A Perfect Summer Weekend in Wales

This weekend was one for the books! With clear blue skies and beautiful temperatures in the mid-70's, we packed our bicycles in the car and headed for the west coast of Wales on the Swansea Peninsula.

In just over 2 hours we were beach-front in Swansea, wandering through the harbor in search of lunch. Dean would have loved hanging here with us and watching the sailboats and their occupants come and go. From there we checked into our hotel and hopped on the bikes to ride along the coast. People were out on the beach boardwalk in force and we soon learned that the Beach Rugby Tournament was the main attraction.

We were able to ride to the opposite side of Swansea Bay and beyond. It was an incredible day to be riding along, looking at the ocean and people watching. At one point we passed by a park beside the bay with a huge baby pool just filled with kids; their parents lounging nearby in the grass. When we got to the lighthouse point we took some time to relax on a large patio serving freshly made ice cream. We have gotten very accustomed to afternoon 'snacks' - tea optional!

We capped off a beautiful Saturday with an amazing dinner at a restaurant called La Brasserie on Wind Street. After being seated, you are asked to go to the display and select your meat or fish and then order your sides. From there you head to the wine bar and order your bottle. All is then prepared and brought to your table. It was delicious and, as a bonus, we met a lovely young couple seated next to us that gave us great tips on the area, including where NOT to go which we had already figured out on the walk to the restaurant.

Sunday morning we packed up again and drove to the end of the peninsula to Rhosilli Beach and Worm's Head. The road to get there was crazy - so narrow! I am amazed at the cyclists that dared to ride this road as the cars whipped around the bend with stone walls rising straight up on each side. I was white-knuckled just riding in the passenger seat of the car! The reward is an undeveloped beach area below a high cliff and adjacent to a phenomenal hike to Worm's Head point that can only be reached when the tide is out for a period of about 5 hours.

We hiked around the shoreline up on the cliff until the tide was out far enough to make our way across the rocks to Worm's Head point. It was not easy going but filled with little tide pools containing sea life and lots of little clam shells. Once on the other side you climbed up through tall grass and plants for more spectacular views until reaching another rocky separation to navigate before reaching the actual "head of the worm", as I would call it. My hiking ladies would have loved this - a bit scarier than Camelback along that ridge! If you misstep you just might fall off the cliff and land in the ocean or end up being cut by some pretty jagged rocks. OK, that is probably just my perspective because I am afraid of heights but you get the idea. We did reach the end and were able to lay down in tufted, soft grass that was so thick if felt like a down mattress. I did not want to leave but the thought of the tide coming back in and stranding us there kept me moving!

From here we walked up the hill to one of the few cottages selling refreshments and had our daily dose of ice cream before heading down the steep trail to Rhosilli beach. When the tide was out the beach seemed to be 1/2 mile wide. Hang gliders were sailing overhead, surfers were trying to catch the waves and people were relaxing everywhere but it never felt crowded. The water was quite a bit warmer than a northern California beach at this time of year, which surprised us. After a quick nap in the sand we relunctantly packed up our gear and headed for home.

Let's hope this weather holds for a bit longer....what a treat!

Now that I have a month in between visitors and have started exploring on my own, I have noticed that I tend to talk to myself about random things while driving or walking through new territory. Today I found myself wondering out loud about the fact that so many of the homes in England seem to have names. Do they come with names or do the present owners get to name them? Does the postman use the house name or the house number? I have decided that I am a big fan of house names. It seems to interject personality and give you a hint about the kind of place it is, who might live there or what goes on there. For example, today while driving to Marmesbury I passed a house that was named, Cocks Roost Farm House. I guess that could be interpreted different ways but, given the rural location, I am picturing roosters and probably hens - perhaps they sell fresh eggs? Should I be worried that I spend time thinking about things like this? What would you name your home? Many house names appear to contain the family name but I think including Fuetterer in the house name would lose something in translation depending on who was reading the sign. Enough!

