Oh what timing we had today. We go to the tube and it starts pouring. As we're walking through Green Park to Buckingham Palace it slows then pours again. As we walk across the Mall Strand to the Palace - the skies clear, it becomes warm and....the start of the Changing of the Guards! Such beautiful pomp and circumstance. I did get 98% of it on the camcorder, so when we're home, I'll post it on youtube and stream it from this site. The precision, the timing, the marching, the old traditions are still just so magnificent. If you ever get the chance to see it do! It starts down the mall and you can hear the drums. Then you hear the pipes. Then you can see them marching up and the excitement in the crowd starts to fill. Everyone straining to try and see what they can. Police on mounted horse are carefully making sure people are to the side and out of the way so that the Guards are undisturbed. I have to say, this was one of the best events of the entire trip.
For more info on the Changing of the Guard until I can get the video posted - go here: ChangingofGuards.
We then purchased tickets into the palace itself. I have no words to how amazing this place is. The history, the wealth, the oppulence - but NEVER in an over-the-top-gaudy way. It has an even more warming meaning to me as being British and Irish and that the Royal family is such a huge part of the history of the countries of my ancestors.
We were fortunate to be able to see the grand ballroom set for a state dinner, which has never been shown before this summer. As Mom and I walked up the grandstair case and into the halls you have almost a regal feeling yourself and all of the people who have walked those stairs before. Old Queen Mary, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, King George V, and all the dignataries; The Royals from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The Presidents of the United States, the celebraties, including rock stars like Paul McCartney - its just such an overwhelming feeling that the lucky get to feel on a regular basis . Tim and David both felt the same thing. The amazing collection of Art; Rembrandts, Van Dyks, Renoirs, lots of Italian marble, a table once owned by Napolean. The Throne Room is much smaller than I had expected. It's the same room where Queen Elizabeth, then Princess Elizabeth and Price Phillip had their wedding photos taken and published across the world, as did Prince Charles & Diana, Prince Edward & Sarah Ferguson. Oh yes, the Old Standard WAS flying, so the Queen was in residence. They do tell you about some of the secret doors in which the Queen will arrive to greet guests from her apartment and then show up in the room through what appears to be a full floor to ceiling mirror and marble pedestal - but is really a secret door. The room in which Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Princes William & Harry were baptised, called the Blue Room - is almost much smaller than I had expected. The most impressive was the Grand Dining Ballroom - all decked with full dinner service, flowers etc. It seats more than 250 for dinner at two tables.
After meandering through, you end in the 30 acres of garden. It's meticulously manicured - yet you have to feel just a bit of sadness for the Royal Family that they've had to open their family home to A) help raise money to care for the house and B) Also want the public to be able to share in it. I'm not sure I'd want strangers traipsing through my house.
I HIGHLY recommend taking the tour through Buckingham Palace. There is a longer tour where you can also go through the Royal Mews (stables) and the Queen's private Gallery - and is really not much more, but does take about 4 hours to do the whole thing and our feet have given out - so we settled for just the State Rooms.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
London Baby!!
London is of course FANTASTIC as usual. We arrived from Dublin, took the London Tube - yes we managed with all of our luggage and made it out to the Regent's Park area of Swiss Cottage where we are staying. Everyone was tired of dragging their crap around, but we made it. Oh and side note, Aer Lingus is a great airline. Lots of leg space, very expedient, pleasant and helpful employees.
So the first day, David, Tim and I headed out while the others took a nap in the hotel. We took the Jubilee line down to Westminster and promptly came out at Parliament and Big Ben - so that we could get on the London Eye. The Eye is BRILLIANT. You can see forever - and the fact that we had great sunny weather it was just gorgeous. The cost is UKL 15.50 (abt $28 USD) and is a 30 minutes 'flight'. We loved it. We then walked around Parliament and tried to get into Westminster Abbey - but it closes at 330pm so we just missed being able to go in.
