The past three days have flown by and there has been a ton of activity. I will do my best to recount my adventures in a fast, interesting manner.
Day 1 - Saturday May 2
After my run-in with an armed robber (read the blog below if you missed the story) my Aunt Trissa and I had a coffee together at a shop in Tonbridge. It's called Cafe Nero and there are TONS of them around England. After a nice visit we went back to my Uncle Sean't apartment where I greeted my cousins Marie and Anselm.
Both are music teachers and both are loads of fun. The last time I went to England (eight years ago) I spent my final night with Anselm and some of his house-mates, and needless to say he showed me a good time.
After a brief visit I changed into my suit and then assisted my Uncle Sean with the purchasing and carrying of the wine for his 70th birthday party. We took the wine to the hall and got it all set up. He bought 25 bottles of Red and 25 bottles of White for the occasion yet only 50 or so guests were expected. Anybody who knows me knows where this is going....
Anselm and I went off to a nearby pub once everything was set up and we killed about an hours worth of time. We swapped stories and I told him of my earlier encounter with a felon and my Ramada Hotel story from a few Christmas' ago.
The party started at 6 o'clock, and right from the start it was a tremendous success. Many of the guests recognized me as "Marty's Son" and they all wished him well and asked about him. Many even recognized me from some of my prior visits. The wine was flowing freely and everybody seemed to be having a marvelous time. For dinner we had beef, wine, ham, wine, potatoes, wine, asparagus (sp?), wine, and an awesome pudding for desert. Did I mention wine? I did? Oh good.
After dinner Marie and Anselm took turns playing the piano and a woman named Mrs. Taylor (I think?) started singing very loudly. Anselm toasted his father and of course I made a speech. I recounted a story about how I used to piggy-back my Uncle while swimming in our old pool, and he called me "Daniel the Great Whale Rider!" Get you're minds out of the gutter if you took that the wrong way.
Anselm, Marie and one of their friends called Andy suggested a trip to the pub after the party had ended, so with this in mind, we cleaned the hall as fast as possible. I don't think I've ever stacked chairs and folded tables faster in my life.
Marie and I headed to the pub first, and we had a great time chatting. Anselm and Andy arrived shortly there after with another man from the party named Dominic. Dominic was from Belgium, and he was extremely quiet and alarmingly French.
That night at the pub I drank FOSTERS and CARLING extra Cold. I met a guy named Andrew and his girlfriend Sarah, and for some reason I decided that I wanted to arm-wrestle Andrew at some point. It was a heated battle with no eventual winner. We wrapped up the night at a placed called "Kebob House" and I ordered a monster Kebab and ate maybe half of it.
The pubs close at Midnight in Tonbridge, and this did/still does not please me.
Day 2 - The morning After
Sunday was a much slower day.
We all woke up quite late (around 11 ish) and watched Uncle Sean open his cards and presents. After some more visiting (mainly with Dominic) Anselm and I headed back to Cafe NERO for another visit with Andrew and Sarah.
I apologized to Andrew for wanting to arm-wrestle him, and the afternoon was very pleasant. We spent two full hours just talking and drinking coffee. The four of us agreed to meet back at the pub later that night.
Anselm and I then went to my Aunt Gerti's (Sean's ex-wife) apartment for dinner. She cooked an excellent Chicken dinner and we simply caught up and I brought her up to speed on my life. Marie joined us a little later for a late dinner as she had been recording music earlier that day with her friend Holly.
It was back to the pub that night where Anselm, Andrew, Sarah, Jeremy and I had a great time. I switched my drinnk to something much stronger (I forget the name) but it's something 'Burg' and it's a 5.4% beer. I told all of my new friends what the word "Chotch" meant, and I probably bought the table at least two or three rounds of drinks. I definitely made a good impression - So much so, that Andrew and Sarah are meeting with me again in Tonbridge Monday night before I leave.
Anselm and I wrapped up the night back at Sean's place with a place of ham.
Day 3 - The House of Winston Churchill
Uncle Sean and I did a ton of touring around. We visited "Chartwell" where the great Winston Churchill lived for a majority of his life. We walked through great big garden's and through his enormous home. There were hundreds of tourists taking pictures and expierencing this place and I've got to admit that I was very impressed. The smell of the garden's were very nice, and I left with a strong desire to buy a plant of some sort when I get home. My Uncle is a great historian, and he knows his stuff, so he spent all afternoon explaining who everybody was, and then he bought me a book of Churchill photos which I've now started to skim through.
We then visited Quebec House, which was where General Wolfe lived back in the 1700's before the Battle of Quebec. I won't bore you with the details, but had it not been for James Wolfe, we all might be speaking French back in Canada.
Sean and I then went to eat at a very nice Pub and then I had an early night.
Day 4 - My Day in Cambridge
Cambridge University is extremely posh and very well respected. I've heard a ton about Cambridge from others, but it's only when you see it for yourself do you truely get the idea of how majestic this place is. There are 20 different college's that create the University of Cambridge and my Uncle Robert is the MASTER of Jesus College. My Aunt Maragaret picked me up from the train earlier today and has since taken me on a massive tour of several of the colleges. I saw Kings College which has a cathedral and a Chapel that would BLOW YOU AWAY! The architecture alone is a site in itself, and we have more touring to do in a matter of moments.
They live in a great Master's Hall and apparently soon I will be going to a Choir presentation, followed by an excellent dinner. I'm getting a ton of exercise, and I actually think I'm losing more weight because of all of this walking around. While I've been drinking like a fish, I've been eating very sensibly, and my clothes are fitting better than ever. I'm off to London on Thursday where there will definitely be a ton of fun to be had.
I'll keep you posted.
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"Alarmingly French"
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome