Today started off extremely early. We had to meet at the train station at 6:45. We all were running late this morning so I was completely unprepared and got to the train station with out my BritRail pass. Darrin told me to run fast and go grab it. Ha and I ran fast. I did not stop running from the train station to my flat and back. It took me a total of 5 minutes. It was really pretty impressive, and quite the work out. I was sweating so bad.
We were able to make it to our train on time even with my little sprint back to the flat. It was about an hour and a half ride to Salisbury England. We got there and had to take a bus from the train station to Wilton House. It cost us 2 pounds 30 pence, just for a silly bus ride! Anyway, we finally got to Wilton House at about 10 in the morning. Wilton House is the home of the Earl of Pembroke and has been around since the 15th century. It was designed by Inigo Jones, who is a famous British architect, in the Palladian style and it is a beautiful home. The Earl of Pembroke of today still lives there, and he is very handsome, and engaged. Ha ha. We didn't get to see him, but there were pictures all over the house. We got a private tour around the main floor of the house and the grounds. A lot of famous movies have been filmed at Wilton House including Sense and Sensibility and the Keira Knightely version of Pride and Prejudice. The grounds at Wilton House were also very beautiful. I love walking around these grand estates. After the tour they served us lemonade and pasties in the restaurant. They were delicious! The lemonade was freshly squoze and had frseshly cut strawberries and mint leaves in it. It was different, but very tasty. We got about twenty minutes to walk around the grounds and the gift shops. On the Wilton grounds they have the greatest play ground I have ever seen! It had huge slides and trampolines and bridges and teeter-totters. I had a BLAST playing on it.
After Wilton House we had to get back on the extremely expensive bus to get a ride to Salisbury Cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest free standing steeple in all of Europe, and it's the oldest. It is a very beautiful cathedral. We were able to get a tour of the upper part of the cathedral. We climbed a lot of stairs AGAIN, but we were able to get to the top and see beautiful views. As always it was worth the climb. We also got to see where the bells were held and we heard them ring while we were right by them. My entire body was vibrating, and my ears were ringing for a good while after. The tour guide was very informative, kind of boring, but he was passionate about the cathedral.
We spent about 2 hours in the cathedral and then went through the town to find some lunch. We looked everywhere for soething, but it was already 3:00 and everything was closed! They don't serve lunch after a certain time every day. My friends went to Burger King, but as I hate fast food I went to Starbucks and got a panini. It was not very good. I was sorely dissappointed. We had to stop at the 1 pound store to get some chocolate so I could feel better about lunch. My favorite chocolate here in London is the Dairy Milk Cadbury chocolate with fruit and nuts. It is delicious. All of the chocolate in Europe is so much better than America because they don't put the processed wax coating on the chocolate to preserve it. I love it. I've gained quite the sweet tooth her in Europe.
After lunch we piled into 4 seperate taxis and headed towards the famous Stone Henge. Stone Henge was so cool! It was one of my favorite places we went to today. It's in the middle of nowhere with the most beautiful grounds and trees and then Stone Henge is just standing smack in the middle of it all. It's surprisingly very breathtaking. We walked around the entire thing and took lots of pictures. We listened to an audio tour guide the whole time. At th end they have you decide what you think Stone Henge is. I'm thinking aliens or some kind of sacrificial temple.
We ended the day with a long train ride back to London. Julia and I sat by Megan and she told us her engagement story. It was so fun. We got home at about 9:15 pm or so, so for dinner I just went to the Tesco and bought some Raisin Bran ha ha. Came back and have been doing homework since than. I've been gone exactly one month tomorrow and I leave a week from tomorrow. This trip has just flown by! I can't believe it's almost over. It has really been the greatest experience of my life.
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