For our last 'driving the car on the left side of the road' trip we went to Bath, UK. Bath got its name from and ancient spring that pumps warm water to the earth's surface. It is pretty crazy... this water is 95 degrees and there are no heaters involved. I attached a link to the wikipedia article so you can read more about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths_(Bath)
So the adventure started out on a bad note. We were half way to Bath when our hotel called and said they were over booked and they were canceling our reservation. They also told us no hotels in Bath would have availability.... we proved them wrong!! Once we finally arrived and got a hotel room it was later in the day and we were both tired. So what do you do when you are both tired and in Bath?... go to the spa of course. The place is called Thermae Bath Spa. It is a place where you can swim in the actual warm waters from the ancient roman spring. Chris tried really hard to convince the staff to fit us in for a massage but there were none available. After a couple hours in the water and a dip in the roof top pool that over looked the city of Bath we were off to dinner.
The next day was jam packed. First stop Roman Bath House and Pump Room. The Bath House was pretty cool. It is amazing to think this warm water was discovered in 836 BC. The water today is really gross looking but still amazing. Chris wanted to taste the water but the huge "This water is dangerous to drink" stopped him in his tracks. On the way out they let you try a purified version of the water .... I thought it was disgusting!! After strolling around Bath and taking in the sites we stopped at the famous Sally Lunn's House where they make huge yummy buns to eat! I was very insistent on stopping here...Chris was not very excited about it.
Final stop of the trip was Stonehenge. It is a prehistoric monument built around 2500 BC. There is still quite a bit remaining from the original monument but a lot has fallen over or been destroyed. It was still very cool to see. We had a great time on this little adventure. I hope you enjoy the photos.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Scotland or Bust (September 26 - 28)
Sorry this post took so long... I thought I had already done it... I guess in my old age I am loosing my mind ;-)
So Chris really wanted to go to Scotland while we were here but it was definitely not at the top of my list. Thanks to Accenture it got moved to the number one position. Accenture sent Chris to Scotland for work (how convenient) so since his flight was already paid for all we had to do was buy a plane ticket for me and a hotel for the weekend. The city Chris's client was in is Glasgow. Not the most glamorous city in Scotland by any stretch of the imagination. I flew in Friday morning and (after Chris finally finished working) we toured Glasgow for the afternoon. The plan was to spend Saturday in Edinburgh but I had a crazy idea at dinner. "Lets rent a car and drive to Oban"
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I got a tip from a Scotland native that Oban was cool city to see and that the drive would be amazing. That evening Chris booked a rental and early the next morning we were off on our adventure. Chris was excited because there is a whiskey distillery in Oban that he really wanted to visit. The drive was very pretty. There was a part of the journey where we were on a one lane road for several miles and when I say a one lane road I mean ... Chris and I were not sure what would happen if a car came from the other direction. The road we were on was suppose to be a major highway. I am still not sure how we actually arrived in Oban but we did. Once we arrived we walked around the city before purchasing my cashmere sweater (I explained to Chris that you have to buy a cashmere sweater when you are in Scotland... he eventually got over the sticker shock). Then it was off to the whiskey distillery where I can only assume what I tasted was 100% alcohol. Chris finished both of my samples for me ;-). After the Whiskey Chris was feeling good so obviously the next logically thing to do is climb a steep hill. At the top was a mini Colosseum. I have seen the real Colosseum in Italy and didn't really think this was necessary but Chris was not taking no for an answer. The view from the top was pretty amazing but I will never admit that to Chris.
On our way back from Oban I had another fabulous idea. "Lets get up super early catch a train to Edinburgh and take the open top tour bus around the city and then come back before our 2:00 plane ride home." Chris, my very cautious husband, was very nervous about this plan but decided to play along. We thought we would have 2 hours in Edinburgh but after a small train closure snag we were down to an hour. Chris, now even more nervous, reluctantly agreed to go. The city is beautiful and in the end we are glad we went. The pictures of Edinburgh leave a lot to be desired as they were taken from a moving bus but you will get the idea.
I hope you enjoy. Be sure to read the captions on the pictures. I dont remember what a lot of pictures in in Edinburgh were of. It was a lot to see in an hour ;-).
