Tourism.

So today was kind of awesome. We got in last night at... a perfectly responsible time, obviously. And woke up bright and early ready to go. Since we didn't get in at 3 am half drunkenly. Right. So we spent so much time cleaning and... meditating... and researching... things that suddenly it was 10:30am and realized that our attention had been so wrapped up in being adult and responsible that we hadn't eaten breakfast yet. So we did. Yayyyy the three 'Murican's made pancakes. Sierra had some good ol' Vermont maple syrup so it was like being back home. Sort of. Only better cause it's England. Anyway, that was the last American thing I have done all day.

We dropped the third of our posse at the train station and then decided to walk around Guildford. This. Place. Is. Amazing. The first place we stopped was Guildford Castle, built in 1066(-ish) and used as a Royal Palace in about 1272. Pretty big deal. And pretty awesome. We poked around the High Street area and down by the River Wey where there was what seemed to be some kind of kayak race going on. And right down next to the river was a little grouping of bronze statues of Alice and her sister reading beneath a willow tree, with a rabbit jumping into a hole. All very cute and quaint. We also walked by the house where Lewis Carroll died and through the graveyard of a church built in 1170. No big deal. Just some seriously important parts of world culture and history.

Anyway, after all this we hopped into the car and onto the "Dual Carriageway". The vistas are just stunning. Rolling hills and livestock and green things and fences and old houses. It is exactly what I imagined it would be. In so many ways. We took the A3 south to Portsmouth and Southsea, merely intending to look at the English Channel so I could stick my hand in the western shore of the Atlantic. What I found there, however was so much more. The memorial placed by the British in memory of Lord Admiral Nelson's last shove-off Sept 15, 1905 before he died at the Battle of Trafalgar Oct 21 of that year. And the memorial to the sailors of the line that have died and, to quote the memorial, "have no other grave but the sea". And the Southsea Castle which was built in 1544 by Henry the VII. Well, not BY him. HE didn't lift a finger. He ordered it built. There are castles absolutely everywhere. Castles and cathedrals. They really are up to here with *bleeping* castles. They've all got a castle each.

We wandered around Southsea for a while - it was freezing and the wind was pretty stiff - and found our way to a terrific little fish and chips place. And it really is way better here. Especially when you wrap them in paper. Lunch/dinner in hand, we drove around again until we found this terrific old cathedral (another one) built originally in the 11th century and rebuilt in 1880 with a wooden vaulted roof and a gorgeous altar. The Parish Church of St. Mary Portsea, it's called. Beautiful.

At about that point, I think my jet lag started to really catch up. So we headed back to Guildford. I am now back near the University of Surrey at a friends house completely exhausted.I have to finish pressing my suit for my INTERVIEW IN MANCHESTER TOMORROW. ZOMG. ..... K I'm back. Sorry. Hopefully tomorrow's adventure to Manchester and back to London proves as exciting and eventful as this weekend has been.