I did eventually come across a couple of places worth mentioning today. Mike had meetings at a hotel in the Cotswold Water Park, located about 20 minutes north of here. It is actually an area know for its many lakes, some of which seem to be for specific purposes like sailing, swimming or ski jumping. Footpaths, cycling trails and horse paths lace the area so I dropped him at his meeting and set off to see how to access the trails. It wasn't as easy as I envisioned. The walking trails didn't seem to be well marked from the designated parking areas that I found but I did eventually stop in a VERY small town called Ashton Keynes. This place was a quaint collection of homes made of Cotswold Stone. I was able to find a pub to buy a bottle water and the proprietor pointed me in the direction of the Thames Path that led to the Church Walk. It was a nice shady path to an old church but the whole route only took me about 15 minutes. So I circled back to wander the streets of town and then jumped in my car and headed on down the road to a town called Marmesbury. Bingo!

In Marmesbury I wandered the high street and found a pretty necklace in a shop called Greene & Grey. While shopping I continued to hear shouting from the local pub so I can only imagine that England was doing well in their third World Cup match. They need a win to move on and keep the fans happy! As I was leaving town, I happened upon a path next to the river Avon (there are several river Avon's in England I have learned). I trekked on down it and could see that there was something interesting along the other side and I was determined to find access. As it turns out, I came to a road that let across the river and into the back of the Abbey to the Abbey Gardens of Marmesbury. The Abbey Gardens are, in fact, an English Heritage site so I was happy that we had become members of the English Heritage organization because this place was a jewel! Beautiful formal gardens with intricate bedded plants and all sorts of flowers led to a lawn that had a big lawn chess game set up surrounded by still more beautiful flowers, shrubs and vines climbing the walls. Every where you turned was yet another unique garden in a different shape. Eventually, the formal gardens led you down a fairly steep embankment to the rivers edge. Along the way they had stepping stones and an old wooden bridge to get you back and forth while exploring along the river. I was in heaven now. At 25 degrees celsius, it was a warm day so the shady path was delightful. I wish I had a book along. This was a perfect spot to sit on the bench and read the day away.

Tonight we are off to dinner with several of Mike's colleagues. I am looking forward to meeting some of the people here in Swindon that Mike sees every day. More later...

After a busy travel week and weekend, we knew it was time to get through all the laundry and who knew it would take two full days given the size of the washing machine and the length of the wash cycles. Don't even get me started on the dryer. It is clearly better to hang everything to dry then mess with that!

But who really wants to discuss laundry anyway? Especially when today was a beautiful sunny day and we had another interesting bike ride. Every trail leads us somewhere new and today was no different. It is light here until 10pm so we went out to run errands on our bicycles at 7 and then followed a new trail on the way home that led us out into fields south of town filled with sheep. Eventually the trail led to another way over the M4 highway. Obviously there is something good over there so we will need more time to investigate. We continued to see runners coming from over the bridge and I am guessing they had been running a very long time given our location. More on that later...time to sleep.

Today was the day Mike has been waiting for. We finally got out on bicycles and explored the National Cycle Trail network this morning. We found that it is mainly off-road and discovered a nearby park called Coate Water that has a big lake and a bunch of trails surrounding it. Given that there are diving towers in the lake, it seems that you can swim here when the weather is warmer. Today we were bundled up against the wind so swimming was not on our radar!

As you continue riding there is a spiral trail that takes you up and over the M4 highway. I opted to head back and explore the trails in our neck of the woods a bit more today but Mike went over to check it out. Evidently it leads all the way to Salisbury so we will have lots to explore on future outings. After lunch we are heading to Birmingham to see a Cirque de Soleil show with the Intel Social Club. I find it funny that we have never been to one of these shows on our many trips to Las Vegas, yet here we are trooping off to Birmingham, England to do so.

...Back from Birmingham and the show was a lot of fun. I'm not sure I will have much need to return to Birmingham during the remainder of our stay but they do have several theaters and a network of canals running through that area with nice places to eat or just stroll along. On the way to the theater our bus was diverted off the main road because a person had jumped off the bridge into the oncoming traffic. As we passed you could see them lying on the pavement - it was very disturbing.

