Having spent 4 non-stop sightseeing days in London, we decided it's time to leave the frantic city and head for greener pasture of the English countryside. After grabbing some tasty pasties (a deliciously flaky and messy pie stuffed with all sorts of meat), we boarded a train heading southwest towards Uncle Allan's home near Brockenhurst:
Ahhhhh.... the picturesque English countryside. Wish we could bottle the greenness and serenity and bring it home with us.
We met a very friendly lady, Jill, from London making the same journey with us on the train, and after stuffing our face with pasties, we striked up a conversation with her about everything British- from the new prime minister (Gordon Brown, "lacks charisma" in Jill's words), to the climbing cost of living in London. It's apparent in our conversation that Jill is an animal-lover- she asked a fellow Australian passenger adoringly how come they don't keep kangaroos as pets, so we desperately want to hear from her how much she, along with everyone else in the UK, adores the Queen's corgis. We were shocked to find out how misguided we were. I think these are her exact words: "the Queen has enough corgis for everyone in the country, doesn't she? She's a bit obssessed with them... And can you believe those little things get treated better than some people? (accompanied with a digusted look)" I guess the only Brit that adores the corgis as much as we do is the Queen! How disappointing... they're probably considered more Royal Pests than Royal Pets, mere needless drain of taxpayers' resources. Oh well, I guess we're not taking Bryson on our next trip to England.
We went on to spend 2 lovely days roaming around historic towns like WInchester and Windsor with Uncle Allan and Auntie Sue. They truly adore life in this part of Britain, and who can blame them? It's steeped in natural beauty and immense history (and lots of good pubs). We're just so glad that we're able to visit them before they move back to the States, so we could see England in the eyes of someone who've experienced both countries for a considerable period of time and share similar values with us. We learned so much talking to them about everything from the history of England to that of our family, it was quite a treat.
In front of Uncle Allan and Auntie Sue's home, in which they will be in for another month or so before moving back Stateside
A sight that I'm totally in awe with- wild horses running around our neighborhood in the area known as "the Forest". They are kinda like the deers we have back home, but it's quite a different sight seeing these undomesticated horses gallop around freely in those long, graceful strides. It's just a bit scary to see how close they come to the road (if they're not actually on the road, staring at you like "what are you doing on my turf?")
Stonehenge- it's hard to grapple with how something of this scale was built with someone's bare hands some 5000 years ago, and it's even harder to understand why the Brits built the motorway so close to this fragile prehistoric site (the road is practically right behind us in this picture, heard that's going to change though, hopefully before this turns into a pile of prehistoric rubble). The audio tour does a great job in describing the history and science behind it, but I almost like it better when it was associated with all kinds of myths and gruesome stories of human sacrifice (which apparently never took place here, how disappointing...)
Windsor Castle- a medieval castle that dates back to William the Conquerer that's still inhabited by the Queen today. In fact I think they were getting ready for a birthday party for her that weekend we were visiting, most rooms were closed in preparation, so we only saw a fraction of what would otherwise be open to the public. And we were still charged full-price admission, what a rip-off... oh well, I guess we could try to persuade ourselves to think of it as subsidy to the Royal Corgis, makes it marginally more palatable
One of the many inner courtyards inside the Windsor Castle- you can see guards marching around getting ready for the Queen's b-day bash
Inside the impressive Winchester Cathedral, one of the largest in Britain. The gothic ceiling almost looks like fish fins; and in fact, it has a chapel dedicated to fishermen (see the second figure from the left holding a fish?)
Ha ha, we couldn't resist! Perfect way to end the trip... Oh wait, they sell musical instruments here...
