A day in Bath

Yesterday Tim, Marlene and I went to Bath for the day. It was my third visit, and for the first time it didn't rain! I admit that a lot of what we did was a repeat, but this time instead of visiting the Roman Baths, I walked through the main shopping area and checked out the shops. After the baths, we got some lunch and then walked to Starbucks for Tim and Marlene to get their afternoon energy :) We then walked down to the Pulteney Bridge, which I hadn't yet seen. Its a neat bridge with shops built into it and was modeled after the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Below it in the water is a cool water feature that was really hard to get a good picture of, but it looked like giant steps down into the next level of the river. I also managed to get a nice panoramic view of the city from a stop on the side of the road.





Next time I visit Bath, I'll be able to give the tour :)

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28 years and counting

We took some time out to celebrate Peter's birthday on Tuesday night. We took Tim and Marlene to our favorite Italian restaurant, Strada, in Salisbury. This is the same place we took Peter's mom and dad for their anniversary - except this time we weren't offered complimentary shots of limencello ;)
After dinner we went and saw 'Oceans Thirteen' at the tiny theater. Also, my Dad visited over the weekend before Rick and Sharon left, so on Saturday afternoon the boys went go-carting for Peter's birthday. The track was good, and they had fun, but it was a little pricey at 29 GBP for half an hour of racing!! I only have a pic of the guys in their racing suits because my camera died before the race began ...


This was a camera-timer pic that didn't really work out very well ...




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Up to date ...

I think I've nearly caught you up on everything ... when my brother was here we also visited Bath and a few other places that I had already been, hence no new pics to show. Rick and Sharon left on Monday the 25th - we got to the airport a bit late, but they made their flight on time. I then drove from Gatwicks' South Terminal to the North Terminal where Tim and Marlene were arriving. I ended up not having to wait too long.

The first day T & M were here we visited Windsor Castle, where we learned the Queen stayed on most weekends. I overheard someone saying that she had been picked up at 10:00 that morning, we arrived around 11:30 just in time to see the changing of the guard. We didn't plan that at all, we kinda walked right up to the gate and noticed people were lining the streets .... after asking a bobby we found out that the guard would be marching right past us momentarily - kinda cool. Defintely a lot more pomp and circumstance than the change of the guard at Rideau Hall! We went into the Castle and visited an exhibit of Queen Mary's dollhouse which displayed doll clothes too - it was quite impressive and some of the doll clothes looked more expensive than my clothes! From there we went into the State apartments and saw a great collection of art on the walls, as well as some cool artefacts. There was a musical clock in the Queen's Drawing Room that played 10 melodies by Handel - 6 were written specifically for the clock ... I guess if your a royal you can have your clock play the music you want! We also visited St. George's Chapel onsite where we were able to hear the pipe organ play some tunes - including Bach's Aria in G (i think that's what its called). This was much to Marlene's delight as this was the music played at their wedding. We also saw the graves of Queen Elizabeth, her husband and Princess Margaret located inside the Chapel.



From there we drove to another royal palace called Hampton Court, which was given to King Henry VIII as a gift from the Archbishop, Cardinal Wolsey. It combined a lot of different architectural styles due to several renovations over the years, the most notable by William III in the 1690's. It was also this time period when William and his wife Mary planted several yew trees in their extensive gardens, and you can still see these trees today. We didn't go inside due to lack of time, but instead toured the gardens and went through the maze ... we were a little presumptious in assuming that the maze would be easy. It has stood since the Baroque period and is more challenging than it looks :) Also, we were able to see what is thought to be the oldest grapevine in the world, planted during the 18th century.





After a full day we headed home ...

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London revisited

Rick, Sharon and I visited London on the 20th of June and had a very long, but fun day. I had a little cold starting so I wasn't feeling great all day, but I survived. We first visited the British Museum where we saw tons of artefacts from Asia, and Africa as well as Roman and Greek stuff. Being the museum geek that I am, I ended up taking more pictures of how things were mounted/supported than anything else. I was in awe of the way some of the large marble artefacts were supported and displayed - it was pretty cool. After having lunch there, we left and found our way to Hyde Park. We walked all through the park where we engaged in some silliness, some pretty scenery and some horses.




