Last summer I read the Harry Potter play (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and loved it. You can't compare it to the series because it's a play, not a novel but it was great. Right after I finished, I googled and found out tickets for the play in London were about to go on sale. Paul and I woke up at 3am, got in a virtual queue and somehow scored tickets for late June 2017.
Last week we finally got to see the play! We booked flights into London, flew to Edinburgh, drove up and through the highlands to the Isle of Skye, spent one night in Glencoe, took a train back to London, stayed in Shoreditch for a few days and then took a train to Paris for the final few days. It was a our first big trip since our honeymoon and our longest time away from the girls.
We had a really great time. I wanted to write up a quick post to share some of the highlights and to share two of the apps I loved most on the trip.
Scotland was so beautiful it didn't seem real. It was a trek to get to...planes, trains, automobiles, ferries and hikes but wow. It was spectacular. I have never seen such lush ground cover. I could go on and on about it but mostly I just was in awe.
My favorite part of our adventure was visiting the Fairy Glen (that's Paul and I on top of that rock formation) but everything was amazing. I would go back in a heartbeat. We were with our friends for the first two legs of the trip and we rented a car while in the highlands. Unless you were on a tour bus, that would be necessary.
We stayed in Portree one night (shown above) and Glencoe the second night.
In London we stayed in Shoreditch and it was a great walk-able location with tons of food options and easy underground access. We used Airbnb to book all our stays and aside from the usual complications getting keys and figuring out the tiny quirks of different spaces, that was great. We tried the Detour app while in London and took three tours (Settlers of Shoreditch, Central London: The Great Fire of 1666 and Craft Beer and Arts in Hackney Wick). I had never heard of this app but it works a lot like a podcast for locations and is a guided walking tour. You start at a certain spot and then follow the (spoken) directions around the area. They tell you about the history, graffiti and encourage you to enter different stores and try new things. They are not in a ton of areas yet but I hope they expand their offerings. The concept of it is so cool.
And mid week we saw the Harry Potter play!! It was so good. Better than I was anticipating and so much of it felt like a (great!) magic show. It was long, two full plays separated by a few hours to grab dinner (we went to Duck and Waffle and enjoyed the view) and basically took up our full day. It's coming to Broadway next spring and I'd see it again.
In Paris we stayed in Le Marais. Again, super walk-able, tons of food options and easy metro access. We walked SO MUCH in Paris and it feels like we saw every "big" sight. We did three walking tours here too (Grenelle: the Bread Wars, Republique: Terror in the City Light, Aligre Market: Gastronomy's Cutting Edge). We mostly ate beef tartare, bread and cheese in Paris but also did the tasting menu at Dersou for dinner and it was amazing.
Scotland, London and Paris via one second videos from elise blaha on Vimeo.
If you'd like to see, I used the 1 Second Everyday app to record a video of our trip. I took about 200 short videos and updated the app a few times a day with clips. It turned out so fun and it's very special to me. Video captures something photos cannot and at just over two minutes, not long enough to be boring. It's a travel video that took almost no energy to put together and even more importantly, I might actually watch again. You'll notice lot of walking, beer, scenery and selfies. That's a pretty accurate representation of what we did. :)
A couple notes on the clothes... my jacket (which I wore every time I stepped outside except for TWO very great occasions) is j.crew. I bought it used but this looks similar. My boots (which were a last minute packing decision) are super old from madewell but I imagine this fall they will sell something similarish. My flats are hobes boat shoes (obsessed, I can walk miles and miles and miles plus they are tiny and can be packed in my purse.) My scarfs are super old but I think came from Old Navy and H&M. And my dresses in the photos/videos are all Ace&Jig and purchased used on Instagram (I've become a bit of a pre-owned clothing convert). My bag is Lo&Sons and it's my absolute favorite travel item.
