Celebrating the holidays and hogmanay COMPLETED 2/25 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Despite the heavy rain all day we had a lovely New Year's Day out exploring St. Andrews - what a beautiful place. We had scones and pancakes at the Old Course Hotel there, overlooking the golf course and it was a great way to spend the way.
Today we start our journey south, thankfully by the looks of the forecast, heading into the drier and sunnier weather as we head back towards England.
The journey south from Scotland had some amazing views, most notably as we crossed the border, where we had snow! We stopped off in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and went to Durham, which sadly didn't live up to all the hype I'd heard about it. We spent our last night in a lovely country hotel and today we're making our way back home.
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Looking forward to the TR and have a safe trip the rest of the journey home!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Well we're back home now and had a lovely last day, although a lot of it was spent on the road, as we drove back from Darlington where we stayed last night to our home - almost 300 miles.
I won't fill in the details of our last day, as instead I'm going to jump right in and get the trip report rolling...
Thursday 25 December – part one: it’s not part of the trip, but why not?
Now I’m starting with Christmas Day, even though officially it wasn’t part of our trip, but when I came to write this, it just seemed well a bit odd to miss it out, as it was part of our time off work, even if it wasn’t part of our time away.
We got up, and had our traditional smoked salmon on crisp bake for breakfast, accompanied by this…
We then settled down to watch Love Actually, our favourite Christmas movie. Usually it’s a tradition for Christmas Eve, but given we hadn’t watched it yet, we felt now was as good a time as any, and it always puts us in a Christmassy mood.
When that was done, it was literally time to head out for our lunch, which was at a pub just 10 minutes’ walk up the road. That’s why we selected it, as then we could both have a drink, and we’d actually pre-purchased a bottle of White Zinfandel to have with lunch. The walk up there was lovely, and as you can see, it was a beautiful day:
When we arrived, we were seated at a table by one of the doors, which is right by the pub area. I have to say I wasn’t that impressed, as the pub was pretty packed, and while people were obviously enjoying themselves, I’d have much preferred to have been in the restaurant area. Well, I got my wish, because the table kept rocking, and no matter how many beer mats they put under the table leg(s) (and trust me, I think they put about 20 at one point! ), it just didn’t improve the problem. They immediately said they’d put us at another table, which was really good customer service.
Later, we saw them swap that table out, and move another one down there. The table didn’t go to anyone else, by the way, it went to the table that contained the complimentary Prosecco – and you did just read that right, you got complimentary Prosecco at the start of the meal, which was a nice touch. We also got our bottle of wine, and it made some wonderful patterns with the light coming through the window:
Here was the view from the window:
And some of the various Christmas decorations they had in the pub, which I thought were very nicely done:
We had pre-ordered our food, as is usual over here if you’re going out for a Christmas Day meal, and our server, who had served us when we’d eaten here a few nights earlier for my birthday, said he’d let the kitchen know we were here, so they could start with the food. We both had the smoked salmon and scallop starter, which was superb. The taste of it was just wonderful and we did ask for our compliments to be passed to the chef, although our server was a little reluctant at first, saying then they’d be so big headed, they wouldn’t get out of the kitchen again!
For main course, Mark was traditional and had the hard carved turkey…
I went for the brie and mushroom filo tart, which was very nice, and I was very impressed that it came with vegetarian gravy, and the same selection of vegetables that Mark got. Sadly, all too often, that can be missed off veggie dishes, and that really annoys me, as why should we get served with anything different?
Mark stayed traditional for pudding and had the Christmas pudding slice…
I’m not a huge fan of the stuff, as I find it too filling, and with my fruit allergy, I’m never too sure if cherries are in it (usually they are), so instead I went for the pink Marc de Champagne torte. I have to be honest, when I saw the colour of it, I wasn’t sure about this at all, but actually it was very nice, and I was just pleasantly full when I finished.
The place was packed, and I have to say that the family next to me really did irritate me, as the mother of the child who decided to throw a tantrum wasn’t interested in doing anything all about it, although eventually the father did. Worst of all, even I could work out what the problem was – she’d got hot and she had excess energy, so she needed to go outside and run it off and cool down. Sure enough, that was the solution five minutes later – but after those five minutes were filled with screaming.
