My Travel Blog
I felt like a Roman when I woke up today because we slept on slabs of marble last night. They were disguised as beds, but were rock hard with the occasional spring sticking into your hip bone. We are at the Red Lion Salisbury and it's a very lovey old hotel aside from their horrible mattresses. We are strongly considering leaving a day early and starting our journey northward due to the hard mattresses and the fact that Jeff's legs literally hang a foot off the end of the bed. (Not going to lie, it's pretty funny looking!)
We tried out the included breakfast this morning and it was a full breakfast with eggs, toast, fried tomatoes, baked beans, etc. Unfortunately none of us were very hungry so I had a piece of watermelon, half a bowl of corn flakes and a lukewarm cup of tea. We got into the breakfast 15 minutes before it closed which explained the quality but didn't make us want to eat any more of it. Even Chloe, the baked bean lover, didn't partake. I am scared of coffee in Britain that doesn't come from a coffee chain and so I usually stick to tea in most situations… however today I was dying for a good strong brew. We went down to the shopping area and found a Costa Coffee where I had a great cup of coffee and the kids had very delicious smoothies. I have a feeling we'll be back there tomorrow and skip out on our included breakfast.
We walked over to the very famous Salisbury Cathedral this morning and spent about an hour walking around and exploring the grounds. It's a very pretty and peaceful place even though I'm sure that hasn't always been true over the centuries. It actually has one of the 4 remaining original copies of the Magna Carta and was (amazingly) built between 1220 - 1258… that's crazy!
We met up with Jennie's mom, aunt, and cousin and followed them out to Jennie's place in the middle of the English countryside. Thank goodness we followed them, because even with the hand drawn map we never, ever would've found it otherwise. Amazingly enough today marked the very first time we were meeting Scott, the groom. We've heard so much about him but had never actually seen him in person - and for awhile I thought maybe he was an 'imaginary' friend. Nope - he's real! Also at the bbq was Jennie's sister and her family and another good friend of Jennie's. We had a really nice afternoon eating, drinking, and frolicking in a nearby river to escape the heat.
We were thoroughly exhausted by doing a lot of nothing, and by the time we got back to the hotel we only had dinner on our minds. We found refuge in a place called the The Lazy Cow (whose idea was that?), that aside from it's name was amazingly delicious. Everything we ordered was great and we had an enjoyable time just sitting and soaking up the evening.
Tomorrow our plan is Stonehenge - I am just about to go on Wikipedia to find a few snippets to tell the girls so they know why we are going to look at big rocks in the middle of nowhere. Probably if Taylor Swift or One Direction were playing there they'd have a bit more enthusiasm! :)
Cheerio!
We have had such a fun day! After setting the alarm this morning to do the last minute packing before catching the 10:20 train to Salisbury, we were starving by the time we made it to the train station. We had 20 minutes to spare but weren't able to grab anything because we couldn't carry the drinks, food, and suitcases while getting into the train. After we were settled we had exactly 10 minutes until departure and Jeff ran off to be a hunter/gatherer for the family. I will not lie… the kids and I were very stressed that he wouldn't make back in time and were glued to the window. With 2.5 minutes to spare he arrived with coffee, croissants, muffins and orange juice. PHEW! I almost got an ulcer and I swear Julia had held her breath the entire time.
The train was only an hour and 15 minutes and all of a sudden we were in Salisbury being greeted by Jennie, the bride-to-be. It's amazing to be friends with someone for so long and have the ability to pick up right where you left off when it's literally been 2 years since seeing each other. We picked up our rental car, went to our hotel, and then spent a delightful afternoon eating, drinking, walking and shopping. Jeff needed to go for his kilt fitting and it was very entertaining to choose all the little bits and pieces that he needs to be (semi) official looking. Afterwards we had to go fascinator/hat shopping as I am in the market for a big fancy British/Scottish hat for Jennie's wedding. All the girls were trying on various head adornment's and I eventually settled on a large hat that is in the giant box Julia is carrying. Will I be fancy or what?!
After a fantastic Thai dinner we've retired to our hotel and are currently sitting in the courtyard using the wi-fi. We technically have it in our room, but considering the building is many hundreds of years old the signals don't seem to get to our room very well. We're all a little tuckered and are looking forward to getting to bed at a decent time tonight.
Goodnight from a cute little cathedral town on the other side of the pond!
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