Belated post-vacation update!
Hard to believe it's been five weeks since I returned from England. I've definitely been having travel withdrawals ever since getting back. Maybe it was more just having to go back to work. Speaking of work, I had some pretty terrible shifts after getting back, including several night shifts and oodles of overtime. The pay was nice, but adding all those on top of jet lag was super tiring.
But England was great! Such an immense amount of history all around; it was awesome to think that these churches and castles had been around since medieval times. America is such a young county in comparison - we get excited if something is over 200 years old. XD I'd definitely love to get back to the UK as well. Scotland and Ireland have yet to be explored at all, and there was still so much to do in London alone.
Quickie recap of the major stops:
London: Very exciting, but SO BUSY. It was exhausting to schlep the luggage up and down all the stairs of the train and tube stations, though once we had dropped it off at the hotel, the Tube was absolutely great for getting around. We did the touristy things like Tower of London, the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, etc. Oh, and had an absolutely wonderful afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. But there is still so much we didn't even get to! I definitely want to return someday. Oh, we also took a day trip out to Dover Castle/White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral, which was nice. I think it was actually the only castle we visited. :(
Bath: Super charming little Georgian town. We visited the ruins of the Roman Bath, ate some delicious food at Patisserie Valerie, and took a one-day bus trip out to Stonehenge. Oh, and this was the town where my brother and I had our room randomly upgraded to the Suite. XD
Wales: I don't think we would have normally gone out to Wales, except that my parents have a friend who lives there. So they got to stay at his house, while bro and I stayed in by far the worst hotel of the trip. (Ultra weird and spartan furnishings. Like where people probably film low-budget porn.) But it was great having our friend drive us all over and show us around! Beautiful, lush Welsh countryside and seaside.
Stratford-on-Avon: Shakespeare's birthplace, and final resting place. This town's entire tourism industry is apparently built around Shakespeare, because his face is EVERYWHERE. Still, it was interesting to see the houses owned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (especially Anne Hathaway's cottage and the Birthplace). The church where Shakespeare and his family is buried was neat as well. But the absolute best part of this stop was seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Oh, and a humorous aside: our hotel was named the Moonraker...and there was a giant picture of Sean Connery on the wall. Oh, and Stratford was super windy.
York: While I enjoyed York, by this point on the trip I was pretty much ready to go home. But York is a fantastic medieval walled city, and the York Minster is such a beautiful church. We stayed for the Evensong service, and it has such gorgeous choral music!
Getting Around: We took the trains in-between towns, and except for London where we had the tube, it was pretty much walking. We did grab taxis a couple of times (like getting to and from the theater in Stratford). Nice taxis that can easily accommodate four people. The trains weren't nearly as relaxing as I thought they'd be; between never having enough room for your luggage on the racks and constantly being thrown out of our seats due to reservations, it got old. Our last trip we made reservations and got a table seat...and I have to admit it felt good to throw the people out who rushed to get it ahead of us. :)
The Food: While England is not really known for having amazing food or anything, they certainly know how to make mouthwatering baked goods. Scones with clotted cream and jam are pretty much pure awesome. And the pub food was really pretty tasty! Steak and Ale pie and Yorkshire pudding with roast beef were both excellent. With beverages, however, there are no free refills, and we never seemed to be able to get enough water at our table. But there was excellent tea in pretty much every restaurant (though good coffee was kind of hard to come by). Most hotels served full sit-down breakfast, which was really nice.
So anyway, it was a great trip, and I pretty much wanted to go back as soon as we got home. Nice people, great history, fantastic architecture! Heh, and it was super depressing to go back to work. But I have my birthday to look forward to in a few days!
But England was great! Such an immense amount of history all around; it was awesome to think that these churches and castles had been around since medieval times. America is such a young county in comparison - we get excited if something is over 200 years old. XD I'd definitely love to get back to the UK as well. Scotland and Ireland have yet to be explored at all, and there was still so much to do in London alone.
Quickie recap of the major stops:
London: Very exciting, but SO BUSY. It was exhausting to schlep the luggage up and down all the stairs of the train and tube stations, though once we had dropped it off at the hotel, the Tube was absolutely great for getting around. We did the touristy things like Tower of London, the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, etc. Oh, and had an absolutely wonderful afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. But there is still so much we didn't even get to! I definitely want to return someday. Oh, we also took a day trip out to Dover Castle/White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral, which was nice. I think it was actually the only castle we visited. :(
Bath: Super charming little Georgian town. We visited the ruins of the Roman Bath, ate some delicious food at Patisserie Valerie, and took a one-day bus trip out to Stonehenge. Oh, and this was the town where my brother and I had our room randomly upgraded to the Suite. XD
Wales: I don't think we would have normally gone out to Wales, except that my parents have a friend who lives there. So they got to stay at his house, while bro and I stayed in by far the worst hotel of the trip. (Ultra weird and spartan furnishings. Like where people probably film low-budget porn.) But it was great having our friend drive us all over and show us around! Beautiful, lush Welsh countryside and seaside.
Stratford-on-Avon: Shakespeare's birthplace, and final resting place. This town's entire tourism industry is apparently built around Shakespeare, because his face is EVERYWHERE. Still, it was interesting to see the houses owned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (especially Anne Hathaway's cottage and the Birthplace). The church where Shakespeare and his family is buried was neat as well. But the absolute best part of this stop was seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Oh, and a humorous aside: our hotel was named the Moonraker...and there was a giant picture of Sean Connery on the wall. Oh, and Stratford was super windy.
York: While I enjoyed York, by this point on the trip I was pretty much ready to go home. But York is a fantastic medieval walled city, and the York Minster is such a beautiful church. We stayed for the Evensong service, and it has such gorgeous choral music!
Getting Around: We took the trains in-between towns, and except for London where we had the tube, it was pretty much walking. We did grab taxis a couple of times (like getting to and from the theater in Stratford). Nice taxis that can easily accommodate four people. The trains weren't nearly as relaxing as I thought they'd be; between never having enough room for your luggage on the racks and constantly being thrown out of our seats due to reservations, it got old. Our last trip we made reservations and got a table seat...and I have to admit it felt good to throw the people out who rushed to get it ahead of us. :)
The Food: While England is not really known for having amazing food or anything, they certainly know how to make mouthwatering baked goods. Scones with clotted cream and jam are pretty much pure awesome. And the pub food was really pretty tasty! Steak and Ale pie and Yorkshire pudding with roast beef were both excellent. With beverages, however, there are no free refills, and we never seemed to be able to get enough water at our table. But there was excellent tea in pretty much every restaurant (though good coffee was kind of hard to come by). Most hotels served full sit-down breakfast, which was really nice.
So anyway, it was a great trip, and I pretty much wanted to go back as soon as we got home. Nice people, great history, fantastic architecture! Heh, and it was super depressing to go back to work. But I have my birthday to look forward to in a few days!