We got on the train at Farncombe Station (just across the street from Madison's school) and took the train to Woking, where we then changed trains and continued on to Southampton (in the middle of the southern coast of England). It took about an hour and twenty minutes all together to make the trip.
Upon our arrival in Southampton, we explored the large mall and the many shops along High Street. The area is known for its shopping and has a great variety of stores - including a Toy's R Us.
We enjoyed a street vendors lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs.
For the record - an English chili dog is a hot dog with jalapeños and hot chili sauce. It is nothing like what we would call a chili dog in the states and it was VERY VERY HOT
I had the chili dog. Rob enjoyed a double burger (ketchup, burger mustard, and burger sauce - aka thousand island) and Madison had a hot dog with ketchup.
After lunch, we explored the historical stone structures around the harbor.
Our first stop was the Barclade North Gate which used to mark the entrance to Southampton and was part of the old council building.
We enjoyed getting up close to the buildings and reading the information about each one.
We also walked down to the harbor and looked at the boats.
A highlight of our day was finding out that Lillian had lost her socks. We have no idea when she kicked them off. As we were walking back to the shopping area, Rob suddenly saw what appeared to be two socks off in the distance. He made a mad dash through the crowd only to discover a single sock and a wad of paper. Luckily, the sock did belong to Lily and we all had a good laugh.
Dinner was at the ever fancy PIZZA HUT.
We decided to have a taste of home (and it was one of the few restaurants that offers FREE refills- a luxury of the states that is not found in England).
It was a wonderful day full of laughter and memories.
