Good morning, good afternoon, good evening friends! How are you ? I hope you had a wonderful week, or at least that it was less stressful than mine. Cold and summer nostalgia is coming to bite me in the, well, you know where, and I’m clearly missing wearing dresses, sunglasses and exploring the world.
To make what seems like it’s going to be a loooong winter a little more bearable, I’m taking you back with me this summer, on holidays to wonderful England, with another travelling-diary of sorts. I hope you’ll enjoy it!
This summer, I got lucky enough to plan a two week trip around a couple of cities in England with my lovely twinnie sister. My love for this country is very, very, well, MASSIVE, and needless to say I was thrilled to be back.
First stop : Bristol βοΈ
Maybe it’s because we had cheap tickets, maybe it’s because we hadn’t been there yet, but Bristol got its place on our bucket list. A not-too big English city, with its monuments, history, and its share of lovely places. I think what I loved the most here – despite Waterstone’s -let’s face it, I can’t NOT go into a bookshop when I see one. My apologies for my sister, and YES for my self-control. I would have bought the whole store, I swear – well, what I loved the most, is how kind of, cosy it felt.

People sure had a particular accent, and it always takes me a bit of time to get what’s happening when someone has such a massive British accent, but it’s so good to hear it again. This sentence is a summary of my feelings the first two hours walking and hearing people talking in English all around me. Definitely was born speaking the wrong language.

π In a short summary: We got a bus right away from the airport to the city centre (no waiting time! yikes.). We explored the city and did lots of shopping already in the first days. We entered every bookshop and I only bought one book #whoami (Don’t worry. This was only the first day). We took a bus with a rude driver. We walked and saw a pretty big bridge. We got a bit soaked by the rain but hey, this is England, what did you expect? We climbed I can’t remember how many stairs to see the city from above. We saw squirrels. We ate fish and chips.
A day-trip: Bath π‘
Another city we wanted to explore, was Bath, but we didn’t want to make this a two day trip or something. Mainly because we are massive planners and crazy and we are way too fast when we’re exploring a city. We are too motivated I guess. So we choose the day-trip option, and it was just enough to see what we wanted of the city.
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π In a short summary: we saw the weird and typical buildings of Bath. We met great people. We turned time while visiting the Roman Baths. We ate where people recognized our French accent. We went back through time again visiting old ballrooms and thought of us as princesses for two seconds. We met George Clooney (well, almost).
A day-trip: Stonehenge π±
Now THAT was for sure on my bucket list for a long, long time. As a fan of all weirdness in the world, I couldn’t NOT want to see Stonehenge, and I’m glad I did. I mean, what is this, really, and why is it there? In the middle of nowhere? To be honest, there’s a road kind of close-by now, which kind of takes away the magic of the place, as does the whole lot of tourists just as well. But I guess if you just stare at these and forget everything else, you just realize how crazy weird this place is.
π In a short summary: we stared at stones for too long. But I guess that was the point.
Speaking as someone from the UK it’s nice to see some pictures with blue sky and sun, it’s a rarity in the UK!π
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It is π But I can say I’ve been pretty lucky, everytime I went to the UK I always got at least a couple, or one day of sunshine. And well, even in the rain, I still love the UK π
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I live in England I still haven’t visited these places myself! It’s great to experience your travels, if you plan another trip over here perhaps one with little villages then Chatsworth is worth seeing. Have you heard of Chatsworth before?
It’s not to far from where I live actually but its a big stately home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire but films like Pride and Prejudice, The Duchess and The Wolfman were filmed there and also they dress it up for christmas, this year its The Nutcracker but one year they did The Chronicles of Narnia. You should google the photos, it looks gorgeous!
Here’s me trying to tempt you back to the UK π Great post as always Marie x
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OH it looks GORGEOUS you’re right, thank you SO much for sharing this, I just added it to my bucket list! β€ And please do, if you have any more recommendations for places in the UK, I'm all ears. I can come back more than once for sure, I love it too much there π
Thank you so much! β€
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You’re welcome! I’ll have a think for any other places that you might not have heard about and let you know XD
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Aww yes please do, I always love suggestions π
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I want to visit these places so bad one day. Especially Stonehenge. I’ve always been interested in everything about that. Anytime it comes up in a history class or in passing I get really excited π. Also, that picture of Bristol Cathedral is so gorgeous! We were just talking about Gothic architecture in my Humanities class and I really love how it looks. That must have been such a fun trip, Marie! π
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I felt the same way, and I still do about some of the weird things in the world like Zone 51 and stuff haha π I hope you’ll get to go there someday, and that I made you travel a bit with me π Thank you!
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I’m the same way π. I haven’t in a while but I used to watch documentaries on Area 51. The mysterious, unexplained places are always so interesting.
I hope so too and you definitely did!
You’re welcome! π
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Oh so glad I’m not the only one liking these weird places and stories π
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Definitely born with the wrong accent! Hahaha, thick British accents make my ears bleed for a couple of minutes until I get used to them. It doesn’t help that I chose to focus on the American one :p Thankfully it doesn’t take long to absorb new melodies!
