We part ways

This morning I dropped Stacy off at the airport and by this evening she'll be home. I have one more night in Edinburgh and then get up way too early tomorrow morning to drop off the rental car and catch a flight to Paris. I'll be spending 6 nights there with my mom and then I'll head home.

It's been a great trip. Thanks to all of you for following along with us!

We'll probably post a few more pictures in the coming days if you want to check back. No promises, though.

Culloden Battlefield

The last few days of our trip have been great. We have loved driving through Scotland -- from Oban we went North to the Isle of Skye for a couple days and then over to Inverness for a night before finishing up our time here in Edinburgh.

Two days ago, we went to the Culloden Battlefield just outside of Inverness. The visitor's center was amazing -- what every museum/exhibit should be. It was balanced and interactive -- using everything from touch screen maps and video to screens and plaques to tell the story of the final stand of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once you make your way through the center, they hand you a gps audio guide and send you out on the field. As you walk the paths, the gps triggers your audio guide to start telling you about what happened at the place you're standing. We were both really impressed by it.

I was very moved by the story of Culloden. Surprisingly so. There's something sort of heartbreaking about all of these Highlanders (and Irish and French) fighting on the front lines for a Prince who can't seem to admit he's been beaten. They were forced to make their final stand on a field that left them no chance again the government army (which included Highlanders) and then -- after they retreated -- they were hunted down over the next few days and killed. Though we learned that there were Scots fighting on both sides and that it wasn't actually a battle of independence, it still sort of feels like their last stand against the British. After this loss, their country was cleared of all heritage and tradition.

As they suggested in the visit, it's hard not to wonder, "What if?"

*photos borrowed from flickr users winninator and john forbes.

From the Emerald Isle to our Highland Fling

4:45 a.m. Yes, that's right. We were up early on July 15. Our sweet B&B hostess, Erna, laid our juice and milk in thermosses so that we could have cereal and fruit before we headed off on another long day of travel. So, walking, train, taxi, plane, car, and we were zipping out of Glasgow and into the Scottish Highland.

Our first truly, "Ahhhhhhhhh!" (think angels singing) moment was driving around the rugged, misty, and green beauty around Loch Lomond. (Insert the song "Ye'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road, and I'll be in Scoptland afore ye.......on the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond!" Just try and get that out of your head.) From there we drove up to the "Rest-and-Be-Thankful Pass" which gave more views of the craggy mountains and green valleys. This was the pass where 2nd and 3rd-class coach passengers would get out and push the coach and the first-class passengers up the hill in the 1880's. Funny!

From there we headed to Oban. What a gorgeous home base and known as the "gateway to the isles." On Friday we headed to the islands of Mull and Iona. From Oban we took a ferry to the Isle of Mull.

We took a scenic drive through Mull with a hilarious bus driver that told funny anecdotes about "wee little Belgian man that does all of our thinking for us (in reference to the European commission)" or the tour guide from Edinburgh who didn't know anything about the islands and would just fill those American tourists heads with nonsense about Scots spending their days tossing cabers, doing the Highland fling, cutting peat for heat because they're so poor, and playing their bagpipes. Needless to say, the locals were sickened by the nonsense the man was imparting to those naive people and were not a bit upset when a bee flew up the man's kilt and stung him!

At the far side of Mull at Fionnphort, we got on a smaller ferry that rocked quite a bit (Thank you Bonine!) and we reached Iona. Iona is known as the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. St. Columba came from Ireland in 563 and set up an abbey on Iona. This became the center of Celtic Christianity. Missionaries were sent out from Iona to spread the gospel throughout Scotland and Northern Ireland. Iona was also a place for learning and the arts. It was here that the Book of Kells was started. We saw the original at Trinity College in Dublin. Iona was so important at that time that it was a legendary burial place for important Scottish lairds and even Scandinavian kings (even the real MacBeth from Shakespeare). We saw the road where they would have the procession of the dead to the cemetary. There were some intricate stone Celtic Crosses and a copy of the Book of Kells. They also have a nunnery on this island that thrived at that time. Now Iona has a population of only around 100, but it was incredible yet again to see places that God has used to preserve his Word and spread his Gospel.

hearing from the IRA

Falls Road Mural
Originally uploaded by etrusia_uk (Away for a while)

Northen Ireland was one of the places I was most excited to visit on this trip. After hearing bits and pieces of its turbulant history (and also hearing that it is now relatively peaceful), I was looking forward to seeing it for myself.

