Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

So after a week long break, we were gratefully recuperated and ready to go. In the morning Karen made us some great sandwiches, and we ate contently. The plan for the day was to go from Kidderminster to Hereford, meet Sue a friend of Daniel's family, and then head off to Cardiff. Karen was kind enough to make us sandwiches for the road as well, and we were grateful. After many (heart wrenching) good byes, and a few accidental button presses, we were on our way to Hereford. The train to Hereford was uneventful and we arrived there at about 12:20.

We wandered outside the station not knowing who we were looking for, what kind of car keep an eye out for or anything. Luckily enough, Sue recognized us (Daniel's hair, and our large backpacks of course), and we were luckily found. Sue told us that it was a funny thing we were coming from Stourport, as her eldest son Shawn, was playing cricket against Stourport today. We had a chance to talk to her younger son Wayne when we arrived. We had a great time over some pictures that Daniel's mom had given to him to bring over.

Then it was time for lunch (dinner there). We had an absolutely great meal with with Sue's family. Burgers and chips, with salad. We had a great chance to learn some things about Wales as we ate, and also got to know Sue's family better. After eating we went to visit Sue's parents, and then Shawn. Finally we went to the bus station where we were planning on catching a 4:10 bus to Cardiff. Cardiff. I took the short opportunity before the bus arrived to withdraw some money for the next part of our trip.

We were able to pay a cheap fair of 7 pounds to get us all the way across the country. Of course we were in a regular public transit bus though. So our 3 hour journey would be on slightly cushioned seats, to which we thought, at least we can sit! The bus ride immediately got easier when we found out that there was wifi on the bus. It actually surprised us quite a bit because most of the coaches we had travelled in didn't have wifi. Our three hours didn't exactly fly by but we made it into Cardiff at about 7:30. From there we quickly hopped over to the subway, and were soon on our way to our hostel.

After getting off the subway after 2 short stops, we started our walk to our hostel. On the way we passed an enormous grave yard. It actually covered about half our walk to the hostel which was 30 minutes.

Graveyard Gate

We were glad to finally make it. We got all our linens and headed up to our room. All of the doors had names on them, and we couldn't exactly place where they were from, but we knew them. It was when we passed room 1 that we placed it! They were all names of the incarnations of the Doctor from Doctor Who.

The First Doctor

The 10th Doctor (don't know why its on door 8)

We had thought that a lot of the UK would be covered in Doctor Who hints and clues, but this was the first we had seen. We were glad to though.

Accordion Player!

After setting out things up we left to go and see how the city of Cardiff was on a Saturday night. We got to see for the first time, and accordion player on the streets. It was not too much of an eventful night otherwise, though me and Daniel did end up in a gay bar for a bit. We also passed by a few stag and hen parties. The most interesting? A group of men all dressed in army morph suites.

We were pretty tired from the place to place travel so we ended up asleep comfortably in our beds, excited to explore Cardiff in the light the next day.

Well to tomorrow,

- Kamaljot

Guest Post: Hollie Minshall

Yesterday I went to London for the first time, it was AMAZING ! ! !
I saw BIG BEN, Buckingham palace, the London eye, the Thames river and bridge, and many more!
we went to the west end theatre to see Shrek the musical. it was AUSOME, and Neil McDermott was playing lord farquard. (he was married to janine in east enders, if you don't know who he is Google image him).

The coach journey there and back was interesting, i was sat there taking pictures of silly things like telephone boxes, gates and statues looool: )
we kept hitting the peoples chairs in front, annoying them, and me and my friend were making each other laugh. hahahaha.

errrm my highlights with Daniel and kam were probably. today when we played grounders in the park (they taught me that game). also when we went down town today and Daniel and kam bought us some sweets or ice cream. there are many more but this blog would go on and on and on ....................

Daniel and kam are leaving tommorow and i wish they could stay its like having two big brothers in the house. THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO COMMENTED ON MY LAST BLOG AND FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AGAIN.

