One of my favorite things about London and Europe's location is how close it is to Italy. I got so entirely spoiled by the phenomenal Italian food I was exposed to. Every chance we got Hank and I stopped in to try a true Italian dish, and honestly we were never disappointed. I thought for sure I would come back even plumper than before but honestly we walked almost everywhere so that seemed to help out a lot. Something that we also found very interesting about the culture and atmosphere of the restaurants there was the fact that in the middle of the coldest, snowiest, bitterest winter that they had been faced with in years people were choosing to dine outside. You heard me right, people made the choice to sit outside at a table with a small blanket as it snowed down on them and there cuisine. I found that to be so strange that it was even an option to do so. Other things that I felt were different from our culture are as follows, trash is referred to as rubbish or rubbage even on the trash cans, everyone in London, no mater how much they had to walk or what the weather was like, they were always dressed to impress, A lot of the words they use that we also use are spelled slightly different usually with just an extra vowel but sometimes the letters were changed like most words that we would spell that include the letter Z were spelled with S' instead, and all the side walks had LOOK LEFT of LOOK RIGHT printed on them so that everyone knew which way the traffic was going since they drive on the opposite of the road ( found this funny that they had to be reminded, but thankful bc I know Hank and I probably could have looked the wrong way a few times but thanks to the large print on the road we stayed clear of all on coming traffic).
After visiting London for a decent amount of time, Hank and I set off to our next adventure by train, destination Salisbury (home of Stone Henge, Salisbury Cathedral, and Old Sarum). Hank will be disappointed if I don't mention something about The Cat Tavern so here goes nothing. The Cat Tavern is a B&B/Dog friendly pub/Luggage stower where we happened to pay to stow our luggage while we were taking the tours of the gorgeous Stone Henge and Old Sarum. What was so strangely fun about this place was the company that you were surrounded by while visiting. As we picked up our luggage to head back to the train station and move towards our next destination something so unbelievable happened. Tim this very interesting guest at The CAT TAVERN (isn't this name so ironic, considering its a dog friendly pub) introduced himself to both Hank and I. As he slightly leaned back and forth off of his bar stool he made mention of my gloves (which happen to be the type that have fingers cut out but have the mitten attached to slide over your fingers when they get cold) I believe is exact words were "Oh how cute, you have a wee lil hat for your tiny fingers" as if that comment wasn't enough I happened to turn my back to Tim to hear what Hank was saying to another gentleman sitting at the bar, un-benounced to me Tim begins running his giant dirty drunken fingers through my hair and patting me on my shoulder. I quickly turned and backed up slowly putting my hands on our luggage and encouraging hank to finish his beer and run. Once we stepped outside I told Hank about Tim's actions he replied with "Are you serious, YES, I have been waiting all trip for a moment like this, my wife was just petted by a random man in a dog friendly pub" I couldn't believe how excited he was to hear that I had been touched by a random person without him even realizing it, but I totally understand I mean how many people can say they have a story so hilarious and to be able to say it happened in Europe just adds to the story!
After trailing through Salisbury and staying in Havant for a few business days we took flight to Germany. We were only in Germany a few short days and most of that time was spent in traveling so we got maybe one full day in Germany and spent it with people from the company. I had a great time getting to know some of the people Hank deal with on a regular basis. Germany was not at all what I expected but I don't think I got a fair shot at it. I didn't like it much because it was beyond cold and the day we left there was 18 in of snow on the ground, not really my cup of tea. I did see the potential for some amazing landscapes but didn't really get the opportunity to view them, thanks to mostly the snow. I was not a fan of the food I found and tried in Germany, I already expected to not be but I was open-minded and did try everything that was offered to me. I really didn't eat much while we staying in Germany so its a good thing it was a short stay!
There is talk of returning to Europe and Germany soon so I cant wait to see what may happen!
I hope this gives everyone a little insight of what we got to experience, I truly hope everyone gets the opportunity to view other parts of the world in their lifetime, its breathe taking to see!
Love always,
Nikki
