This weekend wasn’t our typical travel weekends. It wasn’t filled with wandering all over a new city, snapping hundreds of pictures of all the sites in hopes to capture the views just right, and finding the best restaurants. Rather, we were treated to the most proper of English weekends in Kent.
There was a traditional curry lunch at Royal Engineers HQ Mess at Chatham where we met many retired officers from Her Majesty’s Forces. All of which had the most interesting stories to tell. There was morning tea, afternoon tea, and evening tea with the occasional coffee in between. There were living rooms filled with kind souls who chatted for hours about everything. There were stories of travel from all over the world. There was worshipping in a church built in 1100 where we sang “How Great Thou Art” and soon thereafter found out it was composed just down the street. There was a proper Sunday Roast at a proper English pub. Then, there was more tea.
Ben and I were spoiled this weekend by Ben’s Rotary sponsor, Stuart, and his sweet wife, Sheila. They were determined to give us the most proper English weekend and show us what England truly has to offer. As they say, London isn’t quite England.
I simply loved every minute. I loved hearing of all the places Stuart and Sheila have travelled. To be honest we could barely discover a place they haven’t travelled to. I loved how they pulled out their Atlas and glasses to show us the cities and tease each other about funny stories during their travels. I loved how Ben and I, yet again, caught a bad case of travel bug. Not just for around Europe and this side of the world, but for back at home in the States. I’m finding we have a lot of ground to cover. I loved the exchange of military stories and listening to old friends catch up. I loved making eye contact with Ben and giggling every time a funny English phrase was used. A personal favorite is, “I can’t be bothered,” and fully intend on incorporating this one in my vocabulary. I loved our cups of tea and coffee and learning that you can’t quite say no when offered. I loved the roaring fireplace in the pub. I loved the history of the houses, streets, and churches. I loved the concept of walking paths through the village and the horses on the roads. I loved Yorkshire pudding, and Ben really loved Yorkshire pudding.
Overall, we just loved it all.
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