Last weekend (August 28-30th) was a bank holiday weekend. Why? Because, as my boss put it, "In the UK we actually get holidays, though not nearly as many as Continental Europe." In addition to the expected public holidays (Easter, Christmas, New Years Day, and the Queens Diamond Jubilee to be held in 2012), there are three Bank Holiday Mondays - two of which are inexplicably held in May (Early May Bank Holiday and Spring Bank Holiday), and one on the last weekend in August. How to celebrate? It was too late to make reservations to take a true vacation, since most of England plans a weekend getaway, but we did take a day trip out of London to the New Forest
National Park.The New Forest is a good example of the difference between natural beauty in the US vs. UK. While some parts of Northern England and Scotland and North Wales are impressive, much of English beauty is more...subtle. The New Forest would never be a National Park in the US. It is mostly open grass pastures with grazing cows, horses and ponies, interspersed with pretty forests and small towns with thatched roofs. But the great thing about the New Forest is the cycling trails - many miles of cycle-only trails, and plenty of pubs and tea rooms to keep cyclists refreshed. Just an hour and half train ride from London, it's the perfect day trip! You just have to be careful, because there are often ponies on the road, on the cycle trail, and just outside the pubs...
Sunday was unimpressive in terms of what we did, although we did check out a new farmers market, which is always exciting. On Monday we ventured down to the famous Notting Hill Carnival, which is held every August Bank Holiday. Apparently it's the "largest street festival in Europe", and I'd believe it. It's an impressive West Indian cultural festival, with a parade and some of the most spectacular costumes
I've ever seen. It's also an impressive display of young Londoners' eagerness to get drunk in the middle of the day (you could buy shots at tables set up on the sidewalk), and their ability to tolerate huge crushes of people. We left relatively early to go play ultimate with Curve - we hadn't been in over a month! Then we came home and made Shakshuka. All in all a great weekend!
I think I really need to incorporate baked beans and sauteed mushrooms into my regular breakfasts. What's between the mushrooms and the tomatoes?
ReplyDeleteMiss you! ~Miya
I think the New Forest is where they filmed Robin Hood Prince of Thieves...sounds cool
ReplyDeleteJust did some reading - yup, looks as if some scenes were filmed in the New Forest. Certain aspects of it definitely feel as if they haven't changed in a long time.
ReplyDeleteMiya - it's a hash brown! up north sometimes they have fried bread instead of a hash brown, which is also pretty awesome. And yes, baked beans and mushrooms at breakfast have been a revelation...especially because I always get Danny's mushrooms, too :)
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