Saturday june 5th

I am currently on a train from Leeds to Bristol and enjoying watching the people around me and their interactions. There is a group of about 8 elderly women with their packed lunches and thermoses of tea who are all dressed up and no doubt headed to the coast to stay at a B&B and tell stories and giggle the weekend away. That's what I imagine anyway :) the people here are so lovely and are very accepting to new cultures and to the always lost girls with giant backpacks. Right now we are headed to Bristol which is the bottom south west corner of England. We are staying with more cheley people, and I can't even tell how much I appreciate knowing a few people over here! You can only go so many days without a shower... We just left my good friend Lauren's parent's house yesterday and it was so wonderful we really felt like a part of the family. We had traditional home cooked English meals and even proper afternoon tea in the conservatory with cream scones. I saw my first castle, and we went to the beach and "paddled" in the sea (stuck our feet in).  It's great learning the cultural differences and making Lauren laugh when I ask a question about bits and bobs or the humped zebra stripes. 
We are hoping to see Cornwall, Stonehenge and Bristol and then Tuesday morning we fly to Amsterdam from Bristol. From there, tentatively, we are going to head to Berlin the make our way to basque country ( France/Spain border). I hear they have excellent wine there Jaime! And it is supposed to be more quaint and small towny, so hopefully less expensive too! Europeans do a lot of things differently, most noticeable is that they really are trying to do environmental things. For example I have yet to see a paper towel holder in the bathrooms, it's always hand dryers and also all of their cars are so compact and efficient! The trains are always packed and well I would get so fat if I lived here because of the delicious fish and chips!