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Sunday, March 01, 2009

Happy Birthday, Mom! and Vegan Voyager: Glasgow, Scotland

First of all, today is my Mother's birthday!!!! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!! Yay for birthdays!

So, it's over. Or, well, almost over. Today is the very last day of my two week break, and I am so so so so SO sad about it. I am absolutely NOT at all looking forward to waking up at 6:48 tomorrow morning and then having to go control group of 30 7 year olds followed by 30 8 year olds followed by group of 30 9 year olds followed by group of 30 10 year olds.
But then, I find that I am NEVER looking forward to it after vacation, and it is never quite as bad as I am expecting it to be.
Still, I don't want to go back.

Anyhow, Guillaume and I had a GREAT Valentine's Day! I made a delicious vegan quiche with a pear chocolate brownie cake that I cut into little hearts. I know I know, I am SO cheesy. We set up the little table in our apartment and ate at it for pretty much the first time since we've moved in. Well, the first time without guests. Afterwards, we had strawberries in dark chocolate fondue. It was heavenly.





For Valentine's Day, Guillaume got me tickets to go see the Wizard of Oz the musical, and while they changed all the songs we all know and love to be weird French songs, it was still FANTASTIC, and I still loved it! I think that Guillaume enjoyed himself as well, I hope.

After Valentine's Day, I headed off to Scotland on Wednesday, where I stayed about 5 days with my friend Keelan. We had a FANTASTIC time! There are some amazing vegan restaurants there: Mono, Stereo, the Tchai-Ovna Tea House, and the 78 are the ones that I went to, but I gather that there are also quite a few more.
There is also a health food store called Roots and Fruits that had lots of vegan options, including these delicious vegan patties (that they call pasties) that can be eaten either hot or cold. Delish!

NOTE: Click on any of the Scotland pictures to be linked to my album of Scotland pictures.

Aside from just exploring the delicious vegan restaurants, though, we went shopping in downtown Glasgow, which is very cool. We took a day long bus tour to see some of the Lochs and most of Scotland. It really is beautiful there.


Audrey and Keelan somewhere in Scotland

It seems like it must be so easy to just get away from everything, which is the complete opposite of France, where the further you get away from something, the closer you are to something else. If that makes sense. We also got to take a little boat tour of Loch Ness to see some castle. In a way, it seemed kind of pointless, as we had just as clearly seen the castle from the view point, but it was cool nonetheless.


Loch Ness and the Loch Ness Monster


One day, I went to the University of Glasgow campus and saw the cloisters, and I went to this really cool museum that had a whole section that was dedicated to the awesomeness of Kelvin.



University of Glasgow

We also went used book shopping, and let's just say that it was probably a good thing that I was only allowed 10 kg on the plane on the way back. Otherwise, I am sure that I would have spent WAY too much money on books. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a VERY easy thing for me to do.

Speaking of reading, that's pretty much all I have been doing since my return from Glasgow, aside from pilates lessons and Japanese classes, and I have read some really great books! I'm about to go immediately write another blog entry in which I rate all of them like I did before. Although there will be a LOT less this time!

So, that was my fantastic break, and now I have to go back to work tomorrow. :-( ::sadness:: Maybe now that things are getting back to normal, though, I will start updating more often. Let's hope so!

4 things said:

mom said...

Audrey, Scotland is beautiful! Thank you for sharing your pics. Where did you first meet Keelan?

mom said...

Also, very interesting info about Lord Kelvin. Did you study him somewhere along the way?

mom said...

I love how you highlight different places you've been. We need to open a Mono here.
And your brownie hearts were adorable...and I'm sure very tasty.

Anonymous said...

how did i miss this post? who knows...anyway, i love your dress on you!