Today is actually Father's Day, although it doesn't really register when your kids and your father are on the other side of the ocean! Mike is looking forward to our skype calls with everyone later today. We spent the morning taking a run (or slow jog, in my case), doing laundry, running errands and having lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We did not have high hopes for the restaurant given the variety of fabulous Mexican food we are used to in Phoenix but we were pleasantly surprised! They put roasted veggies like squash, corn, aubergine, sweet potatoes, onion and peppers in with the chicken and it was amazing. Good to know that we can get a fix of food that reminds us of home when needed.

Again, Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there....

Windsor Castle - On My Own Today...

This morning I woke up to find Lynette on her hands and knees washing her bathroom floor - who knew she did floors! She is welcome to visit ANYTIME. We had a blast and I will miss her. I shuttled Lynette to Heathrow, about an hours drive from here, and decided to take advantage of the commute to visit Windsor Castle on my way home.

As luck would have it, I happened to be walking up the hill to the castle from the car park just as the changing of the guards paraded by. That was fun to see at such close range! From there I stood in line and purchased a ticket to explore the castle via audio tour.


I found this castle to be beautiful. Everything is very well maintained for use by the royal family and the official events that take place there. The state apartments were open and I enjoyed touring the rooms, seeing the Queen's Doll house, perusing all of the famous artwork on display and looking around St. George's Chapel. I took lots of pictures of the grounds and explored the surrounding shops of Windsor before heading back to the car to drive home.

This weekend we are looking forward to breaking in the new bikes we bought - Mike's Father's Day present! There are lots of bike trails nearby so it should be fun if the weather cooperates. Happy Father's Day to any of you Dad's out there that might be reading this.

Cheers!

Where are those bathing costumes when you need them?

After two days of driving around the countryside, we took the train to Bath for a quick day trip. It was nice to just watch the scenery roll by for 25 minutes instead of concentrating on driving down the correct side of the road and not causing an accident in the roundabouts!

My first impression of Bath is that it is clean and white. The white limestone used to build this town gives it a very bright and cheerful feel. We had yet to do a double-decker bus tour so we thought this would be a good place to start. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky so we climbed to the top of the bus, put on our shades and lovely red headphones and began the tour. Points of interest that we later visited included the Jane Austen house, the Roman Baths and the Abbey where the first King of England was coronated.

The Jane Austen house was a bit of a bust. Our fee included an interesting 20 minute talk on the life of Jane Austen and then a walk around a small house containing information about her life in Bath. It did pique my curiousity to read more of her work but, as it turns out, I don't even think the house we toured is the one she lived in but instead one that would be similar.

The Roman Baths were fascinating and definitely worth the visit. It is amazing to me that archeologists are able to piece together so much from the ruins that remain. The naturally heated water was a big draw for visitors starting in Roman times and we were thinking we should have brought a swim suit, or bathing costume as they called them, to give the waters a try at one of the local spas.

After shopping we headed to the oldest house in Bath, Sally Lunn's, for our afternoon tea. The thing to order here is Sally Lunn's buns topped with one of a variety of flavored butters or fruit spreads. It was interesting but we are still a fan of scones.

Last stop in Bath was a walk by the river. We felt they were gouging tourists here, as you had to pay to walk down the steps to the park by the river. On the other hand, it was free for locals and it did keep the park from being overcrowded. Given the sunshine, lots of folks were laying around on the ground or in canvas chairs enjoying the afternoon so we went down and did the same for a few minutes before catching the train home for Lynette's farewell dinner.

Mike selected the restaurant and what a GREAT choice! It is called Three Crowns and it is about 10 minutes outside of Swindon in a small village. The menu was extensive, the setting was lovely and the place was crowded. They put our name on a waiting list to be seated and advised us to order before being seated to ensure that we didn't have to wait too long for our food. We did that and headed for the bar for a beer - this was a pub of sorts afterall. A couple of hours later we were so full from big meals and decadent desserts that I had to swear off this lifestyle of afternoon cream tea and restaurant meals for awhile - at least until the next visitor arrives. Any takers?!!

Road Trip!

Mike is heading to Munich for the day tomorrow so we figured this would be a good opportunity to take a road trip for a couple of days. We tossed around a bunch of ideas but settled on Cambridge and Oxford.

