Wednesday, November 2, 2016

EEK! BOO!

Birmingham, England, UK

Double, double, toil and trouble
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. – William Shakespeare


If you couldn’t guess it by now, it was Halloween this week or well for us at least!  We celebrated a bit early, but it was definitely worth it.  The night was filled with lots of yummy food, laughs and shrieks of terror just like any Halloween gathering should be.  The lights and fog filled the room sending us all for a whirl.  Fake statues stood just around the corners.  And the candy waited for us once we returned. 


And if we didn’t get enough of the holiday at the party, we were even able to dress up for class!  All that was missing was the costume parade that we always did every Halloween in elementary school.  Sometimes, I think that we enjoy the holidays more now than what we did when we were younger. 

With all this dressing up and holiday festivities it was amazing that we were even able to find time to do anything else, but we did. 


We made it all the way to Stonehenge and the Roman city of Bath.  At first we were all a little shocked of the size of the stones at Stonehenge because from a distance they didn’t appear to very large.  Then, of course once you got up close, the size was more apparent.  The stones were set in place to be in alignment with the movements of the sun as well as serve as a burial ground.  For 500 years this monument stood untouched in a circular formation until about 4,500 years ago when stones weighing more than 30 tons each were raised creating a new shape for the monument. 

While this fascination is not the only one of its kind, it still has speculations about it.  However, now I can actually say that I was there! 


Our journey did not end there.  We were off to the Roman city of Bath where the hot springs are still present to this day.  However, after being used then covered by new reigning groups and now to be discovered again, these baths are still sacred waters.  And even though we weren’t allowed to take a dip in them, we did drink the water and steal a little touch.  To confirm, it feels like bath or hot tub water, that’s how warm it is and the architecture of the bath house is exquisite.   


To live during those times…

Anyhow, I am just blessed to be able to see the sights that I am seeing and be able to say that I was there!  I would have never imagined in my lifetime that I would be seeing the things that I am or even be this far away from home, but here I am.  One thing is for sure though, I definitely won’t be doing any driving over here.  Not only do they drive solely on the opposite side of the road, but all the cars are manuals instead of automatics.  Also, the road signs are slightly different.  For detours, the sign reads “Diversion Route” and as for yield signs, well they say “Give way.”  I think I will stick to having someone else drive or just walk, but like any foreigner from America, I still look to the left first.  I guess it is true that for most of the time, you can take the girl away from home, but you can’t take home away from the girl. 


Missing home as usual, but loving every minute over here.  Off to Ireland we go to see if we can bring back some luck of the Irish!









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