Just a Casual Afternoon Tea

My first cup of tea!

It's funny to me how something that seems so simple, every day, casual, normal to one person can mean SO much to someone else.  This weekend, I experienced a right of passage in England...I had my first cup of tea. I'm not talking a McAlester's sweet iced tea or a passion fruit green tea with boba from Tea Cafe.  This was a proper British cup of afternoon tea in all its glory.

Our afternoon tea...SO lovely

It was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. It was absolutely fabulous and I am so thankful to Calum for taking us to do that.  Maybe if I am feeling brave, I will try some fish and chips sometime soon.  I think I kind of have to sometime before I leave, despite how unappealing it looks. Maybe I will get lucky and actually love it like I did the tea!

Calum's hometown of Clevedon

I suppose I should back track a little bit and mention why I got such a treat.  This past weekend, our UK adventures continued and we traveled out to Bristol. Calum, one of our friends from Windsor 5.1, lives out there and was nice enough to take us to his hometown and show us around.

Pier in Clevedon...Kind of spooky in all the fog!

Calum's hometown of Clevedon is a beautiful Victorian seaside down.  The restaurant where we had our tea was cute little cafe right next to the pier.  We walked all over town and even went to the highest point in Clevedon.  It was a really cloudy day, so we really couldn't see much.  But what we could see was absolutely gorgeous.

The next day, we made the short trip to Bristol where we did a bunch of sightseeing.  Probably the coolest thing we saw was the Clifton Suspension Bridge. It crosses over the Avon Gorge and leads right into the city of Bristol. Like everything I have seen here...it was beautiful.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

We got our picture with Nemo!

We also went to the Bristol Aquarium where we might have been the oldest kids there but it was totally worth it.  We saw some really cool fish, had to fight some little kids for our picture with Nemo, and saw Sharks 3D where I attempted to dodge the jellyfish coming out of the screen.  

Bristol University building

We had a nice walk around Bristol to get some lunch and see the Bristol Cathderal, City Council, Bristol University, and Millennium Square. All of which were really awesome.  And Calum showed us where he went to school before coming to university.  I still can't believe that people go to what we would call "high school" in such absolutely gorgeous buildings.

SS Great Britain

One of my other favorite places we went in Bristol was the the SS Great Britain. The SS Great Britain is the world's first ocean liner that is now stationed in Bristol Harbor.  We learned so much about the fascinating history and got to walk around all sides of the ship.  We even got to walk underneath the ship which was really cool, because I don't think that I have honestly ever seen the underside of a boat before! (Well, besides a ski boat or something small like that of course.)  The SS Great Britain traveled over 1,000,000 miles in her 127 year life!

The mannequins looked so real and were incredibly creepy

We definitely turned the SS Great Britain into a different kind of adventure than intended.  On the lower decks of the boat, there were these mannequins that were super lifelike.  Nathan and Calum knew how much they creeped me out so they thought it would be a good idea to hide among them.  Just as I was telling Stacey how one of the "sleeping" mannequins really spooked me, Calum jumped out of the darkness and I let out one of the most honest and loud screams I have ever had.  I think every single person around us turned to look at me. It was incredibly embarrassing but made for a good laugh and a great story to bring back with us.

Bristol fun!

Overall, Bristol was an awesome trip.  We are still in the process of planning some more trips around the UK which I am really looking forward to.  I honestly feel like there is just not enough time here! This life just keeps getting better.