The drive to Cambridge was longer than expected so, after turning North as we approached London, Lynette started looking for an interesting town to explore along the way. We ended up in St. Albens - perfect for wandering around and getting the legs working again but definitely not a destination (at least not today). Soon after hitting the road again our oil light came on. Now, Lynette is a woman of many skills I am discovering. She advised me to pull over right away because you don't mess around with oil problems so we found a gas station and pulled in. To my delight, they were also offering hand car washes on the spot so we had the car washed, bought a liter of oil and were on our way again.

We arrived in Cambridge around 4 pm and it was hopping! It was tight navigating through the center of town on the very narrow roads but we managed to find a car park and began to look around. It did occur to us at that point that we had not yet booked a room to stay. Of course, we walked straight to the best hotel in the center of town only to find out that they were fully booked as were the next 15 (give or take) hotels that we tried. Just as we were about to head for the surrounding countryside to seek shelter we discovered a Best Western that was well located and actually had ONE room left - we were living right and the folks at ICMC will be happy to know that we are supporting the client whenever possible.

Now that our lodging was secure, we could focus on getting our bearings and taking in this beautiful University town. We found that all of the colleges were closed to visitors due to special events and exam schedules but we were able to view the architecture from the streets as we wandered around. Soon we began to spot young people dressed in formal attire everywhere we went. Most appeared to be high school aged and we later discovered that the colleges, equivalent to our high school juniors and seniors, were having graduation celebrations. We found a lovely spot for dinner, overlooking a plaza by the river, that appeared to be a meeting place for at least some of these events, so it was perfect for people watching and the food was delicious too.

The next morning we decided that our main mission in Cambridge was to buy a sweatshirt before leaving town - mission accomplished! Next stop was a town nearby called Saffron Walden, known for a splendid country house called Audley End House. This Jacobean House was once the largest house in England with gardens designed by Capability Brown. It was an interesting tour and the grounds were beautiful, complete with immaculately restored Jacobean stables and an organic working kitchen garden.

On the way back towards home we made a stop in Oxford. I had been there with Megan a year and a half earlier during the winter break but it looks completely different in the summer when it is full of people. We enjoyed looking at the beautiful University buildings, walking on the grounds near Christ Church and poking in the shops but the very best thing of this day was the perfect English cream tea and delicious scones with raspberry jam we enjoyed at the Vaults and Garden Coffee Shop on the lawn outside St. Mary the Virgin Church. Lynette is determined to find the best scones in England and so far this is the leader.

Tomorrow is Lynette's last full day in England and we are headed to Bath...stay tuned!

Productive Day Close to Home

Today we slept in, did laundry and caught up on email before heading out to explore nearby and hopefully cross some much needed items off of my shopping list.

First stop, Marlborough. This is another charming old English market town with plenty of shopping and cute restaurants. We poked in and out of shops and actually had some luck at a clothing store on high street. Lynette found a skirt and I found a much needed lightweight raincoat which I have since worn every day. It was a nice day so we had lunch outside in a courtyard tucked away off the high street.

After lunch we wandered in to a small shop that made one of a kind wooden kitchen bowls and serving/cutting boards from unique and beautiful pieces of wood. Lynette hit pay dirt in here and walked out with a very large (and heavy) wooden serving/cutting board that had hollowed out places for the serving pieces. She also found a beautiful covered dish to keep butter, jams or whatever. If she makes it home under the weight limit I will be shocked! Meanwhile, I found maple syrup to help satisfy my craving for pancakes lately.

With a few hours left before we needed to meet Mike for dinner, we decided to head to another favorite market town of mine, Cirencester. I wrote about it in one of my first blog posts so I won't go back into the detail but I will say that this time around we got a personal guided tour on the stature of the Cathedral in this prosperous town (considered the capital of the Cotswolds). Our guide, probably anxious to close up for the day, walked us around and pointed out the Ann Bolyn cup, the fan arches on the ceiling, the new and state of the art organ and the remains of the Roman column and painted walls. Also worth mentioning, I finally found a coat rack in Cirencester! Given the complete lack of closets (I have probably mentioned this before but it has really been a problem), the coat rack will be useful - and the price was right on this one!

After our very productive day we met Mike at home and walked to town to eat Thai food before coming back to get ready for our road trip tomorrow.

