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!

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!

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...

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 went 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, Apollo 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.

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!