Where's next, Mum?

waiting our turn

at Heathrow

The Real Lives: Neal and Maeve went back to school and finished their years off proudly. Maeve had her 10th birthday; Neal received a new Nintendo DSi as a graduation present. Joe sequestered himself with his laptop and trudged through hundreds of emails before returning to work. Yvonne started organizing the 1600 or so photos of the trip and got the front garden planted. Life returned to Normal.

We didn't have any difficulties returning to Canada, aside from a 45 min delay at Heathrow just as they were to start boarding. While we were stuck at the gate, I very graciously answered a couple of survey questions asked about my experience at Heathrow. Specifically, about the Retail Therapy Gateroom. No, really. That was what it was called, I peeked at her notepad. (Everyone is kept in one large sitting room surrounded by shops until a gate is assigned for your plane. Once your gate is announced, you proceed directly to it and board.) Did I perchance wander about and do any purchasing? Why yes, I did wander about the Retail Therapy Gateroom although I didn't refer to it as such at the time; it was more like a captive shopping crowd holding pen. But I didn't buy anything... ha! That'll show 'em.

We arrived home to the welcoming arms of the grand/parents. And really large cars! And wide spacious roadways! And our own beds (not to mention our own bathroom)... ahhhhhh...

But a week later I had a lovely note from the Newcastle constabulary regarding the minivan's velocity. Specifically, I received a speeding ticket for being clocked at 35mph in a 30mph zone near Newcastle upon Tyne. I haven't actually paid any fine yet, but the rental agency has collected their 31GBP processing fee. Apparently - and I'm hoping I'm right about this - the letter I received was just requesting my particulars... I'll find out at a later date what the charge will be, if any. Aside from this, I still miss driving in Britain. I put about 2487 miles on the minivan (minus the 100 or so that Joe drove) so I think I'm fairly well-qualified to comment, or at least form an opinion. There really wasn't the same sense of urgency to 'get ahead' all the time. I initially thought I was just choosing to see it this way because I was on vacation. So I started paying closer attention. And I really think that there is a different mindset towards driving in Britain. May be due to the price of cars/petrol there, making owning and operating a car much more valued, or the roundabouts calming affect on traffic flow, or the fact that the speed limit is so strictly enforced (cough, cough). Or - and this is my favourite - there are more manual 'stick shift' cars. So one cannot simply slam one's foot onto the gas pedal once the light turns green and your car takes off. One must drive a car. I guess it helps to have very narrow roads, so narrow that you must slow down and scootch over so you can survive to continue... in any case, I loved driving there. Not so much here.

And so the trip has come to its successful conclusion. It all happened so fast, and yet we packed so much into those five weeks, making it seem somehow longer.

I think Neal overheard me say that it took me about three years to plan it all, because he recently asked where we're going in 2012.

We'll see...

thanks for reading,

Yvonne and Joe

Neal and Maeve

back to our Real Lives

Westminster Abbey looks remarkably similar to Notre Dame, don't you think? Or, perhaps York Minster. There sure are a lot of dead bodies in there, though. You can't wander around much without stepping on someone.

Westminster Abbey

At least, that's what Neal and Maeve said about it; I didn't go. We were running out of time to do and see everything and I really wanted to check out Oxford Street. So Joe took them to the Abbey and I went shopping. Judge it how you want, we all had fun. (although Maeve seemed to have difficulty deciding; in the end a chance to see another medieval structure won)


We went to Portobello Market on Saturday morning and all of us managed to find something that we liked. We started at the antiques end and worked our way down to the produce and clothing. Joe found a great antique map of Southern Ontario from the 1860s.

Portobello Market

The rest of the day was spent fighting more crowds at the Science Museum, where we learnt something very interesting... that Neal will forgo food in order to keep going in the Science Museum! Below he's made a circuit. It was a really cool museum.

at the Science Museum

And then we met Cat and Seth at a local pub; they were down from Edinburgh. Look closely... in the photo, Joe's holding his map. It's labelled as West Canada, but it's only Southern and Eastern Canada.

at The Prince Bonaparte

Today - our last tourist day - we went to the British Museum. Once again, a fantastic museum. They have some excellent programmes for kids; one is a backpack tour. (Maeve's wearing the backpack in the photo below). You can borrow backpacks on various themes and they take you to a place in the museum where the kids do hands - on activities. On the Roman tour you go through the process of deciding what kind of job you'd like to do if you lived in Britain during Roman rule. Soldier, tiler, scribe, builder...? They were able to try on a Roman shoe and create a tiled piece and write on a wax tablet.

