Well apparently you did not wish me enough luck for my train trip today. Got up early this morning, well just before 8. No one else in the dorm was up though, everyone in my room preferred to go to bed late and get up late. I packed, quietly, and headed out to the city centre. I got a nice wee breakfast while I waited for the Canterbury Cathedral Shop to open. Once it did I bought a tapestry pillow cushion cover, adding it to my massive array of bags that I am carrying. I made it to the train station with time to spare and I was fortunate that there were enough seats that I could take up two spaces, one for me and one for my bags! My rush through London was not too ... read more

This morning I got up early and went for a walk along the wall of York, before getting on the train to Canterbury. Most of the rest of the day was spent traveling and a little bit spent getting lost. There are no direct trains from York to Canterbury (or if there are I couldn’t find it). This meant that I had to change in London. I was actually quite fortunate because the two train stations (Kings Cross and St Pancras) were across the street from each other. St Pancras is a large multi level international train station. I didn’t get lost, so much as it took me a while to figure out exactly where to catch my train from. I did however get on the right train and made my way to Canterbury West. I ... read more

I did not get up as early as I was originally planning to but I did manage to wake up in time to have breakfast at the hostel. My first stop of the day was York Minster. It is a working Church, that apparently costs 20,000 per day to run. While I was there the choir (which was quite full) was practicing ‘Most Highly Favored Lady’ which is a really pretty song. I walked through the church and then went down into the Crypt/Museum. The site of the Minster has four layers of history associated with it, Roman, Saxon, Norman and Medieval. Downstairs is where the street level would have been in the Roman time and the level kept rising and different people kept building on and expanding the Church until it is how you see ... read more

I just wrote a beautiful blog and when I went to save it the computer said it couldn't open the page and I lost it all. I hate when that happens because my second attempt is never as good as the first. I will however try to write another wonderful blog post. I have been planning one last train trip through England before coming home for Christmas. I am going to York, Canterbury, Cardiff and Holmfirth. On Saturday I booked my hostels and I attempted to book train tickets. I looked at a few different websites and some of them wouldn't let me book a ticket for the specific train I wanted and would only sell me an advance ticket that would let me on any train that day, but for a much more expensive price. ... read more

I had a very nice birthday over here in Edinburgh. The family I am staying with celebrates Thanksgiving and so for my birthday lunch we had some students over from the church and we had a large thanksgiving meal with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, green beans in cream of mushroom sauce, corn and corn bread. It was very nice so we went for a walk after lunch and then came back for cake and icecream!! The kids both made me a card which was sweet and it was altogether a very nice day!... read more