So, of course, we end up arriving on July 12th -- a national holiday in Northen Ireland and the day that rioting and unrest is most likely to break out. Our train was stopped 30 minutes outside of Belfast because a train further up the tracks had been petrol bombed. We were bused into Belfast and took a train to the station nearest our B&B. When we walked out to the street, we could see the end of a parade just up the road. There were people everywhere with the Northern Ireland flag draped around their shoulders or carrying batons in the colors of England's flag. Most of them were young and drunk and -- considering what we'd just heard about the other train -- we were a bit nervous.

We made straight for our B&B, heading out again just to find something to eat and then returning. We were thankful that we were staying on a quiet street (and also that we were Americans as it is the British who are most harrassed by the Nationalists when feelings are hot).

The next morning, we headed over towards Falls Road -- Nationalist Catholic territory -- for a walking tour led by a former political prisoner. He acknowledged at the beginning that he was sharing his story and therefore reflecting only his point of view. He encouraged us to read up on the other side of things when we got home.

It was a fascinating tour -- mostly because of the details and insights he shared. More on that in a later post.

The Falls Road murals are ever shifting and focus not only on the revolution in Ireland, but on revolutions around the world. It's a way of expressing solidarity for other groups of people struggling for independence. Pretty cool.

No time to write!

So check out some of these awesome shots Stacy took from our time in Dingle. If you head over to my flickr page, you can find a bit more detail in the descriptions of some of the pictures.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Irish Pubs: The Danger

One of our "musts" in Ireland was live music. Everything we read said that you can't go to Ireland without popping into a couple pubs in the evening to hear the live music. What they don't tell you is to beware the friendly Irish men who've been drinking and are on the lookout for girls to flirt with.

We met one such young man who'd obviously thrown back a few pints by the time he sat down at our table. The conversation was most stimulating:

(read italics in an unenthusiastic and off-puting voice)

Sir Drinks-a-Lot: Hello, girls.
Us: Hi.
Sir Drinks-a-Lot: Where're you from?
Us: The States.
Sir Drinks-a-Lot: So do you have boyfriends?
Stacy (for us both): Yes. (Jen chose not to clarify.)
Sir Drinks-a-Lot: Why aren't they with two such beautiful girls?
Us: We're very trustworthy girls.
Sir Drinks-a-Lot: Where are you staying?
Stacy: Somewhere.
Jen: Down the road. (Irish translation: somewhere within a two-mile radius of here.)
Sir Drinks-a-Lot: Ah. You're beautiful girls.
Us. Thanks.

Sir Drinks-a-Lot: Well. Have a good holiday.
Us: Bye.

And that, dear friends, is how to get rid of a drunken (and friendly) Irishman.

In spite of this, we had a great time. The pub felt very safe -- lots of locals and tourists watching the exchange and laughing. And the music was awesome.

Dublin sights

Our second day in Dublin was a bit of a blitz trip.



We started at Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. This really was an incredible moment to see the book that was writen over a thousand years ago with the 4 gospels written in Latin and beautifully illustrated. They think it was produced in the early 9th century by the monks of the island of Iona at Iona or Kells. One of the things I am constantly touched by is how God preserves his people (there is always a remnant) and his word. We can believe in the accuracy of scripture as again and again we find exact copies. In this case, because Ireland was a little wild and just a bit farther than England, the Roman Empire didn't stretch that far. Because of this, when the Roman Empire pulled back and ultimately fell, plunging Europe in the Dark Ages, Ireland was largely untouched and able to continue it's work and the Book of Kells was preserved coming to Dublin around 1653 for security during the Cromwellian period. Very cool!



From there we went to the National Museum of Ireland which mostly contains items of archeological significance. It's hard to sometimes see one more rock or piece of pottery, but Jen hung in there. I lost her, however, at the special exhibition about kingship and sacrifice. (She finally just got grossed out and left.) I, however, found it absolutely fascinating! I had just read in a Time magazine on the most important historical and scientific discoveries in the last hundred years (Yes, I am that dorky!) about the bog people. These were people that had been preserved because they were thrown into the bogs. They were able to tell how they died, what their diet was for the last 4 months (because of their fingernails), and even what they had eaten the day they died. Their clothes were preserved and you could see the style and coarse weave of the preserved fabric. One man's hair was even analyzed to find a hairstyling gel that was from France or Spain. All in all, it is an amazing glimpse into that Iron Age culture.