Rosetta Stone

We walked by this and did a double take. Why was there no crowd around the Rosetta Stone...? And why could we touch it...? (answer: it's a copy) Yes, we saw the real one later. This one was more fun quite frankly.

Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Playground

We rounded out the last day with another trip to this playground above, in Hyde Park. It was much busier this time than last, it being a weekend and all, but still a great playground; Princess Di would be proud.

And, that's about it!
tomorrow... back to our Real Lives.

Yvonne

London revved

OK, now... I know that London is a large city, and those of you who know me know that I grew up in Toronto so I'm not unaware what a large city is like. But. This city is Busy. Even by Large City standards. There are people... everywhere! I'm not exagerating either. Really. I wouldn't want to be trying to fight crowds during Peak Tourist Season, that's for sure! (I'd just have to head back up to the Orkneys I guess.)

This is our London home base. We're close to Hyde Park (Londoners Central Park), which is great -- I think we've walked through the park everyday so far on our way home from touristing. It has the Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in it which we used to refresh our aching feet... our first two days here were really warm, about 28C and sunny. The city is in the process of replacing the Victorian water pipes, so our street is blocked off. It's nice and quiet at night, but sure is noisy during the day! Luckily we've been busy elsewhere during the noisiest times.

our closest Tube station

We spent our first day on a hop-on / hop-off double-decker bus to get a lay of the land. It included a free boat cruise so some of the time we were on the Thames too. The next day we went to the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels, a new exhibit about Henry VIII and went on one of the Beefeater tours. (they really are as good as all the guidebooks say...)

Maeve in front of The White Tower
at the Tower of London

listening to the Beefeater

At this point in the tour we're standing at the Traitor's Gate and he's explaining about how people were hung, drawn and quartered. Oh, and about Richard III's two nephews whose remains were found on the castle grounds. Shortly afterwards he told the stories of various beheadings that have occurred in the Tower of London. Anne Boleyn among them of course. (thank you Philippa Gregory and CBC's The Tudors) Gruesome stuff; I'm surprised no one's had nightmares... (adults included).


That evening Joe and I debated about whether or not to go on the London Eye; most guidebooks say its overpriced and not that exciting. Well, I'm glad we disregarded their advice - because we thought it was great!

We got there nice and early so there wasn't even much of a queue yet. And then right next door there is the London Aquarium, which also doesn't have many guidebook stars beside it. But again, we played rebel and went anyway and it too was fantastic! Neal and Maeve were able to feed some rays, and see some others (like pirahnas) being fed with accompanying talks. We walked through tunnels in the large aquariums, and over the shark tank... really good stuff.

We rounded out the day with a walk along Jubilee Walk on the renovated South Bank to the Tate Modern and then the Millenium Bridge. Its nickname is the Wibbley Wobbley bridge because when it first opened it wiggled a lot. It was closed on its opening day and subsequently made more secure.

Maeve and Neal sitting in the Tate Modern

The Tate Modern is in an old power plant; it's quite an impressive space. We partook in some interactive art on the first floor, and then got some audio guides. They had a family tour so we followed that one. At one stop - a Matisse - we were to place some shapes into a form that expressed something, much like Matisse had done with his piece about a snail shell. This is what Maeve and I made, independent of each other:


and I find it amazing! She and I both made continents, she called hers earths but it was the same thing. And both are balanced precariously. I got chills when I glanced at her screen when we were done. Oddly enough, Joe and Neal both made trees.

We just made it in time for a Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, and then off to see Billy Elliot the Musical. The small print on our ticket indicated that there was coarse language -- which was correct. And prolific. However, with a thick working class accent and County Durham slang, I'm sure Neal and Maeve didn't get it all. Oh, now don't smirk like that... I know my kids aren't angels and use 'cuss words' (as Neal calls them), but I don't think their Dad caught it all given the strong accents, so I'm fairly certain his kids missed some. It was very good nontheless, and well choreographed. Beautiful theatre too. Maeve even learnt how quickly to get out of her seat and get to the womens loo before the intermission queue started. This trip really has been a most educational experience.

