Finding places close to home

I know that I've seemed like quite the jet-setter recently, what with my 3 countries in a week spring break (Vatican City counts. Ask any geography teacher) and my upcoming visits to Barcelona and Malta. However, recently I've been taking it sort of easy and checking out new places in London and the ever-so-quaint villages around southern England. I mean, I live in such an amazing area - it's time to take advantage of it!

Stop 1 was Winchester, which is an overly cute hamlet about an hour's train ride southwest of London. Many of you at this point will be singing a song entitled "Winchester Cathedral", but, if you're in a public place, take my advice and stop. We've heard it sung before, and it's not a pretty song. Plus I'd never heard it until AFTER I saw the cathedral, so I can't annoy locals with my singing.

Anyway!

Winchester did indeed have a cathedral, making it the 24th I've seen on the trip so far (that's an estimation and Il Duomo still has them all beat). Here's a view from inside because my camera is only capable of taking epic pictures:



The hamlet also had adorable shopping areas, featuring an open-air market and a mall with a penguin statue (we have lots of penguins here in the UK). For lunch and severall snacks we feasted upon pasties, which are pastries with fun things inside like cheese and onions, as well as caramel shortcake and, of course, tea. We tried to stay there until dinner, but everything closes at 5 and there are about 2 pubs on the outskirts of town that stayed open. So, after wandering from one end of the town to another (which took a total of 20 minutes), we headed home to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in central London.

However, some nights must be spent away from the safety of central London, so last night, in a nostalgic quest for American food, we went to north London. Travel Planner told me that it would take us about 51 minutes to get there, taking 2 different tube lines, a bus, and a 10 minute walk. Off we went to the unexplored wilds of Finsbury Park. Amazingly, we found where we were going without any major problems, aside from some incredibly annoying British teenagers who cursed like... people from New Jersey. We had a great dinner at a place called "...Pick More Daisies" (burgers with avocado!) and, adventurous kids that we are, took a bus to another part of north London to take the tube home.

North London actually looks a lot like Collegetown (in that it's hilly and has houses). It's a lot quieter than central London, a LOT less expensive, and just has a very different atmosphere. Aside from the time required to get to and from there, it's a very cool part of the city.

Tomorrow I'll be going to Stop 3: Canterbury! Details on my hanging out with the Archbishop and Chaucer (I see dead people) coming soon!