The Lands of King Arthur, Jane Austen, the Druids, and Anne Elliot

This day was so completely jam-packed.

Our "English Breakfast" was at 7, which entailed eggs (not for me), toast, beans (apparently it's a thing), bacon, sausage, fruit, yogurt, and everything other thing one's heart might desire. After scarfing down as much as we could handle, we made our way to Winchester Cathedral and my oh my was it beautiful. The Flower Festival also happened to be going on inside and outside the cathedral, so it was quite the sight, seeing modern art flower pieces with second century architecture.

More than anything, though, I was pumped to see Jane Austen's tomb. I was looking for it the entire time and couldn't find it. I went back in and asked where it was, and of course it was in the little corner I skipped over in the beginning.

Life complete.

I probably could have sat in the cathedral for hours and still would not have been able to take it all in. There was so much faith and devotion (whether to religion or to the art the architects were creating) in every part of that building.

The next (quick) stop was the Great Hall, which is actually not so great (in size). However, it does have King Arthur's Round Table. So, that's pretty cool.

It's not actually King Arthur's Round Table, but an English scholar wrote this famous work on King Arthur way back in the day. His sole proof of the reality of King Arthur was the fact that this table existed and the fact that it existed in Winchester must have meant that Winchester must have been Camelot (also, the descriptions of Camelot are quite similar to the scenery of Winchester). While it was proven later to have been made quite a bit later than the supposed existence of Arthur, I still thought it was pretty dang cool.

If you thought the nerd portion of my day was over then, think otherwise. The next stop was Jane Austen's House Museum. And I almost cried. Maybe not really, but I definitely wanted to because it was just so beautiful and I was so freaking happy.

JANE AUSTEN'S ACTUAL DESK. I'M FINE.

I was actually the last one of our group on the bus because I just wanted to stay there and soak it all in for as long as possible.

The next stop was Stonehenge. I'm sure that's probably a touristy spot that everyone knows about. However, I didn't know that people had theorized that the Druids (a priest-tribe of about 1200 B.C.) and it just so happens they play a role in the wonderfully cheesy show that I may dabble a bit in, Merlin. So, the nerd fest continued.

It was quite a bit of a downpour when we were pulling into this mystical place, but that made it all the more mystical. And since I didn't feel like digging for my raincoat that was in my suitcase under our coach (bus), I decided to sport one of the ponchos the G sent me before I left.

Post-poncho when the rain had finally ceased.

After that we made our way to Bath. The only thing I really knew about Bath before getting there was that Jane Austen hated it, but she also used it for the setting of her novel Persuasion.

It probably had something to do with the fact that she left her long-time home involuntarily that she hated Bath so much, but oh my golly, I was in love with it. It was so, so beautiful. It was so rich with Roman architecture mixed with so many of the other layers of English history, I couldn't handle it (in the best way).

When we got there, a few of us from our group headed out to find dinner. We ended up at a pub that had the most delicious burger of my life and then we perused this gorgeous town. We ended the night with delicious gelato.

Yes, I'm the tourist that takes a picture of her scrumptious burger.

Ladies and gentlemen, freaking Bath.

As I was crawling into bed, I was greeted by the serenade of a drunk German guy singing the one line of Ave Maria that he knew, over and over again. It was absolutely perfect.