So you know, we took a field trip to Lincoln on Friday as an entire college. How the Manor staff managed to transport 160 students without fail and make it through the day without one of us losing a limb or something is a miracle to me.
Lincoln, so you know, is a town about 40 minutes from Grantham. It's very rich with history and has lots of great little shops full of tea and books and wonderfulness.
The first part of our trip was an educational tour on the different parts of a Roman fortress built in Lincoln in the first century when Rome invaded. They invaded Britain in 43 AD, actually, something I learned in British Studies!
If you're ever on Jeopardy and get that question, you're welcome.
Next was free time, the BEST time on any trip.
We went to a little restaurant called Magna Carta, then went to a couple bookstores and a few other little shops. So cute.
Below, you'll see a poster I found in one of the book shops we went into, which I found quite amusing.
After this, we saw a CASTLE! One thing I've noted here: we barely have any castles in the US. Actually, I don't know if we officially have any real castles there. But here, they're in abundance. And actually, they're not exactly the type of place you'd imagine, where the king and queen live, that type of place. They were actually built pretty much for protection, and were used a lot by the military. Bummer.
Pretty much everywhere has some type of beautiful cathedral or a castle. Lincoln had both. Of course.
This picture you see below was the beautiful view we had of Lincoln on top the castle...
AND THEN AFTER THIS I'M JUST GOING TO TALK IN ALL CAPS FOR A WHILE BECAUSE I'M SO EXCITED.
SEE LOOK, A PICTURE OF BATES AHHHHHHHHHH
AFTER THIS, WE WENT TO GO SEE THE LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. I SHOULD PROBABLY START Calming down now...
Phew. Okay, that's better. I apologize for my loud typing, I'm sorry if I woke your neighbors.
Anyway, Lincoln Cathedral was absolutely gorgeous. It was built in the 1100's! Think of that. I took so many pictures I can't put enough on here. You can just see my Facebook page if you wish to see some. But here's a bit of a sampling...
I thought the last one looked like Dumbledore's podium.
Anyway, the day ended, we got a nice cup of hot chocolate, and headed back to the Manor to watch movies :)
But don't you go changing. The fun isn't over just yet. We have a whole two days left in this weekend!
So the next morning I woke up at 5:45 am. Yes, I know.
We had to catch a 7:30 am train to York, which is a good size town about an hour and half north of Grantham by train.
And oh my goodness, I love trains now.
It was a decent fare, such fast travel, it's not a bumpy ride, pretty comfy, quiet. Ah. I want to ride trains all the time now.
We arrived and basically shopped all morning and it was lovely. York is simply great. Rick Steeves recommends it highly, so you know it's good. I wouldn't call York small; it's a lot bigger than Grantham. But I wouldn't call it big either, because it's got this great town-like charm to it, but with all the busyness of a city as well.
York really had some great shopping. I got some hiking boots that I'm actually wearing as you read, some jewelry, and other goods. I got this little doorknob hanging thing that says "The Loo" for you to put on the door going into your bathroom. The cuteness was on the kitten/puppy level.
Also, apparently, there was a Viking settlement that some archaeologists excavated recently. And they found it below York! Now, there is a museum there for the public, and we went in! They had some exhibits of dirty Vikings yelling at each other in their language and building huts out of mud and stuff. But it was still really fun.
Also, just a little tidbit you might enjoy. I was in a store, and we came across some Maker's Mark and Jim Beam for sale! We all just kept saying "That was in Kentucky! That was in Kentucky! Home, home!" I see Jack Daniels and Maker's Mark on sale all the time here, they really do love bourbon and whiskey. When we ask some Brits what they think of when we say "Kentucky", if they've heard of it, they either say horses, whiskey, or fried chicken.
We headed back to the manor via train, which actually was a funny story because our train ride changed. I was in the wrong compartment, and all kinds of weird stuff. Because if I wasn't in the right compartment I could've been asked to leave the train. Oops. While the train was moving, we said we were going to go outside and get on top of it and have a sword fight. Like in the movies.
We did it, no problem.
Then, the next day, I got to go to church with my host family! I'll call them my host family for convenience's sake, but they're really a meet-a-family officially. I live at the manor, but this is a family assigned to me that I might have dinner with once a week or so in order to give me a cultural experience and vice versa.
And they are just wonderful. They live in a place called Piglet Cottage. That name is so cute I'm speechless. They're a mom and dad, with a boy who is 11 and a girl who is 9. They're so great already. We (Jenny, my host sister, and I) had dinner with them on Wednesday, and we went to church and had afternoon tea yesterday.
They gave us this HUGE box of chocolates which is about as big as a table, and made us tea and scones! Ah, I love it. They're so fun to talk to, so witty, and very conversational. Just so much fun.
Anyways, sorry this is a bit long, like I said, just so much to tell you!
This weekend, I'm headed to a Christian retreat with British college students. I'm so excited for it.
Cheers,
Shelley
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