Gabe's Study Abroad Blog: Heading South

After a few days exploring lochs, castles and lakes, we left the rugged North of England and began heading South towards London. We decided to head down the West Coast, as I'd already seen the East many times on the train, and the family had driven up that way less than a week ago.

(Mom navigating us towards Liverpool)

We stopped briefly in Liverpool- driving through the city center, and walking around the historic dock area. Of course we also couldn't miss seeing at least the exterior of Liverpool FC's stadium- Adrian's favorite soccer team in England. (Having been home only 3 weeks, the word "soccer" is already completely natural to me again, and I'm hardly even tempted to use 'football' instead).

(Liverpool from the Harbor)

(The famous Shankly Gates of Anfield- Liverpool's Stadium)

We headed further South from Liverpool, and continued our 'Cathedral Tour' (as our Gloucester Cathedral docent dubbed it, upon hearing our church-filled itinerary) in the South West of England. And perhaps the friendly docent was right. By the time we'd finished our vacation, we'd toured through no less than eight Cathedrals (in order): Durham, Gloucester, Salisbury, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, Notre Dame, Sacré-Cœur and the Sainte-Chapelle. If you keep reading over the next week or so, you'll see pictures of each in turn, but first (after Durham, obviously) is Gloucester.

(The Entrance to Gloucester Cathedral)

(Inside Gloucester Cathedral. This is the largest stained glass window in Europe! At the risk of stating the obvious, it was big)

(More Gloucester)

(Posing in the Cathedral's courtyard)

After Glouster we went to the ancient (and I don't use the term loosely) city of Bath. Mom had heard from a friend that it was not be missed, and that certainly proved to be correct. One of the oldest cities in Britain, Bath was founded by the Romans. Today, with the somewhat recent discovery of the ancient Roman Baths, the city is a mix of many different eras.

(Adrian and I getting ready to explore bath, after making time for lunch)

(A statue in Bath)

(The Ancient Roman Baths)

(Well preserved Roman artifacts)

(Sadly, they wouldn't let us go swimming in it...)

One of the biggest advantages of traveling around Britain by car, rather than rail, is the ability to see attractions outside of cities and towns with train stations. For example, Stonehenge. As a family, we agreed this was something we definitely didn't want to miss. And conveniently it was somewhat on the way to London, although pretty far in the middle of no place. We arrived too late to pay for access into the 'protected area' inside the outer fence, but still got great views (and photos) through the fence. We also went on a fun hike in the surrounding hills, attempting to discover a special view of the monument which Mom had read about in one of the tour books.

(Stonehenge)

(Posing by the fence)

(As you'll likely hear from anyone who's seen it- it's a bit less impressive in person. Smaller than one would expect. Yet nonetheless, certainly a must see)