Stonehenge, Salisbury and the Historic Dockyards of Portsmouth

This was the start of my day on Sunday, January 27th. I woke up at 4:30, met Martin, Andrej and David (the Czech cleaners/maintenance guys from work) and we headed south to Stonehenge. We got there a little before 7am, and the sun was just starting to rise. There was a security guy walking around inside, so despite our great plans to hop the fence, we decided against it. Once the sun was up enough for us to see, we realized that even if we had paid £5 for a legitimate viewing, we would be paying that for the chance to stand 10 feet closer than the outside fence allows you. So we watched and froze and took our pictures from the road while the sun gave us a fantastic backdrop. Once we were cold enough and had seen enough of the rocks, we headed toward Salisbury to see what was there.

A quaint town, Salisbury, and very British. We walked around and inside the cathedral in the centre for some time, and once we had seen enough, started down for Portsmouth. I enjoyed the courtyard/graveyard at the cathedral most I think. It was something you would expect from an old movie; the type of small courtyard where the Bishop would walk in the mornings. Ooh, Godfather III, reminded me of that courtyard that he walks in when Michael goes to confess to him. Just a very tranquil, peaceful place with two giant trees growing in the center.

Once in Portsmouth, we headed to the Historic Dockyards where they hold some of the old Royal Navy warships such as the HMS Victory, who was so famous for her victory against the French off Trafalgar Bay and for the death of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson during that battle. Apparently he was a very great man, stood only 5'2", and is very revered in Britain. Good thing they didn't catch me with this picture.


The HMS Warrior was cool because you could walk around it at your leisure and touch and see most of whatever you liked. Or maybe we just weren't following the rules. Either way, it was a neat experience, especially because I've never been too interested in the seafaring world, mostly just sitting on the shore. After a lunch at the Ship and Castle, we walked through a couple of the museums, then headed home. It was a good day all in all, and it's nice be able to write something about something again, even if it is a rather small post. I'll leave you with a peaceful photo, my favorite from the day, which kind of encapsulates what I feel a lot when I'm here. It's either looking forward, or a sad way of thinking of days gone by. Or maybe, just maybe, it's about enjoying the sunset you're watching and making the most of that. Cheers.

Fun in the... Rain?

So after a relaxing 3ish months without really doing any exercise of real consequence, I decided to do something other than sit and wait for the next time I go exploring. Well the next time to go exploring WAS going to Monday and Tuesday but I decided against it at the last minute and I'm kind of glad I did. I wasn't prepared in any way, plus I was still a little tired, so I spent Monday sleeping and just sitting around (the normal routine for days off, which I must say, as boring as it is really is nice when I think of how often I get to do it at home), and today I actually got up to do something. It was raining, but that was alright, I woke up and showered and had some cereal (I never enjoyed bran flakes so much!), then decided to go for a little run. I've had several spurts where I go on a running kick and for a few weeks I'll run at least a couple miles every other day. I've done it living at home, in the Hood, in Carmel and I figured I'd try it here. Yeah, the first two minutes were great and Coldplay was singing some lovely tunes on the way, but once I got onto the main road by my house, I decided I WOULDN'T run all the way to the shops and back, which are a little over a mile from my house. Running two miles isn't too hard for me, but this was crazy! So instead, I made a small circle and ended up sticking to the neighborhood I live in and that turned out to be exactly a mile (according to Google). So after some major huffing and puffing, I finally relaxed to wait for my new hobby to start: Fencing.

Yep that's right, fencing. Every Tuesday for the next seven weeks I'm taking a fencing class from the Oxford Fencing Club. How fun will this be!? I've always wanted to take fencing in general, but I never thought I'd actually be able to take it! And in fact, Indianapolis has a fencing club as well, so if I really like it (and anybody ELSE that wants to take fencing with me!) I might be able continue the hobby! Hey! So yeah, basically all we did today was work on footwork and proper lunge techniques, so it was a lot of talking, but learning to parry (defend) next week should prove for some real fun! So, yes, I will keep you all posted on how musketeer-like I probably won't become!

I'm having a good time this month and three weeks from now is Shannon, Ireland, where some great coastline is awaiting me. Next week, maybe some hills in the Cotswolds and a small town called Malvern. We'll see. Time to really start preparing for April and the big trip though. Alright! Until then! Cheers!

