By eevenden
Halló frá Englanti!
This week and a half have been dedicated to spring break! Woo!
Last Tuesday, I left the stormy city of Reykjavik for the slightly less stormy town of New Milton, England, to visit my grandma. I don’t see my Grandma very often, living across the Atlantic and all, so I was committed to seeing her while I am relatively close by.
This week has been fairly calm compared to some of my weeks in Iceland, a time to slow down and relax. If I am being honest, much of my time has been spent doing newspaper Sudoku puzzles, watching quiz shows, and touring all the local super markets as we decided what vegetarian foods to try for the week. Of course, it has been really great to talk to my grandma and look through old photos and hear about her life as a young lady. On Easter Sunday, we were both treated to phone calls from my family, as well as my Uncle and Aunt living in Australia who I haven’t talked to directly since I last in Australia two years ago.
For this week’s blog, I thought I would post some photos from the week and tell a bit about them rather than doing it day-by-day.
Barton-on-Sea
On my first, full day in New Milton, I decided to go on a walk along the coast. New Milton is a seaside town on the southern coast of England, so getting to the beach only take about 40 minutes of walking. Below are some photos from my walk which included treading through a muddy horse pasture and walking along the sea-cliff trail. A number of signs along the trail warned of the heavy erosion along the cliffs. It was easy to see the older path which has now collapsed.
Walk Around Lymington
On Saturday, Grandma and I took to bus to a town called Lymington. Long ago it was a famous port for smugglers, but today it is a popular tourist destination – especially in the summer times. Our main mission going there was actually to visit the big Waitrose supermarket in search of some nice Easter Sunday food. While there, we also visited a café and had some coffee, and walked around the town a bit. It was one of the cloudy (rather than rainy) days.
Kew Gardens
On Monday, Grandma and I did a big trip up to London to visit Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanic Gardens. Once it was the home to King George III and Queen Charlotte, the parents to the famous Queen Victoria. Originally built for a French merchant, the Royals used Kew Palace as a retreat from city life. However, they abandoned the home after Queen Charlotte died in the palace. Since then Kew Palace and the Gardens have largely been kept the same. Grandma and I had a nice visit, despite some rain. We had a good meal – I even convinced Grandma to eat the vegan option – and we particularly liked the Palm House, which was filled with very luscious tropical plants.
Tomorrow I will fly back to Reykjavik, so sorry for a short (and late) post. This coming weekend my friends and I will visit the Westman Islands, off the south coast of Iceland. As far as my schedule for the rest of my time abroad. I have two more weeks of classes, and then I will spend a week in Germany visiting my Godmother and the Bavarian Alps. Then I will take my final exams and finish my time here by doing a week of field work for my Glacial Geology course.
Bye for now!
-Emily