HIIIIII IRENE THANK YOU FOR THE COMMENT HI ROSE THANK YOU ALSO FOR THE COMMENT I WISH TO SEE YOU GUYS SOON XOXOXOXOXOX

 me and daniel climbing the tree at bewdly.

Final Two Days in Stourport

Hello again all! Daniel again to finish off our log from Stourport.

Thursday began like most of the rest, with lazing around, showerng and general relaxation (read: getting psyched up for the rest of the trip). We then walked into town to look around and get some stuff we needed. We headed down to the shop where Lisa works to buy some ice creams, then headed to a souvenir shop for some postcards, then the local co-op store for postage and coffee (where I wrote some postcards), then to a few charity shops and a bookstore, then to Emma's workplace to pick up some toiletries we'd run low on. It was a beautiful day and it was great to walk around and explore Stourport, it has a very cozy feel to it.

After returning for lunch (dinner), we walked over to Lisa's house, where we met her, Sophie, Brad, and Jean and headed off to explore the countryside around Stourport. We walked through a massive field by Lisa's house, which made me realize how very few open spaces there are back home that aren't either blocked off or turned into proper parks with paths and playgrounds, it was a weird feeling walking through a feild that was being used for nothing. We headed down a few overgrown paths towards a wier on the Severn (nicknamed Stourport's Niagara Falls). It was really nice to be out in the open by the river. It was all secluded and peaceful, and with a nice view to boot!

Open Fields

WIER on Severn

Daniel and Jean

From there we trekked up and down hills until we got to Stourport's famed Redstone Caves. This is a massive series of caves naturally formed in the red coloured stone of the clifface by the Severn. Many of the street names in the neighbourhood in which we were staying had connections with a hermit who used to live in the caves, and who walked through that part of town to get to the church from which he preached.

Awesome Red Caves

After that we trekked back to Lisa's and had a well-deserved cup of tea while resting our aching feet. W stayed there swapping old stories for a few hours before getting a ride back to Karen's for dinner (tea). It was somewhat quieter as Hollie was in London for the day on a school trip and wasn't getting back until much later, so it was only the five of us eating. Afterwards we continued our ritual of retiring to the living room to watch TV, including the show Dynamo, who is basically an amped up British Chris Angel: Mindfreak. It was pretty awesome. Later on Hollie was dropped off, and we got to hear all of her London stories and see all of her souvenirs before sleeping.

The next morning involved lots of laundry and packing as we tried to get ourselves ready to head off again. We then had a small lunch before heading off with Morris to pick Hollie up from her last day at school (half day) and head over to the nearby town of Bewdly to see its museum. The museum was really interesting, documenting everything about the Severn Valley, from the local flora and fauna to the historic jails that were used, to machines from old industries, to a World War II air raid shelter. It was awesome to be able to see all of the history there, and so many of the exhibits were interactive (I got to play with a 19^th century rope-braiding machine!

Ropes

A Nice Pond

WW2 Bunker

Brass Usages

Old Clock

Old Typewriter

Daniel and Hollie Climbing

After the museum we walked around Bewdley's riverside, stopped for some chips, and headed back home. Once there we saw Emma and Ste to say our farewells, then took Robyn and Hollie on a walk into town and treated them to ice cream and sweets, which we proceeded to eat in Stourport's amazing playground (seriously, nothing like what kids have back in Canada).

Enormous Park

After getting back we lazed around the house until dinner (tea), after which we walked over to Jean and Morris' again for a cup of tea. We chatted some more and heard even more stories (you'd think Jean would run out at some point, but she always had a new interesting story to share with us).

That evening everyone stayed up late (no more school), watching TV and talking. There was a lot of discussion on the differences between British and Canadian language, and Hollie enjoyed asking us to say various words and names in our Canadian accent.

We headed off the next day, but I'll leave that part to Kamaljot, who will be taking back control of the blog after this. I just wanted to end off by thanking everyone from Stourport again for opening up their homes and being so welcoming to us, we had an amazing time because of it! Please come over and visit soon so we can try and repay the favour.

