My Year Abroad

So as part of the international orientation here in Plymouth, they organized a couple of little day trips. The first we went on was a boat tour of the area around Plymouth. We left from the Mayflower Steps, the same place that the pilgrims set out from in 1620 on their way to the New World. The weather was perfect; bright and sunny, although a little chilly out on the water. We've all been wondering where the English rain has been. We've been lucky and it's been off and on sunny the whole time so far with only a few rain showers here and there.
Anyway, on the boat we set out across Plymouth Sound allowing us to get some great views of the Hoe (a big park area down by the water).
The boat then made it's way up the waterway separating Devon and Cornwall (2 counties in England). On the Devon/Plymouth side there is a massive naval shipyard with a number of frigates, submarines, drydocks, and other such things. It reminded me a bit of what I saw way back in 7th grade when we toured the water in Portsmouth (England, not RI) and saw all the ships. And of course it felt a bit like home, with all the navy ships, except of course on a much bigger scale.
On the Cornwall side there were a couple of seaside villages and some lovely countryside.
There were a couple of different ways to get across from one county to another. There's a ferry service that you can take your car over on. They operate by pulling themselves on chains that stretch across from one coast to another.
There are also two impressive looking bridges that span the water. There's a rail one and also a one for pedestrian and car traffic.
After the boat ride, we hung around the Barbican (kind of the harborside area in Plymouth) and got our first taste of fish and chips since we got to England. We sat on that water and ate our food out of our paper with our little wooden forks, while the swans below tried to grab any scraps that might fall in.