Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool. The Beatles, Liverpool Football Club, a very high-pitched accent. Oh yes.
It was a must-do day trip while being in Manchester, and it's just a thirty minutes train ride away. Located by the bank of river Mersey and just a few miles away from the irish sea it had a slight vibe of a marine city, with its docks and seagulls soaring above.
If you think about english industry, Manchester is what pops into your head. In Victorian era it was dubbed "the Warehouse city" or "Cottonopolis" as its history is concerned with textile manufacturing during the industrial revolution. In 19th century people flocked to Manchester from the whole England, Scotland and Wales, the city began to grow uncontrollably. All kinds of industries were introduced, fatories and warehouses were raised rapidly and Manchester has become without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world. It had at its peak 108 cotton mills, and it's just one industry.
Once I looked up how close Bristol is to the sea (or actually - the Bristol Channel) I instantly made up a plan to see some part of the seaside as well. I wasn't exactly sure where to go so I looked up a few nearby coastal towns on google street view and picked literally the second one I saw.
After I left Bath, I headed to Bristol. I didn't know what to expect, really, but I'm glad I went there. It's one of the largest English cities, with a cool, fresh vibe. Colourful houses, street art, underground shops... it all was an indicator of a large, creative community.
It has a big university that's much less posh than Oxford or Cambridge, so that might be the reason.
Bath is an english gem, definitely worth a visit. It's located in Somerset, south-west England, about 3 hour coach drive from London. Judging by the amount of tourists it is one of top UK destination, and I can totally understand why.
I visited Milton Keynes thanks to an invitation from my cousin who lived there. It's funny that we had a higher chance of meeting in the UK than in Poland because we live over 400km away. If not for that, I probably woulnt't have visited Milton Keynes. But I am glad I did, it was the most peculiar place in the UK i have visited because it is utterly different - it is relatively modern.
Canterbury (Kent, South East from London) is a relatively small academic city known mostly for its massive gothic cathedral. It was yet another day-trip destination of mine and it was suggested by my mum. Thanks mum!
Brighton is a charming city on the south coast of England that I instantly fell in love with. I wanted to visit it for quite a while and was really looking forward to that trip, but honestly didn't know that much what to expect. I reached my destination after merely half an hour by train taking off from Clapham Junction (south-west London).
Oxford was an excursion that I have actually planned a long time before going. Thanks to this I managed to buy train tickets on route London Marylebone - Oxford for merely 10 quid (return). The journey was less than an hour with no stops ibetween. Sitting in the train and staring out of the window was my first true contact with english countryside that was not a part of the great London metropolis. I felt so content.
Glasgow was days 2 and 3 of my Scottish trip. It was a brilliant decision to see Edinburgh and Glasgow one after another and see how utterly different characters they have. The capital, Edinburgh was monumental and full of historic charm where on the other hand industrial Glasgow has a much more modern and vibrant vibe. The Glaswegian accent was a challenge though, even if scottish accent is generally not unknown for me I sometimes struggled to understand what were people saying at all. Less tourists makes it seem to be a fantastic place to live - what was approved by my lovely hosts who stayed there for one semester of their Erasmus.
I always keep saying, that I don't need much encouragement to visit the UK. Scotland was on the top of my destination list for a tremendously long time, but I somehow never got to go because either I couldn't find any company for visiting the land of Nessie, or when I found company and made plans they were not finalised in the end. This semester, though, two of my university friends went to Glasgow for their Erasmus semester abroad. This is the wonderful thing about Erasmus, people travel and invite other people over to the place where stay. So I went!
I don't ever need much convincing to visit the UK. Even though by being in Denmark I was on one adventure already, when I got an invitation from a friend I spontaneously booked a flight and flew from Aarhus to London. I was promising myself that I would go someplace else than the capital the next time I come around, but oh well, no complains from me! I topped up my oyster and went with the flow.
24 / architecture student / illustrator and cartoon artist / amateur photographer / piano enthusiast / dog lover / fuelled by coffee / short and blonde / vagabond.