Three is NOT a Crowd - We Had a Blast!

We fit quite a lot into this past weekend. Mike was at the wheel and Lynette rode shotgun. I opted for the back seat as I tend to be a bit of a back seat driver anyway! It worked out perfectly because if Mike accidentally ended up on the wrong side of the road Lynette could relax by just meditating (I need to learn this skill right away) and I couldn't really see what was happening so everyone was happy.

Saturday morning we set the GPS to Isle of Wight and away we went. We never tire of the endless string of charming towns and beautiful countryside that you come across on these road trips. Once again, we stopped by the side of the road to buy freshly picked British strawberries and rasperries. Soooo good!

We pulled into Southampton and found the Red Funnel Car Ferry. This was a new experience for us. We pulled into the queue, bought our tickets and waited to board. It was pretty convenient to be able load up the car with everything you might need and not have to worry about carrying a daypack all day. We were loaded onto the bottom deck along with other cars, motor homes and even a tour bus - amazing that this boat stayed afloat! We proceeded to the top deck to enjoy the sunny day as we cruised through the channel to the Isle of Wight for an hour.

This island has a little bit of everything from beaches and world class sailing to historic royal homes, castles and festivals. This past weekend happened to be the Isle of Wight Music Festival featuring acts such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, Paul McCartney, Pink, and lots of others I haven't heard of. We drove past the concert grounds on our way to Carisbrooke Castle and it made me think of Megan and her Country Thunder weekends because on the field was a blanket of tents and campers.

Our first destination on the island was actually Osbourne House, once the summer home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It was an amazing retreat and so fascinating to learn about her life and her NINE children! It sounds like she and Albert had planned to unify countries by arranging marriages for their children that would build peaceful and mutually beneficial relationships between nations. It didn't quite work out that way in the end but their descendents around Europe left quite a legacy. The home itself sits on a massive estate with sprawling grounds and a beautiful and graceful summer retreat. You can just image the children running and playing here and the Queen and Prince Albert relaxing a bit away from the scrutiny that royal life brought on. We could have wandered around for several more hours here but hunger got the better of us and we sat down to tea on the terrace overlooking the grounds and beyond that the ocean. Lynette and I split tea for two complete with cucumber sandwiches, salmon sandwiches, cakes and scones while Mike ordered a antipasta plate and a glass of wine.

We relaxed for a bit too long before realizing that we had just one hour to get over to Carisbrooke Castle if we wanted to get in and see it before closing time. We made it but only had 30 minutes to spare so it was a quick tour and lots of picture snapping from the towers! King Charles I was imprisoned here before his execution. Some of this castle is in ruins but it dates back to pre-Roman times and was then fortified several different times over the centuries. We closed the place down and they basically had to chase us out and lock the gates behind us. Time to drive on!

From here we drove back to the port town of Cowes and found a spot for dinner. Fortunately it was across the street from a pub with a big screen TV that we could see through the window since the US was playing England in the first game of the World Cup. There was quite a bit of merriment at that pub early on but by the end I think the wind went out of their sails. The tie game was a gift! We all had a seafood dinner and then had to drive over a 'floating' bridge to get back to the ferry that would take us to the main land. To cross the floating bridge you drove onto a barge, paid them 2 pounds and then the barge floated across about 200 feet of water and let you out on the other side - it was a hoot! Once on the red funnel ferry we all slept, read or meditated our way back to the other side so we would be fresh and ready to head west toward Wells and find a place to crash for the night.

What seemed like a short one hour trip turned out to be quite a bit longer when driving down narrow winding roads in the dark. We quickly realized we would not make our destination before the inn keepers closed up for the night and we might very well be sleeping in the car on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere unless we got creative.

Our option was turn towards home or ask for help (very hard to make a man stop the car and do). Ultimately Mike pulled over by a lone pub in the middle of a very small town at about 10:45 p.m. and I leaned out to ask the very well-watered gentleman (ok that is a stretch) if he knew of any accomodations nearby. To our great surprise, he directed us to the top of the hill to the Cedar Hotel in Westbury. They just happened to have two rooms left that were actually quite clean and included breakfast in the morning for just 65 pounds. We are living right!

