English Countryside

I can't believe I'm here . . . I am actually in England. I peed in a 1,000 year-old castle today!!! It was a fantastic first day. After no sleep on the overnight plane (way too excited to sleep) and a quick 2-hour nap this morning, I'm still running strong. We covered some great ground today (my hosts Elaine, Peter and I) and I have a good taste of England. Tomorrow London . . . Such a dream come true.

I landed at 6:30am this morning (4-hour time change) to a partly cloudy English sky. It took me hours to get past being on the "wrong" side of the road (which can be very narrow) and "wrong" side of the car - a bit scary when traveling a mere 110mph. Oh, and I will never complain about gas prices again. It cost us about 75 pounds to fill the tank in the BMW today. That would be a little over $150. Oh . . . my . . . God. Around $10/gallon (ok, it is pounds/liter but I'm trying to make it easy to understand here). Enjoy the photos!

We went to see some of the cliffs and the channel - very white from the amount of chalk in the ground. Incredibly windy - hard to stand still!


Then to Brighton Beach. I understand there is a nude beach, but it was way too cold for that today I think. There is a neat carnival on the pier, roller coaster and all.

Here are some street shots from the drive - it is Spring here with flowers in bloom.

I love the mix of tudor and the castle in the background here - so much tudor everywhere

Then we went and had a proper English tea with yummy scones, clotted cream, jam and stone cakes.



This is Peter and Elaine's house where I am spending the holiday weekend. Back to prices, the cars and houses are astronomical. They have a modest dwelling, much like a townhouse, very quaint. About $850,000. They have a simple BMW sedan 4-door - about $70,000. Crazy . . .

One of my favorite stops was Arundel Castle. (Yep, this is where I peed). So many shots of it (some illegal - not supposed to take photos inside).





If you squint, you can see me on the steps:

Not much of a drawbridge, is it?
I have decided they were short and skinny in the old days. Getting up and down these stairwells was quiet the adventure! Oh, and they could see in the dark.



And we ended the day with a pint at the pub. I am a BIG fan of the cider. MMMM I'll try the warm Guiness tomorrow. Driving home tonight we saw a double rainbow (look close). I begged them to go find the pot of gold as I'm sure it was there, but they wouldn't go.


We stopped for traditional cod n chips wrapped in paper for dinner. Very good, although odd to see them cook it with the skin on. Fantastic day. And it is only day one . . . :) Double-decker bus tomorrow through London tomorrow. They are fearing a snow storm tomorrow - first in a long time. No, I did not bring it with me!