Easter is a wonderful time in England because we get 4 whole days off work! We went down to Chichester today with Mirra to a dog friendly bed and breakfast. We had our own little private garden (see above) and went to the beach at Bognor Regis and still have three days off. Thanks, Jesus!
We had a lovely family day at the beach in Southsea today! I promised Mirra I would take her to see ocean one day and while she wasnt that impressed she did actually run on the beach which was absolutely adorable!
Tina and I went to Brighton (all by ourselves!) today. It was a bit longer travel time than I expected, and we got there a bit later than we had planned, but we had a some awesome cheesy garlic bread and fun with the arcade rides and games!
We went on a very mini-holiday to Wiltshire today and passed none other than Stonehenge on the way there. It was very strange to see it; not because it was so impressive as most may say, but because its just THERE, so random in the middle of nowhere with people driving by it paying no mind. We didnt bother going up to it since you cant really even get that close, but now I can say I have seen it. Check!
Then we went to Longleat which is a safari park among other things. We only went to the safari park part and I drove (!!) Roundabouts are tough, but roaming lions, tigers, antelopes, etc dont scare me :) Here are a few photos:
We spent most of the day cleaning (blech) including some heavy duty carpet cleaning. I know, I know - control your excitement! I am hoping for some more interesting posts in the near future...
To make up for yesterday's laziness, I was dragged out of bed at 7:30 this morning and we were in Brighton by 9:30, having breakfast at one of my favourite places, Giraffe. Yum yum.
Brighton Pier (above) is full of arcades, games, fish and chips, ice cream, tarot card readers, a few of these put-your-face-in-a-silly-cartoon-things...
... and the home of Pier Idol (yes, like American Idol). Before the "idol hopefulls" performed, it was open mic karaoke and this happened: I apologize that I didn't get the chorus, because I am sure you can imagine how fabulous that was, but check out her shirt! "I love 10 pints and a curry". Oh dear...
Oh and in case you were wondering, some girl named Sandra (from Tenerife who spoke with an American accent) won Pier Idol 2009. Good for her!
What I learned today: One can never get bored people watching in Brighton
My dad is a train enthusiast so in his honour, we went for a ride on the Watercress Line which runs real steam engines on a short route between Alton and Alresford in Hampshire. David went up to the Signalman's area (which is clearly marked "private"), knocked on the door and much to my surprise, the very nice man inside let us in and taught us all about the switches and safety measures put in place long ago to ensure the trains didnt colide; all very interesting stuff. We were getting a little antsy as he kept talking when the train was supposed to be departing and he just said "dont worry, they cant leave without me". Super nice guy. Here he is:
Then we went to Winchester to check out the Cathedral. I almost don't have words for it - it was SO amazing. Incredible detail, beautiful carvings, really really impressive.
What I learned today: Winchester used to be the capital of England.
I know I cant be the only one who finds that when cities are "Upon-Thames" or upon something else, their charm value goes through the roof, but sadly, even when a town is Something-upon-Something, no one actually calls it that. At least thats the case with Kingston upon Thames - its just Kingston (the namesake for Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani's child, I am sure). Regardless of the modernization of the name, the town is very charming. I went there today (took the train all by myself!) for a meeting with a company that specialized in charity recruitment/employment. Sadly, they were less than charming and failed to give me an hope that they would be the answer to my job search. They did say they would pass on my CV (resume) to the World Wildlife Federation who are looking for a 6-week temporary position, so we'll see how that pans out.
I stumbled across this "art" in Kingston, and then noticed that Kingston's Wikipedia entry has almost the same exact photo!
What I learned today: I love pasties! That's pasty (pronounced "paa" like Pat), not pastie like strippers put on their nipples. A pasty is a bunch of goodness (mine was cheese, thinly sliced potato, onions and mushroom) put in a nice pastry case. (What is a pastry case really called??) And yes, I really did sit there in a busy square and photograph my pasty. Check it out.
I have perhaps mentioned to most of you before (because I think its the strangest thing), something very odd happens when the sun shines and/or it is not raining: Brits run outside and find something, anything to do in case the sun never shines again. I took this picture in a square/park in Manchester at about 11am when it was partly cloud and the temperature (I checked on my phone) was 73 degrees. Now, I have seen many a child run around in public fountains when its about 90 degrees and the sun is making it uncomfortable to be outside, but never on a day like this.
The children were either dressed in swimsuits or stripped down to their underwear, while some of their caretakers didn't even bother....
What I learned today: Apparently most or all of British credit cards have a little chip in them and the terminals which Americans usually slide the card through is set up to have the card inserted and the chip read. I was not surprised when I recieved a deep sigh from a cashier when I asked her to take my regular non-chipped card.
We drove (er... David drove and I rode) up to Manchester today. Very boring drive; not much to see as we took a toll road which apparently takes you around Birmingham, so all I saw were rest stops, lots of signs warning you to not drive while tired, cows, sheep and 2 shetland ponies. As you can tell from the photo above, there is a random huge London-Eye-wanna-be ferris wheel in the middle of Manchester.
What I learned today: Manchester has an awesome thing called Printworks, which is an old newspaper printing place (or something like that) that is now filled with pubs and restaurants. Sounds great to me because if its raining, you can go inbetween pubs without ruining your hair. Good thinking!
We took an impromptu trip to Portsmouth today and had lunch and a lie on the beach at Southsea. It was one of those days where the weather makes all Brits comment approximately every hour how nice of a day it is, and then when its still "nice" come evening, they comment on what a lovely evening it is. I've yet to see this terrible weather for which England is known, but I hope its coming!
What I learned today (just for Kari): It's actually fairly comfortable to lay on pebbles.
