Spring Has Sprung in England!

Arundel Castle

This past weekend was hands down the sunniest and warmest weekend in England since I've been here! I was fortunate to have my friend Dominic in town to visit, so I decided to take advantage of the company and amazing weather and head out to Arundel to finally check out the castle I've been gawking at from the train window over the past two months.  For some reason my train instincts failed me and it was a bit of a jigsaw ride on and off the trains to finally make it to the Arundel stop!  Oh well.  It was an adventure!  

The walk to the castle was beautiful, and Dom and I even stopped to enjoy an ice cream cone on the way!  We saw everyone else with them, so decided to follow suit!  Do as the Romans do, right? Ha! I had the most amazing honeycomb ice cream!  

Once we got to the castle and paid the fare, we entered the gates and gazed in awe at the enchanting, massive castle that was over 1000 years old!  The gardens were all in full bloom and I saw flowers I've never seen before in my life.  Spring was finally here! It was such a great day, wandering through the castle, learning the history and soaking in all the beauty. 

After Arundel, Dominic and I headed back into Chichester to change and grab a coat before jumping on the train into Portsmouth Harbour for an amazing Italian meal at Zizi on the Gunwharf Quays.  We made it in time to watch the sun setting over the water.  What a beautiful day!

Earl Gardens at Arundel

Sunday morning I enjoyed a home cooked breakfast by Dominic, and some incredible Buck's fizz (a sparkling wine drink infused with orange juice). Since it was such a gorgeous day I convinced Dominic to go on a run along the Centurion Way trail towards Goodwood.  After about 5 miles, we realized we were going in the wrong direction and Dom was probably ready to shoot me for taking him on such a long run, so we decided to stop for lunch at a cute restaurant called The Earl of March.  We sat out on the patio and enjoyed some mussels, chips and salad and even had an amazing view of Goodwood race tracks in the distance!  

Centurion Way

We had to call a cab to get us back to my flat so we had time to go to the store to get stuff for our mexican fiesta later that evening.  Tesco closes at 4pm on Sundays, and we made it back just in time to purchase our feast for the evening.  Dominic took over the kitchen and chopped up some amazing pico de gallo and cooked up a delicious assortment of fish and beef tacos, beans and rice.  What goes better with a mexican meal than margaritas!  What a great dinner!  And awesome company!  This weekend was a great start to my first spring in England!  I was off to the London Book fair the next morning for a few days and so grateful for the beautiful weekend filled with great company and amazing weather!