ENGLAND PART 2

I know I am putting a lot of pictures up but we saw so many amazing things.

One of the places that Sterling really wanted to go was Portsmouth. We spent most of the day there and LOVED it.

Here is Sterling in front of the HMS Victory. This was the ship that Lord Nelson commanded the British fleet from during the battle of Trafalgar.


Here is the actual spot where Admiral Lord Nelson died. Little Sterling Henry had had enough by this point which is why he looks like he does in this picture!

Sterling in front of some of Lord Nelson's personal items. This whole museum was pretty much centered around Lord Nelson. Sterling was in heaven.


Some of you may not know that we camped while we were in England. I was not sure how this was going to work out but I LOVED it. We rented a car so we could go all over. Here is a picture of our favorite campsite.

This is the Winchester Cathedral. This cathedral was absolutely amazing. They had some really interesting things inside.


I wasn't super familiar with the fact that so many people have been buried inside these cathedrals. It makes sense but I had no idea. Luckily for me, Jane Austen was buried here so we got to see her grave.


After the Winchester Cathedral, we headed over to the Salisbury Cathedral which was very close. This cathedral was very beautiful as well. It has the tallest spire in England.


Stonehenge was our next spot. This is such a huge tourist spot, there were people everywhere. We took pictures outside the fence since we could see it just fine and you couldn't get much closer even if you payed to go in. They used to let people touch the stones and climb on them, but not anymore.

The next day we went to Stourhead, which is a great mansion home and garden. We didn't tour the house but walked all around the gardens.

Bath was another city that I was super excited to go to. It exceeded all my expectations. I LOVED it. We went to the Great Bath which was unbelievable. This Great Bath was part of a Roman spa complex that was not discovered until the 1870s. The water comes from a natural hot spring. The whole thing was remarkable.


Bath has a beautiful Abbey. Sterling got to climb to the tower. Here is the view he got from the top looking down. It kind of freaked him out being so high in a tower built in the 1450's, especially when he learned that the stone roof he was standing on hundreds of feet above the nave was only 8 inches thick.


Next we headed to the long awaited Stoke-on-Trent. I was really looking forward to getting some china while we were there. Spode went bankrupt last year, but luckily for us, Portmeirion is still going strong. (They actually bought out the Spode company but won't be in production till next year.) We were in the factory store for over three hours! I had the time of my life. Luckily Sterling had helped his mom bring back a bunch of Spode and Portmeirion so he helped me pick out two different patterns. He really is the best.

He even carried it all on the plane in two different carry-ons for me. Everything made it home safe!


That night it was raining like crazy so we stayed in this cute little B&B. The couple who ran it were the sweetest people. They had just recently been to Salt Lake City to visit an old friend who joined our church years ago and moved over there. It was fun talking with them. Plus, Debbie, the B&B hostess, made us the BEST English breakfast the next day.
Stay tuned for the rest of our pictures. (Yes, there are more!!!)