Some pictures from last week, it was a blast:
Day 1, Friday, August 2
Drove from Rochester to Toronto in the morning. Arrived Toronto at about 2 PM. Hung out with the parents and brother and his wife. Later, in the evening, went to hang out with friends, played pictionary and cranium. Steff didn’t go, slept, she had worked the previous night all night. Came back to parents’ late at night.
Day 2, Saturday, August 3
Woke up at 6 AM, played 18 holes of golf with brother and friend. Got back home around noon. Cleaned up and had delicious food for lunch from The Kebob. Got to airport at 4:30 PM, flight at 7 PM. Flight on time, on our way to London. Here is Steph at the Toronto airport.
Day 3, Sunday, August 4
Arrived London at 7:30 AM London time, didn’t sleep on plane at all. Steph read the Harry Potter book, I watched TV. Passport control and baggage took about an hour and a half. Went to Avis at the airport, picked up car. Audi A4 1.9 Liter Diesel, with a very ****ty satellite navigation system. Drove to Sheffield, 3 hour drive, by this time I was VERY tired on account of having been up for over 24 hours. Drive to Sheffield difficult on the M1 out of London. Arrived Sheffield 1 PM, checked into hotel, rested, showered. Called Anna, Stephs friend from college, she’s now doing her PHd in Sheffield. Hung out with her, went to Chatsworth house which is a big huge manor house with amazing gardens. They even had a hedge maze, fun times. After finding the center of the maze, as we were coming out, some other girl was just about to turn the corner and reach the center and I told her not to go there cuz it was a dead end. She turned around and was about to go back and Steph and Anna yelled at me and told the girl that I was lying and she was almost at the end. I got dirty looks 
Then we went and had some Japanese food. Dropped Anna off at home and went back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
Day 4, Monday, August 5
Drove from Sheffield to Chepstow in the south of Wales. About a 3 hour drive, much better this time because of all the sleep. Went to Tintern Abbey, an Abbey built by Cisterian Monks in the 12th century. Today the Abbey lies in ruins, however, the structure, all of it, save the roof is intact. There is grass growing on the abbey floor, it’s absolutely serene and beautiful to see so much history that has inspired masters like William Wordsworth who in the 18th century composed some of his greatest work at the site of Tintern Abbey.
After Tintern Abbey, we drove to Chepstow castle, a 20 minute drive. This is one of the oldest castles built in Great Britain by William the Conqueror in the year 1037. It lies on the river Wye and was of strategic importance to the monarchy. The castle was awesome, we explored numerous towers, ramparts, and baileys. Before the castle, we had stopped at a grocery store to buy bread, cheese, meats, drinks, and other snackey cakes for lunch. We climbed one of the primary towers and sat in the ramparts and had lunch while over looking the beautiful Wye valley and river.
After the castle, we drove to Bath, Somerset, England. Bath is a very old city that was populated by the romans in BC 67 (I think). There are a lot of Roman buildings here. We drove straight to the house we were staying at, we stayed at this beautiful manor house, very charming. After checking in to the house, which involved sitting down and having tea with the owners and chit chatting, we walked down to the city and just hung out and had dinner, it was getting late. We went back to the hotel for a lovely time in our lovely house with our lovely hosts.
Day 5, Tuesday, August 6
Woke up around 9 AM, showered, packed, drove into town, took a tour of the Roman baths that are built around naturally occurring hot springs that still to this day spit out 1.7 million liters of water a day. The baths were awesome because you can still walk on, see, touch, step on the original Roman structures and temples built before the time of Christ.
After the baths, we went and looked around Bath Abbey, just a really nice abbey in the center of town.
At around 1 PM, we left Bath for Salisbury. It was an hour drive through some very very dangerous and hilly areas with no shoulders on the road and trucks coming the other way at 2000 miles per hour. Finally arrived in Salisbury and visited Salisbury cathedral. This cathedral is MASSIVE. It was built in the 14th century in only 36 years which is quite an accomplishment. Its spire is the tallest spire in Britain. It has the oldest clock in Europe that was built to ring the bell in the tower. THe chapter house of Salisbury cathedral houses one of only four remaining originals of the Magna Carta, sadly no photos allowed.
We then drove to our hotel in Salisbury and checked in, very nice place, surprising room. Rested a while and then drove to Stone Henge which was about 1.5 miles from our hotel. Stone Henge was REALLY neat, just something very magnetic about it, perhaps it was the area, Salisbury plains is just this vast open area with this huge wind constantly moving across the plains.
After Stone Henge, we drove back to the hotel where Steph spent about 2 hours in the jacuzzi in the bathroom, yes another surprise. Had a late dinner from a takeout place and brought it back to the room.
Days 6, 7, and 8 to come later…
*
*