You met George! Everything looks fantastic, I can’t believe I’ve never been there! But I was so happy to see your pics on Instagram π
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Haha yes that’s exactly it, for two minutes I’m like “what language are you speaking?!”, then I get used to it π
OH thak you my sweechie!! β€
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Wah, what gorgeous photos! That’s so awesome, that you guys get to go on adventures to other countries so easily. I’m glad you had a great time (despite the rain and grumpy bus drivers). =D
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Aww thank you Liam! I guess that’s one of the perks of living in Europe, and well in my hometown as well. I’m in Germany in less than an hour and Switzerland in a couple hours, same goes for Luxemburg and Belgium ahah. It’s pretty nice for a quick getaway…but I still dream of big far away places across the oceans π Thank you so, so much! β€
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Can I be you? Because the possibilities available to you are amazing, and I want them all. π
Looking forward to seeing more of your adventures!
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Haha, oh well we can trade lives and places for a while if you want ahah π Thank you!! β€
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I loved seeing another glimpse of your holiday in England Marie, these are gorgeous pictures and it seems like you had a brilliant time as well which I’m guess is the whole point of a holiday isn’t it? π β€
I haven't been to Bath or Bristol (although one of my friends went to uni in the former city) but I have visited Stonehenge. Me and my friend decided to drive there for a day trip and long story short we spend a grand total of ten hours stuck in my car because of traffic on the way there and back. If I ever go again I'll be getting the train but like you it was something off my bucket list and staring at the stones for so long is kind of the point as well right!? π
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Oh thank you Beth! β€ These holidays were so great, and obviously you were one of the highlight of it β€
Oh wow, 10 hours? Was it because of some special circumstances, or tourist traffic jams? That's so long! I hope you still had a good time there ! β€
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That’s all right! β€ Aww that's so sweet, obviously I wasn't on holiday at the same time but meeting you was definitely a highlight for me as well. β€
I think it was just tourist traffic jams on the way there but on the way back it was just traffic on the M25, which is notorious for traffic so we should have known really, and yeah despite the massive amount of time spent in my car it was a great day out. π
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Oh well I guess with good company it’s not that bad to get stuck in traffic, would have been worse if you were alone π
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Oh definitely would have been worse if I was on my own! God I can’t even imagine that! π
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And now at least I bet you have a fun road trip memory, despite the traffic π
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Part of me thinks the traffic kind of adds to the story; in its own way that is! D
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Ahah oh well adventures like that always make good stories π
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It’s certainly one I’ve told more than a few times! π
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I was really impressed with the countryside in that part of England when I went to Bath and Stonehenge. It was so beautiful!
When I went to Stonehenge it was slightly overcast so it made it really ominous. Definitely one of the coolest attractions I have ever been to!
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Oh yes me too, it is SO pretty, I loved it! β€
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That looks like so much fun!!! Also, great pictures.
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It really was! Thank you so much β€
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You have done it. You added ALL of these beautiful places to my bucket list! Buying all these tickets is going to make money CRY but I want to do it so badly! The photos are so gorgeous and these places so lovely, I can’t complain a single thing! Love these travel posts so hard! β€
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Awww my forever crazy, I hope you will someday because you deserve all the awesomeness and to discover all of these places! β€ Thank you so much, I'm glad if I can make you travel a bit with me β€
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AWWW so forever sweet my forever crazy, thank you! β€ It is so so wonderful and I love these so much, thank YOU for taking me with you!
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Oh you’re way too sweet, thank YOU β€
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Ok first off- have you seen the video “what’s the meaning of stonehenge?” cos it’s amazing!
Secondly I haven’t actually been to these places- they’re on my bucket list for 2017- so hopefully I will make time for them! But, yeah, I’ve never been *hangs head in shame* – they look so lovely! Looks like you had an awesome trip!
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OHHHH no I need to see it right now!! Thank you I’ll go watch it right away π
I hope you’ll go there next year then, and next year is pretty soon π Thank you so much! β€
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haha yes!!! Let me know what you think (it’s by ylvis- the same people that did “what does the fox say”- dunno if you saw that a few years back? π ) Ahh thank you- exactly!! You’re welcome β€
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Yes yes yes, I saw that a few years ago haha π
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hahaha it was everywhere wasn’t it! π
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Oh yes, you couldn’t escape it π
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haha true!!
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Lovely pics! I’d love to see Stonehenge someday, Will we ever know for sure what it was for? Like the pyramids, I’d like a definitive answer to that. π
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Oh yes, I’d love that as well ahah, but…mystery is kind of cool as well π
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I’m legit crying over this post, Marie. These places all look SO AMAZING. I love the architecture so much. My sister went to Bath last year and she loved it. Visiting Stonehenge is a dream of mine. It looks so magical.
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Aww thank you Lauren, I’m glad you enjoyed it! I hope you’ll get there someday, it is kind of a magical place indeed (when you forget all the tourists and just look at these dam massive rock. It’s crazy.)
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I just happened across your blog and enjoyed reading your trip report. Such pretty pictures, especially Bath. My husband is British and so far I’ve visited England six times to see his family. We always try to mix touristy things with the family visit and even though we’ve done several road trips around the country, including a six-week mega trip from Cornwall to John O’Groats in Scotland, I’ve never visited Bath or Bristol. There are so many sites that I’ve seen and so many yet to be seen. Compared to the United States, where we live, the UK is small, so it only makes me anxious for all of the things I still have to see in my own country, let alone the world. There is so much out there!
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Oh thank you so, so much! It’s SO great you have explored so much of England and Scotland already, I want to see the whole country as well. I love it so much π Haha, oh I get the feeling, I want to see SO much of the world as well. Let’s hope we can do all we want to do π
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Reblogged this on #TRAVEL TO #INSPIRE.
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