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With my friend's Dana from Nas de Nas permission I'll borrow the idea of the Weekend Report, because my short weekend was an adventure way too beautiful to not to be told nor shared with all of you.
It all started with an idea that soon grew its own wings and became a real thing - together with my sister's boyfriend we planned to surprise for her 33rd birthday. 



Ticket bought, luggage done, gifts - all checked. After a nice take-off (I give a 9 to the pilot for not making me feel like i touched the sky in 5 seconds and for taking things with calmness, i took 1 away because no one is perfect) came a 2.30 hours flight from Madrid to London and another 2.30 hours drive to Charminster to spend only 24h with my sis (totally worth it!). One big shock as soon as she opened the door and saw me standing right there, in front of her... Checked! The surprise worked marvelously and it was a complete success (yay for us, Karl)! An hour after my arrival, hugs, kisses and tons of laughs included, she still couldn't believe i was there, next to her. Anyway, I didn't even had time to catch up my breath as plans started to be made. All on board, let the marathon begin.
We started by visiting the small village of  Charminster where my sister lives and works at the moment. Situated in the west Dorset and north of the county town Dorchester, on the River Cerne, Charminster's name evolved from Cerneminster that derives from the river's name - Cerne and the "minster" church of Saint Mary (which ironically is about to be transformed into a gym - from a kind of faith to another - from the spiritual to the bodybuilding one). 


St. Mary church

A beautiful village with small country roads shadowed by old trees that met their branches at the half way and seem to melt together forming green crowns around the road, surrounded by farms, old and modern houses fitting perfectly together in the landscape and historic buildings whose walls hide untold histories.


The hospital where my sister works at.  

Country road

A farm

View from my sister's flat



A short history of Dorset: it is formed by small villages, mostly hills and wide vales, farms and a coastline, which besides all the small harbours and islands around, includes one of the biggest harbours in the world - Poole Harbour that lie atop Western Europe's largest onshore oil field (produces oil since 1960). Dorset's geographic diversity are typically lowland in nature, and ones of the most beautiful I've seen. I honestly thought i was lost somewhere in time and in other space, far away from my "loud" city, lost in an oasis of nature and serenity. A cure for my noisy brain. Mostly of Dorset's is part of Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site, which stretches for 155 km, between Studland and Exmouth in Devon and documents the entire Mesozoic era, from Triassic to Cretaceous - with important fossils, like the first complete Ichthyosaur discovered in 1811 by Mary Anning.
Following we visited village by the sea called Weymouth, where after a short walk by the shore we stopped at a Romanian restaurant to have one of their special meal - Stew in bread with scallions (it was delicious, thank you Cristina!).


Weymouth's beach is popular for sea bathing, was frequented by King George III. 

The sand on Weymouth's beach was voted the best for making sandcastle. 

Bus stop.

A mix of old and new - a phone booth transformed into an ATM. 
Romanian Stew in bread. 

Next on the list was Dorchester, Dorset's county town, is an historic market town whose roots stem back to prehistoric times where different tribes lived since 4000 BC until the Romans arrived, in 43 AD. Dominated by Vikings (790) and Saxons, by 864, Dorchester survived later in time to several serious fires (1613, 1622, 1725, 1775). A city that stood up all of its enemies, including time. 


All Saints Church 

Dorset Museum

Dorchester's main Street. 

After a stop at Sun Inn where i enjoyed the coldness of a cider beer with my beautiful sister, the night ended up in the city's old movie theater - it was exactly like i imagine the 60s movie theaters looked like back in the days. 


Local pub - Sun Inn. 






On Sunday, although i only had 3 hours to spare until leaving for London to pick up the flight back to Madrid, we hit the road again and paid a visit to the Island of Portland, a limestone tied island in the English Channel and the center of the Jurassic Site. With impressive views, prehistoric limestones and a Harbour built of stone breakwaters, Portland was a Royal Army base and played an important role during both, the First and the Second World's, Wars and it also was used for the 2012 Olympic Games as a recreational area.


On top of the hill. 


Limestones

Prehistoric fossils  


Monument for those who fall in the First World War. 

Recreational area back in 2012 for the Olympic Games. 

From the top of the hill to the Fleet Lagoon that Portland forms with Weymouth, crossing the bridge to the mainland, we took a final stop in order to have a traditional English Breakfast  - toast with smoked salmon and eggs for me and my sister, because the sausages with beans, jam, scrambled eggs and tomatoes were too much for us, but not for Karl thou who heroically conquered the whole plate. 





Weymouth's Harbour  



Smoked salmon with scrambled eggs on toast. 

English Breakfast  

So here i am, at the airport, waiting for my flight to take off, trying to finish this weekend's report inspired by one of the greatest short trips i had in my life (if not the greatest), surrounded by beautiful people all over the world, with a stress level considerably reduced to the normal limits of relaxation, tired but with my heart full of joy and happiness and with several new perfumed friends in my bag, most of them courtesy of my sister.


How my hand luggage looked like. 


Happy birthday, beautiful! 
You are the best. Love. Xoxo 


Thanks to lady Wikipedia for all of the historical and geographical data. 

Comentarios

  1. M-a apucat râsul când ai zis că ai scăzut un punct pilotului doar pentru simplul motiv că nimeni nu este perfect.

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    Respuestas
    1. Roxana, chestia asta o spunea mereu profesoara mea de istorie si nu am inteles-o mult timp... Cand incepi sa te maturizezi intelegi multe lucruri, si avea dreptate femeia.

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  2. Cu toate acestea, tot amuzantă mi se pare în contextul textului.

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