We also visited the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. We took a few minutes to check it out; Rick and Sharon decided to dip their feet in the water, which was freezing - as you can tell from their facial expressions!



From there we walked over to Kensington Palace where Sharon and I went in to see the exhibit on Princess Diana, Princess Margaret and walked through the State Apartment where past royals have lived. It was pretty impressive, but still not as grand as some of the other places I saw in Europe (ie. Versailles!). We jumped on the tube and headed to Harrods Knightsbridge store after leaving the park. It was starting to get close to dinner at this point, so we were becoming a tad lethargic, but we still had time to check out some hats and dresses in the ladies boutique - my favorite dress was on sale for 3700 GBP ... good thing I bought my dress for the Garden Party before leaving Ottawa! We went to Piccadilly Circus for dinner and ended up at Planet Hollywood ... then it was time to head home ... a very fun day! Rick and Sharon went back to London the next day where they went on a Rock 'n Roll tour, as well as saw the show 'Wicked' ... I stayed in bed with a fever :(

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'Friends, Romans, countrymen ...'

Ok, so its been awhile since I've had a chance to post a new blog entry ... its been a busy few weeks to say the least! Rick and Sharon arrived shortly after the last entry (back from their trip to Scotland). We planned a lot of stuff to do and we sure did keep busy while they were visiting. One of the first places we went was Stratford-Upon-Avon, otherwise known as the home of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway. We took the red bus tour which was perfect for a town this size; we were able to hop on and off at all of the sites we wanted to see which included: Shakespeare's birthplace, Anne Hathaway's cottage, Mary Redden's house (his mother)...we also wandered along the River Avon and in and out of many cute shops.



We also ate lunch at the Windmill, the oldest pub in Stratford where Shakespeare used to hang out, apparently. Rick also had his picture taken with Hamlet and we visited Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare is buried 17 feet below the surface.





We also visited London and I'll post another entry tomorrow from that excursion ...

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Our New Forest Adventure

This weekend has been sort of relaxing ... at least, we intended for it to be relaxing; its not our fault if it didn't turn out to be that way. Yesterday we decided we were in the mood for a nature walk of sorts ... something the '3' of us could enjoy together. We had gone online the night before and found a huge forest/parkland area called the New Forest not too far from here. This area was established as William the Conqueror's new hunting forest in 1079, it is now said that not much has changed since that time. As a result of this, cattle, horses, ponies and donkeys are allowed to graze freely throughout the forest and its many villages - the animals have the right of way on the streets!


So, we took off after lunch to Lyndhurst which is where the visitor information center is for the park, we wanted to find some trail maps. Incidentally, Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' is buried in the churchyard in Lyndhurst. We ended up finding a trail ... and we walked for what seemed like hours until we came out on a highway and had to retrace our steps back to where we started! It was like a 4 hour walk! We were all very tired.

Today was the day that the church people get together after church for a picnic or outdoor activity .. and guess where they had decided to go? The New Forest .... except today we went to a different area called Nomansland - that's actually the village name. I had hoped to see more free-grazing animals yesterday but didn't see that many, it was more than made up for today!




For those who know me well, you know I'm a sucker for animals, so you can imagine how many pictures I took! I had a hard time trying to narrow it down to a few to put in this entry ... I will be posting more on flickr though. After we had eaten our picnic lunch, with about 15 people from church, a trio of donkeys made their way over to check out our lunch site ... so funny! They sniffed around and licked up any crumbs they could find. It was quite unique and something we won't soon forget.



The New Forest is a must-do activity for visitors, and not just for the animals, but the miles of surrounding forest and nature trails is great for a walk or bike ride. And, of course, there are lots of pubs around, even in 'Nomansland', to help quench that thirst : )

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Last few days ...

