We're leaving on a jet plane...

On our first Bank Holiday in the UK, Cigdem, Michelle and I decided to spend the long weekend Monday in Bath.

This historic city has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and presents some of the finest architectural sights in Europe, most notably the famous Roman Baths.

• Bath is about 2 hrs west of where we were and I must say, it was a pretty surprisingly interesting town. It has a very strong Roman influence and it's biggest attraction are the Roman Baths which were situated on top of a natural hot spring, thought to bring healing/magical powers. Natural hot water still flows through here but the baths themselves are no longer used and the water is sort of greenish in colour but yes, hot.
• At the end of the Roman baths, we were able to sample some of the actual water, which is thought to be good for your digestive/overall health. YUCK! Tasted like hot water that had a million pennies in it..
• We also took a sightseeing open-top bus tour that took about 45 minutes and wandered throughout the city. We also passed by the place where Jane Austen lived (woohoo! :P) and got a quick glimpse of the famous Royal Crescent, a crescent shaped street, with 30 houses, and amazing architecture. Drove through the University of Bath (they also have a separate university in town, Bath University!) which is known for medical engineering and sports/athletics. A lot of Olympians have schooled/trained here and also the English Rugby club prepares here for international matches.
• "Pulteney Bridge, together with the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, is one of the world's most beautiful bridges. Like the Ponte Vecchio it is one of a handful of historic bridges in the world with shops built into it."
• Ate at Sally Lunn's restaurant, which is in the oldest building in Bath. It's famous for Sally Lunn's buns (originally Soleil and Lune for the dark top and light bottom colour of the bun itself).
• The city of Bath has all these different pig sculptures all over the city - just like Toronto has it's mooses! They're all commissioned by various artists/businesses and there's a pig-hunting treasure hunt involved with them, if you have the time.
  

• Edinburgh Castle - beautiful castle overlooking the city of Edinburgh. The crown jewels are housed here, like they've been over the past few hundred years or so since they were re-discovered in an old chest. The history is actually quite fascinating with Mary, Queen of Scots, William Wallace and all but I'll leave that up to you to research. We saw the crown jewels after spending 20 minutes or so in a queue and they are well...royal. It was also cool to see the old prisons for POWs and for soldiers behaving badly.
• Ghost Tour - We went on a ghost tour of Scotland on Saturday night (apparently they are very popular here) and it was ok. The guide was a nutter and I had to go pee the whole time, but held it for close to 2 hrs..
• Mary King's Close - Sunday we spent in the underground of Scotland checking out the historic Mary King's Close. A close is basically a very narrow street with tiny rooms on both sides that were pretty much dwellings. While we went underground, we actually say the real Mary King's Close which is now housed underground, imagine a thin narrow street with a strong incline, cobblestone pathways, pretty cool stuff.
• We also saw the most haunted place in Scotland (also in Mary King's close) and was also featured on the TV show 'Most Haunted' (sorry no pics allowed!!)
• The most famous ghost here was that of 10-year old Annie, who died of the plague back in the day but visitors still report feeling a tug when they are in her bedroom, where her parents left her to die.
• Talisker Whisky - one of Scotland's famous 6 whiskies and I won this drink against Richard when we bet on the men's rowing 8's Olympic final (Canada vs Great Britain) Goooooooooooold!! Oh, and im bringing back a bottle of this stuff when I come back to Canada..heheh get ready boys..
  

• St Andrews golf course - Saturday morning, after 3 hours of sleep, Richard and I jumped into our rental car and made the 1.25 hr journey to the home of golf, St Andrews. It didn't matter we had 3 hours (though we were both super bleary-eyed) but we were going to play in the golf mecca, well the Eden course since the Old course is infamously booked up to a year in advance! The Eden course was opened for play in 1914, a par 70, ~6200 links style course with some parts running alongside the old course and other parts against the backdrop of the sea. IT WAS SO SICK to play real, true links golf in St Andrews although fortunately for us, we had pretty good weather, no rain and just a bit of the winds on the back 9.
• Shot a 98..well I broke 100 at least...and only lost 2 balls.
• Visited the old course, the 18th hole, and saw the infamous small bridge that players cross over on the 18th. I definitely have to plan a boys trip back to Scotland for a week of links-style golf!
  

• Fringe Festival 2008 - one of Edinburgh's biggest festivals that runs throughout the month of August complete with buskers, street performers, comedy acts, musical/theatre acts, etc. Royal Mile street was packed with people and performers and there was always something different going on every 20 metres or so! Will definitely try and go back again! I could spend the whole day just walking up and down the street catching all the various street performers and stopping for a pint or whisky among all the street-side bars/restaurants/cafes..
• Our apartment, Festival Apartments, had a fantastic location, just steps from the Royal Mile. Unfortunately it was an older apartment with a sub-par bathroom (mildew on the shower curtains) and water-stained ceilings so we pretty much only used it to sleep and store our stuff during the day.
• Tattoo military festival - very popular worldwide-known military festival with military bands from all over the world doing various performances against the backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. Tickets are sold out well in advance, usually you need to buy tickets one year in advance to get in! So on Saturday night, we ended up waiting about 1.5 hours at the bottom of the hill leading up towards the castle to catch a glimpse of the bands. To be honest, all we saw were groups of people lining up and we had no idea what they were waiting for but after a long time and fireworks going off, we finally were treated to some bagpipe playing and all the bands marching (well, running) down the hill towards their buses. I think I'll wait to see the actual Tattoo on the BBC later this month.
• Tried haggis for the first time! Its good!! Sort of tastes like mince beef, but yeah I had it for breakfast the second time!
• What? It rains in Scotland? Only rained for a short while on the Sunday afternoon we were going home, we really got lucky with good weather all weekend!

• Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the town of Zürich. It is formed by the river Linth. (thats my Wikipedia entry lol)
• On Sunday, we met up with Eckhard and Laura for a boat trip to Lake Zurich. Eckhard had a beautiful 15-16 ft boat with cherry wood panelling and room for 5 people..perfect! Water was about 18-20 degrees so it was nice to jump in..
• Tried waterskiing for the first time! Damn it's tough. It was so hard just positioning in the water with the two skis on and it was a bit wavy but once I settled in and 'assumed the position', i would give a thumbs up that i was ready. But i wasn't haha! I fell face first, backwards, spread eagle, sideways, all over the place and took in a lot of lake water but fortunately it was fresh water and no burning sensations here.
• Out of 8-9 tries, i finally made it up once for a total of 4-5 seconds before getting excited and crashing out again. It was a funny (and fun) time but this week my body is soooooooooo sore..forearms, back, etc..
• We also had drinks and chocolate on board and the rest of em jumped in and swam around the lake, of course Michelle and I had our lifejackets on lol! After 3-4 hours in the sun, it was time to get back to shore and catch our flight home...boo. No sunscreen = burnt for me haha!