'Ello Peacock!

When I was a senior in high school, I went to Germany. It was incredible, and was actually what sparked my interest (ok, ok calm down, it's a bit of an obsession) with travelling, and studying abroad. I was there for about 10 days or so, and just travelled all around the country. Every city and town we visited was a completely new and unique experience. We drank German beer, ate German food from every region. We took a trip down the Rhein, saw gorgeous manor houses with vineyards spreading down the mountains on each side of the river straight to the water. We visited so many castles that they almost all blur together.

(the rhein, courtesy of google!)

One particular castle that comes to mind when I think of that trip is Schloss Neuschwanstein (New Swan Stone Castle). It really is a castle from a fairy tale. At the top of a mountain, isolated by the fog that is very often present. When we were there, you actually could probably only see about halfway to the top for the fog. It was so fascinating, though, to see all the original art and furniture, all that history.

(schloss neuschwantstein, courtesy of google!)

I have seen a few castles since I've been in England, and I can't help but to compare them to perfect perfect Schloss Neuschwanstein. And maybe I shouldn't, because it's a whole nother country with completely different styles of architecture, probably made in completely different time periods...

I think one of the first castles I saw here was Warwick Castle. It seemed like a very...practical sort of place. It really was lovely though. It was a really gorgeous, sunny day, and one of the girls we were with bought a ticket for some bird handling; basically you wear a funny glove and a big, scary bird comes and lands on your hand if you give it a treat...I think of raw chicken actually (...you see? Birds really are disgusting....eating their own kind. Sort of.). Since we were with her, they let us follow them around. It was pretty impressive, some kind of hawk. Pretty creepy. It could have clawed our eyes out at any second!

(protection from the nasty birds!)

At one point, a few of us were walking aorund the courtyard, and there were peacocks just wandering around everywhere. One happened to be standing in our way and so we just stopped to look at it (I didn't want to get too close), when out of the sky we heard a tiny voice call "Ellllloooo Peeaaacooocccccck!!!!" (Imagine a very young, very British voice). We looked up and on one of the walls surrounding the courtyard there was a tiny boy leaning over the railings looking at the peacock we were standing by. It was so cute. And so funny - it must have been the accent, but we could not stop laughing. It was decided that very moment. I Must have kids with British accents!!!

All this was after a morning spent in the Cotswolds, Bourton-on-the-Water, specifically. Very British and quaint. Very gorgeous. Known as the Venice of England, as it is on the water. We had breakfast/lunch in a little restaurant and we surrounded by groups of old ladies gossiping and having tea.