Better Late then Never - Gwen

Our last days have gone untold here until now. Uncle John was gracious enough to not only take a day or two off of work for us but also to take Aunt Clair, Beth, and I to Norfolk. We packed up our light bags, heavy coats, and wellies. Even "little" Hetty came along. Hetty is an mountain dog which is to say there is nothing small about her. She is about 3/4 of my height in length and weighs about 100 pounds. We had to make sure the packed belongings were stored properly so she could be comfortable in the back of the Jeep Commander. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, british driving Jeep! The drive took awhile with lots of roundabouts and winding roads. The highway system is a bit lacking in terms of convenience but they make up with essentially no speed limits! Merely a suggestion! We stopped at Elly Cathedral. This was probably my favorite church in England due to the BEAUTIFUL painted ceiling. The Cathedral was Catholic but after the conversion to the Church of England, much of the original catholic decor was destroyed or covered. Afterward, we drove a little longer before catching a pub lunch and then made our way to the cottage.

We arrived at the cute little English Cottage, titled Doll House after picking up groceries in the local bread and butcher shops. We took a ride out to the beach and had a nice "little" walk to the "beach". By little I mean we probably walked a mile or two just to get to the actual shoreline and by "beach" I mean its nothing like I've seen in the states! The beach itself goes for miles along the coast but the amazing thing is how WIDE they are. The tides travel close to a mile! The most you see on the beach are shells and such...not the white sandy beaches of Miami but it was pretty awesome. We ended up there right in time for sunset. Mind you, its late January in northern England so needless to say it was cold. Almost irony to have pictures running on the beach in wellies wrapped up in our warmest jackets, pants, and head gear. After letting Hetty ran into a boy dog that couldn't keep away from her, we went back to the house for tea and snacks before dinner at Uncle John and Aunt Claire's favorite pub. Unfortunately, the wood in the wood we bought for the wood burning furnace was wet. Despite several valiant attempts to light the fire, we were defeated. The house had heaters in each of the rooms but the one in the kitchen was broken. Thankfully we had warm bedrooms.

At dinner, Beth and I tried White Bait and then our separate meals along with lots of wine to follow. White Bait is literally small almost mino-like fish that are fried whole and served. Once you got over the fact you were eating an entire fish, it was pretty good. The next day, we got a honest Uncle John English breakfast. After, we headed to town for a look at the shops. Uncle John found a book on the "Strange" family history, Beth and I found coats, and Aunt Clair found PJs for Claudia and a card for the boys. We then traveled to see the LeStrange family church, mansion, and the hotel owned by the LeStrange family. After that, we went home to find out Beth and I forgot about finally dinner with David and Aunt Grim. Dinner was excellent and then we finally got to go home. We spent our last day in England doing laundry, packing, and just plain relaxing before our big day of travel.

We had a 9:30 am flight out of Gatwick. Uncle John woke us up with cups of tea and then he and Aunt Claire drove us to the airport. We had some complications with our bookings. Apparently, when the travel agent booked our tickets, she didn't finish it all the way through so we had to wait about 15 to 20 min at the desk and let the airline sort it out. Beth and I were throughly pleased to find that we had personal entertainment systems in the head rest infront of us. We were prepared for the worst. On the 9 hour flight I watched 4 movies. Beth slept through two of them. Personal recommendations: The Dutchess' story is SO hard to swallow, tears of rage....I probably won't choose to watch it again but it was a well produced film. The Mummy 3 was cheesy but a good relief from The Dutchess....as was Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Nights in Rodanthe was probably the saddest and most beautiful story. Gives true meaning to better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Once we landed in Atlanta, we made our way to baggage claim, where there was a small hound pup sniffing the bags. HE WAS SO CUTE! I couldn't help but put your bags down and just say, "please come sniff my bags, cute puppy!!" We then made it through customs, dropped off our bags for the connecting flight and then went through security again before having to take the tram from terminal E to A. This time we actually had enough time to catch some "afternoon tea" before making it to our flight. Considering by the time we left Atlanta at 4 pm we had a 12 hour day, I forced a cup of coffee to help me stay awake. We were in the back of the plane and there were crying babies...again. Maybe next time, Beth and I will fly first class! :)

Cambridge and London (Part Two)

We got a hold of Uncle Ian and decided to meet him in Cambridge for lunch on Monday. Aunt Claire was not working so she went with us, driving us in to town. For those of you who don't know my eccentric family, Uncle Ian is a fellow at Cambridge Universtiy. He invented some math formula that turned out to have incredible results when applied to economics. Just think A Beautiful Mind. No joke. The guy, however, is TOO smart. For example, he never learned to drive because he just couldn't keep his mind on something so mundane. He also tends to not think about such mundane things as changing the sweater vest he just dripped lunch on. That said, he was looking really well when we met him (Dad). He actually was wearing both a undershirt AND a collared shirt (and even a sweater vest!) with his tweed jacket.

So we met up with him and had a brief tour of Trinity College. He showed us the library, designed by a man whose name escapes me. He was known for his woodwork, so the shelves have intricately carved end pieces. From there we took a tour of the lunch hall where we then ate WITH THE FELLOWS! This is like, Harry Potter style, one big raised table for fellows/professors and all the students at lower tables. Plus, we got better food. I watched as students would look up, see Gwen and I, and ask their neighbor who we were. From there, we walked over to the King's College Chapel (more like a Cathedral and partially donated by Henry VIII). He then took us to Our Lady St.Mary's Church and even climbed the 125 steps to the top with us. For a guy pushing 86, that's impressive. We then walked past this really interesting clock which used concentric rings of LED's to display the time on the way back to the car. Claudia and I had a ride that evening again.

On Tuesday, Gwen and I decided to do London again. Aunt Claire drove us to the station this time so we didn't have to get up at 6am to catch the train with Uncle John. We took the tube to Westminster Abbey first. Obviously, we got some great views of Parliament and Big Ben too, since it's right there. We then spent a good couple hours in the Abbey. It was really so amazingly beautiful. They didn't allow pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it. They also have some of the best preserved examples of medieval mosaic floors in the world. From there, we had the obligatory pub lunch before rushing over to Buckingham Palace and then back to the tube so we could catch the 4:10 train back to Audley End and meet Aunt Claire as she picked up the kids. Once again, I went and rode Pollyanna for Claudia who had piano.

I'll post about Norfolk at a later date. Clearly, we are now back in the United States. I'll see if I can't get Gwen to do a "wrap up post" too so we have some closure on here.