South to the Sea

We've just had another bank holiday weekend, though this one wasn't as well planned as the last. Through lack of funds we decided to check out some sights a bit closer to home. Saturday was a chance to take the tour of the London Dungeon. At a regular price of £20, we found some tickets at Lastminute.com for half the price. We made our way into the city and waited in line for an hour and a half before we actually got into the Dungeon. You go through in groups of about 20, through each section. It was really interesting learning more about London's gory history, but would have been nice to learn more about the dungeon itself. Would have been disappointed if we'd paid £20 each, but it was worth the £10.

Sunday was a crazy cocktail-fuelled BBQ, which left us all completely stuffed by the end of the night!!

When Monday rolled around I felt like I hadn't really achieved much to make up for losing a day of pay (we don't get paid for bank holidays as temp workers). I bargained with Russ for a trip out of London somewhere, and we settled on a town near the south coast called Arundel. I know we have an Arundel near Geraldine at home, and we pronounce it 'Uh-run-dl', but here they pronounce it 'Aaron-del'. But this is understandable because it's on the river Arun, and 'del' means 'in the valley'.

It's a beautiful little town. Everything so old. As you drive into the town you see all these lovely old houses and on the left is a huge cathedral and to the right is a huge castle. It has a really nice feel to it, there aren't any big commercial businesses like McDonalds or Tesco. Instead it has a lovely little butcher, deli, fish and chip shops, sweet shop, and a really lovely old bookshop that smells like the oldest books in the world, as well as plenty of nice little cafes.

While strolling through the town, taking in the sights, we came across the Arundel Ghost Experience down a long alleyway. We sat outside in the waiting area while a man came out and took our money, only to come back a few minutes later wearing a brown cloak. (This is part of the Arundel drama club). While speaking in rhyme he led us through the passageway, everything almost completely dark. We were led into a room to hear ghost stories from the local area. While in this room we were asked to put our hands on the table in front and chant after him to a grey lady to join us. It was only Russ and I on this 'tour' so we had to stop ourselves from laughing too hard at this particular part. But we were also led into some of the cells where we found ourselves pretty creeped out, with objects moving and strange noises and temperatures. It was miles scarier and creepier than the London Dungeon!! Well worth the visit!!

The town, on the whole, was a beautiful little place, definitely worth a visit.

Our final stop was Bognor Regis, a typical English seaside town. The weather was pretty miserable most of the weekend, but we managed to push our way through the wind to stand down by the ocean and watch some surfers from the pier. I hadn't realised how much I missed being near the sea. It's the first time I've seen it in four months. There's not a lot to speak of in Bognor Regis, but I can imagine how great the atmosphere must be in the summer! We spotted a mini-golf course across the road from the bay, and decided we had to keep up our tradition of playing everywhere we go. Russell kicked my butt this time (lucky break) and won a free game at the end.

It's so nice to get out of London and see paddocks full of animals and green... green everything, it's refreshing! Those places aren't too far from Portsmouth, where we're moving in September, so was nice to see a bit of what to expect down on the south coast by the sea.
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