So... what I said about our flight not being affected by the ash cloud from the volcano in Iceland? I was wrong.
But first, London!
We flew into Stansted on Sunday afternoon, but because of traffic we didn't get back to Ashtead until after 8 or 9 PM. Rachel showed us to our room and then we ate supper with Rachel, David, Peter, and Lizzie.
Monday we were off to an early start, with Peter, David and Rachel driving us to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. While there, we found the tree by which Jenna, Emily, Peter, Lizzie and I all took that photo so many years ago. So, keeping with tradition, Peter and I posed by it and we took another, just for old time's sake. After Stratford, we went to Mary Arden's farm and Anne Hathaway's cottage. Those were cool, too, but still not as amazingly awesome as Shakespeare's birthplace. On the way back to Ashtead, we stopped at Oxford, to find the not-so-famous Eagle and Child pub, where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein met among other literary scholars to discuss each other's works. We found that easily, and so we walked in, looked around, and left. Then Abigail and I were off on our own for a little while to find a couple of places that were either used in the Harry Potter films, or were used as models for their sets. Sadly, we didn't have time to go into the one building we found, because it had already closed for the day to the public. So we met up again with David, Rachel, and Peter, and returned to Ashtead for supper.
Tuesday we had another early start as we were "scheduled" to go to Hampton Courts, one of King Henry VIII's castles. Since Abigail and I were "on our own" there (Rachel was meeting up with her walking group), we opted not to take the audio tour and just wandered around the castle as we pleased. That was really cool, since we got to go at our own pace and spend as much or as little time in the rooms as we wished. We also got to go into the garden maze, which holds a world record for the world's oldest hedge maze still open to the public, or something of that sort. On the way back to the car we kind of got stuck in a heavy drizzle and that was a bit of a downer, but it wasn't the worst that could have happened. Also, while at Hampton Courts, we almost ran head-on into the King himself and his current wife! (Well, maybe just a guy playing him...) But it was very scary. We didn't know whether we should attempt curtsies, not look at them, or what! Later we went to Lizzie's house group, which was fun. We played the Chocolate Game (an ice-breaker game) and had a little lesson with rocks representing our sin, and then burying them into a box of sand, with candles lit on top of everything to represent how we are to bring Christ's love into the world.
Wednesday was our first day in London. David helped us get our all-day passes the evening before, so we got up and left for London pretty early. When we got there, we tried to get to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guard, but we were unfortunately too late. So, Abigail and I wandered around by Big Ben and the parliament buildings to see if we could go into either, which was a negative. We took a tour of Westminster Abbey and got to see the London Eye, which was cool, and a statue of Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street. I never knew there really was a Baker Street! Got in Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross train station, and the outside of the Tower of London. Somewhere in the midst of all this we got lunch and supper, and then it was time to see our separate shows! I went to Les Mis, and Abigail saw Love Never Dies (the sequel to Phantom of the Opera - I am dead serious). Afterwards we returned to Ashtead and went to bed.
Thursday we again returned to London to see the other sites we missed the day before. First stop was Buckingham Palace to see if they were giving tours, which they weren't, but on the upside the Queen was at the palace when we were. We saw the flag flying from the top of Buckingham, which means that she's there. Next on the list was to go to Harrods. Yes, Harrods. We spent a good deal of time in there marveling over how many rooms for food there were - eight, at the least. Since most everything in there was out of our price ranges, we decided to leave there quickly before too much damage was inflicted upon our pocketbooks. Abigail left with something for herself and her mother, and I didn't get anything but photos. The third stop was to the Tower of London again, but this time we went in and took a tour around. We went into one building, then decided to go straight to the Crown Jewels, which we waited in line for a long time to see them. Lastly we got to see the place where a lot of the prisoners were held in the Tower. Before and after supper we checked out St. Paul's Cathedral, which was a sight to see, being one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Then we rushed over to see Fleet Street, which strangely enough had both a barber's shop and restaurant that served meat pies. Abigail was a bit disconcerted, based on the happenings in Sweeney Todd. So, after that we hurried off to see Phantom of the Opera, and later we went back to my cousins' house.
Friday Rachel took us along with Emily to Jane Austen's house. It pretty much made my life. I mean, the little table where she wrote my favorite books was actually there... in the house! We even got to see the church that her family would have gone to back in the day and it's where her mother and sister are buried. Inside the house there was a little display of some objects that Jane Austen wrote about in her books, including little ivory fish talked about in Pride and Prejudice, a box full of letters used to teach children the alphabet from Emma, and other items. Now I understand what she's talking about in those stories.
Saturday Peter and Lizzie escorted Abigail and I to a football (soccer) game in London. Arsenal versus some other English team. The game was pretty exciting to us, who'd never been to a live match before. The game was tied 0-0 until the last minute of the game, in which Arsenal scored a point to make it a win.
