Hever

I've travelled a lot of places in England. I've been to places that many of my British friends have never heard of or have never had the chance to visit. I guess when you grow up with this stuff an hour away from where you live, it isn't as cool. But my all time favourite place is Hever Castle. My goodness I love it so.

The childhood home of Anne Boleyn, my hero in life. I love her so and usually I like to pretend that she didn't meet the tragic ending that she really did. When watching movies about her I usually stop five minutes to the end, right before her head goes flying. 

But Hever Castle is gorgeous. It is a small castle, in fact I don't know why it is called a castle since it is more of an estate home. Half of what is there was added only a few years ago by some really rich family who wanted it to be more modern but in an olden day sense. The gardens are massive and gorgeous and the maze is quite simple if not rather muddy. I loved it here and spent hours sitting under a tree reading because it was so peaceful and had such a wonderful view. I might have spent way too much time in the bedroom that was once Anne Boleyn's bedroom but how cool is it to look out the same window she once looked out. Or pace the floors she no undoubtedly paced. 

New Goal to add to the list

See London in every month of the year
January: Check
February: Check
March:Check
April:Check
May:
June:Check
July:Check, Check, Check, Check
August:
September:Check
October:Check
November:Check
December:Check

May and August I am coming for you.

Lincoln

Lincoln is my third favourite city in Britain. I don't know what it is about it but I just love it so. The entire city is basically cobblestone and it is just the epitome of a british town. However if you ever go to Lincoln, practice for it by first climbing the 700 steps of the Eiffel Tower or climb to the top of Mount Timp. Trust me on this one. Lincoln is a hill, it is the San Fransico of England. Steep Hill is the main street in Lincoln, it runs from town center up to the entrance of Lincoln Cathedral and the name is not trying to be ironic.
But if you ever find yourself in England, you need to go to Lincoln. Trust me you won't regret it. the Views are incredible and the Cathedral is amazing.

#5, #10, #19, #22, #68, #74, #85, #91, #96, #99 #106, #124, #128

#5 Do as the Beatles Do

I went to Liverpool and it was not all that impressive. I am not surprised the Beatles left as soon as the could. #10 Go inside Westminster Hall

Westminster Hall is the only part left of the old Palace of Westminster. The Royal residence before it burned down hundreds of years ago. It is now part of Parliament and is truly amazing. Chrissy and I went there last summer and it was rather interesting. Those elected officials are nothing but over grown children. #19 Coffin Shopping in Harrods

We tried to buy a coffin in Harrods but they do not sell them. They are known for selling anything and everything. They lie! #22 Find Karma in Holland Park

#68 Childhood Museum

#74 Take a dance class Every Monday and Saturday. Let me tell you, dance in England is a little different than the classes I am used to. #85 Push the mysterious button

2007 I stayed in a hotel in london that had this button, my mom wouldn't let me push it. For 5 years that button haunted me and then I went back to the hotel for the purpose of pushing the button. I pushed it and nothing happened. Still don't know what it does. #91 Find the boy who never grew up

#96 Go to Hogwarts

#99 Find Prince Arthur's Grave

Prince Arthur was the older brother of Henry VIII, he died rather young and never got to be king. He lived in Ludlow Castle, which is now in ruins but is in the cutest town I have ever seen. The view from the top of the castle is amazing as well. His body is buried in Worcester Cathedral but his heart is buried in the church in Ludlow. #106 Attend a Royal Wedding I wasn't actually invited but I was in London on the day of the wedding, I vote it counts. #124 Try a meat pie #128 Tunbridge Wells This was only on the list because Fred told me to add it. I have been there, it is a cute town in Sussex. It is actually the town that Groombridge is outside of. Groombridge was my family home a few generations back.

Home sweet home

I have been in Kettering a little over a month now and I can honestly say that I think I picked the right place to call home. It is super British with old churches everywhere, it has a gorgeous park, a public library, a cemetery and a dance studio. I am kind of in love with this little town. The few people I have met are absolutely lovely and the guy who teaches the dance class I go to has a peter pan tattoo. talk about fate people. I think it is interesting though to see how much my culture clashes with those here. I mean when I lived here a few years ago I didn't see that much difference in worlds except for the amount that people drank. but since moving into a place that isn't student based I have realized how different England is to America. My first week here I made my neighbor cookies to say thank you for being so welcoming and she cried. Apparently baking things for your neighbors is a Utah thing. It makes me smile when people are so blown away by me helping them, even with the smallest tasks like helping them find a book at Waterstones or saying have a great day as I am leaving a shop. My kind heartedness will melt these cold british hearts just give it time.

Wimbledon!!

I think the best part about England is the history that is everywhere you turn. quite honestly everywhere you go you can find something that has a crazy story behind it. However what is even better than seeing some part of history is experiencing it and being there when it all went down. The last couple of times I have been in England I have been able to be a part of moments that will always be remembered in history. There was the student tuition fees protest in 2010. There was the Royal wedding in 2011 that i was in London for. there was the Queen's jubilee last summer. this summer the Royal baby will be born any day now actually. Andy Murray won Wimbledon! The first British person in 77 years to do so. The Harry Potter premier in 2011, that we camped in the middle of London for and then stood for 14 hours and then got rained on for was by far the most amazing moment of my life though. I honestly feel it is the coolest thing in the world to be apart of history and not just see it from a distance. On a side note, turns out at the Harry Potter studio tour in London there is a clip from the premier that plays and you can see Chrissy and I in it. 10 minutes of fame!

London ahoy!

3 years ago when I moved to England for the first time I was not scared in the slightest. You know just moving to a foreign country where I know absolutely no one, didnt know how the trains worked, didnt exactly know the part of the country I was going to be living in and of course only knew bits and pieces of the language. So here I am 3 years later sitting in the Dallas airport and more British than American. It seems that the 13 months that I have spent in the UK have bumped the American out of me and has taken over. I struggle to spell like an american. and a life with out tea is no way to live. For those who do not know me and my luck with flights to England here is a brief recap of everything I have ever been through on flights to the UK starting in 2001 2001:Going to Europe for the first time with the family. Get stranded in SLC airport for 6 hours because of bad weather-half of this is spent sitting on the plane. Miss flight in chicago-mass mayhem before getting to scotland. 2007:Going to England for Harry Potter tour...nothing bad happens. 2008:Day trip to London from Paris- fire in Chunnel month before. Train delayed 2 hours. 2010: Move to England for school. Flight from New Jersey gets turned around because of bad plane part. Get stranded in New York airport for 5 hours before getting a hotel and then being at hotel for 4 hours before going back to the airport. spent 12 hours in airport. Luggage gets lost, do not get back for 2 weeks. 2 weeks!!! it is a wonder i made friends. 2010:flying back home for Christmas I got stranded in Chicago because of a massive snow storm. my dad kept leaving me obnoxious messages about it. finally flew to Dallas and then got home about midnight. 2011:Flying to England in October for my friends birthday, the plane we were supposed to take got hit by lightening on its way to Salt Lake and so I was delayed and then once in Chicago my plane was delayed because someone was avoiding being deported by faking a serious illness. IT WAS SO COOL! She got deported anyway. 2012:Headed back to England for the summer my flight got sent to Wisconsin instead of Chicago because we couldn't land due to rain. stranded in Wisconsin for the night the only thing that made it funny was a random guy walking around the airport at midnight eating a block of cheese. but finally in 2013 I made it on time and on the right plane. the one time I had made plans to arrive late, i was on time. Stupid airlines. But alas I am finally here and it feels great to be home. Now just to go into town and get my phone to work.