That is the only problem with eating out for Christmas, you can’t choose your dining partners. Thankfully, that was the only issue, and the table of four, made up of two elderly couples who appeared to have been friends for years were absolutely charming, and we both enjoyed eavesdropping on their fun conversations.
We were done around 2:30pm, and all we had to pay for was the Diet Coke Mark had ordered, as the Prosecco was included in the price of the meal and the tip, and our server got a very good tip from us, as we thought he was great.
Chiltern Hundreds
Appetiser 10 9½
Entrée 9 9
Dessert 8½ 8½
Service 9 8½
Atmosphere 8 9
Value for money 8½ 8½
Average score: 8.83
Then we made our way back down the road.
Now we’d agreed we’d go round to one of Mark’s sisters after our meal, but we hadn’t set a time with her. We texted her on the way home, and she told us to come round immediately, so we stopped off at home to get the various presents (we figured we wouldn’t be too popular without those ) and round we went.
I’ll just say that we had a very pleasant afternoon with family, exchanging gifts, and doing a lot of laughing. I won’t post any photos from it, as it’s not fair, given children are involved.
We left just as Doctor Who was starting, so of course as soon as we got back, I had to watch that, and very good it was too. Now if only the rest of the Christmas Day evening TV could be that good, but sadly it wasn’t. I have to say I think it was the worst year for Christmas TV in some time, which was very disappointing. I ended up in bed by about 9:30pm, as I was tired and there was nothing to watch, and anyway, we were starting out on our grand adventure, our road trip to Scotland in the morning.
The weather today was dry and sunny with temperatures in the low 50s. The best thing today was enjoying great food and family time. The worst thing today was how appalling the TV was in the evening. The funniest thing today was the elderly couples’ conversation at the restaurant. Today we tried going out for lunch at our local pub And the result was it was very good and I’d do it again. The most magical moment today was watching Doctor Who of course!
What a nice time the two of you had on Christmas from your breakfast, a great lunch at a nearby pub and spending time with Mark's family! Looking forward to the actually start of the TR tomorrow!
Glad you got to enjoy smoked salmon twice in one day as it's one of my faves and can't get enough of it! Had some today as well!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 01-04-2015 at 12:06 AM..
A very nice pre-trip day with a wonderful-looking meal. Your entree looks like something I'd absolutely love and reminds me that I haven't made Yorkshire pudding in a very long time. I must do it soon!
Love Actually is one of my favorite Christmas movies, too! Not exactly one we can watch with the kids, so it was almost good news when I was home sick with flu, as we watched it while they were at school.
Lunch looked good, although I'm now regretting the decision to not serve Yorkshire pudding with my Prime rib roast on New Year's Eve.
Maybe the lousy TV was just to ensure a good night sleep before the trip.
A very nice pre-trip day with a wonderful-looking meal. Your entree looks like something I'd absolutely love and reminds me that I haven't made Yorkshire pudding in a very long time. I must do it soon!
You're much better than we are - we just buy Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire puddings.
Love Actually is one of my favorite Christmas movies, too! Not exactly one we can watch with the kids, so it was almost good news when I was home sick with flu, as we watched it while they were at school.
You're right, not one you can watch with the kids. We always watch it and think that Liam Neeson's character has a very open relationship with his son, given they sit together and watch Titanic and given some of the content of that, that may prompt some interesting questions...
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Lunch looked good, although I'm now regretting the decision to not serve Yorkshire pudding with my Prime rib roast on New Year's Eve.
I won't make you feel any better by saying it was very good...
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Maybe the lousy TV was just to ensure a good night sleep before the trip.
Everyone is talking about how awful Christmas/New Year TV was last year, so hopefully it will improve for 2015....
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You'll find out soon enough, as I intend to start the trip report proper on Sunday.
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we had a lovely New Year's Day out exploring St. Andrews - what a beautiful place. 
We had scones and pancakes at the Old Course Hotel there, overlooking the golf course and it was a great way to spend the way. 
Pixies for Karen's Mum! 
We spent our last night in a lovely country hotel and today we're making our way back home.
), it just didn’t improve the problem. They immediately said they’d put us at another table, which was really good customer service. 
you did just read that right, you got complimentary Prosecco at the start of the meal, which was a nice touch. We also got our bottle of wine, and it made some wonderful patterns with the light coming through the window: 
and the tip, and our server got a very good tip from us, as we thought he was great. 
Had some today as well! 
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