On Friday morning we were up bright and early to disembark the ship for our first shore excursion in Portland, England!
There were so many amazing views to see right from the minute we stepped onto the dock.
Even the ride on the bus was exciting because of all of the neat things that we got to see in town on our way to our destination...
...old churches and cemeteries...
...a soldier riding on his horse carved into the hillside...
...thatched roofs!
I had never heard of thatched roofs before, I learned that they were roofs made out of natural elements, and then marked with different sculpted animal shapes.
The different animals on different roofs was almost like a trademark of the person who built the roof.
We saw roofs with cats chasing mice, a whale, a rabbit...
...we even saw this iconic telephone booth out in the middle of a neighborhood...
...and more cool, old cemeteries...
We stopped at the Lulworth Dorset Visitors Center
We were the first people to stop there for the day which was nice because there weren't many people there.
It was also too bad they hadn't opened their gift shop yet!
We saw more thatched roofs there.
This one had a duck on it!
The houses were so interesting to look at, and so different from what we are used to seeing in the states.
The streets were fun to wander down...
We also made our way to the Corfe Castle!
This had a beautiful little hike to the castle, about a half mile or so.
I was SO proud of my momma! She trekked it like a champ!
It was so interesting to hear all of the history of the castle, and to imagine what it would have been like to live there so long ago...
The town was quaint and bustling with visitors...
I loved watching my mom look out over the hillside and talking about all of the things that we wondered about.
Who were these people and why did they live here?
Would I have liked to be the queen?
It was just so neat, and kind of surreal! We are in England!
After seeing the castle we headed back down to go into the town.
We saw an old trebuchet that was used to defend/attack the castle...
We heard stories being told in thick British accents...
...there were baskets of handmade blankets that you could borrow for a picnic on the lawn...
The town was full of churches and shops...
...bakeries and gift shops. We even got to go inside an old train station that felt a lot like Harry Potter!
Here is the inside of the station...
...and here is the back platform where people would catch the train.
The buildings and flowers were all such beautiful and vibrant colors!
We walked back through the town and back to our bus...
...and admired everything we saw on our way!
Even this cute door with the letter opening right on the door.
As we passed this cozy little cottage, I felt like I was looking at a beautiful postcard!
And then when I saw the castle in the distance behind it, I HAD to get a picture in front of it!
I almost had to pinch myself...we are in England!!!
We continued on into the city where we were let off for a lunch break and some shopping.
Again, there were so many neat things to see everywhere we went!
Beaches and buildings of every color...
Boats and giant seagulls...
Beautiful architecture...
Sailboats in the harbor...
And the bridge being put up to let the boats sail through, and then let back down again...
We would always get caught in the traffic because we are used to walking on the opposite side of the road...;)
We found an amazing little restaurant that served authentic fish and chips!
We stood in line with so many other people waiting for a yummy taste. We saw so many interesting things while we waited, like this train taxi...
And although most everyone wanted fish and chips, my mom wanted ice cream!
She's the cutest little 81 year old I ever did see! ;)
They were right!
The fish and chips were delicious!
Totally worth the wait!
After we got back on the bus we drove to a lookout where we could see the town of Portland.
Statues of the Olympics that came there...
...the miles and miles of beaches...
What a beautiful day to see a beautiful part of the world with some of the people that I love.
