TRAVEL

Hello Scotland | Welcome Mother Nature

Hello, Lovely People and Welcome back to a new travel blog. Before I start with this blog; I have to say this is one of the most mesmerizing road trips I did so far with lots of amazing views of mother nature.

If you are planning to go to Scotland, please rent a car, see these places and start from the south. Edinburgh is a good place to start and where you can rent a car directly from the airport. If this trip is on your bucket list or you would like to know how it was, grab your cocktail (because it summer) and read on!

The trip started from Edinburgh airport were we rented a car to go to Inverness. I think it is a two or three hour drive, so we stopped in a few cute and breathtaking places in between.

The first stop was in Perth. We did not stay long, as this was only a lunch stop. The view near the river Tay is beautiful. Here you can already feel the history of Scotland and the beauty of nature. From Perth our next stop was Loch Ness, Foyers Waterfalls and end stop in Inverness.

Loch Ness – Foyers Waterfalls

The way to Loch Ness – Lake Ness is beautiful. We almost went completely around the lake on the small roads that are going through the forest. The small road next to the lake are leading you to Foyers. A small town were they have a beautiful waterfall to see.

Inverness

In Inverness we stayed in this lovely No.29 B&B with the best Scottish breakfast ever for one night, so we could continue our road trip the next day.

Later this evening we had dinner in a steak restaurant, McGonagall’s Steakhouse. It has good reviews, unfortunately not the best steak we ever had. (Stay tuned for one of the best steakhouse we have been in Scotland). After eating,  we walked around the town and ended up in a small Scottish pub with live music. The guy who sang that night was great by the way.

Urquhart Castle

Next day we continued our road trip to the Northern part of Scotland, to the Highlands and some beautiful castles. Our first stop was Urquhart Castle, a beautiful castle that sits beside Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. Definitely worth a visit, even if it is just for the amazing view from here. Very romantic I might say.

 

Eilean Donan Castle

This famous Castle has appeared in many movies, like the Highlander, Made of Honour, the World is not enough and many more. I have to say the Scottish weather was a bit acting up and is much worse than the London weather. A lot colder and much more heavy rain. The location of this castle is breath taking and really a sight for sore eyes.

Isle of Skye – Portree

Skye is an Scottish Island connected by bridge. The landscape is rougher with lots of small waterfalls through the mountains. In Portree on the harbour side you will find pubs and fish restaurants. The Oyster Shed does not look like a fancy restaurant, but the fish they serve here are fresh and delicious. I can recommend this restaurant to anyone who is going to Portree.

Edinburgh

After all this fun of sight seeing in the Northern of Scotland, we went back to Edinburgh. The drive from Isle of Sky to Edinburgh took four or five hours, but the view through the Highlands were simple too beautiful.

Back in Edinburgh, we stayed in an apartment, unfortunately it was not so clean. So this one I will not metion in the blog. The idea of an apartment is great dough, if you are with a group of friends or family.

 

The first day in Edinburgh we went on the hop on and hop off bus, just to see the main highlights of the city. The bus tickets is not so expensive and it is valid for 24 hours.  In the end just use it as transportation that brings you to the best sights.

The big highlight that we saw were the castle of Edinburgh and Calton Hill.  We went before to Edinburgh. We went this time with a family member to do the road trip plus Edinburgh.. We went to see the main attractions in Edinburgh that she did not see yet.

Restaurants in Edinburgh

A recommendation of restaurant is Café St. Honor, a small restaurant were they serve every day a special menu.  The restaurant is a combination of French and the Scottish cuisine. The food and wine were delicious. The best is to make a reservation, because I think they are fully booked every night. If you would like something special, go to this restaurant.

One of the best steak restaurant so far is KYLOE. They serve Scottish beef and the service is top. Both restaurants are a bit expensive, but both worth the money. The ribeye in this restaurant was amazing. It was a long time ago that I had a rib eye like this one with great red wine. The interior in this restaurant is super fancy and I really liked the cow leather details on the menu and the chairs.

Almost forgot, for lunch, go to Deacon’s House. It is in a small alley, a bit hidden near the Castle. It is a small Scottish Café were you can have sweets and sandwiches.

