Dunstable Downs and the Priory

Today we went to Priory Church of St. Peter Dunstable. We went with Nana, my mom, my dad, me, Andie and James. The Priory used to be a lot bigger but part of it burnt down 300 years ago. It was built in the 12th century and founded by King Henry the First. The church was obviously old. The door had bullet holes in it from the War of the Roses in the 1600's. The architecture was amazing, kind of like in St. Albans. The ceiling had pictures carved into it and big pillars with designs and patterns on them. The church itself was actually very, very small though. We walked around the sanctuary, which was actually locked but we were let in by a labourer of the church. There was a graveyard from people who died in the 1200's. There weren't very many statues but there were pews and names of benefactors written in the wall. There were lot's of things written on the wall, Pastors and people who had died, Kings and Queens, anybody who had done anything to be remembered really.

Then we headed to Dunstable Downs. We couldn't really see anything because of all of the fog. So we went into the nature center. Dunstable Downs is a park. The big thing they do there is hang glide and fly kites. There is actually hang glide airport there! It's also a great place to watch birds, though. Dunstable Downs is a lot like a nature preserve. There were very dramatic hills. There would be a hill, then a 200 foot drop, then another hill, and another drop. Since we had Andie with us we couldn't really stay that long since she would complain and have to be carried and then get cold, then hungry. I'm sure it's a very nice park, but since we couldn't really see and we were cold, it wasn't amazing. In the summer I bet it's very pretty, though, and hang gliding must be fun!

When we got home I went to Tesco with my cousin, Becky. We just bought presents for friends, and some groceries. Tesco is walking distance from my aunt's home. It's like a combination of Target and Kroger. Not that interesting. It wasn't a very nice day today. It was rainy and dark all day. It's normally rainy or foggy in England, we'd been lucky for the past couple of days, but now it was getting bad. The snow was melting and turning black from car pollution. It was very cold and dark outside. A typical day in England. Today was a fun day, despite the weather and tomorrow should be fun too!