Yesterday we went to the Tower of London. The vast size of the tower and the amazing Crown Jewels were worth the cost alone. There are STAIRS, STAIRS and more STAIRS. You go up three flights to go down two. LOL. We were all sick of the stairs. The Beefeaters were giving tours, the Royal Fussilers were changing guard. The Germans were EVERYWHERE - - yes, it was tourist day for those from Germany apparently. The Armour from the Royal Armouries inside the tower is still awe inspiring. The fact that such craftsmanship went into the little minute of details makes you wonder what happened to us and why we're always in such a hurry - having to import things from Asia with low quality. Such a shame. Did I mention how amazing the Crown Jewels and the Gold flagons, pestles, chalices, punch bowls, etc are? There is a punch bowl which is about as large as a Mini Cooper automobile in the displays. I can't imagine how many people it takes in order to lift that solid gold punchbowl.
We then went on to Harrods. What more can I say? HUGE! LARGE! Amazing. We saw a $40,000 dollar bottle of Remy Martin Champagne/Cognac. There was a $250,000 watch. The food halls are always such fun to walk through. The desserts are so yummy! Tim had a raspberry cheesecake, I had a chocolate mint cupcake. It was nice, but then I saw the gelato - Blood Orange, Green Apple, Mango, Mixed Berry - - we were all drooling.
After walking for 10 hours, we were done. Back to hotel for dinner.
Today, our final day in London - we're heading to Buckingham Palace and hope to try and pickup tickets at Leicester Square for Spamalot tonight. We'll see - fingers crossed.
Tomorrow we'll drive back to Manchester - stopping either at Warwick Castle or at Oxford University. We fly early on Saturday to Chicago - stay overnight and back to San Francisco on Sunday morning. Back to work for us on Monday - - oh the tragedy!
Until later...
So the first day, David, Tim and I headed out while the others took a nap in the hotel. We took the Jubilee line down to Westminster and promptly came out at Parliament and Big Ben - so that we could get on the London Eye. The Eye is BRILLIANT. You can see forever - and the fact that we had great sunny weather it was just gorgeous. The cost is UKL 15.50 (abt $28 USD) and is a 30 minutes 'flight'. We loved it. We then walked around Parliament and tried to get into Westminster Abbey - but it closes at 330pm so we just missed being able to go in.
Yesterday we went to the Tower of London. The vast size of the tower and the amazing Crown Jewels were worth the cost alone. There are STAIRS, STAIRS and more STAIRS. You go up three flights to go down two. LOL. We were all sick of the stairs. The Beefeaters were giving tours, the Royal Fussilers were changing guard. The Germans were EVERYWHERE - - yes, it was tourist day for those from Germany apparently. The Armour from the Royal Armouries inside the tower is still awe inspiring. The fact that such craftsmanship went into the little minute of details makes you wonder what happened to us and why we're always in such a hurry - having to import things from Asia with low quality. Such a shame. Did I mention how amazing the Crown Jewels and the Gold flagons, pestles, chalices, punch bowls, etc are? There is a punch bowl which is about as large as a Mini Cooper automobile in the displays. I can't imagine how many people it takes in order to lift that solid gold punchbowl.
We then went on to Harrods. What more can I say? HUGE! LARGE! Amazing. We saw a $40,000 dollar bottle of Remy Martin Champagne/Cognac. There was a $250,000 watch. The food halls are always such fun to walk through. The desserts are so yummy! Tim had a raspberry cheesecake, I had a chocolate mint cupcake. It was nice, but then I saw the gelato - Blood Orange, Green Apple, Mango, Mixed Berry - - we were all drooling.
After walking for 10 hours, we were done. Back to hotel for dinner.
Today, our final day in London - we're heading to Buckingham Palace and hope to try and pickup tickets at Leicester Square for Spamalot tonight. We'll see - fingers crossed.
Tomorrow we'll drive back to Manchester - stopping either at Warwick Castle or at Oxford University. We fly early on Saturday to Chicago - stay overnight and back to San Francisco on Sunday morning. Back to work for us on Monday - - oh the tragedy!
Until later...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
$300 Freakin' $$ for dinner "AND" $300 for RyanAir's 12 extra pounds of weight!
