Sunday, May 16, 2010
Home Away from Home
Just a quick peek at our new flat in Old Town Swindon....needs a few personal touches but you get the general idea!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Editors Correction!!
Thanks to my UK editor, Roni Green, for informing me that I have been going on and on about the beautiful fields of yellow GRAPE seed flowers when, in fact, they are RAPE seed flowers! I guess I am not picking up all the nuances of the English accent yet...thanks Roni :)
Knights, Royalty and Shakespeare - All in a Day!
Today we set out for Warwick Castle (Mike has a thing for castles) and once again, getting there was half the fun. Our country drives are definitely going to become a habit. I just love the charming Cotswold villages and rolling farmland everywhere. We passed through several villages that will require a return trip so we can wander through the high street and look in the shops. For the record, they are Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh and Burford.
Warwick is a larger but equally charming town. We wandered through the narrow streets and peeked into St. Mary's church on our walk to Warwick Castle. As we entered the castle grounds we found ourselves in an environment not unlike the Renaissance Festival.
We were enticed to take a Dungeon Tour. I passed on this at the last minute but Mike went ahead and found it a bit hokey. I did visit the Gaol to see how prisoners were treated and it was pretty chilling stuff! Throughout the castle the staff was dressed in period costumes and on the grounds you could try your hand at archery. Ownership of this castle has changed hands several times and at one point was owned by Madame Tussauds so there were wax figures of past castle residents positioned throughout the living quarters with recordings of their stories. The theme of the day seemed to be high society adultery! Apparently they were quite the swingers behind closed doors.
We climbed to the towers where you could see for miles in every direction. The fields of yellow flowers on the grape seed plants where everywhere and, while we were up there, the eagles being trained on the castle grounds below soared past us within just a few yards - pretty cool!
On our way home we drove to Stratford-upon-Avon and had just enough time to tour through William Shakespeares birthplace. This was actually a really interesting tour and gave lots of information about his life and how his family lived. Our entrance tickets are good for several other important houses in Stratford so we will be going back. History aside, Stratford-upon-Avon had some seriously tempting boutiques that will need to be explored too!
Hopefully tomorrow (Tuesday) is move-in day. I am so ready to have my own kitchen so we can cook our own meals. It will also be nice to do laundry. An interesting note is that the washing machine is generally located in the kitchen in the homes that we toured - just under the counter like the dishwasher. Most homes do not have clothes dryers so we will have to get a hanging rack. If all goes as planned, we will get settled and then head home for Megan and Amy's graduation celebrations on Wednesday!
Cheers...
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Day Trip to London
After a week finalizing housing arrangements and taking care of other business around Swindon, we are making the most of our weekend. Today we hopped the train to London for the day. First stop, Leicester Square for discounted theater tickets. We had every intention of walking to St. Paul's Cathedral but it was VERY cold - can it really be May here?!! We made it about 1/2 way and then hopped on the tube.
Having tried on two previous trips to make it to St. Paul's Cathedral, we finally w
ent in and it was worth the wait. We explored from top to bottom, quite literally. After touring the ornate Nave, Dome and Quire areas, we climbed up 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery that circles the dome from above. From here you have a birds eye view of the Cathedral below. A whisper spoken against one wall of the Gallery can be heard on the other side of the Dome. We were up there with a bunch of school children so I would say it was a little louder than a whisper up there today! From this level we continued to climb another 119 steps to the Stone Gallery on the outside of the dome. This set of steps was up a winding and narrow stone passageway with no open windows and people in front of and behind us. If you know me, you know that I am the one who climbed out of the MRI enclosure, so it was all I could do to appear calm, cool and collected in that situation! Again, the climb rewarded us with a spectacular vantage point. We peered through the stone enclosure to view London in every direction. My hiking buddies would have loved this climb and we went still further up another 152 steps to the Golden Gallery. This is an unobstructed, 360 degree view of London and I don't think the pictures do it justice.
Before leaving we climbed back down to the Cathedral floor and headed down to the Crypt holding the tombs and memorials of many important people from British history. And no journey through a famous landmark would be complete without being funneled through the gift shop and cafeteria on your way out!
Next stop, Ap
ollo Victoria Theater to see Wicked. I LOVED this show last year when I saw it at this very same theater with Megan. Mike had not had a chance to see it yet so what the heck...it was still fantastic the second time around! Afterward we avoided the tube because there was a track closure that made every line extremely crowded (enough with the claustrophobic situations for one day) so we walked past Buckingham Palace and through Green Park before heading up Piccadilly - great shopping in this area! At this point we really were just wandering until we found a place that looked interesting for dinner. We got lucky in Covent Gardens. We ate at a place with a lame name (Cafe Pasta) but fantastic food. It was full and WARM so we figured it was a good bet at this point. A couple of glasses of wine, hot soup, seafood salad, dessert and hot tea was just the ticket. I have to say that we have fallen into this terrible habit of ordering sinful desserts for every dinner. It will be good for our wallet and our waistline when we move out of this hotel and into our own place!
All in all a great day.
