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Published: October 6th 2008
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The Chine House- Our home in England
We live in the back of the house-- we have a great rooftop terrace! Cheerio' to you all--
I didn't have internet at all last week and things have been pretty busy lately for Grant and I. We arrived in England last Tuesday (September 30). We drove down (Southwest) a couple of hours from London to a hotel near our final location-- Poole. I've settled us in and it's a very homey/roomey place (we have three bedrooms/2 full bathrooms) Grant works in Wimborne (a little ways down the road) and commutes everyday. I'm impressed with his ability to drive on the wrong side of the car and road. We live right by the sea and last week I became very familiar with this area as it's a great place to run.
This weekend Grant and I decided to explore England (the countryside) and we enjoyed every moment! The views were fantastic. Everywhere you looked there was some type of panoramic view-- we stopped along the way to take as many photos as possible. Our first stop was Salibury Cathedral. The town itself is quaint and bustling. We were surprised at the amount of people rushing the streets. The Cathedral was beautiful. There was a service happening so we quickly took in as
much of the church as we could. We were able to see the Magna Carta of Salisbury. There is only 4 original copies left and Salisbury is one of them.
Onward bound we found our way to Stonehenge. It was rainy and cold, but we didn't seem to care. Like the Griswalds, we enjoyed the tour and took in all of the legends/mysteries of what makes Stonehenge a landmark. One stone weighs 45 tons (Aubrey, I think that's roughly around 8 elephants, I can't recall the exact ton-age but they did compare them to elephants!).
Our journey continued on to Bath. The drive was even more unique than the rest of the route. We were looking for a bed and breakfast to stay in for the night and had heard it would be easier to find one outside of Bath so we kept our eyes peeled. We found a place called right outside, The House- Bar, Bistro, Bedrooms. We walked in and there was a man working on the floor. He called his wife in and she came in tote with baby Harrison. They were super nice and welcoming. They rented us a room and we found out
that they had gotten married there and were helping out the owners while they took some time away (in return they got a free place to stay). We were so pleased with our gem of a find that we booked dinner at the house and took off for the rest of the day to take in Bath and get our "lay of the land" as Grant likes to say (we were doing our actual touring, Sunday, so it helped to know where we were going). We stopped by a pub and watched a local football game and had a pint. We drove around the city (it was crowed because of a Rugby match, bummer, we found it out too late to take a look-see) so we made our way back to The House in time for dinner and relaxing.
Inside the city of Bath there's a lot to do and see. We hopped on the closest bus tour where we took in amazing tree-line views and history. Sure we were 2 of the 5 people on the top of the bus but it was still a good tour with lots of information provided. We ventured on to the Bath
Cathedral and it too was beautiful. King Edgar was crowned in the Cathedral (AD 943-975) It was a nice treat to have the organs playing. The never-ending rise of the walls and height of the ceiling always overwhelms me. The careful detail-- just how'd they do that?
We head to the Roman Baths where we were given the grand tour. The baths are beautiful (have I worn that word out yet?) and the Romans were well beyond their times. Grant and I were impressed at how they had heated floors. People came from near and far to bath in the healing waters. The Goddess Sulis Minerva-- was who they deemed responsible for the hot waters and who they worshiped. They still have 'worshippers' there today-- we call them actors, but they never broke character, even when heckled. Of course we had to get our picture taken with him.
We finish our tour of the Roman city, tour the cobbled streets and grab a Starbucks for the road. We twist and turn our way back to our place while planning a trip to Scotland. We should have a few stories for you from this weekend. Stay tuned!
Love
& Miss,
Ali & Grant
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anonymous
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Looks like a great trip! I love the Peter Gabriel reference: I bet you couldn't get that song out of your mind :-) Have so much fun in Ireland--can't wait to read all about it. MISS YOU! Em PS--Are those the gloves you bought with me in the 'tomb shot'?