Ok, so I don't know how many times we could have been shafted today, but let me start with my BIGGEST frustration! RYANAIR! BASTARDS! I do not - repeate do NOT recommend this airline to anyone. First off - weight restriction of approx. 31.5lbs or affectionately known here as 15kilos. Well, except for those international travellers who came in with 44lbs, under the major airline weight restrictions of 50lbs or Aer Lingus' 70lbs. So for 12 more pounds, Tim and I had to put out 144UK pounds, also known as $300 US DOLLARS for 12 pounds. WHAT?!?! I'm disputing this shit! First off, who knew the weight restriction on RyanAir was different from anyone else, and the amount on my contract stated it would be 7.50 pounds per extra kilo - and instead they charged us 12 UK pounds per kilo. I was so mad. I said its here in writing, how can you do this. They said its in the computer. I'm calling VISA when I'm back in England and disputing the whole charge because this is ridiculous! Oh and did I mention that of course RyanAir got us into Dublin LATE?!?
So, next Ireland is nice. Seems that every road has a fence all a long it. Is that to keep the Irish in or to keep immigrants or crime out? Who knows. Hertz screws up. We go to the counter in the Airport. I am a Gold Member and my car should have been there and ready. They of course say to go to the shuttle because their computers are down. We get to the shuttle, its muggy as hell - - is this Florida or Ireland? - - and we just sit there, sweat pouring down from heat. We get to the outer rental and hey guess what - they start booking me like I wasn't Gold...shocker! They start asking me about insurance, and telling me their going to hold $2000 Euro's. I'm like - wait a minute, I'm a Gold Member, I pay for premium rentals, why the hell am I going through all of this. She says, "What, Gold? They should have had your car ready at the airport." I said they told me to come in here because their computers weren't working. So we had to go through a huge rigamorrow. I just said charge me the freakin' insurance then so we could get out of there. So, they also have toll roads here, (thanks for telling us Hertz.) However, Hertz IR has gotten smart and they have a contract with the government to pay for the tolls on our behalf and they charge our rental. The price is a slight discount, however, we have a handling fee. There's no way to avoid it because the toll is electronic only with no barries and no toll booth operators. It works much like FastPass but charges like the Pennsylvania Toll Pike! *Sigh*
Temple Bar area is C*R*A*Z*Y. It was so vivacious and active - but crazy. The Garda (Irish Police) were everywhere. They were giving tickets to all of the panhandlers and the cars with the lights were going crazy. TempleBar is not very long - about 3.5 blocks long by two blocks wide but it was packed. Reminded me of the Haight Festival in San Francisco or Oktoberfest in Campbell. Lots of Hen nights happening, (bachelorette parties.) The gals actually are slightly more creative than the Americans. I took pictures of some of them. David was drooling at the 'Angels'. The girls dress in various ways. There were girls as previously mentioned in 'Angel' outfits - think more like hookers with stillettos in white and coat-wire hanger halos. There were gals in mini-plaid red skirts with spanish hats. There were girls in red skirts with a red L for Learner on the back of their shirts (as in provisional driver in Europe.) All very creative. Pictures when I get back to the states.
So tomorrow we're off to Guiness and Trinity College. We're thinking about bailing on going to Waterford - we'll see.
So, next Ireland is nice. Seems that every road has a fence all a long it. Is that to keep the Irish in or to keep immigrants or crime out? Who knows. Hertz screws up. We go to the counter in the Airport. I am a Gold Member and my car should have been there and ready. They of course say to go to the shuttle because their computers are down. We get to the shuttle, its muggy as hell - - is this Florida or Ireland? - - and we just sit there, sweat pouring down from heat. We get to the outer rental and hey guess what - they start booking me like I wasn't Gold...shocker! They start asking me about insurance, and telling me their going to hold $2000 Euro's. I'm like - wait a minute, I'm a Gold Member, I pay for premium rentals, why the hell am I going through all of this. She says, "What, Gold? They should have had your car ready at the airport." I said they told me to come in here because their computers weren't working. So we had to go through a huge rigamorrow. I just said charge me the freakin' insurance then so we could get out of there. So, they also have toll roads here, (thanks for telling us Hertz.) However, Hertz IR has gotten smart and they have a contract with the government to pay for the tolls on our behalf and they charge our rental. The price is a slight discount, however, we have a handling fee. There's no way to avoid it because the toll is electronic only with no barries and no toll booth operators. It works much like FastPass but charges like the Pennsylvania Toll Pike! *Sigh*
Temple Bar area is C*R*A*Z*Y. It was so vivacious and active - but crazy. The Garda (Irish Police) were everywhere. They were giving tickets to all of the panhandlers and the cars with the lights were going crazy. TempleBar is not very long - about 3.5 blocks long by two blocks wide but it was packed. Reminded me of the Haight Festival in San Francisco or Oktoberfest in Campbell. Lots of Hen nights happening, (bachelorette parties.) The gals actually are slightly more creative than the Americans. I took pictures of some of them. David was drooling at the 'Angels'. The girls dress in various ways. There were girls as previously mentioned in 'Angel' outfits - think more like hookers with stillettos in white and coat-wire hanger halos. There were gals in mini-plaid red skirts with spanish hats. There were girls in red skirts with a red L for Learner on the back of their shirts (as in provisional driver in Europe.) All very creative. Pictures when I get back to the states.
