Bonjour de la Suisse: Driving through Jolly Old England

After getting back from the Maldives, we were only in Geneva one day (for an ultrasound) before we were headed off again. This time we were going to England to visit with G’s cousin and his family and to see some of the sights in the UK.

Our first stop was the village of Burwell where G’s cousin lives. We had rented a car at the airport and it was the first time either G or I had ever driven a car with the steering wheel on the right side. I let G drive first. He got the hang of it pretty quickly and I was impressed, although it was a bit harrowing at first. We were staying at the same family run bed & breakfast we stayed at two years earlier when we came up to visit the family for Christmas 2005. The owner remembered us and gave us a warm welcome.

Our time in Burwell was great. It was so nice to catch up with G’s cousin and his wife and their two girls, J & H. We got to check out all the cool things the girls got for Christmas, hear all about their riding lessons and we learned how to play a Nintendo game where you take care of a puppy… I wasn’t too good at it! We were also one of the first people to dine in the new dining room, part of the new extension of their house that has been in the works for some time now. I was thrilled to see it first hand after all the pictures. We had such a nice time but the time flew by! Soon we were on our way to Bath.

Now I figured it would take us about 2-3 hours to reach Bath, and I was in no hurry to leave Burwell, so I kept stalling and trying to stay just a little bit longer. Well, I was very wrong! It took us over 6 hours to make the journey (not including a side trip into Oxford)! To my defense, there was a major accident that side tracked us for an hour, but still, I had grossly underestimated the trip! But we made it!

So what is the first thing we did in Bath? We headed out of town and drove to Stonehenge! I had visited Stonehenge with Chica and Fi last summer, but I wanted G to see the world famous prehistoric monument for himself. I didn’t mind going back at all; my only complaint was it was bitterly cold!! But that didn’t stop the hordes of tourists (including us) who were there and we still had fun!

Back in Bath, we were ready to take in all that this charming, beautiful city had to offer, with its Georgian style and aristocratic charms. The city was founded by the Romans who built baths and a temple around naturally-occurring hot springs that still bubble up from the earth today.

The Roman Baths were our first stop, which turned out to be a fascinating tour back in time. Now-a-days you can’t actually go in the water (a new modern spa just opened this year for relaxing in), but at the end of the tour you can drink the warm, awfully curative Bath water from an elegant fountain… it’s pretty awful tasting, but we had to try it! We spent the rest of our time on a city tour, shopping, and wandering around the city. I even made G go into "Jollys", which claims to be one of the world’s oldest department stores.

From our home base in Bath we headed to Wales for a quick visit to Cardiff. We took a walk around Cardiff Castle and stopped in for coffee and a bite to eat at a trendy little café. Now when I say quick, I mean it, because no sooner had we finished our food we were headed back to England. We were headed back to London and we really wanted to see Windsor Castle before we were to fly back to Geneva the next day.

We made it to Windsor in great time (compared to our drive to Bath) and by now we were both masters of the right hand driving! We toured Windsor Castle, which we both really liked… It is the largest inhabited castle in the world and is the oldest in continuous occupation. Needless to say, it took a while to get through! For dinner we ate at a traditional English pub (something we had been trying to do for several nights but couldn’t seem to find a good one). It was delicious and the perfect way to end our tour through southern England.