So Chris really wanted to go to Scotland while we were here but it was definitely not at the top of my list. Thanks to Accenture it got moved to the number one position. Accenture sent Chris to Scotland for work (how convenient) so since his flight was already paid for all we had to do was buy a plane ticket for me and a hotel for the weekend. The city Chris's client was in is Glasgow. Not the most glamorous city in Scotland by any stretch of the imagination. I flew in Friday morning and (after Chris finally finished working) we toured Glasgow for the afternoon. The plan was to spend Saturday in Edinburgh but I had a crazy idea at dinner. "Lets rent a car and drive to Oban"
View Larger Map
I got a tip from a Scotland native that Oban was cool city to see and that the drive would be amazing. That evening Chris booked a rental and early the next morning we were off on our adventure. Chris was excited because there is a whiskey distillery in Oban that he really wanted to visit. The drive was very pretty. There was a part of the journey where we were on a one lane road for several miles and when I say a one lane road I mean ... Chris and I were not sure what would happen if a car came from the other direction. The road we were on was suppose to be a major highway. I am still not sure how we actually arrived in Oban but we did. Once we arrived we walked around the city before purchasing my cashmere sweater (I explained to Chris that you have to buy a cashmere sweater when you are in Scotland... he eventually got over the sticker shock). Then it was off to the whiskey distillery where I can only assume what I tasted was 100% alcohol. Chris finished both of my samples for me ;-). After the Whiskey Chris was feeling good so obviously the next logically thing to do is climb a steep hill. At the top was a mini Colosseum. I have seen the real Colosseum in Italy and didn't really think this was necessary but Chris was not taking no for an answer. The view from the top was pretty amazing but I will never admit that to Chris.
On our way back from Oban I had another fabulous idea. "Lets get up super early catch a train to Edinburgh and take the open top tour bus around the city and then come back before our 2:00 plane ride home." Chris, my very cautious husband, was very nervous about this plan but decided to play along. We thought we would have 2 hours in Edinburgh but after a small train closure snag we were down to an hour. Chris, now even more nervous, reluctantly agreed to go. The city is beautiful and in the end we are glad we went. The pictures of Edinburgh leave a lot to be desired as they were taken from a moving bus but you will get the idea.
I hope you enjoy. Be sure to read the captions on the pictures. I dont remember what a lot of pictures in in Edinburgh were of. It was a lot to see in an hour ;-).
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Castles, Castles, and More Castles (Sept 6-7)
OK so maybe there were only two Castles but you get the idea. We visited 2 fun castles over the weekend. Chris's parents were in town for a week so we made the most of the weekend.
Saturday, we started out they day achieving my biggest mission in London, finding London Bridge. Most people who visit London believe that Tower Bridge is London Bridge but actually London Bridge is a very ordinary bridge. Below Tower Bridge is on the top and London Bridge is on the bottom. Pretty ordinary don't ya think?
Next it was on to those castles I was speaking of. First stop was the Tower of London where the crown jewels are kept. Tower of London is right out our front door. Yes, it took five weeks living here to finally go. The best part about the Tower of London is the crown jewels but unfortunately no cameras allowed in the Crown Jewel room.
Sunday we took a day trip to the east side of England. First stop was Canterbury. Canterbury is a nice little English town. We stopped and saw a beautiful church and took lots of fabulous pictures.
The real fun started on our second stop of the trip, Leeds Castle. Leeds Castle is definitely the most amazing Castle I have seen this far. The Castle is still a working castle with rooms that people actually stay in. The grounds around the castle are beautiful and the castle itself is beautiful. After a fun tour of the castle it was on to jousting. Yes, I said jousting. So entertaining!!
The last stop on the way out of the castle was me riding a Segway Personal Transporter. I love those things!! and I finally got my chance at the wheel. So fun!!
Saturday, we started out they day achieving my biggest mission in London, finding London Bridge. Most people who visit London believe that Tower Bridge is London Bridge but actually London Bridge is a very ordinary bridge. Below Tower Bridge is on the top and London Bridge is on the bottom. Pretty ordinary don't ya think?