So tomorrow we're off to Guiness and Trinity College. We're thinking about bailing on going to Waterford - we'll see.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Leeds Markets, The Royal Armouries & Round the Roundabouts to Morely
Today we traipsed off to the Leeds Markets. For those in Sacto area - think Denios times 2, for those in San Jose - think Capital Flea Market times 2 as well. This is where people do a lot of their main shopping for vegetables, fabrics, electronics, fish, meat, etc. Butchers and Fish Mongers row is active as are all the vegetable stalls. The Leeds Market opened around 1908 and was the main shopping place for many years. Today a lot of stalls are empty due to the economy and the fact that imports from Asia have taken over quite a bit, and large grocery stores like Morrisons, Safeway, Tesco and Sainsbury's have replaced the need to go into the Centre of towns anymore.
After meandering around the Markets we headed to the main shopping area down Briggate, Kirkstall, Vicar and Boar Lanes. These all used to be main drive areas, but the City of Leeds has now closed them to autos and has become a nice pedestrian open shopping area. All the biggie's are there; Harvey Nichols, Debenhems, Marks & Spencers - and of course all the cellphone companies, shoe stores, hair cutting places, womens boutiques and McDonalds! Can't be in one city without a McDonalds! LOL. Tim and I just wandered around. He went into Curry's and PC World which are similar to Best Buy's in the UK. He found they are still selling Packard Bell PCs and was shocked. I said yeah I think NEC still markets them under PB in Europe.
We met Mom, Sue, Dave and David about 3 hours later - of course mom has now purchased her second pair of shoes in two days, making it 4 pairs to bring home. *Sigh* David is also now battling my cold.
After the Markets we headed to the Royal Armories. That place was amazing. They have rifles, raipiers, hatchets, spears, armour, etc from Medieval times through today. This stuff has come from England, America, Netherlands, Germany, France, Turkey, Persia, Italy, Austria, Sumatra, China, Japan, Borneo, etc. We went on a lucky day, it was free to get in. Here's a link to the Armouries so you can get a brief feel. They also had some special displays going on right now with the different types of armour which was used in movies such as The Lord of the Rings, The Last Samurai, King Kong and others. Tim wished we had just dropped him off in the morning at the Armouries, went and done our shopping and had come back. He said he could have stayed there all day. As it was, we were there for almost 3 hours and I was DONE. It was amazing to see all of the beautiful craftwork over the centuries, and was amazed at how preserved they all were. Some armour was from the 1200's, rifles from the 1600's, etc. If you ever get the chance to come to England, Leeds is definitely a stop if you're interested in this sort of stuff.
Royal Armouries
Finally, I'm sick of Roundabouts. We went to Pat's again for dinner to say goodbye to the Webster family. Pat made a great meal of beef bourginon and Yorkshire Pudding! (Timmy's fave) We had great laughs and as always, hard to say goodbye to family you only get to see every few years. And...what should have been a 25 minute drive back to our rental house, turned into an hour courtesy of our GPS system, the round abouts and GPS telling us to use LOCAL ROADS, instead of picking the damn name of the route - when there's 6 to choose from and their all local roads. Anyway, its sorted, we're back, we're packed and off to Ireland tomorrow morning!
Until Ireland, Bon Nuit mon amies et familie.