From Westbury it was just a quick trip in the morning over to Wells for a look around town and a tour of their famous Cathedral. We must be getting bleary on the Cathedrals because we worked through this one quickly and decided to push on to Cheddar Gorge for some hiking, caving and cheese tasting.

Cheddar Gorge is actually a beautiful area with steep, limestone cliffs rising on both sides of the road. Caves throughout the area are used to age the cheddar cheese produced in this town. We opted to hike to the top of the gorge, along it's length and back on the other side. The brochure said it would take 3 hours but we were convinced we would have it licked in an hour or so - HA! It turned out to be quite a hike and as we roamed across the top through a meadow area Lynette did, at one point, start to sing "The Hills are Alive" and it kind of fit the situation.

The caves were cold and damp but interesting and, in places, beautiful. Apparently they found evidence in these caves of ancient people in the area that were cannibals....hmmm. Anyway, after a well-earned ice cream we set the GPS and headed off for home.

How did we ever travel without GPS? This thing took us through a road that looked like someones driveway for miles before we ended up on anything resembling a road made for traffic. We drove past beautiful lakes, farm land, charming homes and little towns but next time I think we might type in "fastest way home" because the M4 probably would have done the trick in half the time. Kudos to Mike for all the driving. He did a GREAT job and we only had one near head on collision in the middle of the night. Who knew that wasn't a roundabout?

Cheers to my two amazing travel companions. I will go anywhere with you guys!

Time to Show Off the Countryside

After two days of nonstop walking in London, Lynette and I decided to jump in the car on Friday and head for Stratford upon Avon via Bourton-on-the-Water.

Bourton-on-the-Water is in the Cotswolds off the beaten path and I have been wanting to check it out since our first trip to Stratford last month. Lynette's visit was the perfect opportunity. I was anxious to show her just how charming the English countryside is. Around every corner there is yet another picturesque scene - fabulous! We parked the car and set off towards the small village via a meandering walkway next to a crystal clear and very shallow moving stream. The bottom of the stream is covered in pebbles and it is kind of mesmerizing to watch just a few inches of water flowing swiftly over the wide stream bed. As we approached town it became quickly evident that we would have to have tea at one of the charming cafes along the main street so we could take it all in. This was our first encounter with "clotted cream" and scones!

I won't get into the details of Stratford-upon-Avon again but we were able to finish all of the historic homes of William Shakespeare and his family this time around. As an aside, I am on a mission to find a coat rack, given the complete lack of closets in our flat! As we poke around these little towns I am determined to find one in an antique store or something but so far, no luck. Another interesting observation is that some things are universal. For example, we had to hit up McDonalds in Stratford to use the facilities and came upon three teenage girls doctoring up the skirt of their school uniform. Out with the plaid one that went with the blazer and blouse! They all pulled out black mini skirts, tied the shirts fashionably at the waist and changed their shoes - voila, they were ready for the after school scene! Who hasn't seen that transformation of the Xavier outfit at Scottsdale Fashion Square?

But I digress...time to head home to Swindon and show Lynette some hospitality. Good thing Mike made reservations for us at Thai Orchid - in my defense, I have been out all day!

Lynette is here and ready to hit the road!

Every day really is a new experience here and I am so excited that Lynette has arrived to explore with me! We have been busy so let's back up to Wednesday for a minute.

Lynette has been traveling for like 13 hours. When she finally lands at Heathrow the customs process is a breeze and she has her bags before you know it. As she exits the baggage area she is expecting to see me waiting with a big smile on my face but NO! My train was held up due to a signal problem at a station along the way and then rerouted through what seemed like the entire English countryside before arriving at Paddingdon (that's right - not at Heathrow) 3 hours later. Along the way I have left phone messages for Lynette, which she never received, and had the train dispatch a message to US Airways to track her down and give her the news (again, never received). Thankfully she got over her feelings of abandonment and set off in search of a computer to find the information I had sent her with my UK phone number in the event of an emergency. What a relief to get that call from her as we were pulling (finally) into Paddingdon Station. Being the independent, resourceful woman that she is, she adjusted her plans and hopped on the Heathrow Express to meet me at Paddingdon Station and we were off on our fabulous London adventure no worse for the wear!