Cheers,

Daniel

Posting Schedule

Sorry about the lack of posts everyone!

Daniel and I have not had the best wifi over the last few days, but we plan to sit in Rome tomorrow catching up on all the posts we missed. (Hopefully we will make it)

- Kamaljot

Whitley Court and Multiple Teas

Hello all! Daniel here again to keep you updated on our stay in Stourport.


We managed to sleep in again (not so spectacularly as last time, but still later than I would have liked), though we didn't pull off a full twelve hour sleep again, due to the ungodly hour of our final respite the night before. We had very tasty sausage sandwiches for breakfast (The food here has been infinitely better than anything we've been able to eat on the previous leg of our journey, if you're reading this, thank you so much Karen and Michael for that!), and lazily prepared ourselves for the day. After we had eaten, showered, and changed, Emma popped by for a visit and we all talked and drank tea, and Emma, Michael, and Karen worked on some stuff on the computer while Kamaljot and I blogged and read in the living room. I borrowed 'A Modest Proposal' from Kamaljot (by Jonathan Swift, mentioned before as the eating babies book on our second day in Dublin). I very much enjoyed it, despite having a slight craving for Joshua fricassee. After a dinner (lunch) of peanut butter sandwiches, Maurice popped by to pick Kamaljot, Michael, and I up for our trip out to Whitley Court.

The Church

After driving a few miles out of town, we came to a dirt road covered in potholes, which Maurice somehow managed to manoeuvre around (I would have given everybody whiplash going down that road) and ended up in front of a magnificent old church on a sprawling piece of land, known as Whitley Court. Whitley Court, the land, had been in the possession of the same family from the 13th century to the 1920s, and throughout the ages the layout of the grounds has taken many different shapes. The (now ruined) buildings of Whitley Manor were added in the mid-1600s and the church itself was built in the early 1700s and decorated in the 1720s by the Italian artist Antonio Bellucci. Inside the massive door of the church was a sight that I would expect to see in Florence rather than in the countryside of Worcestershire. It is entirely decorated in proper 18th century baroque style, with gold leaf everywhere and bright, descriptive frescoes and stained glass, and intricate woodworking all over. Usually I'm not one for baroque art, I tend to find it overstated and gaudy, but there was something about this church that instantly attracted me. It's as if it had taken all the things I disliked about baroque out of the decoration and kept all of the positive aspects. All of the paintings were stunning, and the pulpit itself was a masterpiece of woodworking. There was a very helpful guide in the church to show us around and to answer our questions, as well as numerous factsheets and displays about the art, architecture, and history of the church and the court. The entire scene was utterly unexpected and breathtaking. 

Frescoes on the ceiling

Intricate pulpit

Beautiful gold leaf all over

Looking at the church from the front

The massive door (and me!)

After Whitley Court we drove around the countryside a bit, taking in the gorgeous English scenery. Eventually we made our way back to Stourport and Maurice joined us for a cup of tea (Emma was still here, and the girls were home from school, so we had some nice conversation). Maurice and Emma left shortly after, and Robyn soon left for her last day of Rainbows before graduating (Graduating?) to brownies. While she was out, Hollie, Kamaljot, and I exhausted ourselves on the trampoline out back, having more fun than I've had in a long while. Once Robyn had returned, we had tea (dinner) of roast beef (Karen's amazing homemade roast), potatoes (two kinds), vegetables, and gravy. It was amazingly tasty and filled us all up completely. After tea (the meal), we walked over to Jean and Maurice's for tea (the drink). We had some more good conversation and heard some fond memories from mom's stay over here (Jean tells the best stories). We also got the chance to see Maurices classic car and some of Jean's old photographs. 

After a while we had to start walking back, as it was approaching Robyn's bedtime. Once we made it back we retired to the living room once more for some more Superstar, Tour de France, and blogging. 

I think I shall head off to bed now, as everyone else left me more than an hour ago, and I do sincerely plan on actually waking up at a decent time in the morning. Also, the blog is finally caught up! *cheer* Hopefully this is the beginning of a long streak.

