Today was great! We got a late start – rightfully so. Ryan, Colleen and Leo didn’t get back from Stratford-Upon-Avon until midnight. Crazy! We spent the day at Hay-on-Wye, the book town. It was a little town that a guy moved to and wanted to open up a bunch of bookstores. He succeeded. It was a really cute little town with tons of shops. Ryan drove us.
I found a couple of good books to give as gifts – yay presents! There was also a castle in the middle of the town that had an “Honesty Bookstore.” It was set up in the courtyard of the castle and no one worked it. There was a small box where you put your money if you decided to buy anything. I found a really cool, very old Holy Bible – it was transcribed from the original writings and isn’t associated with any version/church. Best part – it is illustrated and pocketsize. And it only cost 1 pound. I also found an old church hymnal for Leo – it was only 50 pence as it was a paperback.
Book town was a success! Eclipse also opened in Europe today so we went with some of the students and Colleen. It must not be as big of a deal here – there were plenty of empty seats in the theatre. It was fun!
Saturday.
Leo and I went to Malvern today to hike the hills. It was a lot of fun! I think that my calf muscles are twice the size they were when I woke up this morning as a result. It was a good workout and we had a beautiful view when we got to the top. We took photos. ☺
We brought a picnic lunch with us to eat as well. It was a great day. :)
Another plus – we got some sun. Charles Darwin’s daughter is buried somewhere in the hills but we didn’t see her grave on our walks. We did come across a natural spring that is supposedly the cleanest, purest, clearest water ever. We filled our water bottles. There were tons of cute dogs on the hills and it made us miss Henry.
We’ve been missing home lately. We miss our family and our friends. We miss our dog. We miss the familiarity. But then we remember that we’re having an amazing experience and we’re okay. I was able to talk to my parents for awhile today so that helped as well ☺ I can’t believe we still have three weeks here!
Things to note:
1. It seems like most towns are named “on something.” Hay-on-Wye, Stratford-upon-Avon, Upton-on-Severn. Apparently it is because of the rivers that run through them… We decided that we are now going to call Muncie “Muncie-upon-White.”
2. The movie theatres here don’t put butter on their popcorn. You are given the option of sweet or salty. Interesting. It tasted like the popcorn you get at high school basketball games. Which was fine with me. ☺
3. Have I told you about stoplights? Not only do they turn green-yellow-red, but when they’re red they turn yellow and then green. So people can start slowly going before the green. Interesting!
Photos! (Courtesy of Leo as I have yet to get my photos off the camera.)
We drank tea.
Perfect bug that drove into the shot.
The Honesty Bookstore.
Hiking up the Malvern Hills. This is a big tree.
Leo and the natural spring.
Us on the hill.
We were enjoying the hills. And the view. And resting.
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