day 9

What a great way to end our trip! Today we headed to windsor castle, it started off rough since our 2 hour drive turned into three hours due to traffic and an emergency bathroom break but once we got there wow !! it was a beautiful place! We went to Buckingham Palace but Windsor Castle was so much better. 

Before we headed to the castle we found a carnival again, how lucky are we! So of course we had to walk around in there for a while get a few snacks then we headed to lunch. Lunch was at a greek place. Eating here is just so difficult, they expect you to have reservations and that’s just not how we work. We don’t even have a cell phone that can call anyone let alone know any restaurants to call. So we walked into the greek place and he said did you make a reservation we said no he said i can only seat you if you are all here and you can eat in 1 hour. We said okay, it’s weird though they think they are so busy and can’t seat people but there are always tables empty, it makes no sense. Lunch was delicious though, we had pita wraps and kabobs, yum !

Then we headed for the Palace, there was sooo many people. But it was still so pretty and so much history. We were able to get into the castle with a head set deal that told us about each place we were at. The grounds were amazing, we saw the state rooms, and the st george church. All of which were so cool, i loved it! They did not allow pictures inside, and i actually followed the rules this time because the guy was on the look out for cameras. So sorry the outside is all that was pictured. (failed blogger moment)

We spent some time in the gift shops, walking around, and of course drinking coke because it was hot today especially with all those people and no one here has AC. They don’t deal well with the heat here. 

We headed back to the cottage in hopes for a few hours to pack and gear up before we head home tomorrow. We stopped at a pub on the way home and man it was some good food. Everyone was very pleased with their dish. We made a quick stop at the Co-Op (grocery stop) to get some candy to take home and then headed back to the cottage. We basically bought out the whole store, the worker just laughed lol. 

Once we got to the cottage we couldn't resist but to get one more toffee pudding before departure. I just gotta say there is nothing better than this stuff. It is to die for !!!!! We sure do love our cottage town of Kersey, we will be sad to head home tomorrow and 5 am depart will come very soon.

day 8

Today was very low key, a day of rest. We got home from London last night at 1 am so we all slept in this morning. Around noon Kirt and I decided to head to the sea, the rest of the crew decided to relax at home. We headed towards the sea in hopes of finding lunch. We took an exit because we saw a KFC  so we thought there would be other food options near by. Well there was nothing, we saw a big store called Next we notice on the second floor it look like a cafe so we thought what the heck. This was a furniture store like ikea, yep the cafe was just a coffee shop so that was a failed attempt. We had to use the GPS to find lunch and we ended up at a place call The Red Lion. It was the best lunch yet, i had a chicken and bacon sandwich (bacon is ham here). It was delicious!

Then we headed to Southwold which was another sea city. It was pretty! There was lots of colored beach sheds, these are little shed that people can rent or buy. They hold chairs, towels, beach toys, and have a little kitchen like set up where they can make tea. 

We walked along the pier enjoyed ice cream and walked through some shops. The whole pier had shops or tea rooms on it. 

After that we walked through the neighborhoods and to the lighthouse. We read online you could get to the top but sure enough when we got there it was closed. Who would have thunk. So we ended up just getting some candy at the candy shop. Southwold was a fun cute little beach village! 

Next stop was Dunwich, this is another beach town that someone in the village town us about. They told us it was the closest beach to Kersey. Jan wanted to go there the other day and we ended up at the other beaches. Luckily we didn’t go to this one cause when kirt and i got there it was like a camp ground, not even a beach lol another disappointment. Then we headed back to the cottage where we met spencer, jan, and diane for dinner at the local pub. 

day 7

Back to London today. We had another issue with the parking meter at the train station this time just completely declining all cards, not just ours ! We proceeded to dig through wallets and purses and this time successful in finding enough change. Then off we went to London. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, but so did everyone else. We got there just in time, but with so many people we couldn’t get to close. So we enjoyed the changing of the guards from a distance, i wil for sure be doing some research on all that goes in to it. There was a bands, police drive by, and many other things i didn’t know the reason behind. But still really cool to see all that. 

We continued on and roamed the palace streets where we found a lunch place. America food, what a sight!!! We are all a little sick of the English pub food. For lunch we enjoyed dishes that are common at home like, hamburger, hot dog, pizza, and pasta. It was pretty good! 

From there we headed back to the horses guard considering they had shut the whole place down last time we tried to go. The horses guard was cool and the horses were funny, i even saw one try to bite a girl who got a little to close. 

By this time we have pretty much mastered the tube system. So we took that and headed to Camden town, this place is crazy! There was shops and shops and shops. Everything single one of them had fake nike, fake adidas, fake north face, fake michael kors, fake everything in that sense it reminded me of mexico. In every shop there was weed, weed suckers, weed anything and the whole place smelt of weed. Seemed a little sketchy to me at the

beginning. Once we walked down that road it opened up and was a really cool spot. FOOD everywhere, all different kids from Hawaiian to Indian, you name it they had it, all in little food shacks. Spencer and i had some churros that you dipped in chocolate, yum!!!

As we continued walking we found some more shops that were all old horse stables, they were so cool and there was sooo many of them. Kirt found a guy that would make him a belt, he measured him and personalized it it was pretty neat to watch. 

After lots of walking around and way to many bad smells we left Camden Town and headed back into the city! London is so crowded and just like all cities over here there is tons of bike. Diane was walking across the street when a biker was ringing the bell, his must not have registered with her and the bike slammed on his break and gave her a really dirty look. As he was driving away you could see his butt crack so instantly Diane yells “BUTT CRACK!!!” She showed him hahahahaha it was so funny! We made it back into the city where we found chinatown. We thought why not, we’re still sick of the pub food. This was a 3 course meal which included duck. I was skeptical at first but yum!!! it was delicious! 

Time to go to a play in the westerns of London. We figured we had to while we were here. We trusted the lady selling the tickets and ended up at Kinky Boots. It was a little risky and kirt and spencer were for sure a minority there. But it was a great story and we had a good time. While headed to the subway kirt was looked into a shop as he ran into a pole, i wish i could have pictured that it was unreal LOL. 

On the the train ride home there were some drunk soccer fans playing trivia. Thanks to jan the whole cabin was playing trivia for about an hour. The kid was so funny, just when he thought he stumped us, someone would come up with an answer and he’d yell your row and say “ROW 7 COME ON DOWN!!!!” He would also yeah SHIT or F*** every time someone would answer right because he was hoping to stump them, seriously so funny!!!

Then to end our day, we didn't arrive at the train station till about 12:30 am. On our way home we missed a turn, the GPS rerouted us and next thing you know we were driving 5 miles on a dirt road big enough for a 4 wheeler which is really scary at night. I'm not sure how that would work if a car would have came the other direction. As we rounded a corner my dad slammed on his brakes, well we hit an animal just not sure what animal it was and it seemed to keep running so all is well. What a day!