Next it was on to those castles I was speaking of. First stop was the Tower of London where the crown jewels are kept. Tower of London is right out our front door. Yes, it took five weeks living here to finally go. The best part about the Tower of London is the crown jewels but unfortunately no cameras allowed in the Crown Jewel room.
Sunday we took a day trip to the east side of England. First stop was Canterbury. Canterbury is a nice little English town. We stopped and saw a beautiful church and took lots of fabulous pictures.
The real fun started on our second stop of the trip, Leeds Castle. Leeds Castle is definitely the most amazing Castle I have seen this far. The Castle is still a working castle with rooms that people actually stay in. The grounds around the castle are beautiful and the castle itself is beautiful. After a fun tour of the castle it was on to jousting. Yes, I said jousting. So entertaining!!
The last stop on the way out of the castle was me riding a Segway Personal Transporter. I love those things!! and I finally got my chance at the wheel. So fun!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Guernsey and Jersey Labor Day Weekend (Aug 30 - Sept1)
Sorry that it took a while to post this. The last couple weeks have been a little crazy.
So Guernsey and Jersey are two small islands off the southern coast of England. We left Saturday morning on the train to Poole. From Poole we caught a ferry to Jersey.
Poole was a fun little town with lots of little shops. There was a store called "Pound World" which I had to take a picture of for my mom (She loves dollar stores).
We rented a car in Jersey ... Chris couldn't wait to try driving on the left side of the rode again. We did a couple different hikes as we drove around the island. One at devils hole where I had to put my foot down and stop Chris from climbing down in the hole. For some reason Chris likes to think that he is a mountain climber. ;-) It was absolutely beautiful. We stopped a few other places along the way. I got a pearl out a a clam and had it made into a necklace. We stopped a a harbor where the tide was out so the boats were sitting on the sand (kind of weird).
Our last big adventure on the island of Jersey was our hike at Bouley Bay. Chris and I decided it would be a good idea to go swimming on a beach that we could see off a cliff in 70 degree weather. So we took the long hike down to the beach with a backpack full of swimming gear (bathing suits and t-shirts to dry off with). Once we finally reached our destination we changed into suits headed to the water. We were only in the very cold water for a few minutes when we noticed that the beach we were on was quickly disappearing...yep you guessed it ... the tide was coming in ... and faster than we expected. Chris and I had to wade through waist deep water with our bags to get out. CRAZY!!
After that crazy fun we headed back to the harbor to catch our ferry to Guernsey. After a nice ..The next morning we got up early because we only really had a half day to explore in Guernsey. We did what any tourist would do with only a few hours to see a whole island, we took the public city bus on a tour around the island. Our pictures leave a little to be desired... we were taking them through a bus window while the bus was moving.
We had a great time on our little trip and took a lot of fabulous pictures. I hope you enjoy looking through them.
So Guernsey and Jersey are two small islands off the southern coast of England. We left Saturday morning on the train to Poole. From Poole we caught a ferry to Jersey.
Poole was a fun little town with lots of little shops. There was a store called "Pound World" which I had to take a picture of for my mom (She loves dollar stores).
We rented a car in Jersey ... Chris couldn't wait to try driving on the left side of the rode again. We did a couple different hikes as we drove around the island. One at devils hole where I had to put my foot down and stop Chris from climbing down in the hole. For some reason Chris likes to think that he is a mountain climber. ;-) It was absolutely beautiful. We stopped a few other places along the way. I got a pearl out a a clam and had it made into a necklace. We stopped a a harbor where the tide was out so the boats were sitting on the sand (kind of weird).
Our last big adventure on the island of Jersey was our hike at Bouley Bay. Chris and I decided it would be a good idea to go swimming on a beach that we could see off a cliff in 70 degree weather. So we took the long hike down to the beach with a backpack full of swimming gear (bathing suits and t-shirts to dry off with). Once we finally reached our destination we changed into suits headed to the water. We were only in the very cold water for a few minutes when we noticed that the beach we were on was quickly disappearing...yep you guessed it ... the tide was coming in ... and faster than we expected. Chris and I had to wade through waist deep water with our bags to get out. CRAZY!!