Scottish National Gallery

If you have time left, go see a museum. We went to the Scottish National Gallery to see some great master pieces from great Italian and Dutch artist from the Renaissance 1500- 1600, before the Renaissance and after. We saw a small painting from Leonardo da Vinci which I was really happy to see in real time.

Oh one small tip, if you would like to stroll around the center before going to the airport. The Edinburgh main bus station has lockers for max 8GBP plus when you pick up the luggage, there is a tram nearby to take to the airport. The bus station is called Edinburgh Bus Station, it is a bit hidden. Just ask people and you will find it.

 

So this is already the end of the blog. Hope you have been a bit inspired to go to Scotland and to see the beautiful Highlands. If so, enjoy and take your time to see it all and enjoy the views!

Next trip will be Sardinia so stay tuned!

Ciao! ♥ Miss Widjaja

LIFESTYLE

Goodbye London | Hello Greenwich

Hello Lovely people and good to see you back on my “Hello London” blogs! Are you also enjoying the lovely weather here in London? We are quite lucky with this beautiful sunshine, aren’t we? So this time in my (sort) Hello London blog, we are going to take you out into the sunny Greenwich [pronounced as Gren idge].

Grab your coffee, cup or tea, summer cocktail or pint of beer and get inspired to go to this lovely borough in London.

Greenwich


Greenwich you will find in South East London. From the centre of London, it is easy to just take a train to Greenwich. For the best view in town, go to Greenwich Park. It is a huge park where you can relax with friends, read a book and enjoy the sun.

On top of the hill you will find the Royal Observatory. Believe me, you will not be disappointed by this amazing view of the city. If you are interested in astronomy, check the observatory museum and planetarium. Happy I did learn something this day; the prime meridian is here in Greenwich and you will see the meridian line from the Royal Observatory. Did you know that?

What else to do?

The national maritime museum is down the hill in the Greenwich Park. It is the largest museum of its kind and definitely worth a visit. [Or maybe on a rainy day]

For art go to the Queens house .


Near the river Thames there is a clipper ship and museum called Cutty Sark. The ship itself is already beautiful from the outside, but take a look from the inside if you enter the museum.

In this area of Greenwich there are some stands with food and drinks, if you like street food. If not, there are some markets and all kind of different restaurants, so each belly should be satisfied.


If you are in for a lovely day, walk around, relax in a park and enjoy a wonderful view, go to Greenwich! A lot more to discover!

Enjoy this sunny week!

Love Miss Widjaja

LIFESTYLE

Hello London | Spring in London

Hello Lovely Readers and welcome back to my Hello London blog.  It is spring in London and everywhere you go, you will find beautiful trees with colorful leaves.  At least if you did not came in that one weekend when it was winter again. Just the luck we had with the family visit. Of course I was super happy to see my family back in London, so the weather did not stop us of having fun!

So if you here in London for a sort weekend and you would like to see some other things than grab your daily coffee or cup of tea and read on!

Sadler Wells theatre: Voice of America

I am not sure if this one is still playing in theatre, if so this is a huge recommendation. It is the English National Ballet performing different plays. The end is so much fun, where they performed classical ballet with club music. If you can see any performance/ play of this amazing National Ballet, just go and see it.

Dress for less – vintage shop Islington

On the way to the Sadler Wells theatre, we came across this vintage shop that sells only secondhand (in great condition) designer goods. I had to go in (you know me) to see what they had.  Here you will find great designer pieces for less. “Less” meaning: not cheap, but cheaper than before.  At least much less than the original price of course.

Candid art café – Islington

This hidden café is in Torrent Street.  Nice café to go to, just for the sake of art. Looks a bit like a big living room. (Smells a bit like it too, not sure if this is a good thing) You can find different art lessons here and once in a while they have a vintage per kilo event.

Sunny days in London

When the sun is shining in London, this does not happen often, we as Londoners must ENJOY this beautiful weather. A nice way to enjoy is to go on a bicycle (rent the city bicycles if you don’t own a bicycle) and stroll around the city to any park. Bring some food and wine and lay in the grass. I like Regent Park a lot, because it is nearby for me. In spring you will see all the trees blossom up and they look amazing!