I am a fan of big, long naps to overcome jet lag but Lynette was a trooper and insisted that the best way to get on schedule was to push on and so we set out to explore. We started with a walk through Hyde Park beginning at Kensington Gardens, past the Albert Memorial, by the Serpentine Lake and eventually exiting at speakers corner. From there we walked along one side of Green Park and up Picadilly to Picadilly Circus and then towards Leister Square and Covent Gardens. There was shopping all along the way but, to my surprise, Lynette was not to be baited. We did stop for lunch at a very posh hotel with a cafe attached (the name escapes me now). After checking into our hotel and taking a quick cat nap we left in search of good Indian food which we found at a place called Khan. Being an Indian food newbie, we had to order a wide variety so that I could sample several things which led to the need for an after dinner walk through Notting Hill. Unfortunately, we passed a Gelato Shop that was calling our name and we ate even more before heading back to the hotel and sleeping it all off. In our defense, we did walk an extraordinarily long way and more was in store the next day.

Thursday we woke up and hopped the Central Line to Oxford Circus so that we could walk down Regents Street - again, great shopping but surprisingly we could only think about FOOD! We found a great breakfast spot just off the main street that allowed us to watch the people go by and get the protien we needed for what turned out to be a LOT of walking.

After breakfast we went to Leister Square to see what theatre tickets we might be interested in for the matinee but ultimately decided that we might prefer to see something at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre so we continued on to tour Saint Paul's Cathedral. I have already told you all about that from my previous visit but I hope Lynette enjoyed this tour (and the climb to the top) as much as I did.

From Saint Pauls we walked across the Millenium Bridge to the Globe Theatre but the tickets were sold out for that day - press on! We walked along the river walk for awhile and stopped for lunch at Wagamama's which Megan introduced me too when she was in London - yummy. By now, I am the one that really wants to do some shopping so we decided to try Oxford Street. We got off the tube too early and ended up walking there by way of the British Museum. I have to say that Oxford Street shops are not really up my alley - huge stores, huge crowds, not long on charm in my opinion! We did find a pedestrian street and poked in some shops there before collapsing at a cafe for tea - but what we really were looking for was a beer at this point!

We never did find that beer on Oxford Street so we hopped on the tube and back to Notting Hill where we went in the first pub we saw. It was charming and we felt very English with the after work crowd. Lynette mentioned that she loved the movie Notting Hill so we went in search of the Travel Book Shop. Here we are but where is Hugh Grant?

Last stop in London was a walk to Kensington for dinner. We found a really charming place called Maggie Jones just off Kensington Church Street. Their specialty was the meat pies so we decided to give that a try. Lynette ordered Shepard's Pie and I opted for Chicken and Artichoke pie. Both were delicious with a glass of wine. We were perfectly sated and relaxed for our cab ride back to the hotel to grab our luggage and then on to Paddingdon to head home.

So much more to write about but I have hit the wall - must sleep! Look for pictures and more adventures soon...

Still Catching Up...Stonehenge and Salisbury

In an effort to just keep my records straight on this stint in England, I need to back track and cover this past weekend.

We had every intention of waking up early and heading out for some distant destination on Saturday but the reality is that we stayed up late, slept until 9:30, took a walk/run around town and didn't end up getting out of here until noon!

A quick look at the map told us that Stonehenge was not too far away and we couldn't live here and not visit that landmark, could we? Along the way we stopped to take a quick peak at the Saturday market in Marlborough. Well, I actually ended up poking in the shops and Mike, of course, headed to the nearest bicycle shop!

Stonehenge was actually quite crowded but we parked, paid and funneled through the site with our audio headset on. It was interesting but ultimately left you wondering why these rocks were laboriously transported to this location seemingly in the middle of nowhere. So many theories, no concrete answers! We enjoyed a nice snack and decided to continue on to Salisbury for the rest of the afternoon.


