We're in Reading!

I know this title doesn't sound nearly as exciting as the last post but bear with me lol. Yesterday Jonathan and I headed to the Reading area since sadly he had to go back to work today. I mean his work is the reason we were here in the first place so I really can't complain. We had a driver drive us here because we're all fancy and such! In case you didn't know, Reading is about an hour west of London. It's pronounced the past tense of read plus ing, is that makes sense. It's pretty much a suburb of London where a lot of businesses are located. It seems to be a pretty convenient place to live where you can actually buy your own house but still go to London quite frequently. However, technically our hotel isn't in Reading, it's in a small town called Winnersh. A tiny town where there's pretty much nothing but a hotel, a few companies, and some neighborhoods. Luckily there's a really convenient train that I can take into Reading. They seriously have trains everywhere in this country! It's only 2 stops away so I'm heading into town on my last day in GB (that's the cool way to say Great Britain here if you're in the know.) Fortunate for me, I get to spend my last day shopping. That's pretty much what Reading is known for. They seem to have several malls along with lots of cute shops. I don't really know how they fit so much into such a small town but it's been a lot of fun wandering around. They also have the ruins of an old Abbey. It's almost 1000 years old! That's unheard of in the states so it's pretty awesome. Of course Westminster Abbey is older I think so I've pretty much been in awe the entire time we've been here. There's so many old buildings here that most people don't even take notice lol! Anyways, some historical facts about the Abbey: It was changed from a religious church to a royal palace during the time of Queen Victoria's rule. Jane Austen went to school there. How cool is that??? I got to wall where Jane Austen walked! Unfortunately the Abbey is unsafe to visit so I couldn't see much or get very good pictures but they're in the process of restoring it so that you can actually tour it!

It's been really fun being in a less touristy area and seeing how residents actually live. It looks exactly how I imagined it to look. Rows and rows of super old houses that all look like adorable cottages. I am spending  the day shopping and having pub food for the bajillionth time (yes that is a word and no I'm not exaggerating.) I'm a little bummed to head home without Jonathan but he's heading home on Friday so we'll only be apart for a few days.

And as always, enjoy some pictures!

-Chelsey