Brick lane vintage market

A bit touristic, but Brick lane is a nice alternative to show to family instead of the standard sightseeing tour. Go see the vintage market. I think we had a successful day here, because my family bought two nice (fake furry) fluffy coats for next winter.  A super cozy and warm souvenir for back home and I think it is typical a London thing to do.  After the vintage shopping, we went to Beigel Bake for a Salty beef beigel with gherkin and mustard of course. OMGSH…This beigel is one of the best beigels here in London. Definitely try this one when you are here. You will find much more locals around this area.

Musical: Kinky boots

I don’t want to spoil anything, so just go and see a musical while in London. This one is a bit special to me, because I saw so many advertisements on buses or in tube station. This made me really curious to see this musical and it is really spectacular. Sometimes you can find cheap tickets online.

Chiswick – vintage / charity shopping

Another successful day was a shopping day in Chiswick. Everyone has seen the high streets like Oxford Street and Regent Street. So I brought my family a day of vintage and charity shopping in Chiswick. They have one long street (Chiswick High Road) full with charity / vintage shops and the clothing that they sell looks much better than from some charity shops in the center.

Sky garden

This was the highlight of the family weekend. I wanted to show them something special and I also wanted to see this one. The Sky garden is a beautiful garden on top of the Walkie-Talkie building with great atmosphere.  Tip: try to get your free ticket on the website on Monday. They release each Monday free tickets for the upcoming week. Find a ticket for a late slot, so you will see the amazing view transform from day to night. Or if you are lucky you will see a beautiful sunset.

Ace hotel – Shoreditch

This hotel has a great lounge where you can relax and drink a nice cocktail. It is a great way to enjoy the nightlife in Shoreditch.

National Gallery

One of the greatest galleries I have seen. I haven’t been there for a while and I found again some interesting paintings I missed the times before. Some paintings I saw again and I was again amazed how great artist deliver such beautiful paintings. Never boring this gallery, but can be busy during the weekends. From here you can wander around in the city and go to Chinatown and Piccadilly Square.

Waitrose

This one is not for everyone, but my family loves to bring “food” related souvenirs back home. The Waitrose has a great variety in food and drinks for gifts to bring home.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog and got some new ideas of where to go in London or what to do!

Have a great bank holiday weekend xx

FOOD CORNER

Hello Food | Quattro Formaggi Easy 15 min Pasta

Hi Lovely Readers, this is a fresh Sunday morning, therefor time for a new Food Blog. This time for a Sunday lunch or dinner, what else can you think of then a great pasta!

Like all the pasta that I make, this one is super easy and no effort at all. The end result will be super delicious, especially if you are a cheese lover like me. Yum Yum Yum!

Grab your ingredients from the supermarket or order online and start preparing this Quattro Formaggi Pasta ASAP.

What you will need to make this;

• Parmesan cheese 80g
• Taleggio cheese 80g
• Gorgonzola cheese 100g
• Emmental cheese 80g
• Salt
• White pepper
• Milk 200ml with a bit of flour or whipped cream
• Pasta (any kind)

How to make this delicious cheese sauce;

MMM this cheese sauce is going to be delicious!

Start with chopping the cheese into small pieces. (Try not to eat them while chopping) The harder cheese should be really small, so it will be easy to melt. Put the whipped cream in a pan and leave the fire very low. Place the small pieces of Parmesan cheese in the pan slowly till all is dissolved in the cream. Do this with all the cheese. In the meantime cook the pasta, so it will be ready to be mixed. Once all mixed into the cream, mix the pasta with the sauce and put a bit of white pepper on it. Preferred pasta is the penne, but for me any kind will do. Even the left over pasta’s or a mix of pasta’s.

All together it will take approximately about 15 min to make. EASY, RIGHT?!

Tip;

If you use milk please use some flour to make it a bit creamy. Without the flour the cheeses will not dissolve the way they should into the milk.

If you would like a nice red wine with this pasta, go for a rich Primitivo and et Voila! Enjoy your delicious pasta!

Ciao! ♥ Miss Widjaja