Yes, I have been neglecting England

So it seems you can live here without seeing any of the country. Study visits for school got me to London, Sheffield, Coventry and York. But that just doesn't cut it. Justine and Nik and I rented a car and saw Lincoln, but still. The only visit that made me feel better was spending a weekend with Tess and Tania in Bath. Which felt much like tagging along on someone else's romantic getaway... a beautiful city, but very bad timing. My dissertation research got me to Liverpool and I'm more often in London now to spend time with a guy I was seeing but as a tourist I wasn't doing very well.

It took until Steph came to visit to really see this country I've been living in. From Leicester we made day trips and for the first time I really saw the area I'd been living in, Nottingham with its castle and dedication to Robin Hood, Lincoln with its steep steep hills, boutique shops and very impressive cathedral and not so impressive castle. We made it to Cambridge which was exactly what one wants of Cambridge, the busy and bustling little university town with museums and people still punting along the river (One may expect this of Oxford as well but Nik and I were sorely disappointed). We also spent a night in Hereford so that we could cross into Wales to see Hay-on-wye - The town of books! And yes, it was everything we'd hoped and imagined it to be...
We spent more time in London at one go then I'd yet had the chance to and we attended the Opera and the Ballet at the Royal Opera House, saw Wicked and Avenue Q in the West End, visited museums, parks, gardens, the zoo, the best restaurants, the worst hostels, and anything else we felt like!
And of course we made it back to Bath, from which we saw Stone Henge, Avebury and Lacock. We saw some of the white horses, places where Harry Potter was filmed, century old sites and well - Harry Potter. come on!
And there is still so much more to see in this country. Who knows whether I'll stay longer or ever come back...