England Stage one - Recovery/The Countryside

We took a day to recover. We woke up and braved the AGA to try and make our own breakfast. Emboldened by our success with fried eggs and toast, we made an attempt to use the washing machine to try and get some laundry done. The day was certainly needed. The next day was spent putzing around at the barn for a bit. We met Pollyanna the new pony. She's a beautiful Conamara cross palomino. She's a little tubby and a little obsinante, but Claudia rides her beautifully. After returning home, we read until Uncle John crashed the party and joined us for dinner.

Monday we decided to go into London with Uncle John and check out the British museum. We spent a good 5 hours wandering about the museum, particularly in the Egyptian and Greek wings, admiring pieces of the Sphinx and the Parthenon that we missed. They even had a piece of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus! After a brief stop in "Africa" we finally braved the tube to check out the Tower of London. We were a little late for the tours there, but we spent 2 to 2.5 hours wandering in the medieval castle, crown jewels house and the white tower. Arriving home, we were exhausted and I was finally coming down with that nasty cold that Gwen has had.

Tuesday, Aunt Margaret asked if she could take us about the British countryside. We admired the cathedral at Lavenham. After wandering the streets and checking out an antique shop, we continued on to Bury St.Edmund's to see their Cathedral, Guild hall and other attractions. Arriving home, we had more wine and chats before finally heading for bed.

Today, we spend the day checking out Finchingfield and Thaxted with Aunt Clare. We even did a proper pub lunch, bangers and mash! We also went shopping for the ingredients of tonight's excellent curry which was amazing!

Tomorrow we're off to York with David for a couple days. So we'll keep you posted later!