Friday May 11th

Friday began with yet another early morning and hearty breakfast. However, the day was different from all the previous days because the weather was finally sunny and moderately warm! Once the group was ready, we departed from the hotel and walked to the closest bus stop to ride one the famed, red double-decker buses to the train station. After arriving at the train station, we took a short train ride to Princess Risborough, a small town in Buckinghamshire. Princess Risborough is actually the home town of the head of the School of Building Science, Richard Burt, who is accompanying us on the London leg of our trip. 

Once we arrived in Princess Risborough, we walked to the center of the town to visit shops, as well as visit the local supermarket to stock up on items for lunch. I chose a pre-made chicken and bacon sandwich that was unfortunately covered in mayonnaise, in addition to a couple of small bags of chips and a Snickers bar. As those in my family well know, I am a bit picky when it comes to my food selection, but in this instance I just had to literally swallow my pride and eat the sandwich- mayonnaise and all. After eating our lunches on some benches in town, we embarked on our walk through the country.

The Prime Minister's "country home" driveway

The goal behind our “country walk” was to see some of the beautiful sites in one of the more remote areas of England. The trip was actually very interesting because pedestrians are given the right of way on others’ private property, meaning that we literally walked through golf course fairways, the Prime Minister’s country house’s driveway, in addition to acres and acres of fields. The scenery was absolutely beautiful as we walked approximately 7 miles throughout the afternoon.  While I thoroughly enjoyed leaving the big city and seeing the picturesque countryside, my feet and legs were exhausted after our walking up and down all kinds of terrain.

This evening I am meeting up with one of my fraternity brothers who is currently working in Paris, but has traveled to London for the weekend to visit us. It will be good and fun to see him, but I am envisioning an early return home after a long day of walking and an early wake-up tomorrow.