England

Day 4

We checked out of our hotel in London and took the train to the airport to pick up our rental car.  Ryan was a little apprehensive when it came to renting a car, but after considering all of our options it was the most efficient way to see the sites.  I was surprised that it only took Ryan a few minutes to acclimate to driving on the right side of the car and left side of the road. Anyway, our first stop was Canterbury Cathedral.

After touring Canterbury we drove to the coastal town of Dover. We walked along the famed White Cliffs of Dover, which were breathtaking even with the extremely strong sea breezes.  In fact, the wind was so strong that we could lean against it and not fall over.  The walk was a few miles long and we were treated to a quaint lighthouse in the middle of our walk.

While we were driving away we noticed that a castle was nearby, so we stopped and took some pictures of the Dover Castle. Our next stop was Rye.  We arrived into town in the evening and everything was closed. Despite the stores being closed we decided to walk around anyway.  We were glad we did because Rye seems almost as if it was taken out of a fairytale.  After Rye we drove toward our final stop for the night (Portsmouth), but only made it half way there to a little town called Lewes. Then called it a night.

Day 5

We started early today to make some time up from yesterday.  On our way to Winchester we stopped for a few minutes in Arundel to take pictures of the castle we saw from the highway.  Soon, we arrived in Winchester and immediately began to walk around the town on our way to the cathedral.  The town reminded us of outdoor mall because of all the designer stores and shops.  I particularly fell in love with a store called Cath Kidston, which sells a large variety of crafty, but rather expensive items.  After a few hours of wandering around we jumped back into the car and drove to Salisbury.

Just as we arrived in Salisbury the clouds darkened and it started to rain fervently. We geared up and confronted the rain until we entered the cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral was definitely a highlight for us as we enjoyed its architecture and historical aspects, including the world's oldest working clock and the best surviving of the four original copies of the Magna Carta.

When we exited the cathedral the sky was blue and the rain had stopped.  The drive to our next destination,  Stonehenge, was beautiful to say the least. When we were within eyesight of Stonehenge we were surprised at its remoteness.  To be honest, it is a relief this historical site has been protected from commercialism, but the entrance price sure was high.  Also, when Ryan was researching for this trip he stumble upon another monolithic site called Woodhenge, which is located a couple miles from its bigger brother.  It was not nearly as spectacular to experience, but interesting none the less.  Anyway, from the henges we drove to Bath just in time to eat before our free city tour.  It was a night walking tour of downtown Bath and environs that was so amazing. After our tour we were excited to get some rest.

Day 6

After leaving Bath we went into this tiny town named Lacock, which was very small and extremely charming. As we were walking around this random man was walking behind us, and then he started to talk to us. Frankly, he scared me a little, but after a while I just knew he was just a harmless old coot.  Afterwards, we determined he was simply trying to get a rise out of us, and we decided that it was indeed hilarious and laughed at our experience.

We were only in Lacock for a short time and then drove to Castle Combe, another small storybook town. As we were walking we noticed a walking path that shot off the road, and we took it.  The path ended up being much longer than we had anticipated, but we enjoyed walking along the path and it even provided some great views of the city below.

Next on our list of small towns to visit was a dual combo named Upper and Lower Slaughter. We parked in Upper Slaughter and followed a path that led through a couple of fields full of sheep to Lower Slaughter.  As others passed us on the path we would stop and visit with them for short time, and surprisingly we did not meet any foreign tourists.  Anyway, the cottages in these little towns were adorable, and we loved them.

The next leg of our journey was a long one: Upper and Lower Slaughter to Preston.  On the way I gave a name to our rental car, which was appropriately named Little Red.  She was a good car for us and did a great job navigating us through the tiny, narrow roads.

Day 7

We went to the Preston, England Temple first thing in the morning. What a great way to start another hectic day as we found it to be very soothing and uplifting. This was the first international temple I have been to, it was pretty exciting. After the temple we packed the car and made our way into Wales.

We stopped at Conwy Castle to take some pictures of the exterior. Almost every time we saw a castle and their iconic towers I would think of Rapunzel, and then I would find myself saying, "Rapunzel, let down your hair."  Ryan would just laugh at me. We also were able to see Caernorfon Castle before driving to Holyhead port for our ferry into Ireland.  Now, if I had to use one word to summarize our time in England it would be this, wonderful.