Bluebird, and spent an hour or two there before heading home for the evening.

Following morning we hoofed it into town (that walk seemed to get longer and longer each time) towards the Anne Frank house. On the way we passed a small parade of Dutch people dressed in traditional clothing, but even more shocking they all decked out in black face. This is still a thing here.

The Anne Frank house was a sobering, quiet experience. You walk through the lower floors of the building she lived in then up through the space her family and several others shared while they hid from the Nazis. I was actually shocked to discover how big their living area actually was. I always assumed it was a small space, but in reality it was a two story affair complete with a bathroom and makeshift kitchen. Nothing high rent but still a better situation then what I previously understood. The tour ended in an adjacent museum building and an exhibit with Anne’s original diary. Interesting to think, had she survived the holocaust, would she have achieved this same fame? 

We went into town, hung out at a coffee shop and enjoyed another Maoz. Same staff from yesterday was they and I already feel like we were becoming regulars. We wandered around various shops and the Christmas markets. Reminiscent of Berlin’s. Every one’s English was exceptional. We went to a Casino and one a collective 50 Euros. Had an amazing banana muffin from a pastry shop at one point. Met plenty of randos along the way, everyone was very friendly.

Friday was more or less a repeat of the previous day, many hours spent in coffee shops, punctuated with a large Maoz falafel.

Saturday Kieron's friend Doug flew in. We met in at the train station and I think we brought him to a coffee shop. Had yet another Maoz. Again same employees, must've thought we were nuts.

Sunday finally rolled around, again had one last Maoz, preceded by a coffee shop visit. Was back in London by 10. 10/10 would visit again.