England Date Night

The second stop on our travels took us to jolly ole' England.  

England, birthplace of Shakespeare and The Beatles, is a country in the British Isles bordering Scotland and Wales. The capital, London, on the River Thames, is home of Parliament, Big Ben and the 11th-century Tower of London. It's also a multicultural, modern hub for the arts and business. Other large cities are Manchester,
Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol and the university centres of Oxford and Cambridge.

Capital: London

Population: 53.01 million (2011)

Currency: Pound sterling

Ethnic groups (2011): 85.4% White; 7.8% Asian; 3.5% Black; 2.3% Mixed; 0.4% Arab; 0.6% Other;

Regional languages: Cornish 

Here are some of the cool facts we learned about England that you may not know either:

When the world’s largest diamond was transported from Africa to England, elaborate & secure journey by sea was publicized was a rouse. The real diamond was simply posted by mail.

70% of the land in England is still owned by 1% of the population, largely descended from William the Conqueror’s army. 

The Queen of England’s portrait has been on enough international money to make a progressive timeline of her aging.

The earliest known recipe for macaroni & cheese dates back to 14^th century England.

Pineapples were such a status symbol in 18th century England that you could rent one for the evening to take to a party.

The word “soccer” was first used in England before the Americans adopted it.

The oldest unbroken alliance in the world is between England and Portugal dating back to 1373

“Gropecunt Lane” was once a common street name in England, indicating probable historical centers of prostitution.

All the presidents of the USA except Martin Van Buren are descended from King John of England.(Im not sure how recent this article was..)

There’s an annual lying competition in England, and competitors from around the world have five minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can. Politicians and lawyers are banned from entering because they’re thought to be too good at it.  

After a ride on England’s first escalator, customers were offered a brandy to revive them of their ordeal.

The body of Richard III, infamous king of England, was lost for over 500 years before being found beneath a parking lot in 2012.  

In Gravesend, England, there is a whole fake town used by police to simulate dangerous situations. Fake streets, houses, parks, nightclubs, estates, aircraft, trains and tube stations are used to stage riots, robberies, hostage situations and terrorist attacks.

There is a garden in England devoted entirely to plants that can kill. The creator, the Duchess of Northumberland, felt that people ‘would be more interested in hearing how a plant killed, how long it would take you to die if you ate it and how gruesome and painful the death might be

*facts w/sources via kickassfacts.com 

For dinner we had shepherd's pie, salad and homemade bread. Cobbler for dessert.  I was surprised at how many dishes we eat here in modern day US of A that date back to traditional English food.  I also made scones- the English variety which are more of what we'd call a biscuit here, clotted cream and strawberry jam to have with tea after the movie.

Scones!

I also bought Aero bars, which are an aerated chocolate bar from the UK. We got the milk chocolate and the mint chocolate...both awesome!

Aero is a chocolate product manufactured by Nestlé. It was originally introduced to the North of England as the "new chocolate" by Rowntree's in 1935. via wikipedia

a cuppa tea and scone with clotted cream and jam...delicious!

After dinner we watched a British romance film called Atonement. It was OK. Actually, no, it wasn't that good at all, but it was fun to keep with the theme!