everyday life

edinburgh

I arrived at Glasgow Central station on the afternoon on September 17. I settled in @ my hotel and headed out. Glasgow is my favorite in the world, but this post will be about Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

the scottish thistle

 I took the train early Saturday morning - and it was a smart move. Usually it takes 50 minutes between Glasgow - Edinburgh, this morning it took 1 1/2 hour due to some rail troubles. But I was still in time to meet up with Katherine at Waverly station at 11. It was great to meet her in real life. We have know each other online now for about 3-4 years through our blogs, Flickr and Facebook. Our first stop was the yarn store K1 Yarns, and its a lovely store. So if you ever are in Edinburgh, this is place to visit! We pulled  up our knittings, ordered some tea and cakes and talked and knit.

 

k1 yarns  89 West Bow, Edinburgh EH1 2JP

I also touched yarn and flipped through some great magazines and in the end bought a lovely hank of purple linen/cotton mix, 700 meters, enough for a shawl.

We ate lunch at Elephant House where JK Rowling penned the first Harry Potter novel in the back room, with view over the Edinburgh Castle. It was a lovely lunch and it was really a joy to meet Katherine, and I pretty sure we will meet again. It was really lovely, Katherine!

After we said goodbye I strolled around the Royal Mile, went in and out in the stores and ended up outside the Edinburgh Castle. I didn't buy a ticket to get inside this time, I saw it last time I was in town.

the edinburgh castle

 Walked down the Royle Mile and ended up at the National Galleryof Scotland, and here I spent a couple of hours looking at Scottish art and had some coffee before I took the train back to Glasgow.

 

york, part four

I also found a yarn shop in York, but I didn't buy a single skein.. Sheepish is situated @ the Shambles, the narrow medieval streets of York. The store has the regular brand you can find in UK, nothing special, cute store though.. I was a bit disappointed not to found something special here, but you can't have it all..

sheepish

Here are some random photos from York. Next post will be about Edinburgh.

the longest name on the shortest street in york

minerva @ the corner high petergate and minster gates

 the york white rose

 

 

york, part three

There are lots to see in York. Not just the Minster or the city walls. You have a couple of museums as well. The most known is perhaps the Jorvik Viking Centre, I visited the Vikings, but I was a bit disappointed... It was a bit .. to much... Or since I'm Swedish, I have seen  it all before?  But the excavation site was interesting.

york castle museum

A museum I did like was York Castle museum - if you want to get to know York, this is the place. The museum's displays include recreated period rooms such as a Victorian parlour and a Jacobean dining room. There is also a recreation of a Victorian street and an Edwardian street. Since the museum buildings is the former City jail, you can also see  Dick Turpin's cell.

Next to York Castle museum, you have the Clifford's tower. From 1068, a part of the castle William the Conqueror built. I never went in, but I love the building.

the clifford's tower

In the York Museum Gardens you have this beautiful ruin of St Mary's Abbey, Benedictine abbey. The original abbey on the site was founded in 1055 and dedicated to Saint Olave.  It was refounded by William II in 1088 who laid the foundation stone of the Norman church, although this church no longer remains. Following a dispute and riot in 1132, a party of reform-minded monks left to establish the Cistercian monastery of Fountains Abbey. The surviving ruins date back to the rebuilding programme begun in 1271 and finished by 1294.

st mary's abbey - i had my lunch here one day

St Mary's was once the largest and richest Benedictine establishment in the north of England and the abbey was one of the largest landholders in Yorkshire. However, in 1539, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, it was closed and subsequently substantially destroyed. All that remains today are the north and west walls, plus a few other remnants: the Pilgrims' Hospitium, the West Gate and the 14th-century timber-framed Abbot's House - now called the Kings Manor.

 king's  manor (now a part of york university)

  
In the Museum Gardens you also have the Yorkshire Museum, next to St Mary's Abbey - home to some of Britain's finest archaeological treasures and the history of England until 1550 can be traced through its galleries. I never went in, because of the beautiful weather.

york, part two

York has, since Roman times, been defended with walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. The walls are punctuated by four main gatehouses, or 'bars' - Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar and Micklegate Bar.

monk bar - this four-story gatehouse is the tallest and most elaborate of the four, and was built in the early 14th century.

You can walk on the city wall and I walked the way all around. It's a great walk and you get the chance to peak in to great gardens along the wall. And it's a popular walk, I met a lots of people during my walk.

york, part one

Monday, September 14 I said  goodbye to the Reay family and took a train from Kings Cross to York. A two hours train ride from London. I had booked a room on Bar Convent B & B and Bar Convent is actually the oldest living convent in England. The B & B is situated 5 minutes från the York railway station and just outside the city wall, near Micklegate Bar.

micklegate bar - The name of this four-storey-high gatehouse is from the Old Norse mykla gata' or 'great street', and leads onto Micklegate. It was the traditional ceremonial gate for monarchs entering the city, who, in a tradition dating to Richard II in 1389, touch the state sword when entering the gate.

I arrived at lunch time, settled in my room and headed out to explore York. This was my first visit to this lovely small town. The (short) history of this town is: It was founded by the Romans in 71 AD. And after the Romans, the Angles (Anglo-Saxon) came, and then we had the Vikings. And after the Vikings we had the Normans.

roman york - the multangular tower
 

The look of the town in very medieval, with the York Minster in the middle and the Minster dominates the town.

the york minster

York Minster is a Gothic Cathedral, they started to build it 1220, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The cathedral was declared complete and consecrated in 1472.

