On Thursday, I creaked out of bed at 3AM, put on a semblance of a face, and zoomed to the airport to catch the 6:30 flight to Manchester.
It was my first time in Manchester, I hadnt’s seen the UK in ages, and that night, my friend Paul Koudounaris had his first European photography exhibit – in a church, no less! If you’re unfamiliar with Paul’s work, have a stroll around his wiki page and adjoined linkage. You might also recognize his name from one of my Places galleries.
The hotel was placed square in the middle of Gay Village, which was…
…delightful.
The view from our window:
The reception took place at Sacred Trinity Church and included such extravagances as this, a skull-shaped cake encrusted with edible jewels:
And wine, of course. There was plenty of it, too, but despite appearances, I only had the glass you see below in order to avoid risk of exhaustion, operating on four hours of sleep and all.
This was taken around 7PM. By 8, the room was so packed, there was hardly room to lift my camera.
Paul, Sam and I lamenting the destruction of the skull-cakes. Fortunately, only the pillows were eaten – the skulls turned out to be made of solid chocolate and were preserved.
These little chocolate skulls had “Koudounaris” scrawled across their foreheads.
Manchester friends, are you aware of Fab Cafe? It has robots, a life-size Dalek, table PacMan and so much more! We dropped in for a nightcap after the exhibit, and this nerdy wonderland was shamefully, inexplicably empty. Go give them some business, please! I’d be there weekly if I lived near.
The next morning, after little sleep, we took a train to Scotland, for a quick look around Edinburgh. I’d heard this place was pretty, but it was, in fact, shockingly gorgeous. Steeples and castles and historic buildings and cobblestones as far as the eye can see.
First, we visited Greyfriars Cemetery – the resting place of Bobby, the most loyal dog in history! He’s so famous, you’ve probably heard of him; the devoted little terrier who visited his departed master’s grave daily for fourteen years.
Greyfriars is among the most beautiful old cemeteries I’ve seen.
Cherry blossoms on parade.
“Arise ye dead. Death, where is thy sting. Grave, where is thy victory.” And so forth.
Naturally, there’s a pub near the cemetery named after the faithful pooch.
And a fountain, erected in 1873.
An interesting display at the war museum inside Edinburgh Castle, where we said hello to Bob (no relation to Bobby)– the dog who rose to fame by chasing cannonballs in the Crimean War, and who belonged to all of the Fusilier Guards.
Passed this dapper gent en route to food.
Made friends with a little owl before heading to the Manchester airport and back to Dublin.
I was in bed by midnight, brimming with impressions and clutching a massive mug of hot tea. I hope to make my way back to both Manchester and Edinburgh for more extensive exploration soon.
Also, I need a kilt.
How does one get the opportunity to hang with owls, in Edinburgh?
Sam, walk up the stone road up to the Edinburgh Castle and give the nice man with an owl money and he’ll hand over his owl and the owl is nice and grips your gloved fingers and you feel all warm inside.
The marvellous @zoetica on her visit to #EncounteringCorpses (and Greyfriars Bobby) http://t.co/2f95wukv6R
Congrats on the site relaunch, it looks awesome!
The pics of the skull desserts, omg, how does one even cut into that? Glad to know the skulls themselves survived.
Oh wow, these photos are breath taking. What gorgeous places! This entire post makes my architecture loving nerd self happy. ALSO that Cafe! I definitely need to visit the UK.
Leyla, thank you! The skulls were lifted and the pillows dissected with utmost care.
Nikki, delighted you enjoyed the photos! I’m pretty sure I drove Paul crazy with constant joyful squeals each time we turned a corner and more beautiful architecture revealed itself.
Those chocolate skulls! I think I’m in love.
And owls are magnificent birds. One of my friends recently tested an owl café in Tokyo (just like a cat céfé, but with owls), and I’ve been madly jealous of her.
From what I recall Ryanair flies to around half a dozen UK cities for next to nothing if you can book in advance. I flew from Newcastle to Dublin return for around £10/€14 several times. I’ve since moved 45 miles away from Newcastle and it costs me more to travel home on the bus than it used to to fly to Eire.
It makes daytrips incredibly doable given how short the flights are too, I’d recommend a return to Newcastle or Leeds and a train trip to York, if you like Edinburgh it should definitely be of interest.
Hello! Its been quiet sometime when I checked with your website and to discover that you have revamped it what a great suprise i do enjoy it! I would like to tell you Zoetica I do look up to you and admire your work and how you always pull off the colorful hairstyles. :) Great to see you back and working very hard. You done alot of what I sure wish I could have. Especially traveling to such enchanting places! My life has taken me down another road and I am not able to do such things. But I just wanna let you know reading your blog and looking at you photos makes me feel as if I was there. Which sort of takes away the longing that I have in my heart to explore those places, because I am unable to. So please keep with the blog and great works of art! I still look up to you! With love and wishing you safe travels! – Rebecca :)