After meandering around the Markets we headed to the main shopping area down Briggate, Kirkstall, Vicar and Boar Lanes. These all used to be main drive areas, but the City of Leeds has now closed them to autos and has become a nice pedestrian open shopping area. All the biggie's are there; Harvey Nichols, Debenhems, Marks & Spencers - and of course all the cellphone companies, shoe stores, hair cutting places, womens boutiques and McDonalds! Can't be in one city without a McDonalds! LOL. Tim and I just wandered around. He went into Curry's and PC World which are similar to Best Buy's in the UK. He found they are still selling Packard Bell PCs and was shocked. I said yeah I think NEC still markets them under PB in Europe.
We met Mom, Sue, Dave and David about 3 hours later - of course mom has now purchased her second pair of shoes in two days, making it 4 pairs to bring home. *Sigh* David is also now battling my cold.
After the Markets we headed to the Royal Armories. That place was amazing. They have rifles, raipiers, hatchets, spears, armour, etc from Medieval times through today. This stuff has come from England, America, Netherlands, Germany, France, Turkey, Persia, Italy, Austria, Sumatra, China, Japan, Borneo, etc. We went on a lucky day, it was free to get in. Here's a link to the Armouries so you can get a brief feel. They also had some special displays going on right now with the different types of armour which was used in movies such as The Lord of the Rings, The Last Samurai, King Kong and others. Tim wished we had just dropped him off in the morning at the Armouries, went and done our shopping and had come back. He said he could have stayed there all day. As it was, we were there for almost 3 hours and I was DONE. It was amazing to see all of the beautiful craftwork over the centuries, and was amazed at how preserved they all were. Some armour was from the 1200's, rifles from the 1600's, etc. If you ever get the chance to come to England, Leeds is definitely a stop if you're interested in this sort of stuff.
Royal Armouries
Finally, I'm sick of Roundabouts. We went to Pat's again for dinner to say goodbye to the Webster family. Pat made a great meal of beef bourginon and Yorkshire Pudding! (Timmy's fave) We had great laughs and as always, hard to say goodbye to family you only get to see every few years. And...what should have been a 25 minute drive back to our rental house, turned into an hour courtesy of our GPS system, the round abouts and GPS telling us to use LOCAL ROADS, instead of picking the damn name of the route - when there's 6 to choose from and their all local roads. Anyway, its sorted, we're back, we're packed and off to Ireland tomorrow morning!
Until Ireland, Bon Nuit mon amies et familie.
A Knot on the Head, a Bite, a Trip to York District Hospital and the Flue
The last few days have been challenging. First we went in to York on Monday and decided to take a cab in. On the cab ride home, I bonked my head GOOD on the dang grip handle that was left propped out and still have a huge knot on my head. Then Tim and I went to Burger King to get dinner for everyone. Came back and I had a bite or scratch from Nettles all down my leg. It stung so badly it caused my leg to tingle for hours and burn, so we went to the local hospital ER to check it out. It felt like my leg had been asleep for about 8 hours with pins and needles king of tingling. The Doctor felt it just hit a nerve so said to take another dose of benadryl and more hydracortisone on the area and I should be good. The next day it was numb. And then finally, I have caught a cold courtesy of no central heating in this house and no hair dryer. I bought a dryer two days ago and started feeling better with more decongestants. Last two days had been really rough. Now David, Mom and Dave are starting to catch the cold too.
Yesterday we went to Ripley to Ripley Castle. It was built in the 1400's and 28 generations of Igilby's have lived there including that current family. They've had to sell of huge amounts of their property and paintings, books, antiques, silver etc to handle death taxes and the upkeep of the house. The town of Ripley is adorable, about a whole quarter mile long worth of shops and houses. We then went to Ripon where the Market was just closing and went into St Stephen and St Wilfred's Cathedral. The church was gorgeous - in fact I thought more so than Selby Abbey.
Today we're off to Leeds market and dinner at Pat Webster's house as our last day in Leeds/York area. Tomorrow we head to Dublin.
Yesterday we went to Ripley to Ripley Castle. It was built in the 1400's and 28 generations of Igilby's have lived there including that current family. They've had to sell of huge amounts of their property and paintings, books, antiques, silver etc to handle death taxes and the upkeep of the house. The town of Ripley is adorable, about a whole quarter mile long worth of shops and houses. We then went to Ripon where the Market was just closing and went into St Stephen and St Wilfred's Cathedral. The church was gorgeous - in fact I thought more so than Selby Abbey.
