It's raining hard, so I will show you the Cotswalds!

Oh hey guys! We're home! We were sad to have our trip come to a close, but are also ready for a routine again, not to mention our wonderful bed and no suitcases. Not a big surprise that we came home to an apartment that has like zero food here, so as Russ and I stepped out to go to the grocery store, we look down the breezeway of our apartment and it is literally the biggest/scariest/most intense rain storm I have ever seen. Like lightening every 5 seconds, rain blowing off the roof because the wind is so strong, thunder, flickering lights, etc. We both just stared and started to laugh and turned back into our apartment. No groceries right now. Next on the agenda: begin posting pictures. And that is the preface to this post.

So far I have only sorted through the pictures from the first stop of the trip: THE COTSWALDS

Sigh.

I LOVED this place. I felt like I was in a movie. After a bit of delay out of the United States (thanks to the volcano), we finally made it to London, caught a train out to the Cotswalds and met Brittney and Stuart in a quaint town called Moreton-in-Marsh. From there we took a bus to "Stow-In-The-Wald" and found our bed and breakfast.

The Fosse Manor

We  totally scored with this place. A perfectly quaint bed and breakfast in a remote town in the English countryside. There were beautiful gardens with scattered tables and benches, a croquet set, and of course, a full English breakfast in the morning.

Our room was that top window in the middle. It probably wouldn't have mattered where we slept that night considering we were so tired from the flight over, but it made our arrival into Europe that much more exciting that this place was so perfect.

 After settling in, we walked into town to get some dinner and see the sights....

.... not until we played croquet of course.

We passed an awesomely old cemetery on our way into town. Is it odd I thought the cemetery was beautiful?

We saw this chapel, and when we went inside we happened upon the Trinity College playing a beautiful symphony in the chapel. We heard some beautiful pieces by Mendelssohn and Britten. Such a great find.

I loved how the Cotswalds had ivy all over everything. Brings a nice charming quality to such old buildings.

So yes. We absolutely loved the Cotswalds and would recommend for anyone to take the short trip out of London to visit such a unique and absolutely stunning group of towns. It was the perfect beginning to our trip. Next was the lovely town of Bath, which will be coming soon.

Until then, we will continue to stay nestled in our little apartment as we wait out this crazy storm. Oh Texas, thanks for the warm welcome home.