After that crazy fun we headed back to the harbor to catch our ferry to Guernsey. After a nice ..The next morning we got up early because we only really had a half day to explore in Guernsey. We did what any tourist would do with only a few hours to see a whole island, we took the public city bus on a tour around the island. Our pictures leave a little to be desired... we were taking them through a bus window while the bus was moving.
We had a great time on our little trip and took a lot of fabulous pictures. I hope you enjoy looking through them.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Packing for another trip (Aug 30 - Sept 1)
So in case you were wondering why there was no new posts this week. Well its like this... we didn't do much last weekend. Saturday we went to a really popular market in UK called Borough Market. ( http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/) Basically they have tons of cheese samples and tons of local food. We ate our way through the Market. It was fabulous.
Sunday we hung out with a friend of mine who has lived in London for the last 5 years (Kristin) and a couple of her friends. We started the day with some homemade crepes covered with Nutella and fresh fruit compliments of Kristin. If you have never had Nutella you really need to try it... its like crack ... so yummy. Nutella is a hazelnut-based sweet spread. It is so good. Everybody is totally getting a jar of this stuff for Christmas. Next we went on a little shopping trip in Oxford Circus. Its sort of like the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. The girls (Kristin, Neve, and I) shopped while the boys (Gordan and Chris) had coffee. Next we kept the fun going by checking out Piccadilly Circus which is sort of like time square but don't worry New Yorkers London has nothing on you.
We rounded off a long day by saying bye to Kristin, Gordan, and Neve and going to meet one of Chris's friends and his girlfriend out for a couple of drinks. Shew ... what a long day.
Chris and I both had Monday off as well because it was a UK holiday and we very lamely stayed at home and watched a Marathon of Grey's Anatomy.. I know lame!! but we are totally making up for it this weekend. We are leaving tomorrow morning to go visit Jersey and Guernsey. (can't really determine if they are countries or what they are but oh well ...its going to be soo fun..)
Stay tuned to hear about our fun trip. ;-)
Sunday we hung out with a friend of mine who has lived in London for the last 5 years (Kristin) and a couple of her friends. We started the day with some homemade crepes covered with Nutella and fresh fruit compliments of Kristin. If you have never had Nutella you really need to try it... its like crack ... so yummy. Nutella is a hazelnut-based sweet spread. It is so good. Everybody is totally getting a jar of this stuff for Christmas. Next we went on a little shopping trip in Oxford Circus. Its sort of like the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. The girls (Kristin, Neve, and I) shopped while the boys (Gordan and Chris) had coffee. Next we kept the fun going by checking out Piccadilly Circus which is sort of like time square but don't worry New Yorkers London has nothing on you.
We rounded off a long day by saying bye to Kristin, Gordan, and Neve and going to meet one of Chris's friends and his girlfriend out for a couple of drinks. Shew ... what a long day.
Chris and I both had Monday off as well because it was a UK holiday and we very lamely stayed at home and watched a Marathon of Grey's Anatomy.. I know lame!! but we are totally making up for it this weekend. We are leaving tomorrow morning to go visit Jersey and Guernsey. (can't really determine if they are countries or what they are but oh well ...its going to be soo fun..)
Stay tuned to hear about our fun trip. ;-)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Surprise Adventure (8/16 - 8/17)
Chris woke me up Saturday morning to a huge surprise .... we were taking the train to Brighton and our train left in 1 hour... what? how will I ever pack that fast... well some how I managed.
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After a one hour train ride we arrived in Brighton. The brochures said everything in Brighton was in walking distance so as you can imagine that meant (to Chris) that everything was in walking distance. ;-) So lots of walking!! no buses for us. We walked a couple miles to get to our Bed and Breakfast. Half of that walk was on the coast so it wasn't too bad. One thing that we quickly noticed on our walk to the B&B was that people like to dress crazy here. The first crazy person we passed was a full grown man wearing a diaper only with an over sized pacifier around his neck and a bonnet on his head.
After our walk we finally arrived at our B&B and let's just say it was much nicer on the inside than it was on the outside. The carnival flags and the Christmas ice lights kind of gave a bad impression.
Our room was very nice. We had a little balcony over looking the ocean. After checking it out we left to explore Brighton.