Today we're off to Leeds market and dinner at Pat Webster's house as our last day in Leeds/York area. Tomorrow we head to Dublin.
Monday, August 25, 2008
275 Steps Up & 275 Down
Today we spent walking around York during the day and touring York Minster . Tim and David decided they were going to do the "Everything" Tour, which included walking up to the top of the tower some 192 Yards, 275 narrow steps up. We'll download the pictures when we get to London and on a higher speed download - but suffice to say, I saw Tim & David in the Crypts below the Minster where the Roman, Norman and Saxon ruins can be seen and they were dripping with sweat, and had already gone to get a drink down at Starbucks, came back and were still huffing and puffing.
The Minster is gorgeous. It's caught fire twice and has had to be retrofitted as it was crumbling even prior to the fire in the '70s. They've spend 25 years working on ensuring the Minster is preserved.
The Minster is gorgeous. It's caught fire twice and has had to be retrofitted as it was crumbling even prior to the fire in the '70s. They've spend 25 years working on ensuring the Minster is preserved.
We also walked throughout the Shambles, have eaten at several pubs and have walked our feet off. Still haven't found that fabric store yet! ;-)
Our house here in York is an old country house apart of a 5 house estate. They are actually up for sale. The house is 5 bedrooms 1 & a half bath. The so-called shower is actually a tub with a shower handle off of the tub faucet. It makes it challenging. The heat upstairs really doesn't work and neither does the dining area lamp, but its still nice. Washing our clothes has been a challenge. The washer is actually a washer and dryer in one. No directions provided on its use, but we've figured it out. The washer runs for 2 hours and the dryer for one. We're still waiting to see if its actually just an hour! LOL.
Tomorrow either on to Edinburgh, Scotland or to Scarborough.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Auntie Winnie's 100th Birthday
She looked so lovely and was awake just about the entire time, with little short catnaps for about 5 minutes in between. The Lord Mayor of Leeds came and presented her with a plaque from the City of Leeds, and a silver photo frame. Additionally her telegram from the Queen also came - which was gorgeous and signed personally by the Queen. I have it on video so I'll have to post that later.
All of her family who was in town and available came. Pat & Dave Webster, Justine, Richard & Sam Tippler, Michael Walden, Joe & Norma Connor, Edward & Joyce Keely, Christine & Danielle Metcalfe, Annemarie & Tim Boyle, Anne Mathews, Sue, Dave & David Exum and our friends Diane Cole and Andrea, as well as Joyce's sister Barbara. All the nurses who were
even off on Saturday came to help her celebrate. We had two singers come who sang all the old WWII songs. Auntie Winnie was dancing in her wheelchair - and appeared to have a great time. She kept saying how much she loved everyone and how lucky she was.
All of her family who was in town and available came. Pat & Dave Webster, Justine, Richard & Sam Tippler, Michael Walden, Joe & Norma Connor, Edward & Joyce Keely, Christine & Danielle Metcalfe, Annemarie & Tim Boyle, Anne Mathews, Sue, Dave & David Exum and our friends Diane Cole and Andrea, as well as Joyce's sister Barbara. All the nurses who were
even off on Saturday came to help her celebrate. We had two singers come who sang all the old WWII songs. Auntie Winnie was dancing in her wheelchair - and appeared to have a great time. She kept saying how much she loved everyone and how lucky she was.Kirkstall Abbey - Haworth - Skipton Castle
Day 2 in England - (Day 1 was dealing with our rental car issues, etc) - and while still jet lagged we were off to tour our first bits of England. I do have to say - we have brought the SUN out. It has only sprinkled twice in the last three days while we've been out and about, which has been great. Yesterday I actually wore flip flops and just a light sweatshirt.
We started by leaving Morely and heading to Kirkstall Abbey. Built in the mid 1100's by Ciscternian Monks (sp?) the place is now in ruins - however, you can go into and tour the ruins for free. The Abbey is beautiful and the grounds are gorgeous. Its just amazing at how these little guys, and I mean little we did see coffins that look like they probably weighed no more than about 90 lbs and about 5'5" tall at the max, built this Abbey without modern cranes and cement, rebar technology.
