Eden Project

Dear June,

I am so sorry for my absence. I have been scheduled every second of the day for the past week. The moment I get home I flop into my bed. The cold rain really takes all of my energy. Let's rewind a full week. I started my weekend by having a proper English supper at the local pub. The whole group suited up for the cold for the "short" walk to the Jack Rabbit. We find it really funny when locals tell us, "it's just a short walk" because it always turns out to be a few miles. The Jack Rabbit was worth the walk. The menu consisted of typical English meals; lots of roasts and meat pies. I filled my belly with Chicken and Lentil pie. My classmate, Naddy, made the mistake of asking what black pudding consisted of. It turns out that it's all the bits of a pig that isn't used combined with blood. I had to struggle to keep my pie down. After dinner, the group decided to have an early night because Saturday we were scheduled to leave for the Eden Project at 9 AM and not be home until 5PM. If I'm being honest, I didn't understand why we needed a full day to explore the Eden Project. It was explained to me as bubbles with plants. I couldn't picture it being anything that I wanted to spend a full day exploring. When we arrived at the Eden Project, I was blown away. They were not bubbles. It was HUGE domes. Eden Project is the largest conservatory in the world. We found out that the founders of the Eden Project turned an old china clay pit into a beautiful garden and EVERYTHING is ran with the planet in mind. We were able to explore two different climates. The first dome we entered was the rain forest. I went from cold rainy England to steamy hot Costa Rica in a few steps. I had to keep removing layers of clothing until at one point I had sweat dripping down my back. The rain forest dome included waterfalls, sugar cane, bamboo, baobab, banana plants, mangos and a canopy walk. Just so you can picture how huge this dome was it took us over an hour to see everything in the rain forest dome. The rain forest dome had different levels and the higher you got in the dome the more clothes you had to take off. It was really funny to see people with their shirts tied up because they were so sweaty. 

After the rain forest, we stopped for a tasty lunch. This was my meal. 

It included lots of fresh vegetables which is really nice when you are traveling. I never seem to have a healthy meal. 

The second dome was a Mediterranean climate. The first thing I noticed about this dome was the smell. It had a truly unexplainable smell. If someone asked me to try really really hard to explain it. I would say the ocean mixed with fresh flowers and olive oil. We all agreed that the Eden Project should bottle that smell up and sell air freshners at the gift shop. The Mediterranean dome was much smaller than the rain forest and it only took about 30 minutes to see everything. Somehow the Eden Project managed to have a light cool breeze in the dome so you felt like the ocean might be right outside the door. The Mediterranean dome had bright beautiful blooming flowers in rows. The man power they need to keep those gardens nice must be insane. 

Even though I enjoyed the domes, the best part of the Eden Project was the gardens surrending the domes. My classmate explained it as her very own secret garden. It was filled with magical statues, mirrors and secret doors. The gardens also had informational boards so you could read about the flowers or were the artist got the inspiration for the statues. We spent most of our time at the Eden Project exploring the gardens and taking pictures. We felt like the ultimate tourists because we had to get a picture with every statue. Of course, we had to stop in the gift shop before our time was over. Naddy went a little spending crazy and had serious buyers remorse afterwards. She blamed the smell of the Mediterranean dome. She was still a little intoxicated. 

The Eden Project was an experience that I don't think I will ever forget. I would 100% fly my family over to England just so they could experience it with me. I promise that I will get you completely caught up on my week June! 

Missing you,

Susannah