Salisbury has a beautiful Cathedral , which we toured, and on the way out we noticed that they were setting up stages on the Cathedral grounds. Later, as we were having dinner at a restaurant on the high street we watched as hundreds of people began lining up in the street outside the Cathedral gates with blankets, picnic baskets and chairs. It reminded me of Ravinia in the Chicago area so of course we had to check it out!

It turns out that Salisbury was celebrating the final night of the Salisbury International Arts Festival with a Party in the Close. They had three bands, food, drinks, activities for the kids and we decided we couldn't pass it up. The only issue is, we were not prepared for a picnic. Not to worry - we had a set of new car mats in the back of our vehicle and money in our pocket to purchase a bottle of wine while we relaxed and enjoyed the music and people watching. What an unexpected surprise! For all of you Ahwatukee folks, it reminded me of movie night at Kiwanis park or, even more recently, a fun day at the Scottsdale Festival of the Arts with good friends. We miss you all!

Again this morning we had good intentions of an early start but it was not to be. I actually slept until 10:30 - what is wrong with me?!! Again we took a walk/run in town and were delighted to be asked to "tea" by one of Mike's new colleagues, Susan. She was an amazing hostess and I was so happy to have a social event - you know me! We visited in her beautiful home in Wootton Basset, ate a fabulous meal al fresco, took a walk through the town and even came home with an old desk to use during our stay here. Susan, cheers and thank you!

OK. I am caught up now. It's off to bed so I can begin to enjoy the mornings again!

Much to Celebrate

Given that it has been three weeks since I have posted and we have a lot to remember from our (almost) three weeks back in the USA I am going to post a highlight reel:

1) May 15, 2010 - Megan graduated from University of Arizona - go girl!!! We had a fabulous time cheering her on and celebrating with our family (Amy and Rick flew in) and amazing friends (Joe, Lindsey, Haley, Sean and Courtney) also celebrating two graduations - congrats to Sean and Haley. Go Wildcats...

2) May 20, 2010 - Got to spend a couple of days visiting my Mom in Glenview (plotting a mother/daughter reunion in England was at the top of our list). Also enjoyed spending an evening out with Stevie and Scott - you're still the one, Stevie!

3) May 22, 2010 - Amy graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law - look out Manhattan, here she comes!!! Where did the last three years go? We attended a reception at the Law School on Friday, went to the Graduation Mass on Saturday followed by the graduation ceremony. It was very exciting to watch the pomp and circumstance and, needless to say, we are extremely proud of all she has accomplished in such a short time!

4) May 22, 2010 - Celebrated BOTH of our daughter's graduations and toasted their future plans by hosting a family dinner party at Maggiano's Little Italy in downtown Chicago for nearly 40 relatives. It was really fantastic for us to have both sides of our family in one place for such a happy event and we so appreciate the distances that some had to travel to be there for us - THANK YOU! So many of their cousins will soon be participating in similar celebrations and we can't wait as their future unfolds too :)

5) May 24, 2010 - Rendevouz in Las Vegas for the start of our long awaited family river trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. What an experience! Incredible beauty, thrilling rapids, fun hikes to turquoise pools and fabulous waterfalls...the list goes on. The weather was perfect (although that water is COLD when it soaks you in a rapid) and I loved having my family all to myself because it may be awhile before that happens again. I must admit that the girls and I were fantasizing about a spa day by the last day of our trip. We must have had sand in every pore of our body and Megan and I were definitely cursing our contact lenses by day 6! We didn't lose anyone to the river but came close in Lava Falls - Mike kept Megan in the boat by sheer will when she lost her grip!

6) May 31 - June 6, 2010 - Everyone gets back to business. Megan is working for Ideas Collide this summer and in summer school full time to get a second degree in Nutritional Sciences - Dietetics. She will be busy and we are happy that she is going after this degree since it really suits her passion to work in the health and nutrition field. Amy is hard at work all day everyday in her BarBri (sp?) class to prepare for the New York Bar exam at the end of July. She passed her patent Bar in February so this is the last step in the process for her - home stretch! Amy and Rick are also training for an Olympic distance triathlon in Chicago this summer while Megan starts training for another marathon this fall. We are back in England now and Mike is rebounding from his cycling injury. I am hoping that I might be able to keep up with him just a bit for a few more weeks!

Life is good. God is great!