After our tour there, we headed out to Haworth - the home of the Bronte's. The Bronte's are the family who wrote Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejuidice to name a few. We toured the church where Patrick Bronte, the father was the minister and skipped the house because there's now a 7 pound = abt $14 per person charge to tour a 4 bedroom house. We walked up and down the cobblestreet and went into shops. We had lunch at the Arms pubs next to the church wher
e Tim had a Yorkshire Pudding larger than his head. See picture for proof! (Tim's saying it wasn't larger than his head - but we all say it is!!)
e Tim had a Yorkshire Pudding larger than his head. See picture for proof! (Tim's saying it wasn't larger than his head - but we all say it is!!) We decided to go to Skipton Castle just because it was relatively close to where we were in Haworth at the time. About 15 minutes drive and we made it to this Market town just as the market had closed and was able to tour the Castle on our own for the last hour it was open which was awesome. This is a truly amazing castle. It was used in Battle during the War of the Roses and is over 900 years old. Edward the II granted the castle to a family which still owns it to this day,the Clifford Family who continued to build and modify the building through the English Civil War.
The castle is fairly in tact and a portion of it is still resided by the Current Lord Clifford.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Tired and Weary - But now in England
Let's just say, the next time that flight arrangements are made, ensure that all names in legal documents MATCH prior to booking or make sure that you bring 4 different forms of identification. Yes, we had passport and green card challenges yesterday. Unbeknownst to us - mom's passport has her last name misspelled with (2) T's in Mathews. That was the minor issue - would have easily been corrected while doing the e-check in. Her greencard is still in her maiden name, because our wonderful immigration group continues to send it even though she applies in her married name. So after waiting 40 minutes for the rest of them to be able to get their boarding pass while one of the only 2 American Airlines staff attendants finally got around to assisting us - while people were balking that their 2 extra bags meant they had a $300 baggage charge. So we make it through the gate, land in Chicago, take time to walk around duty free, get back on the same plane we just came in on - only to be told it has hydraulic landing problems??? What??!!?? I literally just landed an hour ago, did it have the problem all the way from San Francisco? Ok, so we wait - and wait. Then we go to board, and again, Passport, Drivers License and Greencard do not match nor does two of the three match the boarding pass. So it was a good thing mom brought her birth certificate as well, as she had to show a second legal document to prove that she was a Hezelgrave at one time. *sigh*
So now we get to Manchester 8 hours after leaving Chicago 2 hours late. Oh and did I mention we left Lincoln at 345am - so now we're about 24 hours into this and just landed - only to find the car is screwed up. I booked a mini-van that was supposed to carry 7 people and minimum 4 full size suitcases. That was someone's cockup!! We got a minivan which could hold 6 and one bag only. So another 2 hours changing mini vans, waiting for it to come from the main garage, we hit the road.
Backing up into Kirsty's driveway in this minivan has been a challenge, but one that I'm mastering FAST while the traffic reems me up my rear trying to get passed me. Pictures to follow soon to see the harrowing option I have while driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!!
Tomorrow - on to Howarth and or Kirkstall Abbey - stay tuned!
So now we get to Manchester 8 hours after leaving Chicago 2 hours late. Oh and did I mention we left Lincoln at 345am - so now we're about 24 hours into this and just landed - only to find the car is screwed up. I booked a mini-van that was supposed to carry 7 people and minimum 4 full size suitcases. That was someone's cockup!! We got a minivan which could hold 6 and one bag only. So another 2 hours changing mini vans, waiting for it to come from the main garage, we hit the road.
Backing up into Kirsty's driveway in this minivan has been a challenge, but one that I'm mastering FAST while the traffic reems me up my rear trying to get passed me. Pictures to follow soon to see the harrowing option I have while driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!!
Tomorrow - on to Howarth and or Kirkstall Abbey - stay tuned!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
We're All Packed and Ready to Go!!
Everyone's packed...suitcase, backpack - camera, those dang AA batteries that I bought, lost and had to buy again all in 48 hours. Cars are being switched around and we're about to go have some pizza for dinner before we leave at 3:30am to head to San Francisco.
We're headed to Manchester as our incoming city into the UK via Chicago O'Hare. From there we'll drive to Leeds where we're going to stay at Kirsty's house for the first two nights and after we celebrate Auntie Winnie's 100th birthday party - we'll move to our rental house in York. That is if the guy EVER answers my phone calls to tell me where to get the keys.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