After that we went to the National Gallery of Ireland. We both enjoyed some of the Rembrandt paintings "Escape to Egypt" and the Vermeer "Lady Writing a Letter" and Velazquez's "Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Emmaus."

From there we went to the National Library of Ireland. We visited a W.B.Yeats exhibit and were sad to find that although he had some beautiful poetry, he was also a womanizing occultist. It kind of ruined him for us.

Of course no stop in Dublin is without going to the Temple Bar area where we visited a cool music shop. Then back to our B&B for the night.

Kilmainham Gaol

Sobering. I believe they say the "gaol" was in use from the late 1700's to about 1924. It was a prison for reform. The philosophy of the prison's architect was "silence, supervision, and separation." It was for men, women, and children (the youngest recorded at 5 years old). Many of the charges were for small things like the stealing of bread or potatoes, begging, or riding a train without a ticket. These offenses could result in imprisonment periods that were days or months long.

When a convict entered Kilmainham, he(or she) would be given a "welcome package" of a thin uniform and a 4-inch candle (which would be his only source of heat for the next 2 weeks). Because the building was made of limestone, the jail was extremely cold and damp. Diseases like tuberculosis and asthma abounded. Prisoners were to be separated in cells meant for one but with overcrowding often 5 prisoners would stay in one cell. They had one bucket for their latrine which they had to clean out themselves each day. Later that day, they had to use that same bucket for their food. This led to typhoid and dysentery. It wasn't until the Victorian era that heat was piped in and food was served in more health-conscious ways. Political prisoners were treated much better.

The jail is most infamous for housing and executing the leaders of the Easter Uprising in 1916. Fourteen of the sixteen leaders of the uprising were held at the prison and later executed. In his poem "Easter 1916", W.B. Yeats writes:

All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

The decision to execute these leaders was seen as rash and unnecessary. Their deaths led to a unified struggle for self-rule -- rallying the country to finally declare independence from Britain in the 1920s.

The jail still stands as a reminder of the turmoil throughout Irish history and the spirit of the Irish desire for  freedom.

Wales to Ireland: A Survey of Public Transportation

J: "Hey, Stace?"

S: "Yeah, Jen?"

J: "Want to see how many different forms of transportation we can use in one day?"

S: "Uhhh... Not really."

J: "Ah, come on. It'll be fun."

Yesterday was a little exhausting. We woke up early to inhale a fabulous English breakfast prepared by our hostess before hurrying off to catch an early train to Holyhead. Once arriving in Holyhead, we walked straight from the train to the ferry terminal. The crossing was uneventful, but the steady rocking made both of us sleepy. After dropping our bags at our B&B, we headed up to Dublin via light-rail AND tram. We ended up on a long, boring walk (slog, would be more accurate) along a motorway because "it didn't look that far on the map". (Thank goodness Stacy is a patient and gracious travel partner. That was a big oops on my part.) After touring the Gaol, we caught a bus back to the city center and wandered around there for awhile before catching the light-rail back to Dun Laoghaire, grabbing a bite to eat and talking while watching the Spain-Germany game at a local pub. Phew!


Did you catch all that?

walk--train--ferry--walk--light rail--walk--tram--walk--walk--WALK--bus--walk--walk--light rail--walk

It was a looooong day.

North Wales

After leaving the Newcombs we took the train up north to Conwy where we stayed for two nights.

This is Conwy Castle -- one of a ring of castles built by Edward I to control the rowdy Welsh leaders.

We also toured through Plas Mawr which is a house that has been restored to its Elizabethan glory. It had real artifacts from that time that you were allowed to touch. I thought it was fascinating that they put horse hair in the plaster mix to strengthen it before putting it on the walls and that the thresholds really were designed to keep in the rushes that were scattered on the floors of the home.

After the castle and Plas Mawr, we took a bus up to Betws-Y-Coed, which is near Mt. Snowdon and inside the Snowdonia National Park. There we took a forest walk alongside the river. We were hoping to find the much-lauded Swallow Falls, but to no avail! After an hour and a half of hiking (and no sign of the Falls) we turned back towards the town and had some ice cream instead. It was a perfect substitute, don't you think?


