I'll admit, we got spoiled. Breakfast at the Hotel Averard is a bit more spartan than the one at Old Boroughs Arms where we could have eggs, porridge etc, complementary with our stay. Here we had to pay extra (like 6 pounds, which is the equivalent to us to $12.) So we stuck with Wheatabix (one of my new favorites), more toast that we knew what to do with, cereal, and grapefruit sections. Oh and weak french press coffee (because we're too impatient to wait for it to get strong).
Ruben was a good boy and ran the 4 mile loop in Hyde park to (and I kid you not) "Impress his GPS unit). Silly geek boy. My GPS is far more impressed, running twice in Rye and once in Ireland. :)
Michelle and Kate left right after breakfast to go to Gatwick for their flight to Shannon, Ireland.
| We, on the other hand, took a series of tubes and trains and made it to Salisbury before 1pm. I now understand why most of the tours to Salisbury and Stonehenge start so early in the day! We had lunch in a terrific spot - someplace Ruben found in a brochure called the Haunch of Venison. I don't generally go off of a brochure's recommendation, but this was cool. It had a Pewter bar and a mummified hand, purportedly cut off during a game of cards. |
Elias wasn't happy though. He claimed his stomach hurt and he wouldn't stop complaining about the smoke. He ordered chicken nuggets and proceeded to waste almost all of it. Ruben had to take him outside.
We toured around the town and went into the Cathedral. There was a wedding in the chapel that day, so we were a little restricted, but it was impressive to hear the choir and the organ playing. Then we went in to see the Magna Carta. Elias mostly ignored it and hung to the side at the time, but once back in Seattle, he mentioned it in the context of something old on TV - so we know he learned something. We definitely need to explore this area of England more, maybe using Salisbury or Amesbury as a base.| One of the things Matthew wanted to do is see Stonehenge, so we took a bus there. It was a nice ride that went past old Sarum (something else to explore when we have more time), and through Amesbury (a very cute little town, about the size of Rye from what I could tell). Stonehenge: well like everyone else had warned me. It's not worth it. Elias was still feeling sick so Matthew and I were the only two who paid to get in. Ruben could see it from the street anyway. We basically paid $30 to go in a circle around the rocks. Because we were on one of the last busses there, and Elias wasn't feeling well, I rushed and didn't get the audio commentary... which would have helped me understand the history a bit more. My dad had sent me the book on it though, so I had a chance to read that later. Matthew took a ton of pictures and has an idea of what to do in Photoshop now that we're home. |
The bus ride back was nervewracking for me because Elias felt so terrible. His stomach was really hurting, but I thought this was more due to him not eating or from gas pain.
Getting on the train wasn't too much fun either. We couldn't find a seat in the train car we first got on. Ruben was helping and carrying Elias, and I had his bag, my bag and the camera. Plus we had to chat with each other up and down the aisle, so people could definitely tell. Yes we stood out as tourists. Well as we're walking down the aisle, I turn to see a woman following me. At first I shrugged my shoulders because I thought she was as frustrated as we were trying to find a good seat and it was taking us a while to walk down the aisle with Elias feeling poorly. Well when we finally found a group of four seats almost at the end of the train and sat down, she stopped right next to us and asked the the women across the aisle some random question that I didn't hear. One of the women, who had just taken a bite of apple, looked at her very strangely and said she didn't understand (later I realized they were probably Israelis speaking Hebrew). This strange woman then just turned around and walked towards the front of the train. I firmly believe she was a pickpoket trying to get into one of the bags I was carrying. I immediately checked everything and all was well, but it really pissed me off.
| The rest of the train ride was fine - Elias didn't get sick and slept. We came in at Waterloo station. Ruben was really excited to realize we were right next to the London Eye. As Ruben put it, if we couldn't see all of London by foot, we might as well see it by air. Convincing Elias, who has a slight fear of heights and still wasn't feeling well, was a bit of a challenge, but we took it slowly. I sent Ruben to buy the tickets while we went to the bathroom. We got in line and Elias was still crabby, even as we got to the front of the line, until all of a sudden it started POURING on everyone who wasn't under the overhand. Out popped all of the the umbrellas. We got into our little pod and went for a ride through the London skyline. |
We took another tube trip back to the hotel and ate at a nearby restaurant called Olio. It was good and Elias at a bit, but not much.
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