Our trip has officially started and so far so great! Saturday morning we had a lovely breakfast with my friends Kelsey, Trevor, Jody, Chuck, Ally, and Rebecca to send us off in style, it's the hardiest breakfast I've had in a while and oh man was it good! Pancakes, eggs, strawberries, bacon, and mimosa's made for a great send off, we even made it to the airport early with all that extra energy only to find out that my friend Joni would be taking the same flight as us all the way to London Gatwick.
After a short flight from Sevilla to London we parted ways with Joni and hopped our trains all the way to Cookham, UK. A few connections and an hour later we found ourselves pulling up to the station in quiet little Cookham. We were welcomed on the platform by our hostesses for the weekend, the lovely Laura Wall and her oh-so-grown up daughter Addison; Steven and Barclay were back at the house cooking up some dinner. The Walls' have moved temporarily to England, but they're originally family friends from the hood in Greensboro, I think they're adapting quite well to life here in the UK as Laura and Steven both are pros at driving on the left hand side (something I still get confused with when crossing the street). Laura took us on a quick driving tour of all the little villages near by, some of which were so small that you'd zip by them if you weren't paying attention.
We spent the evening eating dinner together then we did a pub circuit to the local watering hole's: The Jolly Farmer and Uncle Tom's Cabin (not of that fame....). We tried a few pints of the local ales (which weren't too warm), and hung out with the locals who were having a fancy dress party (aka costume party) to celebrate a couple of birthdays. Rebecca and I were quite exhausted from traveling all day, so the quiet evening with Laura and Steven was absolutely perfect.
The next morning after breakfast Addison took Rebecca and I on a hike up to the vista point that over looks the hills and towns below. Although the gray clouds looked threatening, we managed to escape the rain and we all took turns frolicking through the fields at the top of the hill (there is video evidence I promise....). After our hike Laura and the kids drove us to near-by Windsor to drop us off.
Windsor is the town that houses Windsor Castle, a favorite resident of the Queen herself who just happened to be in residence at the time of our tour. We didn't see any sign of her, aside from the flag that marked that she was in, but she was kind enough to allow us on the property and so we weren't too offended that she didn't invite us in for tea. The Castle is enormous and incredibly lavish, almost overwhelmingly so. After touring the castle we walked around the town, took a stroll down the Long Walk, at some pasties, and before we knew it Steven was there to pick us up.
Windsor is the town that houses Windsor Castle, a favorite resident of the Queen herself who just happened to be in residence at the time of our tour. We didn't see any sign of her, aside from the flag that marked that she was in, but she was kind enough to allow us on the property and so we weren't too offended that she didn't invite us in for tea. The Castle is enormous and incredibly lavish, almost overwhelmingly so. After touring the castle we walked around the town, took a stroll down the Long Walk, at some pasties, and before we knew it Steven was there to pick us up.
The rest of Sunday we headed over to a smaller town called Marlow where we walked around, took the backstreets, and watched a match of cricket. That night we had another delicious meal cooked by Steven and were the cheering section for the kids. It was so great to be able to hang out with the entire Wall family, the two kids are growing up so fast and have already mastered the English accent (watch out Broadway, Addison is headed your way). I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to experience quiet English countryside living with such fabulous family friends, I wish we could have stayed longer, Laura really knows how to show guests a good time!
So I'll end this post with a much too brief thank-you to Laura, Steven, Addison, and Barclay for giving us the best start to our trip that we could have hoped for. Although our stay was short, you all really gave us some great insight into what your life is like there in Cookham, I feel so so so lucky to know you all!
Monday we said our good-byes and headed off by train to Kings Cross station where we would catch our EastCoast rail to Edinburgh. More to come about that, Scotland has been a real treat with visits in Edinburgh and, my favorite, the Isle of Skye. Also soon to come will be some photos, the computer here at the Castle Rock Hostel isn't liking my memory card so my plans to upload aren't going so well, check back soon for photos of the trip so far. We head to Prague this afternoon!
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