Weymouth and adventures

This weekend has been really exciting and revitalizing for me. Alex and I had a whole day trip with Natasha to Weymouth on saturday. We forgot our camera so I don't have any pictures. Sorry! But I can paint a picture with my words so you can imagine you were there!

It was a gorgeous day, the sky was clear and crystal blue. It was swelteringly hot, and we hopped a train from our home town to Weymouth around 10 am. The trip was not terribly long, and Natasha and I loved looking out at the rolling country side of england. Everything was bathed in vibrant greens, as we clicked and clacked a long on the train. I was full of energy as I knew the house was already clean and I could enjoy my day with out worrying about coming home and doing all the cleaning as well. I love seeing the different shades of green the english country side provides. I love how if you watch carefully you'll suddenly see spires of old stone stick out of the green as you wiz by old forts, ruins, and villages. Mostly however it is sheep and cows you see making black and white spots against the green.

When we reached weymouth it was a pictuesque view that greeted our eyes, opening to cobbled stone streets and spanish influenced stone housing. There was an old cathedral only a short distance from us, and the ding of a church bell was heard in the air. There was old among the new as well, as arcade as like mini casino's here and are tucked in among the old the buildings flashing their lights and tantalizing the tourists. Only one short street away you crest a small rise to see the boardwalk, and beautiful sandy beach. Off to the right it was almost a white sand and off to the left it tapered to a rock beach. We chose to go to the left as it was easier to get on the less sandy beach with a pram. We stopped at a small underground public toilet, which I found I prefered to the garishly covered smelly ones america. A lot of little things like this showed the discrete taste and eye for beauty that I've come to love about england.

After changing into swim suits we made our way along the boardwalk to a good place along the semi rocky beach and planted ourselves there for an hour enjoying the sunshine and letting our daughter play with the rocks. My husband is not one for getting into the water, so he just skipped rocks along the edge while natasha and I played in the waves. We didn't go in far as she's very small still, and the water is not that warm in early june.

Afterwards we decided to wander around the city and dry out some, and look for a place to eat. Many places we found were take away, or too expensive. The ones that were our price range were mostly pubs and not always child friendly as we unkindly found out in one pub. So, not letting it ruffle our feathers we headed towards the warf, and the river that man-made canal that opened into the ocean. This was a beatuiful sight as there was a sea festival going on and many brightly dressed people were promoting their fishing wares, and tourist boat trips. There were house boats on the river as well and I always love seeing these as they are usually pretty blue and red colors dotting the water. We crossed the draw bridge and finnally came to the perfect place to eat. It had a palasade facing the river and the smell of fresh water and sea salt wafted in the air, mingling with the smells of delicious food. We decided to sit out of the sunshine, and this was an obviously family friendly pub as it had many small children both in and outside.

After eating and plastering ourselves with sunblock we headed out again to browse the shops in the local shopping center and then head back towards the beach. On our way out I noticed my feet getting blisters and when we meandered over to the shops I popped in a shoe shop and bought a pair of black flip flops. I'm always a fan of having one good pair of flip flops for the summer season. Natasha was gettign really tired at this point and decided to nap, while alex and I chatted pleasently about waht to do next. We stopped in a few stores he wanted to go to, but by now it was almost 4 pm and we had to leave in an hour. I decided the beach was the best place to go back to and I let my husband loose to check out the arcades as I knew his little-boy insticts couldn't resist playing a few shoot-them-up games. I amused myself with an icecream cone and watched an old eenglish tradition dance from a festively colored group of older people. They had bells on their feet, and tamborines in hand. Their outfits reminded me of jesters in white and bright green. But the way they danced reminded me of leprechauns, since it was mostly older men with white beards dancing. I really enjoyed watching this, and close by was another old english tradition as well. We passed through the dancers and the crowd around them to see a mauve wooden puppet box that also looked like it had steped out of the victorian times. I could just imagine the women in large dresses, and men in top hats with their pretty children sitting and watching these puppets. Apparently this tradition has been around for more than a few hundred years.

After natasha woke up I have about 20 minutes until rendevouzing with my husband and was eager to spend one last time on the beach. I plowed through the fine sand, which wasnt easy and made shapes in the sand with natasha. We used little buckets and spades to play iwth and she was so adorable. I love her little red swim suit that makes her look like a strawberry.

At this point I was exhausted and met up with my husband with 10 minutes to spare to go home. We both got a drink and something for natasha to snack on the way home and then headed home, tired full, sunburnt, and very happy.