Last Stop - England!

Before I get to the last stop, I forgot to write about my favorite church I'd seen! We saw so much in Scotland, that remembering it all was kind of tough. But St.Giles church on the Royal Mile was gorgeous. It had wonderful stained glass windows and plenty of tiny chapels. But it felt homey somehow. It didn't feel like a giant cathedral that Mass would never be said in. To me it felt like a nice place that I could definitely go to to worship. I am unfortunately not being so good about getting to church while abroad, but if I had the chance, I think hearing Mass in this church would've been very nice. And while I may have forgotten to include it in my last post, I'll never forget it. And it was definitely my favorite church that I'd seen on Fall Break, even possibly since I've been in Italy.
Well, so it was almost the end of my fall break, but I had one more stop to go, and it was back to England. I was lucky enough to be staying with family friends who live a few hours outside of London! And even more lucky, I ended up flying into the airport that was closest to them, so I didn't even have to take the dreaded train by myself! I got picked up right at the airport! Talk about the star treatment haha! I realize that getting picked up in a car does not sound like the most luxurious thing a person could do, but after 4 flights, 5 days of buses and trains, a car was absolutely amazing! And sleeping, for two glorious nights, in a bed, a real bed, not a hostel bunk bed was also absolutely wonderful!
The family I stayed with I have known for around 10 years. Every so often one, two or the whole lot of our families have gone and stayed with the other for different amounts of time. Most recently the eldest son came and stayed with my family, so I had seen him recently, but as for the others, I hadn't seen them since I was 13! Eight years! So it was very exciting! Nicely enough, they were exactly like I remembered them. And it was absolutely wonderful to have a mom figure to be fretting over me for a few days. When you're this far away from home, and without the ability to just go home when you need to, its nice to spend a few days in a family situation, with a mom much like yours who can take care of you! Though I am a grown up (or trying to be these days) its still nice to be able to 'come home' I think, and though this wasn't my home, its the closest thing I have to family over here and it was nice to spend time with them. Though I fear I wasn't such a splendid guest, as I was exhausted and I slept, a lot! But they didn't seem to mind, and it allowed them to go about their days without worrying about me.
Though I did spend a day with the mom, in a town nearby called Lavenham. We walked around and went into this old guild hall and looked around. And she told me all about the town and the buildings that we saw. Including a very crooked house and a house that used to be about 100 meters away from where it currently stands. Apparently, back in the day, when you moved, you really moved, and you took your whole house with you. Then we poked around a few antique shops and headed home for tea. And while it may be a stereotype of England that they drink tea, from my experience, I'd say it was dead on. There were definitely several times throughout the day that I was offered tea (okay, or coffee) and it seemed completely appropriate. Though I'm not a big tea drinker, so I passed, but what a place to live if you liked it! :)
Unfortunately, my time spent there was brief, and it was back to London to meet up with my traveling companions. We spent one last glorious night roaming around London and the downtown area. And in particular a portion that reminded us a lot of NYC with big television-billboards and lots of people out and about. It was a lot of fun and really cool to see that part of London!
On our last day in London, we did the total tourist thing and went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. Unfortunately it was raining, so they didn't have their usual beefeater outfits on, but it was still really cool. And the queen was home, as the English flag flying above the palace signifies.
And then, just like that, my fall break was over, and it was time to come back to Italy. Though I still had a plane, 2 trains, a bus and a taxi to look forward to to get me back 'home' to Perugia. We actually almost missed our train, so we almost ended up stuck in Rome for the night, but luckily we made it, and by 2AM Monday, I was sleeping in my own bed in Perugia. But what an amazing week it was! I got to see so many amazing things and travel to three different countries! I even got to escape the city for a little while and travel to the beautiful green countryside of England and hang out with friends I haven't seen in years. It was probably the most perfect vacation I could have ever taken. It was the most fun, and the most exciting travel experience I've ever had. And to be able to do it with 4 good girl friends, well that just made it all the better! I can't wait for my next European adventure! :)