Next up was a quick walk through Harrods, which everyone but me was not looking forward to (okay, Maeve was not dragging her feet as much as the boys) but afterwards everyone including me was happy we did. Must've something to do with the most enormous supply of toys we've ever seen in one place. I even managed to snap an illicit photo of the Egyptian escalator... unfortunately it doesn't do it justice.

Well that's another blog entry to bed. And me soon with it. Hmm, not many of these left now, are there...

Yvonne

around York

On our way out of Edinburgh, we stopped at Rosslyn Chapel. For those of you who have enjoyed The Da Vinci Code, yes - that Rosslyn Chapel. Dan Brown's imagination has helped make this beautiful little church a popular spot, and we had a great 20 min guided talk about it. It is currently under a large 'canopy' or roof to dry it out, which will apparently take about 12 years. (It was given a limestone wash in the 50s to try and preserve it, but all that's done is seal the moisture in; they're trying to restore the chapel.)

In the chapel is a carving of a trillium; put there long before Christopher Columbus sailed. One of Rosslyn's many mysteries is... how did these people know of trilliums that are native to North America? When the guide mentioned that the trillium is one of Canada's provincial flowers a cheer went up from the crowd. A small, appropriately Canadian cheer, but from a large number of people nontheless. Afterwards, when we were speaking to this guide -- asking him just where was this carved trillium -- he pointed out the other Canadians. Turns out there was a group of Southern Ontarians on a golfing holiday. I struck up a conversation with one who has family in Ottawa even! Like they say... small world.

Rosslyn Chapel

(more flying buttresses)

More driving, and arrived at Housesteads, the largest of the Roman forts along Hadrian's Wall. Geez those Romans sure were busy. Or the Scots were very fearsome...

Hadrian's Wall

Made it into York and spent a couple of days sightseeing. York Minster, The Shambles (medieval section of the city), a haunted walk, a visit to Jorvik (recreated Viking settlement). And a very crowded city for its size! There were people everywhere... mostly shopping. Oh, and lots and lots of 'hen parties' (ie bridal showers). My goodness, these people can drink.

from the top of York Minster
274 steps

(feel the burn)

"the diet starts tomorrow"

giant cookie

One day we took a 30 min drive out to Knaresborough which is the village where my father grew up. I pulled in the driveway of The Hawthornes - the home that he lived - in and the current owners were very gracious considering... we were even given some fruitcake!

in The Hawthornes

Knaresborough

The drive down into London wasn't one of my favourites, but I knew that it wouldn't be fun and planned for it. Unfortunately all I had to drink that night to look forward to was a gin & tonic (ie no French red this time), but I made do. And unfortunately we weren't able to stay in the flat that we had reserved because of a flood in that building so we've been 'upgraded' to a two bdrm flat closer to Hyde Park. I would've liked to have had a glass of wine on that terrace too Colleen, but we are in a larger flat... so it's not all bad. The owner met us at a nearby Starbucks to help us get aquainted to the area which was really helpful.

off to explore London,
Yvonne

of standing stones and norse settlements

I knew there was a reason why I had to get to the Orkneys. All along the Britain part of this trip I've been pulling Joe away from reading yet another plaque on something or other because we can't read and see everything because I really wanted to get up to the Orkneys and if we stayed to read everything and looked at every last bobble in the ever-present gift shops that we must travel through as we attempt to exit whichever castle or museum we're visiting we'd never get there! I'm glad I kept us going... the Orkneys were so worth it! (just far too short a visit)

We met up with Michael from Wildabout Orkney and he did a wonderful job of touring us around. His passion about the Orkneys and its history was palpable. Even Neal and Maeve were caught up in his stories about the Churchill Barriers, or the Italian Chapel or Skara Brae. They hardly made a peep. (no, they weren't asleep...) He took us to the Tomb of the Eagles also - a privately run museum of a prehistoric tomb found by a local farmer in 1954.

Neal atop Tomb of the Eagles

Skara Brae

5000 yr old settlement

He even took us to a local bistro for some Orkney stink (a type of fish chowder which was delicious).

The only problem was that we ran out of time! He had to quickly drive by the standing stones:

standing stone circle, off in the distance

We jumped back on the ferry, drove through a couple of torrential downpours on our way down to Inverness. Next day we made it to Edinburgh, after having a very frustrating visit to Blair castle (didn't find out that the Blair castle is in fact in the Murray clan until we were inside the castle) but had a great visit to the Culloden battlefield museum. Very modern, tech-savvy museum... maybe a bit too much info for really only one battle, but still... impressive.

