Cotswolds

We're back in Lugano!  After a VERY long vacation.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but it's nice to be home (and wearing clean, wrinkle free clothes).  I'm going to try to catch you up chronologically, starting with Cotswolds.

Cotswolds is beautiful.  Just picture the English countryside... two lane roads, quaint cottages, sheep and cows, and low, rolling, green hills.  And, a collection of very odd and very British sounding towns, like Crudwell.  That's where we stayed, actually.  It was my favorite part of the whole trip.  We had our Crudwell base, and went on day trips to Stonehenge, Malmesbury, Lacock, Bath, and Avebury.

Talking about a "base in Crudwell" might conjure certain images, but chances are they're the opposite of this beautiful hotel.

 
   

    








It may seem strange (by comparison) that I only have two pictures of the legendary Stonehenge.  The problem with Stonehenge?  It was raining sideways.  You can walk a fixed ring around the stone formation, and we did, for the most part heads down, in about 15 minutes.  By the end, we were completely soaked.  Mom actually stayed in the car.













We had much better luck with the second henge, in Avebury.  The stones were scattered around the town - there were houses, fields, and sheep, and we could walk through all of it.

Other day trips took us to more little  towns, and more little adventures.  One of which came in the form of meeting Winston Churchill's illegitimate grandson, who is apparently a potter (not making this up).  Mom bought a bowl, we bought a mug, and hours later, we left, knowing more about Native American teeth, Roman numerals, and Japanese eating habits than ever before.  We had no idea where the conversation was going or when it would end, but it was certainly entertaining.  I had to take a picture.  

One of our trips took us past a cow pasture, where we somehow convinced Bill to stop the car and let Bizzy and I get out.  We all stared at the cows.  They stared right back at us.  Neither party could quite wrap their heads around it.

Then, all at once, they decided we were not to be trusted, and the stampede began.  Cows must communicate telepathically, because the whole herd was up and running in a matter of seconds.  

Aside from the hotels, animals and ancient rocks, the actual towns were extremely picturesque.

And yet somehow, Bath stood out.  It was almost strange how all the buildings were consistent in both style and color (Georgian and beige).  But not strange in a bad way... in a very other worldly pretty way.

The Roman baths were amazing to see.  We even got to taste real Bath water!  It wasn't great, though.

So, that's Cotswolds!  Next up, London, Belgium, and Amsterdam.