First stop some food. We stopped at a little cafe overlooking the ocean were I tried my first Pimms and Lemonade (a big summertime drink in the UK). Any one coming to visit will defiantly have to try one of these. A drink with an orange slice, lemon slice, a cucumber, and some mint.
We spent the rest of the day doing many fun things. I tested the water out, we spent some time in an old fashion penny arcade ....yes I said penny, we stopped and ate a couple crepes mmmm.. yummy, we played on Brighton pier (sort of like navy pier but more like a carnival), and last but certainly not least we saw a firework display. And for all of you who know how much I love fireworks this was a real treat for me. ;-)
The next day after a lovely nights sleep in our cozy B&B we were off the Marina (which is east of Brighton if you zoom in on the map above you will see it). Before leaving the B&B we had my first full English breakfast which is an over easy egg, backed beans, a tomato, sausage, and bacon. First stop on the journey was ASDA which the Walmart chain over here. (My mom would have been disappointed if I had not stopped there). We spent the rest of the day exploring the Marina and then doing a little shopping in Brighton's shopping district. Chris really needed a football (soccer ball) so he could practice so we stopped and got one of those too. Then off to the train station to catch our train home.
shew .. what a adventure. ;-)
To see all the pictures from our journey click on the picture below to navigate to our full web album.
View Larger Map
After a one hour train ride we arrived in Brighton. The brochures said everything in Brighton was in walking distance so as you can imagine that meant (to Chris) that everything was in walking distance. ;-) So lots of walking!! no buses for us. We walked a couple miles to get to our Bed and Breakfast. Half of that walk was on the coast so it wasn't too bad. One thing that we quickly noticed on our walk to the B&B was that people like to dress crazy here. The first crazy person we passed was a full grown man wearing a diaper only with an over sized pacifier around his neck and a bonnet on his head.
After our walk we finally arrived at our B&B and let's just say it was much nicer on the inside than it was on the outside. The carnival flags and the Christmas ice lights kind of gave a bad impression.
Our room was very nice. We had a little balcony over looking the ocean. After checking it out we left to explore Brighton.
First stop some food. We stopped at a little cafe overlooking the ocean were I tried my first Pimms and Lemonade (a big summertime drink in the UK). Any one coming to visit will defiantly have to try one of these. A drink with an orange slice, lemon slice, a cucumber, and some mint.
We spent the rest of the day doing many fun things. I tested the water out, we spent some time in an old fashion penny arcade ....yes I said penny, we stopped and ate a couple crepes mmmm.. yummy, we played on Brighton pier (sort of like navy pier but more like a carnival), and last but certainly not least we saw a firework display. And for all of you who know how much I love fireworks this was a real treat for me. ;-)
The next day after a lovely nights sleep in our cozy B&B we were off the Marina (which is east of Brighton if you zoom in on the map above you will see it). Before leaving the B&B we had my first full English breakfast which is an over easy egg, backed beans, a tomato, sausage, and bacon. First stop on the journey was ASDA which the Walmart chain over here. (My mom would have been disappointed if I had not stopped there). We spent the rest of the day exploring the Marina and then doing a little shopping in Brighton's shopping district. Chris really needed a football (soccer ball) so he could practice so we stopped and got one of those too. Then off to the train station to catch our train home.
shew .. what a adventure. ;-)
To see all the pictures from our journey click on the picture below to navigate to our full web album.
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| Brighton Adventure |
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The adventure begins
We have been here a little over a week and we are getting use to living with out the modern conveniences we have in the states. There are no screens on windows, there is no air conditioning which is OK because it doesn't get very warm here, and there in no grocery store open past 7:00 pm. I am now comfortable with riding the tubes without Chris holding my hand and Chris is comfortable enough with me being here to give me a list of things to retrieve while he is working such as dry cleaning and groceries ;-). Last weekend on Sunday we went for our first big outing ...well it wasn't really big it was kind of small but non the less an outing. A co-worker of mine who lived here for a bit gave me a box with walks in London. There are approximately 50 of them and I plan to do all of them. Our first two were of Hyde Park and St. James Park. Very nice parks!! I am pretty sure Kodi would have loved them.
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