Update 7/12 - 21/12
UNITED KINGDOM | Wednesday, 21 December 2005 | Views [346] | Comments [7]
So, the last update was 6/12. That seems ages ago. Haven't even mentioned Holland! OK, so again, I'll try and keep it brief.
Well we went to Canturbury, and more specifically Canturbury Cathedral, which was really awe inspiring. For me, I'd never really seen any of the really elaborate churches or abby's, so it was really interesting. And we did a quick tour through with Phillip, and heard all about Thomas Beckett and Henry VIII (I think). Interesting story if your interested in that stuff, and saw the crypts and the church treasury room etc etc, all very interesting. And we get to revisit it in the full swing of things for the christmas carols or service or something, which yet again, should be really good.
On the Friday 9th we headed to Dortrecht (previous capital of Holland before amsterdam) with Melissa & Adam, which was a great little weekend away. Bascially stayed with Adam's aunty and uncle, in a really eaborate and old house, 4 stories, on the water of Dortrecht Harbour and canals, and the sort of place where there's big portraits of the original owners, and all the rugs are ancient, and yeah. Everything sort of had a story behind it. Will get the photos up when we get to christine's. Daisy and Sam were excellent hosts, huge meals, lots of good dutch food and beer, great time. Climbed the tower of the local cathedral, which got us some pretty damn good views of the city. And gave me my exercise for the three months! Heading back from Holland we stopped into Brugge in Belgium, and spent the afternoon walking around the streets and getting some really awsome chocolate. So good! After that just headed back to Poole, and spent the rest of the time there bumming around, going to the local pub, and shops!
On the 14th we headed down to Exeter via bus, which took about 5 hours, but wasn't actually too bad, cause about half the time was driving along the coast and got to see some pretty nice scenery. Did you know idiots ACTUALLY surf over here in the winter? I wouldn't even go near the beach, let alone in the water. By the time you get into the bloody wetsuit, hood, booties, and gloves, hypothermia'd be setting in and you're off to hospital! Anyway, met up with Jane at the bus station, dinner in a pub, and then spent most of the time there (about a week) travelling around to National Trust Houses, which are all really interesting and great to walk around, but a bit hard to write about without going on for pages and pages. One highlight was Killerton House, which was this old house some aristoractic family had made back in the day, and just really demonstrated how powerful they were. They moved entire villages to better their view of their estate, had a little hut specifically for a bear that one of their sons decided he liked the idea of, and the garden was full of all these really rare and bizarre trees and plants, like bamboo, and those huge trees that grow the biggest in the world or something. Redwood? But yeah, the owner paid twice the average salary of the day to buy one of these trees, and there's about a dozen scattered on the property. Realy interesting time in Exeter, and Jane and Chris were both good fun! Oh! We also went to Bath while we were at Exeter. Which I loved! Thought the Roman baths was really interesting, and really demonstrated how ingenious the Romans were in their day.
On the 20th we caught a train from Exeter to where we are now in Gloustershire staying with Mandy & Alan in Cirencester. Haven't really done anything much here yet. Only got here yesterday evening. Sat up drinking too many bottles of red wine (we drank every drop of wine in the house between us... oops!) and then today spent the day in town, and went to the Roman Museum where Mandy works, which was fascinating. Cirencester was actually the second largest Roman town in Britain behind London, so there's heaps of history and artifacts. Aparently it's quite normal to be diggin in the garden and unearth Roman pots and other artifacts. Bizarre!
Anyway, that brings you up to date in really brief detail. Sorry we haven't updated for a while, but we haven't had real good access to a computer for a while, and been too busy actually doing touristy stuff to sit in an internet cafe. Heading to the pub tonight, which should be a laugh. Aparently the owner is well known for taking a dislike to some of his patrons, and just kicking you out with a torrent of abuse if he feels like it, and apparently Alan's not on his good side, so should be a good night!!!!
Looking forward to Christmas back at Pluckley! Should be good to cath up with bobbo after that and compare travel stories. From the sound of his e-mail he's having a pretty wild, at times dangerous trip, so should be funny. So New Years in London, then off to Europe on Contiki!!!!
Hope everything's good back home. Steer clear of the riots, and hope everyone has a great Christmas! Think of us when you're downing one thousand beers at Greengate!
Love to all back home,
Snape & Coles.
Tags: In England
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