These past few weeks have been absolutely exhausting but so worth it. I had the opportunity to spend two weeks with my parents and brother, and a week with Jonny and his mom. Such fun! While I enjoyed these past few weeks, I am very excited to start the second half of my courses. Because I had such a crazy past few weeks, I decided to do a quick synopsis of the weeks instead of my usual categorized blog post!
The first week of my two weeks of break were spent in England with my parents, my brother and Ellen. Ellen and I flew to London the day before my family came and toured around London. We started the day with a tour of the Tower of London, headed to The British Museum, strolled around Kensington Gardens, walked along the river to see the London Eye and a covered up Big Ben. I was so bummed that Big Ben was covered because it was Ellen’s first time in London! For dinner, Ellen and I ate at Bubble Dogs, a champagne and hot dog restaurant. It was a very interesting combination, but we enjoyed it immensely.
The next day, we met up with my parents at Heathrow Airport and drove towards our friends’ house in Shapwick, England. We arrived in the afternoon and spent the day chatting and catching up with our friends. It was so nice getting to relax in a house for a change. As it was Sunday, we had roasted Lamb and potatoes for dinner. It is a tradition in England to have roasted meat and potatoes for lunch or dinner on Sunday’s. The next day we walked to a nature reserve that is close to their house, and I learned that most of the land in the UK is open to the public which means you can walk across fields and along country roads. We also went into Wells, toured the Cathedral, ate some pasties (of course), and hiked up to the Glasonbury Tor. It was such a wonderful day with our friends.
After Shapwick, we headed up to Portishead to visit our other friends. While there, we relaxed, chatted, played with their dogs, walked along the coast, went to the SS Great Britain Museum, and walked around the gardens of the Tyntesfield House. We had some amazing pizza at Antonio’s on the first night, and we had a delicious homemade Shepherd’s Pie the next. My favorite part about this part of the trip was getting to spend time with the dogs. I have missed my pets immensely, so it was super awesome to get to spend time with their dogs! We had such a lovely visit with our friends and cannot wait to visit them again.
After leaving Portishead, we headed towards the Cotswolds and Blenheim Palace before settling in London. In the Cotswolds, we stopped in the quaint village of Tetbury. We walked around the village, popped in the shops, toured around the church and, of course, visited a sweet shop (ya girl loves a good sweet shop). I really enjoyed walking through the church because it had old school pew benches that were like big boxes. It reminded me of the church scenes from Pride and Prejudice (SO YEAH, I was excited!!)! Blenheim Palace was the next stop which was the birth place of Winston Churchill, so it was of course one of my favorite things (I named my dog Winston after all). The Palace itself was quite breathtaking once you looked past the construction on one portion of the palace. After touring the magnificent rooms, we walked through the large and beautiful gardens. It was spectacular and very fun. After driving back to London, we got the full experience of the very busy Heathrow Airport. Instead of going to the Rental Car Return, we somehow managed to get into the parking garage and had to pay about 4 pounds just to get out! Let’s just say it was an “opportunity” to learn more about patience and staying calm for my dad and I. Once we got the car returned, got into the city and checked into our hotel, my dad realized that he still had the key to the rental car. Though this was an issue, I was so thankful that he found it before we left for Ireland!
As Ellen and I were just in London, we were pros at the Underground and used our skills to navigate around the city with my parents. We visited Hyde Park, the Albert Memorial, Westminster Abbey (Found Jane Austen’s name on a plaque and was so thrilled for hours after that) and watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace all before lunch that day. What a whirlwind of a morning! After lunch we went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum which was SO COOL. I am a big Sherlock Holmes fan, so I really enjoyed going to 221 B Baker Street and see the set-up of his house. The layout was so accurate that it was a little creepy! Our final stop before heading to the airport was at Abbey Road. I love The Beatles, so this was a great stop for me. My dad, Ellen and I attempted to get the iconic Abbey Road shot, but it didn’t turn out too well. But we still crossed it which was good enough for me! After Abbey Road, we headed back to Heathrow to fly back to Dublin. Our flight was delayed for a while, so we got to Dublin pretty late. I think I went to bed around 1 am that night and had set my alarm for 5:45 am. It was a short night to say the least, BUT my dad and I picked up Jonny and his mom the next day so it was well worth the little sleep that I got!
As this was a long post already, I've decided to split up the weeks into two different posts! Be on the lookout for Week 2 of 2 with the Rents.. and MORE!!!
* Weekly Tea Trivia: Just like milk, a cup of tea helps strengthen your bones.
Cheers,
Anna