Old & New Friends -- Thursday evening May 30, 2013

The British Museum

After a nap for both of us, Ed & I were feeling up to being almost normal.  We then sat down with our friend Jane to map out our sight seeing plans for the week.  So much to see and so little time!  I think we've settled on the British Museum  for tomorrow.  More on that to follow.




Thursday night we were invited to the home of Jane's friends, David and Wendy who live a couple houses away for a dinner party. I was a little apprehensive.  Meeting new people is always a challenge for me and since we didn't know them, I thought it would be awkward.  How wrong I was!

David and Wendy have a home just like Jane's two houses away.  Besides Jane, Ed & I, they had invited another couple, Robert and Susan.  What a great group!  Dry sense of humor, puns, and irreverent humor were the order of the night!  And you have to love the sound of the English voice.  I can't say I understood every word that was spoken, but I'm beginning to get use to it.

Beautiful English Dinner Table

Dinner was delicious.  Wendy is an excellent cook:  Dinner started with a salad plate of grilled vegetables, then Salmon topped with Mascarpone and herbs, wrapped in Pastry, and herbed boiled potatoes.  Dessert was Eton Mess (strawberries with a cream type of layering made with Rosewater.)  Then came the tray of cheese and crackers!  We are certainly eating very well in England!

It was hard to break away, actually, but we broke the party up about 10 pm and headed back to Jane's to call it a night.

Ok all you world travelers: How in the world do you survive transatlantic flights??? -- Thursday May 29, 2013

I'm dying!

Our flight on British Airways was as good as it could be.  Ed had upgraded our seats to World Traveller Plus (GREAT idea) so our seats were wide and comfortable with lots of leg room.  The flight was a little over 6 hours.  We watched the movie Lincoln which we thoroughly enjoyed and had another meal on the plane--we eat very well!

However, I did not sleep one bit and I AM EXHAUSTED.  I have been awake for 26 hours. Our friend Jane picked us up at the Heathrow Airport to take us to her home in Northwood for a week.  Since Jane makes this trip twice a year she is a seasoned traveler and assures us that you need to stay awake as long as possible so your body clock will catch up. 

Within 2 hours I succumb and HAVE to get to bed.  There are plans for dinner tonight with the neighbors and I'll be  the angry American if I don't nap soon.  I'm given 2 to 3 hours to sleep but can't sleep more then that I'm told.

I may even now survive!  I slept less then three hours and have begun to feel human again.  While I was napping, Ed & Jane went to a park for a nice walk along a canal.  They even met people who live on their boat in the canal for a few months each year.  They were invited on to see what the accommodations are like.  Ed took some pictures and thinks it looks nice.  Then they picked up a few things at the local grocery store so we are now all ready to go out to lunch.

We head over to Ye Olde Greene Manne in Batchworth Heath not too far from Jane's house. Great choice.  Good food.  Good company.  Great to be here!

The Day Has FInally Arrived! -- Wednesday May 28, 2013

I can't believe we've made it to this day!

We are heading out on our first trip to Great Britian --  41 days of travel in  England, Ireland and Scotland!  Our friend, Jane Tout, has encouraged us to come visit her in England for years!  Well we're not getting any younger so we finally bit the bullet and made plans to make the trip this Spring/Summer and incorporate it with a normal camping trip while we rent out our house!

What were we thinking??!!!  Planning and packing for 2 trips---one touristy and one for camping---as well as preparing our home for renters for 13 weeks!  We must be getting older since the preparation these last few weeks has been torturous!  Our bodies and minds are just not conducive to all that cleaning, packing and planning!  But the day has finally arrived!

Neither of us slept terribly well the night before and work to a rainy Cape Cod day.  We are just anxious to get started! 

Ed & Nancy Ready to leave Eastham

Our daughter Pam picked us up and drove us to the P & B Bus lines on Route 6 in Barnstable to get to our flight out of Logan Airport.  Arrangements went very well.  Got to Logan in plenty of time since we had our Boarding Passes from the night before.  Security went smoothly and then we even had time for dinner at Durgin-Park Restaurant right at the airport. 

We are well on our way!

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