Raining cats and dogs in Shap!

This past weekend I went on a homestay down in Shap, England.  I had a great time and got to see the typical daily life of a family living in the countryside.  By far was one of the most beautiful places I've been to.  All the towns were surrounded by amazing views, all green rolling hills and towering mountains.

 

I stayed at the house of a woman named Margaret.  There was no father figure around, and three of her four children lived in other towns.  One of her sons and his wife lived out back in a smaller house.  Margaret has three cats and three dogs...was so nice getting to spend time with animals again!  I so much enjoyed the home cooked meals she prepared for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day...

Looks just like Sally!

 

Chris also stayed in the same house along with another girl we met.  Saturday Margaret took us hiking to a waterfall and brought us to an old castle and to Castlerigg, the stone circle created years and years ago.  After we went into the town of Keswick and walked along the streets in and out of the numerous shops.

We went to a ceilidh Saturday night which turned out to be quite fun.  We spent the rest of the night hanging out with her son and his wife and friends drinking wine and chatting.  Never thought I'd actually enjoy wine...

Sunday we went to a small chocolate factory, had an delicious chocolate milk shake!  After a large traditional English lunch we set off for a two hour hike through the countryside.  We stopped at a sheep farm and got to play with baby lambs.

"We're going to London, Baby!"

Two weekends ago Chris and I made the 9 hour bus ride down to London.  Wednesday night at 10:30 we departed from St. Andrew's Square here in Edinburgh and arrived at Victoria Coach Station in London at 7:30 a.m.  We figured we would sleep on the bus and that way we would have all of Thursday to explore London...slept maybe 4 hours.  The excitement of being in London gave me a day long burst of energy.  Such a huge city, so much to see!  The weather the first day was very peculiar.  We lucked out as the rain held off, but the first half of the day was very overcast and later in the day the sun kept peeking out.

We set off first to find Buckingham Palace, the Queen of England's residence.  It is a magnificent building with amazing structures out front.

We were hoping to see the Changing of the Guards, but this time of the year they only do it every other day, of course that day was an "other" day.  Also surprised to see them in grey uniforms rather than the typical red.

From there we walked through Green Park, adjacent to Buckingham Palace.  We also walked by St. James's Palace and through St. James's Park.  Right next to St. James's Park was the Horse Guards Parade.

Green Park Entrance

Green Park

The Guards at St. James's Palace

St. James's Park

Horse Guards Parade
(London Eye back right)

We then walked to Parliament Square in the heart of London where lies the main tourist attractions of the city.    Got to see Big Ben and Parliament as well as many statues of well respected figures such as Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and Oliver Cromwell.

Oliver Cromwell
Winston Churchill (above left), Nelson Mandela (above right)

Also in Parliament Square is Westminster Abbey, where Prince William and Kate Middleton will be married. Westminster Abbey is also the burial grounds for Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, and Oliver Cromwell amongst many other historic figures.

Next to Parliament Square is Westminster Bridge which took us across the Thames River to the ferris wheel looking contraption, the London Eye.  The view alone from the base of the London Eye is gorgeous, I can only imagine how spectacular it must be at its highest point.  It was rather pricey, and we could not bother to stand in the long line that had just formed as it opened for the day.

Next came the bulk of our walking for the day.  We knew that the London Bridge, the Tower of London (an old Castle), and Tower Bridge were further down the Thames River, we just weren't sure exactly how far down.  Turns out it was about 2.5 miles down, taking us probably 45 minutes to get there.  Fortunately for us there were many benches along the way that caught our eye.  

It was time to finally eat something after all that roaming....so thankful London actually has a Chipotle! Felt like I was back home eating my steak burrito!  Chris and I explored Trafalgar Square after lunch and stopped in the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery.  We then walked backed across the city through Hyde Park to Kensington Palace.  All great sites to see and many good ones along the way.  

Trafalgar Square

We had met up with our buddy Greg, who is studying in London for the semester, on Friday night and stayed at his place.  Saturday he took us to Piccadilly Circus which resembles the streets of Time Square in New York City.  We also walked through the Chinatown of London.  Finally we went to Camden Market, a long street filled with shops and bargain opportunities.  We grabbed a delicious burrito down a side street lined with food booths of all different cultures.

When we were out to dinner that night, I looked to my left at the table next to us only to recognize someone I worked with at the golf course last summer.  It was crazy seeing him, goes to show how small of a world it truly is.  Later that night we went out to this great club called Proud, which used to be old horse stables.  It was very cool how they had converted horse stables into a dance club.  Sunday we visited St. Paul's Cathedral.  It is easily the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen.  We hiked up over 300 steps to the top of the cathedral which led us outside the dome top and enabled us to see across the entire city.  

After we walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern, a popular modern art museum.  We did not spend too much time in the museum after being utterly bored by the first exhibit we viewed.  It was literally  just a floor of a room covered with porcelain sunflower seeds.  Needless to say it did not hold our interest long.

Sunflower exhibit...