Lazy

Well that certainly was a bloody waste of two days and possibly five! I had Friday and Saturday off of last week, and I worked this evening. I had the option of not working tonight, but seeing that I need every pence I can get my hands on, I decided to work. Well, I go into work and as is necessary, I check the rota to see what my schedule is for the coming week. Whaddya know? I have Monday and Tuesday of as well! So basically, because the weather was supposed to be bad (and turned out great) on Friday and Saturday, I didn't plan any outings. Well, if I'da known on Thursday (when I was told that I could have Sunday off if I wanted) that I'd be having Monday and Tuesday off as well, I could have gone to Paris for 5 days! Or Bruges! Or Spain or Dublin or Cornwall or even the Lake District for 5 days! Sheesh!! Instead, I was lazy on Friday and Saturday, slept in, didn't shower, basically just hung around the house doing nothing. I certainly won't do that for the next two days where, hopefully, I can do a couple of day trips, one to Bath and maybe one to the coast. But I'm still a bit irked that I could have had a lovely time visiting somewhere outside of central England. I'm not sure if it's just Oxford, or if it's the longing to see mountains or the coast, but I really am ready to just keep it moving along. Anyway, hopefully I can get some time in Bath or Windsor or Bournemouth for the next couple of days. Sorry for the outburst. I need some fresh country air.

What Am I Doing Here!?

So Winter Camp was this past weekend and my family and all my best friends were there, and for a third straight year, I missed it. I'm also going to miss an annual hockey trip that will take place in a few weeks, as well as the birth of my first niece/nephew in about a month. So, here I am, sitting in the hotel for what seems like the 50th day in a row, trying to decide what the heck I'm doing here, missing the good stuff at home, NOT doing anything here. But, again, it dawns on me that I'm doing exactly what EVERYBODY back home wants to be doing. So, I must continue on, be happy that I'm here, and figure out how to make the most of it. So that's the task right now. I'm trying to figure out how to make the absolute most of out the rest of my time here and I'm coming to a dilemma that you all can help me with, I think.

I've brought back to England a book, "All My Road Before Me," by Lewis, and it's basically the diary he kept while in school at Oxford from 1922-1927. The coolest thing is reading through some of his days and having him say, "Walked to Cornmarket, dropped of papers to be typed. Walked through the fields to Shotover; the school children on holiday made for a loud walk," is the coolest thing ever because I know EXACTLY where he's talking about and probably the routes he took to get there from his house in Headington. It's just so cool to be living his life 44 years after he died and about 80-odd years after he himself did it. So trying to mock a few of those days is a new goal, as is trying to accumulate £2,100 before March 17th. I think if I can do that, then I'd have enough to quit work and start my travels a couple weeks early, giving me seven full weeks of world travel before coming home to the American soil. £300 a week could tide me over couldn't it? Sure it could, how couldn't it!? That's about €450ish/$600 a week, so that should DEFINITELY do. So let's hope for that! But the part I'm at here in the planning process is where I'm hitting my dilemma and where I need your help. When I came here, I wanted to see as much as I could, just spreading myself thin, trying to hit as many places as possible. But now, I'm thinking I might just want to take it slow and spent a little more time at locations I like, instead of trying to just hit as much as I can.

For example, I would like to go to Oporto, Portugal, origin of port wine. Why? Because I like port wine. I don't speak Portugese, but that's half the fun. So I'm justified in going there because I have a reason and a desire. But Casablanca? It's out of my way, probably pretty costly, and the only reason I want to go there is to say that I've been there, and only that because of the movie. So I don't really have a reason to go there. Then there's the whole argument I brought about a few posts ago about America having all the scenery that Europe does, yet doesn't have the history, so I should enjoy all the history I could while I'm here. Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not really too into history unless it affects me personally! I'm sure seeing Normandy or Auschwitz would touch me, so I wouldn't mind seeing those places, but to see where Winston Churchill or Mussolini was born doesn't affect me, therefore I wouldn't care to see those places.

Basically, what I'm getting at, is I would love to be able to enjoy ALL that I can while I'm over here, yet at the same time, I'd love to just spend a week traveling up the coast of Ireland, then hopping to the Scottish Highlands for a week, then spend a week traveling through Belgium, Holland and Germany into Switzerland and spending a few days just cooped up in a cabin in the mountains not doing anything. Then I'd make my way down the coast of the Eastern Adriatic through Croatia, Montenegro and Albania into Greece, just soaking up the April sun as much as it will let me. That's something I'd like to do. But then I' wouldn't get to see Spain or Portugal or much of France, or any of that. So basically, I'm not sure if I should just go ahead and try to see as much as I can, regardless of whether or not I really have a reason to go, or just take it easy and relax the whole time I'm traveling. You all let me know while I look at pictures of the ocean, Ireland's green hills and the monkeys of Gibraltar.