The next morning we said goodbye to Wales and headed to Ireland!

Waving Hands, Flags, Clean Socks, and Clear Pee

I don't know if there is anything more wonderful when you are traveling than when you can stop and enjoy the comforts of being with friends in their home. We arrived at the Llantwit Major train stop after 4 train changes, a bus ride, and a taxi all that day. So it was one of the most beautiful sites in the world to see a light green car drive up to the station with a hand waving out of the driver's side window. There was Dellene, Anna, and Jessie Newcomb to meet us. We were all smiles and hugs!

Next we were taken through their quaint little town to a beautiful house with a recently "dodgy" garage door. Enter Josiah, who is getting quite tall and is nicknamed "flippy" for his hair. Unfortunately we missed out on Von, who had just left for a conference in Singapore. However, this only allowed for even more girl talks with Dellene, which were precious indeed.

One of the things we were looking forward to the most on this trip was the opportunity to see where our dear friends lived and walk a little bit in their shoes. It is always the hope that we can encourage them as part of the church that loves and cares deeply for them, to have them know that they are not forgotten, to see and know how better to pray for them in this new stage in their ministry. We certainly hope that they felt that from us!

What was not expected was the hospitality and care showered on us from each of them! Not only were we fed in grand style, but we also were able to wash and dry (in a dryer!) all of our clothes, and rehydrate.

Now, you may not think much of that, but as a Coloradan we have found that we seem to have an obsession with water. Having a sip of water seems to cure any sickness, and being without brings feelings of desparate panic close to the surface. One thing Jen and I were not expecting was the lack of places to get water and go to the bathroom when we are out and about. So, we drank water nonstop while we were there with our specially tagged glasses (best idea ever!) so we could reuse them all day. Brilliant!

On Sunday, we went to their church and enjoyed worshipping with an enthusiastic congregation. One of the things I loved during their singing is that there were people who brought flags to wave as part of their worship experience.

That evening, we also enjoyed spending time with their other American teammates for a 4th of July celebration, or as they say it here in the UK, "Revolution Day." Josiah says that in history here they talk about allowing America to be independent. He is very interested to learn American history this next year and see what is taught. We didn't have fireworks, but we did enjoy some great American food and patriotic music.

To finish off our time, Monday morning after the kids left for their walk to school in their uniforms, Dellene took us to the beach. We had a breathtaking view of the coast and walked a ways to have yet another wonderful discussion. Dellene has a passion for prayer and we discussed how often we give lip service to prayer's power and importance, but then will ask, "But what are you doing? What are your results?" How challenging to be reminded that prayer stands alone in its power and necessity. A missionary (isn't that all of us as Christians?) needs to be in prayer daily. We must be communion with God for this world, his people, and yes, for something he wants us to specifically do. There is so much more I could write about this and so much more that we talked about, but I am still processing it myself.

So, it is with heartfelt gratitude that Jen and I left the peaceful and refreshing time at the Newcombs with our hearts fuller, our socks cleaner, and our pee clearer!

abbey in ruins

I visited Tintern Abbey years ago when I was in England with a study abroad program and I remember being enchanted with the ruins. It was one of those places I hoped to see again someday. Fortunately for me, Stacy hadn't been to Wales before, so it was on our must-see list.

The history, a la Rick Steves:

Founded in 1131 on a site chosen by Norman monks for its tranquility, [Tintern Abbey] functioned as an austere Cistercian abbey until its dissolution in 1536 ... Most of the external walls of the 250-foot-long, 150-foot-wide church still stand...

We spent over an hour and a half wandering through the ruins. These old churches are always impressive, but the abbey's ruins impress in a different way. The roof is long gone, but the walls continue to stretch up to the sky. The stone floor has been replaced by grass and flowers and a few brave plants have taken root on the walls themselves. I can't help but wonder how it will have changed in a hundred years. How long will it stay standing?

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Nor wilt thou then forget,
That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!
~ the final lines of William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"

Have a go!

We left Bath at the wee hours of the morning. Three train changes later, we arrived in Chepstow, Wales. What we didn't know when we were planning our trip is that we would arrive at the end of their annual festival. Here we found the Morris men and women in traditional costume roaming the streets and performing. One men's group practices weekly and invites men to come and "have a go."

