Pearson Airport

THIS IS IT

I'm sitting in the Toronto airport, boarding in half an hour, and thinking...do i have everything? Passport, boarding ticket, nibs, chocolate covered peanuts, got it all. I just hope they let me into the country. WHERE AM I GOING YOU MAY ASK? First destination: London England. From there, I'm hopping onto a British coach (because everything in Great Britain is British) and it's a two hour ride to Herstmonceux Castle. This is the Queen's University Castle, which was donated to the school by alumni Drs. Alfred and Isabel Bader in the early 1990's.

A little history about the Castle:
[Note: From this moment forward I will refer to my school as the Castle. Because I can.]

Herstmonceux (pronounced Herst-mon-soo) Castle's written history dates back to 1066 during the Battle of Hastings. William the Conqueror had a friend (name unknown) who gave the land to a man named 'Wilbert'. One of Willie's descendants, an Idonea de Herste, married a Norman nobleman by the name of  Ingelram de Monceux. That's gnarly!! (Get it...gnarly Norman nobleman). As you may have guessed, that's how the area got its name. At this time there was a Manor where the Lords and Ladies lived, and it wasn't until 1441 that the Caslte was built by another descendant, Roger Fiennes. Roger worked for Henry VI as treasurer and obviously needed accommodations suitable to his high position...so he built a Castle. Go figure. Herstmonceux Castle is now the oldest brick building in England. Tomorrow, I will call it home.

Fortunately I'm not alone on this historical venture. My friend Gaeby is also traveling to the Castle. WOOOOOOOO! She will be writing a blog too, but it's still under construction. Come back later to check out a link to her blog.

Boarding time! Gotta run. More soon.

Click to see Where I got my Castle history.