Having tried on two previous trips to make it to St. Paul's Cathedral, we finally w
ent in and it was worth the wait. We explored from top to bottom, quite literally. After touring the ornate Nave, Dome and Quire areas, we climbed up 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery that circles the dome from above. From here you have a birds eye view of the Cathedral below. A whisper spoken against one wall of the Gallery can be heard on the other side of the Dome. We were up there with a bunch of school children so I would say it was a little louder than a whisper up there today! From this level we continued to climb another 119 steps to the Stone Gallery on the outside of the dome. This set of steps was up a winding and narrow stone passageway with no open windows and people in front of and behind us. If you know me, you know that I am the one who climbed out of the MRI enclosure, so it was all I could do to appear calm, cool and collected in that situation! Again, the climb rewarded us with a spectacular vantage point. We peered through the stone enclosure to view London in every direction. My hiking buddies would have loved this climb and we went still further up another 152 steps to the Golden Gallery. This is an unobstructed, 360 degree view of London and I don't think the pictures do it justice.Before leaving we climbed back down to the Cathedral floor and headed down to the Crypt holding the tombs and memorials of many important people from British history. And no journey through a famous landmark would be complete without being funneled through the gift shop and cafeteria on your way out!
Next stop, Ap
ollo Victoria Theater to see Wicked. I LOVED this show last year when I saw it at this very same theater with Megan. Mike had not had a chance to see it yet so what the heck...it was still fantastic the second time around! Afterward we avoided the tube because there was a track closure that made every line extremely crowded (enough with the claustrophobic situations for one day) so we walked past Buckingham Palace and through Green Park before heading up Piccadilly - great shopping in this area! At this point we really were just wandering until we found a place that looked interesting for dinner. We got lucky in Covent Gardens. We ate at a place with a lame name (Cafe Pasta) but fantastic food. It was full and WARM so we figured it was a good bet at this point. A couple of glasses of wine, hot soup, seafood salad, dessert and hot tea was just the ticket. I have to say that we have fallen into this terrible habit of ordering sinful desserts for every dinner. It will be good for our wallet and our waistline when we move out of this hotel and into our own place!
All in all a great day.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Bank Holiday Weekend
Well, last weekend was a UK Bank Holiday weekend and it seemed clear to us that not much would happen with our realtor during this coveted holiday so we set off to explore the Cotswolds a bit. Here is a recap of a blog post I did for work...
A Day in Cirencester – Capital of the Cotswolds
Despite having been to London several times and making sure to cover all of the ‘must see’ landmarks, museums, theater…the list goes on. I have never had the time or opportunity to explore the English countryside beyond that until now.
Chances are you haven’t heard too much about Swindon, but we discovered that it is ideally situated to explore the unique character of the Cotswold landscape. With a car at our disposal and a free weekend in front of us, we took off traveling mostly country roads and meandered our way to a charming town called Cirencester. Along the way we passed through rolling hills with timber and stone farms tucked in here and there. We witnessed walkers trekking along remote walking paths with a pack and a walking stick, and we travelled through tiny villages with quaint stone cottages that seemed to have come out of a fairy tale. As a kid, I have painful memories of loading into my grandfather’s big old Lincoln for a Sunday drive through the countryside and I can honestly say that I didn’t think I would ever get around to enjoying a car ride just for the scenery but, in this case, getting there was more than half the fun!
Upon arriving in Cirencester we were delighted to find a well preserved and bustling old Roman market town. The town center has a beautiful church, Church of St John Baptist, overlooking the main street that is in the process of a restoration. It borders on Cirencester Park, a surprisingly large park hidden in the middle of town and surrounded by beautiful old wool merchant homes and Cotswold cottages. The town center is lined with one of a kind boutiques, cafes, restaurants and pubs. Although this is a small town, you can get lost wandering up and down the narrow streets lined with stone buildings. We found markets tucked away in the most unexpected places along the way.
Surprisingly, Cirencester used to serve as the Roman capital of England and is known as the capitol of the Cotswolds. A visit to the Corinium Museum helped us get familiar with Cirencester’s history as an important producer of Roman mosaic art work and features excavated objects depicting life in a Roman household. This museum is a must see. Another typically English activity is afternoon tea and we particularly enjoyed taking ‘tea and cake’ at a popular place called Made by Bob. It was worth the wait!
A Day in Cirencester – Capital of the Cotswolds
Despite having been to London several times and making sure to cover all of the ‘must see’ landmarks, museums, theater…the list goes on. I have never had the time or opportunity to explore the English countryside beyond that until now.
Chances are you haven’t heard too much about Swindon, but we discovered that it is ideally situated to explore the unique character of the Cotswold landscape. With a car at our disposal and a free weekend in front of us, we took off traveling mostly country roads and meandered our way to a charming town called Cirencester. Along the way we passed through rolling hills with timber and stone farms tucked in here and there. We witnessed walkers trekking along remote walking paths with a pack and a walking stick, and we travelled through tiny villages with quaint stone cottages that seemed to have come out of a fairy tale. As a kid, I have painful memories of loading into my grandfather’s big old Lincoln for a Sunday drive through the countryside and I can honestly say that I didn’t think I would ever get around to enjoying a car ride just for the scenery but, in this case, getting there was more than half the fun!
Upon arriving in Cirencester we were delighted to find a well preserved and bustling old Roman market town. The town center has a beautiful church, Church of St John Baptist, overlooking the main street that is in the process of a restoration. It borders on Cirencester Park, a surprisingly large park hidden in the middle of town and surrounded by beautiful old wool merchant homes and Cotswold cottages. The town center is lined with one of a kind boutiques, cafes, restaurants and pubs. Although this is a small town, you can get lost wandering up and down the narrow streets lined with stone buildings. We found markets tucked away in the most unexpected places along the way.
Surprisingly, Cirencester used to serve as the Roman capital of England and is known as the capitol of the Cotswolds. A visit to the Corinium Museum helped us get familiar with Cirencester’s history as an important producer of Roman mosaic art work and features excavated objects depicting life in a Roman household. This museum is a must see. Another typically English activity is afternoon tea and we particularly enjoyed taking ‘tea and cake’ at a popular place called Made by Bob. It was worth the wait!
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