The leader of the men's group would call out the next pattern that they would do. They were certainly lively!

This man was in a group that performed next to Tinturn Abbey. One of their dances involved waving white handkerchiefs and running around the audience in time to the music.I loved all of their hats! Notice the face paint on the last picture. There were several groups that had the all black face paint.

Bath. In a nutshell. Because I'm running out of time at the internet cafe.

I'm sitting here in an internet cafe listening to some sort of down-tempo jazz and having a very difficult time focusing on the task at hand. The meter has run up to £6.50. Ah,  yes. It's a day for self-indulgence.
As we settled into our room yesterday afternoon and tried to decide what to do during our time in Bath, it became apparent that each of us thought we were coming here because the other wanted to. In our many conversations over Skype about this trip, how did we somehow miss that?!

 I spent 3 weeks in Bath during a study abroad quarter in college, so I was feeling pretty excited to come back and show Stace some of my favorite places.

Things I was most excited to revisit:

• the busker with the rainbow guitar strap
• the Cadbury ice cream shop (with a fresh chocoloate drizzle on every cone)
• the coffeeshop just around the corner from the Abbey, with the internet cafe upstairs

Things that are nowhere to be found:

• the busker with the rainbow guitar strap (He's been replaced and the new guys are definitely not nearly as entertaining.)
• the Cadbury ice cream shop (with a fresh chocolate drizzle on every cone) (It's CLOSED! Sadness!)
• the coffeeshop just around the corner from the Abbey, with the internet cafe upstairs (Now a Starbucks. Grrrr. I'm a little upset with them at the moment. I'm sure it'll pass.)

And yet, we've managed to have a pretty fun time of it. Yesterday we wandered about (looking for the ice cream shop) and ended up having pizza at an Italian restaurant and taking a trip down memory lane. The pizza was perfect. Perfecto! Mmmm...

This morning we strolled (really -- we strolled -- there was no actual walking) down the canal toward the little town of Bathampton and enjoyed the sun and the canal boats and the chance to stretch our legs after all the traveling yesterday. Then to the Roman Baths for a brief tour -- escaping to the Pump Room for afternoon tea just as the crowds descended on the museum below. Though the food was nothing spectacular, we enjoyed the atmosphere and the live music -- a worthwhile splurge.

Now it's off to find some dinner and then early to bed so we can catch our 7:30am train to Wales. Cheerio, England!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Cotswolds

Our second day in the Cotswolds, we decided that the best thing we could do would be to just hike around the area. You can't replace the smells and sights and the feel of simply walking the countryside. We bought a very simply illustrated walking map of the area and decided to do a circular hike that would bring us to several quaint little towns. So packing our bags with our picnic lunch (White Cheshire Cheese, a cucumber, some crusty rolls, and a pear and orange), water, extra clothes, etc. we set out.

Many of the paths we hiked were considered walking routes or public rights of way with a few roads. We read about the English loving their right to free-passage so much that once a year the Rambling Society organizes a "Mass Trespass"-- each of the 50,000 miles of footpaths are walked in the country. As long as each footpath is walked at least once a year, they can stop landlords from putting up fences. I love it!

Of course, this means that we were able to walk through many a sheep pasture. It was a good 8 mile walk from Stow-on-the-Wold to Lower Swell to Upper Swell to Longborough to Donnington to Broadwell and back to Stow. Each gate was different with different locks. One of the best was the "kissing gate."

Along the way one of my favorite things, besides the fact that it was hard not to take a picture of every cottage and garden and landscape, was that each cottage had a name. It made me wonder where each name came from. I think I might want to bring that tradition home. We should make a sign to put outside our condo, "The Loft." What do you think, Steph? Some of the names were: Serendipity, Mosswood Cottage, Old Church Cottage, Little Rosewood Cottage, and our B&B, the Little Broom Cottage.