One of my favorite thing to do when travel is to visit churches, and big medival cathedrals is the best. And visit York minster was a highlight on this trip. I walked around for 1 1/2 hour to look on the detail, listen to the guide and just sit on a chair to enjoy the calmness.

london

When I arrived in London, on my birthday, it was a hot summer day! Excellent! Met up with Claire @ Liverpool Street station before heading "home" to Hackney! It was lovely to meet Claire and Ian again and this time it was also my first meeting with their lovely son -then 8 months- Lewis! He is a ray of sunshine and we became friends at once!

lewis and cat

There are some many thing to do when you are in London like walking the streets (and I do love that), shopping, visit museums and so on! I did do all of that! I spent 5 hours on British Museum
and I could probably have spent the whole week in that museum.. There are so much to see, so after 5 hours my head was spinning.

british museum - inner yard

parthenon - greece

I did some shopping, I found me a  Crumpler bag - so I retired the one I had with me and started to use this one instead!

Walked the street, attended the Thames Festival on the south side of the Thames. Ate good food, bought a neckless, from Beadoir to myself. Basically had a good time!!

on the needles

Even though my knitting mojo is lost somewhere, I have been trying to knit on my projects. I started a pair of pink socks in July, as a birthday gift too a friend. I still haven't finished the first sock...

And this is another birthday present in making:

And yesterday I started another birthday gift:

But after yesterday, I think some of my mojo returned! I worked on this colourful piece all evening, while watching some awesome football! 

 I basically need to stop casting on new projects and start finish those alreday on the needles. All the above is going with me to UK. And hopefully I have 3 finished items with me home! I hope so any way. I have plenty of time to knit on the train London-York, York-Glasgow and Glasgow-Edinburgh-Glasgow.

mariefred

It's still very rainy here, but you can't sit and mope about it, so yesterday I took a train out of the city to visit the town of Mariefred in Södermanland. Mariefred is a small town with a gigantic tourist spot - the castle of Gripsholm. I met up with my pal Jen at the train station and our first stop was the yarn store Hamiltion design, owned by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton. And mrs Hamilton was in the store yesterday and as soon she saw me she gave 2 thumbs up for my green Birch shawl! Yay!

malabrigo paris night &  black

I bought 2 lovely hanks of Malabrigo, worsted, in two darker colours blue and black! I need these two colours as a base when knitting more hats!

After the yarn shopping we had lunch and a lot of catching up to do. It's always nice to meet Jen, but it's been awhile since our last meeting. We had a great afternoon walking around Mariefred and the castle, looking in shops, had coffee and talking.

gripsholm castle

When it started to rain - again - we made our way home to Jen in Gnesta, driving through the lovely country side, with small curches, farm houses with cows, horses, sheeps. At Jen's home I played with the boys (2 and 5 years old) while Jen and her hubby made dinner (bbq).  It was a great day and the clock was almost 11 pm before I got home.

visby

I had a marvelous mini break in Visby. On Wednesday afternoon I had a lunch and job meeting with my colleagues in Visby, but the rest of my stay was just times to relax. I stayed at a colleague's apartment (he was in Stockholm) just outside the medieval city wall.  After the meeting I left my suitcase at the apartment, walked down to the town center with my camera and snapped some pictures.

saint katarina's ruins in visby 

I met up with my colleague's (and friends) Sandra & Daniel for a dinner and a couple of beers at Black Sheep Arms (the only true British pub in Visby) - and later Michael joined us. Fish & Chips was on the menu and of course I had to order it. It was a great evening, and we had time to catch up the latest gossip from work and otherwise!

Black Sheep Arms @ St Hansgatan

Woke up early on Thursday - despite the late night before, and just before 10 I left the apartment to seach for a cup of coffee. Thursday was a holiday, so it could be diffecult to find a café open, but I had no problems, the tourist season has just begun in Visby so more and more cafés are open. After my coffee I walked around - on pretty much empty streets - and enjoyed the sun and a ice cream from Visby glass

the Visby cathedral, St Maria

If you like ruins, Visby is the place to be. Visby has ten medieval ruins (St Nicolai, St Gertrud, Helige And, St Drotten, St Klemens, St Olof, St Lars, St Per, St Hans and St Katarina), of churches inside of the city wall. Visby is arguably the best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia and has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Among the most notable historical remains are the 3.4 km long stone wall called Ringmuren (the Ring Wall - the city wall), that encircles the city and the old church ruins.

st hans and st per is now a café, and looks so beautiful this time of the year

I did some shopping, not much but some. I choose not to buy yarn (GASP!) even though I touched yarn in diffrent stores. I bought some tea at Kränku's (as I always do when in town). And I bought some sweets to give away in a swap. And on Friday I needed to buy an umbrella. It was pouring down but it cleared up til noon.

Just before my depature I meet up with Sandra, Daniel & Michael to have a coffee and a Saffron pancake - a Gotlandish speciality. Oven made pancake with saffron and rice pudding, served with whiped cream and salmbärs jam.

 saffron pancake

mini break

roses at specksgränd, originally uploaded by catsfalk.

I'm leaving the city for a couple of days. I will be back on Saturday! I'm going to Visby for a meeting today, but the rest of my trip will be just time to relax.

Now I need to finish my packing!