Drivin' drivin' drivin'

Today we had to make the trip from Edinburgh area in Scotland down to Bath area in England. It is about a 5 and a half hour drive, so we decided to take it slow and not rush to fit anything else in. We woke up around 9, and had some breakfast with Gran and Grandpa, relaxed for a while and chatted about what route to take, packed up the car and by around noon we were on the road. We were planning to drive down through the lake district, but when we saw the signs for Hadrian's Wall we decided to detour and go take a look! Hadrian's wall is the wall that was built to separate Scotland and England. Along it at one time stood at least 17 fort's which guarded it to make sure people did not pass. When we got to it we visited one of the old roman forts that had been uncovered - it was little more than some stones on the ground outlining where things used to be, but it was still really neat to see.

We later headed back onto the motorway, and after many hours of driving reached Stratford-Upon-Avon. As it turns out we managed to stumble into Shakespeare's birthday weekend celebration, we didn't arrive until 6pm so many of the places were already closed and the crowds were moving out, but it gave us a great opportunity to wander around the town without too much insanity! We went and viewed William Shakespeare's birthplace and the place where he bought his first house. We saw his death place and the church where he is buried. We also saw Anne Hathaway's house, and the Avon canal. All in all it was amazing wondering through the streets where such a legend once roamed! Many of the buildings are old Tudor buildings, and cobblestone streets are predominant, it is a beautiful town, and celebration is everywhere!

Walking down main street every lamppost has a shield attached with one of his plays en scripted on it, and flags from every country adorn signposts and poles. There are statues of jesters and pretty shop windows filled with bright colors. We had a fabulous time just getting lost in the middle of it all.

When we had circled the town twice we decided to grab some dinner before hitting the road again. We turned down the first alley we saw and found a tiny little hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant and walked in. It was incredible!! We stepped down into the small, brightly adorned dining area, and were led to a table in the corner. Once we had picked our dinners, we were given some free poppadoms to snack on, and we sat there taking it all in. The kitchen was upstairs, and they sent the food down on a little elevator, there was an old fireplace where they kept heating trays which were made for the tables, and an entire silver bin full of poppadoms! When our meal was ready three waiters came over (this happened for every table) and folded our naan and put it on side plates, then they dished up our rice for us, put a heating tray in the middle of the table and put two steaming hot pots on it and whisked the serving plates away.

When we had finished talking about how cool the service was we dug in.... and wow... yum! We didn't leave a bite! We thought we were completely stuffed, but when they brought the dessert menu (all in pictures) we couldn't help ourselves! Geoff ordered an orange sorbet, served in a frozen hollowed out orange, and I got a frozen Irish coffee. We finally left (much later than anticipated) and are heading another hour to our hotel for the night in Chippenham.