Internet is back!

After two days of severely limited communication (yeah I know that sounds pathetic, but I don't have a phone yet), my computer has suddenly decided to pick up the hotel's wireless network again. I thought it was a much bigger problem with my computer, but that is a long story you don't want to hear, especially since it is working again.

What this means is that I finally finished uploading and captioning my webshots albums, which I will post links to at the end for your viewing pleasure. First, quick recap of yesterday... I went to see the cottage I loved so much online. Here is a picture of the front so you know what I mean:



Now here is the bad thing about this picture: only the right half of the cottage (door and two windows) would be mine. The other half belongs to the landlord's mother, who will be staying there. That part was definitely not made clear online, at least to me. Now, there is no arguing that the cottage is beautiful, but after 4 years of apartment living, I was really hoping not to share walls again. Moving on... it is as beautiful inside as out. So much so that I feel my furniture would look fairly tacky in comparison, but not a dealbreaker, I guess.


The thing I noted most inside was how very small it was. Now, I had been warned by at least 50 people before this that British houses are much smaller than American houses, so I was not exactly surprised. The thing is, the house I looked at on Friday was SO much bigger, and I didn't even think it was that big at the time. Also, the layout of the Friday house was a lot more convenient... the cottage only has one bathroom, and it is downstairs. Also, there is really nowhere to put a washer and dryer in the cottage, and no dining room or space for a kitchen table, whereas the other house had rooms for all these things, plus an upstairs and downstairs bathroom.


Okay, so the cottage is tiny, you get the idea. On to the back garden. I literally felt like I walked out the back door into The Secret Garden. There are actually three areas to the garden, separated with wooden archways covered with vines. Here is a picture of the farthest back area, my favorite part:





Note the cute little covered bench with vines all over it, which the landlord says blooms with violets. Now, as storybook-beautiful as the garden is, here is my concern about it: it is already overgrown and full of weeds in many places (which the landlord promises to fix before she leaves). I have never been a gardener, and you'll have to look at my photo album of the place to see just how many plants there are, but it's sort of overwhelming. I am not sure I want to commit to spending as much time as it would take to keep this garden up. The other house had a massive yard and beautiful trees, but I can mow grass a lot easier than tend to a million different types of little plants and flowers. Just something to think about.

So I rambled about the cottage longer than I intended to... so much for a quick recap. After we saw the cottage, Jose stopped at the fish and chips place down my street so I could get lunch, then dropped me off at my hotel, just before a parade came down the street. I still have no idea what it was for, but of course I went outside with my camera to watch. Then I walked down the street to the cute little grocery store and bought a few things. It took every ounce of self restraint that I had not to take pictures of food in the grocery store, because there were so many unique and interesting things, but I decided to avoid looking completely ridiculous.

Later in the afternoon, Jose and his family picked me up to go see the movie G-Force on base, then we went to the commissary and then to their house for dinner. I LOVE their house! It is huge, with a huge front yard, and gorgeous inside with a lot of woodwork and exposed ceiling beams. The only downside is that it is about a 40-minute drive from base. I spent the evening playing on the swingset with their adorable 3-year-old daughter Arwen, then we all watched Bolt, which you should definitely see if you haven't already - so cute!

I guess it's about time I post the picture links, huh? Okay, here goes:
England Day 1 (includes plane ride, hotel, and walk down my street): http://travel.webshots.com/album/573839036xEaeru
England Day 3 (includes parade): http://travel.webshots.com/album/573837346TDoXSs
Church Rd (first house I looked at): http://travel.webshots.com/album/573846079jVXmuA
Gothic Cottage (described in this post): http://travel.webshots.com/album/573837351hmEmGZ

Probably more pics than most of you will care about, but I know I have a few loyal followers... hi Mom ;-)