We've been lucky enough to stay with Cat and Seth here in Edinburgh, and their two much-bothered cats. We saw Edinburgh castle, walked the Royal Mile, climbed Arthur's Seat, visited the new Scottish parliament buildings and the Museum of Scotland...

Edinburgh castle

(exhibiting Joe's favourite kind of ski turn)

listening to her audioguide

at Edinburgh castle

... but once again, tomorrow we're off!

Yvonne

Isle of Mull

We arrived in Oban after a mostly rainy day of driving. Joe drove through Carlisle and Glasgow, but then the roads started to get narrower again after we left the motorway and he gave the wheel back to me. He only hit the curb once. (I won't tell you how many times I've bounced us off the curb... I'll leave that to Neal or Maeve or Joe)

We took a bus tour of Mull and Iona: 45min ferry over to the Isle of Mull where you hop on a coach tour bus. 75min drive across the island and then jump on another smaller ferry for a 10min ride across to Iona. You're left to wander for 2 hrs then reverse it all back to Oban. Our bus driver was very entertaining, although Maeve and Neal didn't always get his jokes. And I'm very glad we took a bus; the roads were amazing. It is for two lanes of traffic, in opposite directions, but it looks like a large sidewalk by Cdn standards! Two cars cannot pass each other, one must pull over so there are pullouts every 100m or so. Exactly who has to pullover is sometimes decided by a game of chicken, almost. And believe it or not, a large coach bus doesn't always intimidate a wee small car! Like I said, amazing...

Maeve on Iona

Iona is known as being the birthplace of Christianity in this region; St Columba came over in 563AD from Ireland and founded a monastry. We wandered through the ruins of a the nunnery, but didn't pay to go into the abbey. It is being refurbished or renovated or whatever, apparently the island is attracting people of all faiths and beliefs these days and the islanders are trying to use that to their advantage. (kudos to them, I say) The island is beautiful, and rugged, and remote and relaxing. It was a great day.

Loch Ness

We then headed off in search of Nessie. (after managing to luck out - yet again - on securing a B&B spot) We took a boat tour of Loch Ness today, and visited the Loch Ness Visitor's Centre which did a really good job of showing the history of the Loch. Neal and Maeve even got a chance to steer the boat. But no sightings.

searching for Nessie

Old Man of Hoy

And now we're here -- the Orkneys! After lucking out and finding a B&B on the busiest weekend in Britain, and with a folk festival here in the Orkneys... someone's on our side. Tomorrow we're going on a bus tour to catch the sights and then get on the last ferry. Not long enough, I know... but at least we got up here!

Yvonne

some photos

From up high at Caernarfon castle.

On our way to dinner at the Ty Gwyn (the White House)

 in Betws-y-coed.

Driving through Snowdonia National Park.

Maeve at Conwy castle.

Double rainbow over houses in Betws-y-coed.

You allright, then?

We say 'How are you?' in greeting... but in North Wales they say 'You allright?' which has thrown Joe and I off more than once!

After much searching, found a B&B in Betws-y-coed (BET-oos-uh-coyd) in Snowdonia. Huw and Emma run a guest house in their own home and they have three children (3, 7, 9) so we felt right at home. Especially when 3 yr old Imogen was demanding loudly of her Mum to go fetch her the Vancouver 2010 coin Neal and Maeve were offering her at the end of our stay...!

I've tried uploading some photos but the connection here in Keswick is too slow, so no pics this time sorry.

North Wales is beautiful (really wish I could show you...), it resembles Gros Morne National Park I think. Huw had some really great ideas of what to do and we managed to see an off-the-beaten-path lake that we scrambled up to one day. And Emma made a great full English breakfast, complete with black pudding. Joe commented that the British have a loose definition of 'pudding'. But we both still ate it!

We stopped at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis and managed to see a slate splitting demo with some local grade fives obviously on a field trip. Went to see the castle at Caernarfon, and at Conwy which are two of the Edwardian castles. Beaumaris is another of Edward's castles Drew, but we didn't get a chance to see it. Edward's castles were built in about 20 yrs and were created to keep the Welsh under control. The one at Conwy still has the wall around the city too. It is more rustic, while Caernarfon was a more active touristy feel. There was a spinner and we met Sir James (the architect) who showed Neal and Maeve where the murder holes were, and asked Maeve if she had come to the castle with her parents because she was of marrying age.

