Across the Pond

This April Simon and I joined his mom and step-dad on a little trip across the pond. Simon's step-dad was born and raised in Bolton, England and moved to the US for a job in his 30's.

As you can tell I did not bring a hairdryer and it took me several days to find the one in the hotel room! Our first day we took the train to Bolton to visit Harry's Mum and Dad,
Monday we explored Manchester which we absolutely loved. It is a very big city but it is very easy to get from place to place and they even have a free bus system!

On Tuesday we jumped on another train with Harry and Jane Ann and headed for my homeland of Wales. We took a tour of Conwy Castle, it was really neat, unlike the castles of London there has been minimal alteration of the castles so they really are original which is so neat!

 

 

Simon and I took a 3 day excursion to London while Jane Ann and Harry went South to visit Harry's daughter and granddaughter. London is oober pricey so we opted to stay in a hostel...EW. It was very clean and we got our own room but it just weirded me out! Some people are a little too free in the shared bathrooms to say the least! Also it is really hard to sleep alone, and a twin bed when you are so used to sleeping with your spouse in a queen bed!

 

 

Our first day in London was spent mostly on a bus tour, it was supposed to me 3 hours long but due to the horrendous traffic in London it was over 4. I am glad we went though it was really nice to get to see everything in such a short period of time, that helped us decide what we really wanted to take the time to see the following day.

 

The next day we hit up the Tower of London, which is a castle so I have no idea why it's called "tower." The castle is very well kept and has many simulated scenes with old furniture and other displays. We also hit up the infamous Harrod's Department store and bought chocholates and tea for some of our family members.

 

 

Our last day we just did some speed tourism of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben/Parliament. The Abbey didn't open for tours until 10 am, and Big Ben is only open to the public on certain days and so on and really the outside is so neat I was good with that! We learned to walk very fast in London, now when we take walks Simon will always say "Come on let's walk London speed!" I always opt for "Manchester Speed" instead!

 

 

 

All in all our trip was fricken amazing, though I was glad to get back to America were public bathrooms are free and I don't need signs to tell me which way to look before I cross the street!