New definition of cold and wet and tired has been achieved, but it's been a good day all in all.
Another early morning, with our butts in the bus seats at 8 am. Our first stop was the Stourhead Garden, which is this super epic English garden from the late 1700s with a bridge and a lake and two temples and a couple of grottos and a waterfall and four story high rhododendrons. It's just enormous and calming and gorgeous. I learned that they actually used to hire a hermit to live there to make it more picturesque. Where do I apply?! Dream job, I think so!!!!
We had lunch there, and I had planned on buying something from the cafeteria, but it was all fancy food and there was no Sarah food to be found. I had two apples, an orange juice, and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps in my bag, so I figured I would just eat that. But one of the professors came over looking concerned and told me that I could probably just get some bread and cheese and that the staff there was very accomodating. He said he didn't want me fainting of hunger. He's so nice. As was the staff: the very easily got me a piece of the bread that normally just wen with the soup, as well as a piece of cheese. Well, I asked for a piece of cheese. What they gave me was a hunk. No joke. The English do not mess about with their cheese. It was like the size of half a paperback book and like a half inch thick. Craziness. But also deliciousness!!
After lunch we got back on the bus and went out to Glastonbury, where we toured the remains of the abbey there, and saw where King Arthur's remains were supposedly buried. If we had had more time, there was a bird of prey sanctuary that had a tent set up on the grounds (random, I know) and for £2 you could hold an owl or a falcon or something. Much warmer on these grounds than it had been at Tintern, so sketching was far more pleasant this time around. It was another gorgeous haunting site that I managed to get many pictures of, despite fighting a dying camera battery.
After we finished touring the ruins, we made an epic and grueling hike up the Glastonbury Tor, which is this unbelievably enormous hill with the ruins of a church on top. It's hard to do it justice without pictures, so you'll just have to wait til I can upload some. Let's just say that you can see for absolutely miles and it takes your breath away. And not just because of the hike. We also got to see a double rainbow and a herd of sheep that grazed alongside us as we walked back down.
We got lucky and it only started pouring when we got off the Tor and headed back to the bus. Of course, that was small comfort when, even with an umbrella, I got soaked to the skin. At least my feet were dry. Yay hiking boots!!
Tonight is our last night in Bath and tomorrow morning we head to Oxford, so I'll have to figure out the internet situation there and it might be a day or two before I can post again. Just a heads up!
Until then....
I LOVE ENGLAND! :)
Love that you're exploring the cheeses. : )
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