Trip To England: Day 2

We took the morning to rest, watched fashion critics on the television analyze Catherine and Pippa's dresses from the royal wedding and caught up with Warren and Dawn. It had been about 10 years since Luke had seen them back at University of North Carolina-Asheville. We all got along amazingly, and it really seemed as if we had been good friends for years. Luke and I are so grateful for their wonderful friendship and hospitality. We hope to return the favor when they come visit America!

Luke and I do the traditional tourist shot in Chester

In the afternoon we headed to Chester, an old Roman village south of Ellesmere Port. The town was surrounded by a massive wall built by the Romans. Parts of the wall date back to the year 120! A Roman amphitheater is also located just outside of the walls and dates back to the first century. It is the largest amphitheater discovered in England.

The Roman walls

One thing that I loved about Chester (and England in general) is they never built huge shopping malls for all of the stores. Rather, they maintain the traditional store fronts along the city streets. It was amazing to shop in these old buildings, each unique and stunning. It added so much to the shopping experience.

The shops in Chester

For dinner, we went to the Albion Inn, an old Victorian and traditional English pub and inn dating back to the late 1800s. The decor is reflective of the Great War (1914-1918), which took place just a few steps from the Albion Inn. According to their website, many soldiers visited the bar before heading back out the the battlefield.

The Albion Inn

At the traditional English pubs, you have to go up to the bar to place your order. The waitresses only come by to pick up empty plates (there are no free refills in England). It was odd not having people come by asking how the food was or if we needed anything else. But at the same time, if we did need something, we could always go to the bar.

For dinner, I had a turkey dinner and Luke had an amazing cottage pie. Who says British food isn't good? This stuff was better than a lot of stuff we've had in the States!

Luke enjoying his ale and cottage pie

We strolled along the Roman walls for a bit after dinner and then headed to Tesco to pick up some food for the week. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip! I loved looking at all of the British and Scottish foods and seeing what American foods are popular over there. The chocolates are by far better than America's and their flavors of potato chips (or crisps, as they call them in England) are a little more adventurous. Some of the flavors include: Worcestershire sauce, prawn, roast chicken, pickled onion and beef and onion.

Dawn and Warren were a little surprised at our excitement over a grocery store, but they remembered how excited they were to walk around a WalMart when they were in the States. We enjoyed gawking at all the items for sale. We even picked up a pack of Scotch eggs so Luke could taste a bit of his heritage.

We headed back to their place for the night, had a cup of tea (PG Tips, of course) to finish the night and then it was off to bed.

Trip to England: Day 1

William and Kate picked a great day to get married ... the day that we were to head to England! We made our plans before their wedding date was set, thank goodness. Didn't even want to know what the plane ticket fares were for that week!

Words cannot express just how much we loved England. The people, the history and (dare we say) the food were all amazing. It was one of those trips that you know will always hold a special place in your heart. I hope these blog posts can convey a little of why we feel that way.

British Airways decorations at the check-in counter

We left for the airport early in the morning to catch the 8:15 a.m. flight to London. We took British Airways and really enjoyed the trip (except the part where they lost our luggage even after we received a confirmation that the luggage was on our connecting flight). We arrived at the gate in Boston and were greeted with wedding cakes, pastries, teas, coffees and a cardboard cut-out of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. It was such a great surprise and a wonderful way to start the trip. The flight attendants (who were British) were watching the wedding with us. It was very cool to see their reaction to Catherine's dress and the whole celebration.

Me with the cardboard cut-out of the newlyweds

Luke enjoys some wedding cake at 7 a.m.

This was our first trans-Atlantic flight, so it was interesting flying over the ocean for 5 hours. After landing, we did our best to find our way through London-Heathrow. We had to make a connecting flight to Manchester in a little less than 2 hours. We made it to the gate just in time and it was just a 20-minute flight. Since we didn't have much time in Heathrow, this was our first time hearing mainly British accents. We definitely felt like foreigners.

We arrived in Manchester ahead of schedule and Warren (Luke's friend from college) was there to take us to his and Dawn's (Warren's fiance) place in Ellesmere Port, a cute town just south of Liverpool. Luke and I loved watching Warren drive not only in the passenger seat, but also on the other side of the road. There were a few instances during the trip were I felt like saying, "Look out, you're going against traffic!"

Once we arrived at their place, we grabbed a chicken kabob at a great "take-away" (or fast food) restaurant. I got to pay in pounds and try to understand northern England accents. They had a fun time trying to figure out my pronunciation of "tomato." We spent the rest of the night catching up and watching some good British television. Luke and I eventually passed out around 2 a.m. (9 p.m. Boston time).