Springtime in England

The weather this past week has been unremittingly gorgeous. Blue skies, sunshine, in the 60’s. I love it. It’s funny how the British get on nice days…all the girls start wearing shorts even if it’s still a bit chilly and everyone just goes out on the field near the LRC to laze around. I went on a picnic the other day and some guy behind us was by himself juggling. Then I looked around a little while later and he had strung some rope between two trees and started tightrope walking. We acted like he was a weirdo but I think we were all just impressed.

Anyway, I’ve got most of my big assignments out of the way as far as schoolwork goes. On St. Patrick’s Day weekend I went to the St. Patrick’s Day parade in London. They had a huge stage set up in Trafalgar Square with live music and stands selling Irish foods and knickknacks. The parade was a bit random but still it was cool to be there, and we were right in the front.

This last Saturday I went on a day trip to Wales. We went to the town of Brecon, which is in a beautiful area known as the Brecon Beacons. I thought the landscape would be harsher and more mountainous but the Beacons are these huge, gently rolling green hills. There were sheep grazing all over and lambs chasing each other around, as well as horses and foals. We had to stop for a while to watch some lambs playing in a field. They are adorable (incidentally, they are also delicious in kababs).

Everywhere you looked it was just like a postcard or a page from a calendar. Amazing. The town of Brecon was nestled right in the midst of it. Brecon had the remnants of a castle as well as old stone bridges and cute shops. All of the signs in Wales are written in both Welsh and English—and some not even in English. I also saw several signs with “Meredith” on them, since that is a common last name in Wales. I wonder if they were any relation to me, since I have ancestors from Wales with the last name of Meredith! I meant to get a picture of one of the signs for my mom, but I didn’t get a chance to. Anyway, we ate at a nice—though overpriced—pub in Brecon called the Puzzle Tree. I had Welsh sausage and mash, and it was very good. I really wanted to overhear someone speaking in Welsh but alas, I didn’t. But it was really worth it because Wales was beautiful. I thought it was hilly around Hatfield but now I realize it’s practically flat here in comparison!

My Aunt Karen and I are still trying to work out the final few details for our trip, booking train tickets and the like. I can’t believe how close it is! I still have a lot to do. Anyway, I probably won’t have a great many interesting things to say before then. March has been insane...wonderful but insane, and I’m starting to think April will be the same!

Baths at Stonehenge, Baths in Bath

Last Sunday I went to Stonehenge and Bath. Not too much I can say about Stonehenge. I think my view of it was slightly soured owing to the fact that the weather was horrible when we went. It was cold and sprinkling when we waited in line for tickets, and by the time we got up to Stonehenge it was icy and pouring. That wouldn’t have been too bad but for the horizontal gusts of wind that constantly buffeted us. I couldn’t hear the person on my audio guide so I gave up trying to learn fascinating facts about Stonehenge. The other bad thing is you can’t walk among the stones anymore; they have a little path you have to view it from. We stayed long enough to snap a few pictures and then hustled back onto the bus. I was drenched from head to foot…it felt like I’d taken a bath fully-clothed. It was cool to see, but I wouldn’t make a second trip there!

Then another hour and we were at Bath, which is a beautiful city with Roman ruins and plenty of Georgian architecture from the 1700s. We took a city tour starting at a cathedral that had been built by Henry VII in the 1500s. The tour was really interesting but again the weather was not accommodating. It was cold and gusty and at one point it started hailing. Our poor tour guide…I think he could tell our attention was wandering, especially since none of us had eaten. Anyway, we saw the Circus, a collection of beautiful old houses where Nicolas Cage apparently used to live, as well as the Royal Crescent. Lots of cool stories about how they used to have duels on the lawns and how the city was the Las Vegas of its day—all these lavish parties and gambling halls. It was cool because a lot of the streets look so much like they might have centuries ago. Apparently one of the streets we saw was used to film 18^th century London scenes for that Vanity Fair movie.

We wandered back through the cute little streets to Sally Lunn’s, a restaurant in the oldest house in Bath (built in the 1600s) that is famous for its Bath buns. We actually ended up eating in a pub beside Sally Lunn’s, but oh well. I wanted something traditional so I got a steak-and-ale pie and mash (aka mashed potatoes), which was delicious and exactly what I needed to warm up. Outside it cleared up and a rainbow came out. The weather seriously went through all the seasons that day…spring, winter, and then it got warm and sunny. Guess England isn’t so different from Kansas, after all.

The Roman baths were my favorite part of our time at Bath. The museum is amazing. They have tons of Roman artifacts, including skeletons and burial stones and old accounts. And the Roman baths themselves are really beautiful. The hot springs were first used by the Romans and then later became very popular as a resort for royalty and nobility in the 1700s. You could tour the ruins of the bathhouse and temple the Romans had built. Their spas were set up very similarly to modern ones, with changing rooms, massage rooms, saunas, etc. The hot springs themselves were really neat. You weren’t supposed to touch the water but Andrea and I did when the attendants weren’t looking. It wasn’t really hot, just lukewarm—pretty much exactly like bathwater. They also had people dressed as Romans walking around and I guess you could talk to them, but they went on break before we could get over there. There’s authenticity for you. Anyway, we spent several hours there and before we left we flipped a coin into this pool in a Roman room called the frigidarium and made a wish, which is apparently what people have been doing for centuries. It was very cool!

Other than that, I haven’t been up to too much. March is going to be my crazy busy school month. I finished one 2,000 word essay this weekend but I have two more due next week. Yuck! One nice thing is the weather has been improving. It was almost in the 60’s today. I’ve noticed it has been getting rainier, but oh well. The nice days and warmer weather make up for it! The other week Tom came in and bullied Chelsea and me into getting ready early and going out for a walk because the weather was so nice. I’m glad we did, especially as we ended up doing one of my favorite things—eating—at this around-the-world cuisine place at the Galleria.

In my spare time I’ve been trying to help my Aunt Karen plan our Eurotrip over my Easter break. She, my mom, and cousin will be visiting. We are spending some time in England—London, Bristol, the Cotswolds and maybe Bath, then on to Dublin, Paris, Venice, and Rome. All the flights are booked and a couple of the hotels…we are still working on booking the rest. It is a lot of work and I haven’t planned anything like this before, so we are helping each other out! Before that, in late March, my Aunt Kim will be visiting as well and touring some of England with me, so I’m looking forward to that too. And I found out one of my best friends will definitely be visiting the first week of May, so I’m stoked for that. We are going to visit Germany if possible. I am just trying to enjoy the time I have. It is moving incredibly fast. I can’t believe it’s already March! Where is the time going?