Well, goodnight (or good afternoon for you Canadians, I suppose!)

-Daniel

A Day With Friends, Old and New

Daniel here again :)


Despite intending to wake up early, Kamaljot and I managed to sleep in... a lot. I suppose the 48 hours with no solid period of sleep had something to do with that. Anyway, we both ended up getting a full twelve hours of sleep each. I don't think either of us particularly regret it, as here in Stourport will probably be our last chance to get any proper amount of sleep before we get back to Canada. We had a bit of a lazy morning showering, getting dressed, checking emails, and eating breakfast. 


At around 12, Emma (the daughter of Karen's sister Lisa) stopped by with her boyfriend Ste to show us around town. We hopped into his car and stopped by the caravan (trailer) park where mom lived for a while while she lived over here. From there we parked in town and looked into the pub where mom worked and lived for much of her time here. 


From there we walked down by the river Severn which bisects the town. It was interesting to see both the sights that I've heard mom talk about mixed with brand new sights, such as the new apartment complex right on the harbour. We wandered down by the river for a bit, over a few locks and down by the fair that brings many visitors to Stourport. I have a few vague memories of it from 1998 when I was last here, but they always came back to me at the most random times. During the whole tour both Kamaljot and I were so engrossed with Emma's guiding that neither of us thought to take pictures, but you'll just have to believe me when I tell you that the town was quite a sight! :)


After the river and the parks we walked up Bridge St. and High St. and saw some of the shops and restaurants around town. After the tour we drove back home and had a cup of tea while Emma looked over some photos I had brought over from some of her visits to Canada and my visit here 14 years ago. Everyone seems to particularly enjoy the one picture of 2 and 6 year old Daniel and Emma bathing together in Canada. 


After Emma and Ste left, Kamaljot and I went with Karen over to Robyn's school to pick her up. This is the school (now St. Bartholomew's School, but previously Windmill School) that was responsible for my family meeting the Baylis family. When Lisa and my mom were both in school, a teacher at Windmill had the idea to set her students up with pen pals in Canada, and Lisa and my mother have stayed in touch over the years. Once we were back home we met Hollie, who had taken the bus, and we spent a few hours with them, all of us writing blog posts and taking pictures. 


At about 6:00 people started to arrive for the barbecue that the Minshalls had planned in our honour. Many of the guests we'd met earlier in our stay, but others I was either meeting for the first time, or for the first time in a number of years. All in all, Jean and Maurice (Karen's parents), Lisa (Karen's sister) and her partner Rich, Emma and Sophie (Lisa's daughters), Ste and Brad (Emma and Sophie's partners, respectively), Louise (Karen's other sister) and her partner Jason, and Louise's baby boy Joshua all came over. I don't believe I've managed to forget anyone, but I apologize if I somehow have!


All of us had a great time eating some great sausages and burgers and both catching up and trading old stories of visits long past. It was great seeing both the new faces (Josh) and ones that I hadn't seen in years (Sophie). All in all in was an amazing night with good company and good conversation.

Back: Brad, Jason, Michael, ME, Kamaljot, Ste, and Rich
Middle: Sophie, Maurice, Robyn, Jean, Emma, and Lisa
Front: Karen, Hollie, Joshua, and Louise

After the barbecue, we cleaned up and retired to the living room to watch some TV. We've been drawn into the search for the new star of the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Jesus Christ: Superstar, so we watched that and then the highlights program for the past few days of the Tour de France (it was a rest day yesterday, so they recapped the race so far). Everyone slept at various times, with me staying up the latest finishing off our blog post about our eventful highland day.

So ended another restful day in Stourport, full of memories and stories.

Until next time,

-Daniel 

Taking Pictures

my name is Robyn and I am 7, years old today i've been taking lots of pictures like this one up there .


I like taking pictures of the rabbits in the garden.


I let daniel and kam sleep in my room, so I am sleeping in my sisters room.

kam  made a funny face with his tongue sticking out.

BYE.