Sunday was Easter, in which was a relatively lazy day at the house. In the morning, Rachel told us that we were going to have an Easter egg hunt, so we had to dress in our nice pajamas :-) . But the catch was that we had to play the Beetle Drive game first (roll a die to collect numbered pieces of a puzzle). Once we collected and fit together all the pieces of the puzzle, we were each allowed to start making our Easter egg baskets. When we all had finished our baskets, complete with taped-on sheep, the hunt began. Each of us walked away from the hunt with a pretty good amount of candy and either two pounds or two euro coins each. After the hunt had ended, we all gathered around the table for a traditional English breakfast: soft-boiled eggs with toast cut up into strips to use for dipping in the egg. Was very delicious if i may say so. Later Julia, Mike, Amy and her boyfriend Tim came over for a late lunch and some games. Before food, Rachel set up a shopping list game in which we each had our own list, had to find each item and its price, then add up all the prices and make sure the total was correct. Then after our roast lamb lunch, we played another game in which we had to think of foods and towns in the British Isles that started with specific letters. Half the time Abigail and I made up town names, since we didn't know many. Later, everyone just hung around the house or went for a walk and afterwards Julia, Mike, Amy, and Tim left.
Monday we were off again on the train, but this time we went to Windsor. As soon as we got off Abigail and I went straight to the line to get into the castle. It was really long! Thankfully for a while we were entertained by the changing of the guard ceremony so the line went faster than we had thought it would. Once in the castle, we got to go all around it, and even see the famous doll house that had real working plumbing and electricity. Because it was a "working palace" it was really cool to see it mostly furnished. And again the Queen was there, because her banner was flying from the top of one of the towers. We found out that she comes there a couple times a year to lay flowers on her dead husband's grave, and that she had done so only the day before. Also saw St. George's Chapel, which was cool. After leaving the palace, we grabbed some lunch at Pizza Hut, of all places, then dashed to catch a train back to Ashtead. Since it was our last night staying with the Sherwins, Abigail and I decided to take David, Rachel, and Lizzie out to eat at their country club, which was very nice, and they all appreciated it.
Tuesday we left early for the airport and got back to Oviedo a little later than we planned because our flight was slightly delayed. Ah, well, such is the issue with traveling by plane.
Friday Rachel took us along with Emily to Jane Austen's house. It pretty much made my life. I mean, the little table where she wrote my favorite books was actually there... in the house! We even got to see the church that her family would have gone to back in the day and it's where her mother and sister are buried. Inside the house there was a little display of some objects that Jane Austen wrote about in her books, including little ivory fish talked about in Pride and Prejudice, a box full of letters used to teach children the alphabet from Emma, and other items. Now I understand what she's talking about in those stories.
Saturday Peter and Lizzie escorted Abigail and I to a football (soccer) game in London. Arsenal versus some other English team. The game was pretty exciting to us, who'd never been to a live match before. The game was tied 0-0 until the last minute of the game, in which Arsenal scored a point to make it a win.
Sunday was Easter, in which was a relatively lazy day at the house. In the morning, Rachel told us that we were going to have an Easter egg hunt, so we had to dress in our nice pajamas :-) . But the catch was that we had to play the Beetle Drive game first (roll a die to collect numbered pieces of a puzzle). Once we collected and fit together all the pieces of the puzzle, we were each allowed to start making our Easter egg baskets. When we all had finished our baskets, complete with taped-on sheep, the hunt began. Each of us walked away from the hunt with a pretty good amount of candy and either two pounds or two euro coins each. After the hunt had ended, we all gathered around the table for a traditional English breakfast: soft-boiled eggs with toast cut up into strips to use for dipping in the egg. Was very delicious if i may say so. Later Julia, Mike, Amy and her boyfriend Tim came over for a late lunch and some games. Before food, Rachel set up a shopping list game in which we each had our own list, had to find each item and its price, then add up all the prices and make sure the total was correct. Then after our roast lamb lunch, we played another game in which we had to think of foods and towns in the British Isles that started with specific letters. Half the time Abigail and I made up town names, since we didn't know many. Later, everyone just hung around the house or went for a walk and afterwards Julia, Mike, Amy, and Tim left.
Monday we were off again on the train, but this time we went to Windsor. As soon as we got off Abigail and I went straight to the line to get into the castle. It was really long! Thankfully for a while we were entertained by the changing of the guard ceremony so the line went faster than we had thought it would. Once in the castle, we got to go all around it, and even see the famous doll house that had real working plumbing and electricity. Because it was a "working palace" it was really cool to see it mostly furnished. And again the Queen was there, because her banner was flying from the top of one of the towers. We found out that she comes there a couple times a year to lay flowers on her dead husband's grave, and that she had done so only the day before. Also saw St. George's Chapel, which was cool. After leaving the palace, we grabbed some lunch at Pizza Hut, of all places, then dashed to catch a train back to Ashtead. Since it was our last night staying with the Sherwins, Abigail and I decided to take David, Rachel, and Lizzie out to eat at their country club, which was very nice, and they all appreciated it.
Tuesday we left early for the airport and got back to Oviedo a little later than we planned because our flight was slightly delayed. Ah, well, such is the issue with traveling by plane.
I loved the journal of England. I can just see all the fun spots you enjoyed. I have never been to Hampton Court because the day I was going to go there, I went to visit the English relatives. This was when I was on my study abroad in college.
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