Jane Austen Day

We stayed the night at the Etap Hotel.  I'm telling you what it is so that you know not to go there.  It was the worst place I have ever stayed.  The bed was about as comfortable as a slab of cement.  There was really gross stuff all over the floor that I didn't want to think about.  Ew.  I still don't.  It was bad.  My favorite part?  The shower.  The door was not quite as see through but the handle was just an open hole.  I guess it makes things convenient if someone wants to come along and peek in to see who is using the shower...

The whole experience was pretty disturbing.  

Our first stop was Stourhead, most notable for the place where parts of the newest Pride and Prejudice was filmed.  It's also got fabulous English landscaping which, of course, is what I was excited about.  I was in a truly impressive amount of pain but I decided to pretend I was in marching band and carry on anyway.  I was not willing to miss this.  I'm really glad I stuck through it.

There were several rock caves and tunnels.  I went to the bus and sketched out a few ways to try to put that into home landscaping because I thought they were so cool.

Our second stop was a big one.  Wanna know what it was?

STONEHENGE!

It was very cool.  It was cold and you can't go very close to the stones but it was fun to be so close to Stonehenge and see them in person instead of just looking at pictures.

And then it rained.  A lot.

The rain on the bus window

Our final stop was Chawton, where Jane Austen lived!  That's two Jane Austen spots in one day if you weren't counting.  We went around her little cottage.  The best part was that they let anyone who wanted play the piano.  After we were done in the cottage, we went for a short walk in the rain and, uh, what the horses left behind to see her brother's house, the place she went to church, and where her sister and her mother are buried.

The bed

As fun as these trips are, I was more than happy to get back home.  Sure, I slept the whole time we were on the bus (I'm starting to worry about myself... that's a good five or six hours) but it's always nice to be back at 27 Palace Court.  I was sitting upstairs on my laptop and one of the girls told me there was a letter for me downstairs.  I pretty much slid down the stairs and found THIS:

I was so excited to get mail that I got quite a bit teary.

And that was the end of the day.