This week was a little less busy than last .... Peter's mom and dad left today, which was earlier than they were supposed to; this is unfortunately because Becky's dad passed away on Wednesday morning. Tuesday morning Rick and Sharon arrived and Dave, Becky and I went to Stonehenge while they slept all day. Wednesday was a flurry of people as there were 5 of us in the house ... I took Rick and Sharon to the trainstation around 11 while Dave and Becky made arrangements to fly home a few days early so that they would be able to attend the funeral tomorrow.

Yesterday, we visited Audley End House in Essex Co. It was beautiful! Originally built as a priory, it has a long and complicated history and is now one of the largest and most luxurious homes in all of England. There were guided tours only, our tour guide was very knowledgable and showed us through the main rooms of the house. After that we walked through the numerous gardens and took a lot of pictures!










For dinner we went to the Officers Mess at Boscombe Down so Peter could show his parents around a bit ... it is a much fancier mess than what they've seen before. This morning I drove Dave and Becky to the airport and am now home relaxing and having a little vacation of my own!

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Travels etc.

Yesterday we took Peter's mom and dad to visit Old Wardour Castle. Peter and I visited it in February before the regular tourist season, so we were unable to go onto the grounds. This time it was open and it was a much better view ;) There was a great audio tour also that talked alot about the history of the castle and the different owners it has gone through. The grounds were very pretty with a lake on one side, and huge lawns all around - I think this is reminiscent of the Georgian period when it was fashionable to entertain guests with lovely scenic views etc. I was entertained! They were also setting up for a wedding which was kind of neat to see, what a beautiful setting for a wedding, and the weather was perfect - sunny and about 25 degrees with a nice gentle breeze. Just before we left the bride came in with her bridesmaids in an old Rolls Royce and we could hear the band playing from inside the castle.


I'm going to post lots of pictures on flickr of the castle, as well as the day before when we went for a walk in Amesbury along the River Avon. There was also a cow pasture nearby that we walked along, I took a bunch of pictures of the cows and the cute little calves ;) Last night we took Peter's mom and dad out for dinner to a new Italian restaurant in Salisbury called 'Strada' - it was their 34th anniversary so we thought a nice dinner was fitting. The food was great and I think we might become regulars there! The funniest thing was the waitress bringing us complimentary shots of limoncello to cleanse our palettes - a little awkward since none of us drink! Peter drank his and said he kind of enjoyed it. I took a sip of mine and was reminded once again that I greatly dislike alcohol, even if it is lemon flavored (it tasted like cough syrup)!



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London, baby!

We finally got to see London! Let's just say that we once thought that Paris was the largest city ever, but that has now changed! According to our tour guide on the red bus, London is the largest European city and has 21,000 registered taxis driving around everyday - it was crazy! But, we did get a chance to see alot ... we took the train in from Maidenhead where our friend John lives, he let us park our car in his driveway; this was a cheaper way to do it, and faster. We ended at Paddington Stn. and walked up to the bus stop to get on the red tour bus. From there we went through a lot of the main parts of London including Piccadilly, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, St. Paul's Cathedral and of course Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We also drove through Belgravia, where I snapped a pic of Sean Connery's London home! And, we drove from Westminster into the old city of London, which was kinda cool.

The traffic was horrendous so the bus tour took almost 3 hours, after awhile it started to get a little tiresome, but it gave us a chance to take alot of pictures. Once we finally reached our destination (Tower of London) we hopped off the bus, had some lunch and then explored the tower including the Crown Jewels collection. This was a great exhibit where we got to see a lot of coronation crowns and other very expensive royal jewels. After the Tower, we didn't have any more time so we got back on the bus and headed back to Paddington Stn. Peter's mom and dad were ready to call it a day so we went home ... poor Fletch had had a long day alone, we didn't get home until 9:30 pm.



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