After our morning walk, we stopped in Stow for some cream tea and enjoyed journaling, reading, sitting in peaceful silence, talking, and sometimes eavesdropping. Some of my favorite English sayings that I've heard so far in my time here (Must be imagined with a British accent!):

• "Put your kit there and don't mind the rubbish." (Our host telling us to put our backpacks in the car and avoid the shovels and garbage)
• "You've had a jolly good walk and run. Now stop tugging me!" (Middle aged English woman talking sternly to her little dog)
• "It's 4:10." "I thought is was 5:10." "No, it's 4:10." "Imagine that. 4:10!" (Two older English ladies having cream tea next to us)
• "Brilliant! Well done!" (The bookshop man to me after I found a 5 pound note to pay with instead of a 20)
• Ta! (for thanks) 
• jumper (for sweater)
  

Stow-on-the-Wold

We took a train from London to Moreton-in-Marsh and then took a bus to Stow-on-the-Wold. We stayed about an 8 minute walk outside of the small village in the most picturesque cottage. The gardens were awesome (I thought of Grandma Roe and Grandpa Laube. You both would have loved it!). They have these decorative "toadstool" stones in gardens and out front that were originally medieval staddle stones. Buildings were set on them so they could keep the rodents out.

In town, we (meaning me mostly!) had fun with the town stocks. Stow was a pre-Roman town where trade routes crossed because it's the high point in the region ot 800 feet. The Cotswolds were wool towns, so we also saw lots of sheep in surrounding fields. They also had town cross in the market area that had stood for 500 years. It was a reminder for all Christian merchants to "trade fairly under the sight of God."

The church in town had two especially interesting points. Notice the variety of kneelers that they had in church. They have a "Kneeler Group" that meet on Tuesday mornings to needlepoint, sip coffee, and chat. Our favorite part of the church was on the back side where there was an old wooden door with two drooping yew trees on each side. Some think that J.R.R. Tolkein might have been inspired by this for the entrance to the mines of Moria. He used to hike the Cotswolds and sketch trees that would catch his eye.

London: Day 2

For our second day in London, Jen and I did quite a bit more walking in order to do and see some new things.

We started by going to the Tate Modern museum. My favorite was a gorgeous water lily painting by Monet and a fascinating Picasso painting that was one of the first he gave away. Jen liked the color and texture of the paintings by Gerhard Richter dedicated to the American composer John Cage. We both reaffirmed that modern art is not our cup of tea!

To get there we walked across the Millenium Bridge and enjoyed a lovely view of St. Paul's Cathedral. We also got to revisit Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

I actually had to use some of my rusty rock climbing skills to get up and down this beast, but it was worth it for a picture with Aslan!

From there we traveled to Leicester Square where we bought some half price tickets for a Shakespeare performance in the outdoor theater at Regent's Park that night. To wet our appetites for the Arts, we stopped in at St. Martin-in-the-Fields lunchtime concert series. They had junior performers that were awesome. A flutist played In Ireland by Hamilton Harty and Sonative by Dutilleux. Then we had Mozart's Piano Quartet K 478, which was beautiful. Jen and I both got tired, but it was still utterly enjoyable with incredible accoustics.

After that, I headed to the Royal Mews (know for the falcons that used to molt or "mew" there originally) to see a few horses and some of the royal carriages. This is the gold coronation coach. It weighs 4 tons and takes 30 ft. to stop. They also have to take the wall and window out of the room to take it out.

That night we got our fish and chips from The Plaice of Rock and Sole and enjoyed "A Comedy of Errors" by Shakespeare. What a great end to our London days!

London: Day One

We're in London and it is HOT! We arrived shortly after noon, dropped off our bags at our hotel, and spent the afternoon...

• eating pasties and nectarines in the park across from Victoria Station
• listening to the passionate speeches and arguments at Speakers' Corner
• wandering through Hyde Park
• watching the roller skaters of mad skill strut their stuff along The Serpentine
• visiting Peter Pan
• cooling off our feet at Princess Diana's Fountain
• sweating in an internet cafe across from Victoria Station

It's almost 9pm and we're still awake, which I consider a success! Stacy is attempting to upload some pictures. Let's hope she's successful.

We're at it again

Three years ago today, I was meeting Stacy in London. She'd gone a few days earlier and was already well over jet-lag by the time I arrived exhausted and cranky on the afternoon of June 26th.

But not this time! This time we'll be in it together. London, baby!

I love flying into London. We've both been there often enough that our lists of "must-sees" are almost empty, which means a few days there will feel like visiting a city we once lived in -- we already know how to get around and what restaurants and shops we want to visit. It should be a good couple of days before we head off to Bath.

We'll keep you posted.