Last time I posted I was in Bath. The following day (January 1) we traveled to Wiltshire to see the grand Salisbury cathedral. When walking in I was instantly in awe. The interior was breathtaking; the arches, the stained-glass windows, the ceiling, I didn't know what to look at! Again it was really neat seeing all of the architectural aesthetics that we have been studying over the years. Towards the center of the cathedral there is a fountain that if you bend down and look at the surface you can see beautiful reflections of the windows in it. It was really neat. While at the cathedral we were also able to see the Magna Carta. It is so cool being able to say that I saw this very important and famous document in person! Too bad I couldn't take any photographs to prove it. After touring we got lunch at a nice little French restaurant called Café Rouge. After waiting for what felt like forever we finally got our starter, breadsticks. We all thought that we only got one or two, but then the plates of breadsticks just kept coming and coming, it was absolutely insane. For the main course we got grilled chicken and ratatouille followed by ice cream, it was delicious.
When we all finished eating we were on our way to Brighton. After resting up from a nice long nap, we were awoken to seeing the beautiful Brighton Pier illuminating through the night sky. It really was like seeing a small glimpse of home since I am so used to living so close to a large body of water, I kind of really made me miss it a little. Anyways we made our way to the Ambassador hotel...and of course my luck I get put on the third floor...again. Now let me explain to you how the floors work here in the UK compared to in the US. In the US we count the first floor as being one, while here they count it as being the ground floor. So in actuality, I was on the fourth floor...awesome. So I had to drag both of my suitcases up multiple flights of narrow stair that had swinging doors in between each. Sorry to complain, but I felt like an old lady worrying that I was going to pull a muscle or something. Geez laweez. Our hotel was actually pretty close to the pier and I could even see it out my window, which was the only good thing about being on the third floor.
After moving in, a group of us decided to explore and find food. We stumbled upon a little restaurant called Betty La La's. It was absolutely adorable! The interior was very contemporary and chic. We were sat in in the back section that had a dim pink light hanging above and the furniture also had its own flare to it. Along with our dinner we ordered cocktails. That was my first time having a cosmopolitan and it was very good. When showing the owner of the restaurant our ids, she was very amused at how they looked and she asked us about where we are from and why we were all there, she was very sweet. And when we passed her restaurant the next day she recognized us and even waved. If I ever find myself back in Brighton, I would definitely like to stop back there.
The following day we had a walking tour scheduled and much to our dismay it was pouring out. Of course we had to experience our first heavy UK shower during this tour. Although it was not the preferred circumstance, the tour was pretty interesting and really like walking around a little down by the pier even though we couldn't go very far due to the waves. After this we went and toured the Royal Pavilion. It was so extravagant inside and each room had its own unique quality. For lunch we all met up to go to the Regency Fish Restaurant. I chose to get the seafood platter, because it had calamari. But when I received my food, there we like these little fried fish things that still had their eye balls. It was really creepy, but of course I had to try it and it was actually pretty good. For dessert I had amaretto tiramisu which was amazing. As a continuation on to trying new foods I choses to get a duck kabob wrap and I have discovered that I really like duck!
That night a group of us decided to go out and explore the town a little more. We went into a pub that was call Kings & Queens and the interior of it really made you feel like you were taken back to medieval times. Ceiling was vaulted and there was lots of wood beams. We then went to another pub that we had stopped in the night before which was called the Mucky Duck. Honestly the only reason we decided to go there the first time was because of the name. We encountered a few people who were from Ireland and they were so funny and nice! Its so cool being able to socialize from people who are from all over the world.
The next morning after having an authentic English breakfast we were finally on our way to London!!! But before we actually got to London we made a few stops to a couple of castles, no big deal ;). The first castle we stopped at was Battle Abbey in Hastings. I think this was one of my most favorite tours on this intro trip, because there was so much to look at and we were able to just explore and look around. In one part of the castle we walked in and it reminded me of a horror movie. It was like a dark, dingy cave. The next castle we went to was Bodiam in Robertsbridge. We got to go all the way to the top and although it was a nice view, I still don't like heights. We also ate lunch at a café here which some new duck friends that we made. Honestly, they wouldn't leave us alone and we even named one Daffy. Then we were on our last stop, London! Sorry for the long blog post, but I thought that I would just catch all of you up on what is going on. To create just a little suspense I will wait to post a blog about when we actually made it to London. Hey, I do have to make this a little more interesting, right?
-Cheers, Heather
No comments:
Post a Comment