Life of Megan: England Trip

Mother Nature must have heard my plea - it's sunny!! The whole time I was in England with Kiley visiting Anna and Zac, the sun was out for maybe a total of 4 hours. Everything seems so bright here in comparison! Time for my body to react with the sun rays to make vitamin D. Man, am I nerd - who thinks like that besides science geeks? Anyways, I'm going to tell ya'll about the first few days in England. Ready? You better be.

View from Anna's house over her backyard. The houses are packed so tightly together I could touch her house and the neighbors without moving my feet.

First off, we flew out of Chicago O'Hare to Toronto to London Heathrow. Our first flight to Toronto was a mess. A much smaller plane than anticipated was to be taking us. They had to ask at least 15 people to give up their seats for a $500 voucher. Apparently, not enough people wanted to take a later flight. After sitting on the plane for 45 minutes they finally had to deny 2 people boarding so people with connecting flights (like Ky and I) could get to where we needed to be. Then we used all of our taxing fuel sitting there so we had to wait for that to be refilled. Then we were like 10th in line for take off. All I can say is 'thank goodness we had a long time in Toronto to catch our connecting flight!'. The next flight went smoothly except for the fact that it was a 8 hour journey. I tried sleeping but you know how comfortable planes are! At least they gave us dinner and breakfast and free movies :

Really pretty view from a hill in Shaftesbury. The picture doesn't quite capture all the hills.

Anna and I in front of her house!

STONEHENGE! Anna lives about 20 minutes away.

When we landed, the customs and passport control lady decided she wanted to give me a hard time. After being up for 24 hours at the time, I was not a happy camper and just wanted to see Anna. So when she decided she battered me with enough questions, Ky and I went to find Anna at the pick up area. There were thousands of people so thankfully Anna spotted us. It was like the movies - we ran towards each other (awkwardly with suitcases). I was so happy to see her! 8 months is a long time not seeing one of your closest friends!! Her dad drove us back to their hometown, Shaftesbury which is in the southwest part of England (where it kind of sticks out). Anna forced us to stay up so we adjust to the time zone. HER PARENTS ARE FANTASTIC COOKS WHO ALSO HAPPEN TO BE VEGETARIAN!! We took a small walk around Shaftesbury, ate, talked with her family, and then crashed around 10p.

They have a lot of sheep in England.

The next day, we went to Salisbury which is about 45 minutes away from her hometown. We walked through Salisbury Cathedral, saw the original Magna Carta, and went shopping. It was really pretty even though it was cloudy and chilly. For lunch we had authentic English food - pasty! Soooooo good! We also visited Old Wardour Castle - my first castle :) Later that evening, we bought cider and watched a movie because Ky and I were still jetlagged.

In front of Wardour Castle!

Couldn't resist taking this picture!

Salisbury Cathedral

Courtyard view in Salisbury Cathedral. This is where we saw the Magna Carta.

On Monday, we went to Bath which is also pretty close. We toured Bath Abbey, the Roman Baths, and had lunch at a really tasty Italian place. It was really cold that day and all I wanted to do was jump in the Roman bath because it is a natural hot spring. When we got back to Shaftesbury, we had another delicious dinner cooked by her parents. That evening, I made my first legal alcohol purchase!! I bought a peach cider - yummy!

Ky, me, Anna at the Roman Baths.

Ky and I outside Bath Abbey.

This is what I wanted to jump into. So warm!

Tuesday, we went to Stourhead which is a family estate with a massive garden. I found fungus everywhere :) Once again, it was really pretty even though there wasn't a ray of sun. Her dad took the scenic drive back and seeing the rolling hills took my breath away. Speaking of, it is weird driving on the left side of the road.