Thursday, March 10, 2011

Mini England Day-by-Day :)

I just got back from a 5-week trip to the United Kingdom. YEAH PRETTY FREAKIN' AWESOME!!! Every day earned at least two pages in my journal [yes, I journal like a nerd, get over it], but obviously that's too much to put on here and it would be really boring to read. But it was too fantastic a trip to let. So here's a brief day-by-day :)

January 30 - Canada and plane
- saying bye to everyone :)
- setting off a gazillion metal detectors and then getting on the plane to Manchester

January 31 - Manchester and Hemingbrough
- getting off the plane in Manchester and driving to aunt & uncle's small town [about the size of Clinton] house in Yorkshire
- settling in/getting used to the time [arrived at 8am English time, 3am Canadian time, so no sleep whatsoever for like 30 hours!]
- picking Oli up from school around 3 and exploring the town - SO ENGLISH!!! :D

February 1 - Hemingbrough and Selby
- exploring nearby town of Selby [about the size of Goderich] and the Selby Abbey, which was built in, like the 1200s
- exploring the Hemingbrough Church, which is also very old

February 2 - York!
- walking along on top of the city walls
- exploring St. Mary's Abbey ruins
- exploring the York Minster, which was first built in 600 or something
- walking down the Shambles

February 3 - York
- York market
- just exploring all the old streets

February 4 - Hemingbrough and Barmby
- walking on trail along the River Ouse to a town called 'Barmby on the Marsh'
- walking with Marije along the outskirts of Hemingbrough/along the English countryside

February 5 - Knaresborough, Uncle Andrew's ancestors' hometown, and Ripley
- Knaresborough castle ruins
- Uncle Andrew's Great-great-great-grandfather's headstone
- tour of Ripley Castle, home of the Ingilby family for over 700 years [30th generation]
- trying on armour from this big important battle in the 1600s xD and apparently it's the only place where that armour is not behind glass

February 6 - Haworth and Salt
- exploring Haworth, the hometown of Charolette, Emily, and Anne Bronte, who wrote books like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre
- moss-covered stone fences that ran up and down the massive rolling green hills for miles
- big art gallery in Salt, a town/city that a Quaker guy founded [pretty cool since I'm a Quaker]

February 7 - Selby and York
- tour of Selby Abbey by Oli :)
- Jorvik Viking Centre in York, which was most definitely the BEST way to teach a history lesson. No buts, it was awesome and definitely NOT just for kids xD haha
- Clifford's tower
- walking past the flooded River Ouse in York, which is apparently normal

February 8 - Wakefield and Leeds
- coal mining museum in Wakefield/going down into the mine
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, which I didn't really get all the sculptures, but it was in a fantastic setting and there were rocks to climb xD
- special birthday dinner for Uncle Andrew's sister in Leeds

February 9 - Yorkshire Moors and Scarborough
- the incredible Yorkshire moors, all covered in sheep and heather
- walking along the outside of Scarborough castle
- Scarborough on the coast = a mini Las Vegas xD

February 10 - Edinburgh!!!! [which, if you didn't know, is in Scotland]
- big long train ride/wrong train, but got there anyways/finding hotel
- exploring/walking up and down the Royal Mile - sooo Scottish xD
- haggis, neeps & tatties :) actually pretty good

February 11 - Edinburgh
- exploring Edinburgh Castle [former home of the Scottish royal family]
- seeing the old Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny [if you ever watched that movie]
- MEETING FREAKING JK ROWLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Scottish National Gallery of Art, but so unfocused on it after MEETING JK ROWLING
- checking out Grassmarket and the Royal Mile again

February 12 - Edinburgh and back to Hemingbrough
- Hollyrood Palace, the home of HRH The Queen stays in the summer
- hiking halfway up to Arthur's Seat, some 'mini-highlands' right inside Edinburgh
- up and down the Royal Mile again
- train from Waverly/transferring at Doncaster/arriving in Selby/ride to Hemingbrough

February 13 - Hemingbrough and a town I forget the name of
- attending church at St. Mary's Church in Hemingbrough
- exploring the ruins of this giant abbey in that town I forget the name of
- the small local town park - so freaking beautiful!!!

February 14 - Hemingbrough [Valentine's Day]
- looong walk around the outskirts of Hemingbrough again [the countryside is just so pretty!]
- more of a slow, normal day

February 15 - Selby and Hemingbrough
- shopping [British fashion is so much better than Western styles!] and exploring Selby Abbey again
-tearing down wall paper with Tim and Uncle Andrew
- QI with Stephen Fry, the Brit Awards, Skins, Top Gear, and Horrible Histories = all TV shows that Canada really needs to get

February 16 - Hemingbrough
- a lot of History homework so not really that much...
- Oli's school friend Daniel coming over: "Marije, does my voice sound wangey to you?" LOL
- eating this English dessert just called 'meringues', even though it's more than just meringue. It's a piece of hard meringue, a giant dollop of clotted cream, and a dollop of jam - it's DELICIOUS!!!

Okay, this is getting longer than I expected, I'm little over halfway done, and I should have started work over half an hour ago. So February 17 - March 7 will be added later.
Anneke S.S.