My "get away" day

So I have a couple of friends who penciled in a sightseeing day for me on my calendar.  Knowing that I wouldn't go on my own with all of the school work that I am constantly buried under, they decided to take me to see something besides Southampton on Wed when I don't have classes.  David has a car, which is helpful, so he grabbed Susan and I and they took me to things that are relatively close, but also really cool.  
 

Our first stop was the New Forest.  Most of it is a national park and has a long history as to it's creation, existence and laws about ownership and building.  To keep it simple, the Crown owns most of it, it is the free range grazing for common ponies and cattle and new construction cannot happen there.  There are a few homes here and there and a few towns that haven't changed much (other than the addition of cars and electricity and running water) since King George.  So we did some "hiking" around and gave the ponies a wide birth, when we could, since they are wild.  

friendly pony.  The collar on her neck is reflective so that cars don't hit the ponies at night, since they wander in the roads or where ever they want. 

how many ponies can you see? 

David then took us  into the small town of Beaulieu.  The buildings here are Georgian in style.  The town is owned by Lord and Lady Montagu and the palace home is across the river and over looks the town.  For £30 we could have toured the palace, but we weren't feeling that rich.  So we wandered around the abbey, took pictures through and over the stone wall, and enjoyed the sights and food of Beaulieu. 

 The palace through the gate....

notice the date on the abbey

the headstones are so old and the weather so wet that most of them cannot be read anymore. 

actual real live holly.....

an entire hedge of it around the palace grounds...

 cottages in Beaulieu 

the tide was out and just starting to come back in. 

 someone is actually using the phone... :) 

you can kinda make out the palace in the background

this is cream tea.... :D

From here David drove us a little further south to the sea.  Here you can see the Isle of Wight across the Solent.  

salt marshes

They decided we still had some time, so from here we drove up to Winchester.  We spent most of the time in the Winchester Cathedral. There are tributes to various people in the cathedral, one being Jane Austen.  There are also many grave markers on the floors and shrines, and crepts.  The architecture is stunning.  I need to go back when I have time to actually take the tour.  Here a a few photos. 

the stained glass in these windows were shattered by soldiers during the war.  the pieces were picked up and set back but not in their original places. You can see pieces of the pictures, but they are fragments and whatever the pictures were, are gone.  

 this is the sign in front of the tomb above. 

 various headstones and marking on shrines and tiles of the floor.  To give you a feel....

Outside of the Cathedral was a Christmas market and ice skating rink. 

actual roasted chestnuts

 I have other pictures of the town as well, but I'm sure you've had enough for one blog... 

So that was my "get away" day. Now back to the grind stone to finish the assignments that are due before the break, and to figure out how to pack Christmas in my suitcase to take home, since I will head back this year because of my daughter's wedding.  Bringing a little British Christmas to the states this year.  But you'll have to wait to know what it is... 

On a side note, I drove a car this week.  Why I was driving is another story, for another time, but once I wrapped my head around the gearshift on the left and the steering wheel on the right and driving on the left side, it was business as usual. (That actually only took a couple of minutes.)  Not nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  I didn't drive on the wrong side once, or stall the car, or cause any kind of traffic disturbance.  Go me!