A Hobbit's Life for me

Last weekend, Adam and I took our first trip out of the city.  We've committed to visiting as many places as possible in these 2 years, including at least 1 trip out of the country per month and plans to visit other cool places in the UK on free weekends.  We also plan/hope to tag along with any visiting friends to places they want to see.  Traveling is extremely accessible over here.  Going to another country is as easy as going to another state in the US, so we're going to do it while we can.

Our first trip was to Cardiff, Wales with a stop in Bristol, England on the way.  Bristol is about 2 hours south of Birmingham, but we took the scenic route.  When I say scenic, I mean SCENIC.  We drove through parts of the Cotswolds.  The Cotswolds are villages within and along the English Countryside that are straight out of a picture book, or (nerd alert) a Tolkien series - rumor has it, the hobbit shires in the movies were inspired from these parts of England.   We stopped in a charming little town, Winchcombe, and had the most delightful cheese scones (big fluffy biscuits) and coffee.  We immediately made plans to return to a bed and breakfast out that way sometime soon and take a long walk along Cotswold Way.  It was seriously like walking through one of the scenes from Sense and Sensibility - if you haven't heard of this movie, cool - that means I've hit a bigger audience as non-friends of mine must be reading this blog.

After navigating our way through the tiny roads and back to the highway, and getting stuck in hours worth of traffic, we made it to Bristol.  The weather was lovely, so we jumped on a boat tour down the canal.  After that we walked back towards the city center and to Cabot Tower.  It was a trek up hill and a climb up about 100 steps that would make any claustrophobic cringe, but the view was entirely worth it.

While catching our breath at the bottom, we found a comedy show to go to that night.  We felt the best way to continue our culturcation (yes I made that word up - culture and education) was to submerse ourselves in an evening of dry British humor. While we were slow on some of the political jokes, and somewhat on the other side of the spectrum from the mid show talent, we found it highly entertaining.

Sunday morning we woke up, found a Starbucks (no shame) and hit the road for Cardiff.  Wales being a separate country, yet part of the UK, worked out seeing as all we had to do was pay a 6 pound toll and not show our passports - awesome, since we forgot them.  Oops... amateur move.  Anyhow, once we found parking at a rugby stadium (further peaking Adam's interest), we jumped on the bus tour at Cardiff Castle.  The city is on the coast and healed our claustrophobia.  Both of us being from water bordered towns, we loved the fresh, open air.  After the bus tour, we drove further up the coast and it was seriously breathtaking.  I love a sunny, clear sky more than anyone, but there's something extremely serene about grey cloudy skies over miles over oceans and cliffs.

All in all, great first trip.  We became pros at the whole driving thing and got some much needed fresh air and scenic views.   Monday we drove out to Solihull (a Birmingham suburb) which is quite a nice little town with some fun shopping and great houses and then further north of the city to this great, huge park.  Cows literally walk alongside card and golfers.   It was weird, but fun.  We'll be back.

Still no job, but I do have a bank account - woohoo!

In the works, our June trip to Paris! I've been dying to go to Paris since I was 14 in French class, even though my teacher gave me a name I couldn't pronounce (Mireille), so this is a big deal for me.  Adam only got to spend about 12 hours there last time he was in Europe, so we're hitting all the big touristy sites shamelessly.

I was disappointed not to find the Princess in Wales, but I bet she's waiting for it to warm up some before taking the baby royals out on trips, so c'est la vie.  Abientot!