A weekend in Liverpool

As so many people rave about the city of Liverpool, Bradley and I decided to give it a try and we booked a spontaneous little trip away. We booked in to the Premier Inn at the Albert Docks for two nights which was surprisingly not too expensive, the hotel was really really nice and in prime location overlooking the docks and above all the amazing restaurants and bars. The Albert Docks is only 10 minute walk from the centre anyway so everything was in walking distance which we really liked. 

When we arrived on the Thursday we checked in to the hotel before heading to meet my cousin who was also in Liverpool with his friends and we had lunch with him. On the afternoon we went to a couple of the museums at the Albert Dock including the Titanic museum and the slavery museum, both of which were interesting. On the evening we went to the happy hour at the bar at the hotel then headed in to the city centre to find somewhere to eat, we found a TGI Fridays which Brad had never eaten in before so we went in there and had big fat steaks and 'Pornstar Martini' cocktails! 

On the Friday we got up and had a full english breakfast at the hotel before jumping on a 'hop on, hop off' tour bus of the city! We did the tour around which was actually really interesting and entertaining(I assumed it would be boring at first), but we learnt lots about the city and found some cool places we wanted to check out. We got off at a really cool museum which had dinosaur bones and elephants teeth and life-size animals and alien conspiracies which was interesting, and different than any other museum i'd been in. We also looked around a park during the 'hop on, hop off' tour which had many statues and a hillsborough memorial plaque which we looked round too. We had afternoon tea in a little cafe and then had a look around the Tate gallery which was on the Albert Dock next to our hotel. That evening we went to a bar called revolution at the Albert Dock for cocktails before heading to the restaurant we had booked a table at called 'Gusto' - this was one of the best restaurants i've been in and one of the best meals i've had. I had calamari to start, duck for main and sticky toffee pudding for my dessert. Bradley had a fish medley to start, lamb for main and a nutella calzone for his pud. The atmosphere, food and service was completely top notch. 

On the Saturday we had more of a continental breakfast as we were both pretty stuffed from the amount of food we'd been eating so weren't feeling a full english. We checked out of the hotel and went into Liverpool centre to do some shopping and had some tapas, we also went round (another) museum, this time the museum of Liverpool which was all about the history of the city which we really liked! We looked around the merseyside at the ferries and walked into China Town to have a look there after we saw it on the bus tour before heading home.

Have any of you been to Liverpool? Can you recommend any other city breaks for Bradley and I? 

Cocktails, Steak & Good Company

My gorgeous friends and I headed out at the weekend for Heather's nineteenth birthday. We went to a place called 'Bank' in Birmingham's Brindley Place - we've been to this restaurant before for drinks but never to eat, and my gosh how much have we been missing out! I can't put into words how blown away I was with the decor, food, service and the overall ambiance and atmosphere Bank had, we love Brindley Place as it's so busy and full of people having fun which creates a brilliant atmosphere. We firstly went round a few bars at Brindley Place and had some cocktails before our meal, in Bank I had steak(shocker) and so did two of my friends and my other friend had lamb, for my pud I had sticky toffee pudding which came with butterscotch ice-cream(mm). All meals looked incredible and my steak was amazing. The service was incredible and all the waiters were very friendly and kept checking we were okay and chatting with us, making us feel very welcome and very - well, looked after. We had such a lovely night and when we left we received gift cards off our waiter for £20 each, meaning in total we have £80 to spend next time so we are already planning our next trip there and i'm already excited! 

Alphabet Dating - #A

I know we are a bit late to the 'Alphabet Dating' party, but oh well - better late than never. If you have no clue what I'm on about then I'll briefly explain - Alphabet Dating basically means you go through the alphabet and turn each letter in to a date, whether it be a day date, evening date, weekend away date or chilled date. It can be whatever you want it to be and you have total flexibility - its just a fun way of mixing things up and making sure that you don't get in to routine of doing the same things every time you go out. Simply type #AlphabetDating in to Instagram and you'll see the phenomenon it has become, and the many different ideas people come up with. 

Bradley and I are taking it in turns with the letters, I went first. 'A' I chose; 'Aquarium' and 'American Diner' and therefore we headed down to the Sea Life Centre and after went to Ed's Diner. It was a lovely little day out and something different to try, I'm excited for 'B' next time and to see what Brad comes up with for it. Here are some (crappy iPhone) pictures:

Are any of you currently doing alphabet dates? Or thinking about it? 

Weekend away in Sunny Devon

Last weekend was Exeter University's open day and my younger sister went to look around (she is currently deciding what Uni's to apply to). As Exeter is a good few hours away from us we decided to make a weekend of it and I went with my Mom and Molly(my younger sister) to Devon for the weekend. The open day was on the Saturday so we headed down on Friday afternoon and came back Sunday afternoon. 

First stop: Exmouth. Exmouth is about half an hour away from the city of Exeter and we stayed here on the Friday night. This beach town is absolutely beautiful, so peaceful and not as touristy as other beach locations in England. Even though the beach was quiet and still, the restaurant's were busy and full. Originally we were hoping to have fish & chips on the beach(oh, so typically British) but it was very chilly(again, typical) so we couldn't. The pub we ended up in had an amazing atmosphere, it was absolutely buzzing with people and luckily we found a table right in the window overlooking the sea, as our hearts were set on fish and chips I was over the moon when I saw it on the menu, and all three of us had the same. It was delicious and well worth the wait! Our hotel was right on the sea front as well so luckily we had the same sea-view for our full English the following morning.

   

After 'trekking' around the University all day we checked into our second hotel of the weekend, which was in the city centre of Exeter. We had heard a few people mention 'The Quay' whilst at the Uni so we decided to head there for our evening meal. It was about a 20 minute walk - this sounded worse when the lady in the hotel told us than it actually was, the walk was all along the canal and was very scenic. We ate in a restaurant called 'Samuel Jones' which was, again, full of people and had an amazing atmosphere. As it was a beautiful weekend there was so many people sitting outside overlooking the canal as well as almost every table full inside. I decided upon 'River Exe Muscles' as we were sitting overlooking the River Exe it seemed fitting, they were absolutely delicious. For pudding I had a raspberry and lemon trifle(I think it was called that) but it was definitely up there with the best dessert's I have ever had, I would 100% recommend this restaurant if your ever at The Quay. 

                                

 

                               

On the Sunday we walked back into the city centre again for a mooch around the shops and a little explore before heading home. We ended up joining some tour group for an hour-long tour of the city(gay, but actually pretty interesting) and then walked around the shops before heading home. I can't stress how impressed I was by Exeter city, it was so lovely and I definitely will be returning and secretly hope Molly ends up there so I can visit her there (although I'd rather her stay at home). 

                             

 

Have any of you been to Exeter? What are your thoughts?