And Lisa, I did get to Colinette on our way up to North Wales... and I have some yummy yarn for you!! I asked if I could peek in the back, but wasn't allowed. Back in the Cotswolds, I asked Veronica - B&B owner in Chipping Campden - about what happens with all the fleece from all. these. sheep! that we've been seeing. She said that there's a Wool Marketing Board that dictates price, etc and that it really isn't worth having the sheep... they haven't even been paid for their fleece in the last two years. Sad, really... because we have seen many many sheep.

We're leaving Keswick today for Oban; we're not leaving the rain apparently... The rain did stop long enough for us to enjoy a boat trip around Lake Derwentwater, walk around Keswick (really pretty town), and go to see the Castlerigg stone circle yesterday. (70% of England's stone circles are in this area) And this is a larger B&B - a small hotel really - that has a pool! So Neal and Maeve have been able to go for a swim each day.

OK, we're off (again). Quick 'n dirty post... hopefully I'll be able to upload some photos - and the video of Neal free-falling off of a 50m pole at the Tall Trees Adventure Centre in Betws-y-coed! - at our next stop. Scotland, here we come!

Yvonne

Lor, I sat in that beautiful garden at Iona Cottage and had a glass of French red on our first night there. And I thought of you. It was just as beautiful as its pictures on the web. And I needed the glass of red... it was what kept me going all day!

We boarded the Eurostar in Paris with not much time to spare since we didn't realize that we'd be going through Customs on that end, and it involved Paperwork.

When we arrived in London, I called the car rental agency to find out how to get there. After being informed that it would take 1.5 hrs, decided to pick up the car at a nearer location and just pluck up my courage (all the while chanting "French red, French red") and drive out of busy London. Still took 1.5 hrs to get the car due to a line up ("queue") but got an upgrade in the process. Upgrade included a 2nd driver, better insurance, and a TomTom GPS. We have nicknamed the GPS "Butler" as Neal changed the voice to Irish, Male and now it sounds like one of the characters from our Artemis Fowl audiobooks.

And Col, Butler has saved our collective butts too many times to count already. Except that the kids keep saying 'you have reached your destination' or 'after 300 yards, bear left' in a weak Irish accent which can get tiresome...

I've also lost track of the number of roundabouts I've done/survived. Driving out of London was nerve-wracking to say the least. Started off by stalling the car, but it was on a hill and we just kept going. Our upgrade also meant that we have a Kia Sedona minivan (>shudder< at least it's manual!) which by Cdn standards is not large, but over here it's a tank! We've had to collapse the sideview mirrors numourous times - we now refer to it as bringing in the flaps. Now that I've got the hang of it -- and it is just me so far, and may be me the entire time... -- it's been less stressful than driving back home. Roundabouts make sense.

In order of appearance, we have visited Bath, the standing stones at Avebury, been to Glastonbury, Wells, Stonehenge and Lyme Regis. We left Iona Cottage in Limpley Stoke this morning (sniff, sniff) and drove up into The Cotswolds. Made it to the medieval Warwick Castle in time to see them launch a fireball with a trebuchet. Which is great, since Maeve's class is doing Medieval Times and Castles right about now. Drove into Ebrington, near Chipping Campden for this evening. We're staying at our first B&B tonight, on a working sheep/cattle farm. Tomorrow we're off towards North Wales.

Yvonne

hmmm, can't quite recall where we are here... I'll have to check my notes;
it looks cold you say? yeah, you could say that... blustery too!

at the Avebury standing stones

the Wells cathedral, managed to hear part of the Evensong Mass



doing the Incredibly Difficult Children's Quiz
at Dinosaurland in Lyme Regis
(where they had fossilized dino poo)

home away from home #1

We've been really busy; two nights were 12:30am bedtimes, and that was for Neal and Maeve! We leave tomorrow morning for Great Britain; taking the Eurostar to London, picking up our rental car and driving out to Bath. So I thought I'd show you where we've called home for the past week:



This is Neal and Maeve (and Sheldon) at one gate to Rue l'Amiral Courbet. If you look between their heads, you'll see a red door down the street. That is the outside door. Apparently - according to Agnes, our very helpful neighbour - there are more and more of these privately owned residential streets in Paris.


This is the inner courtyard; Neal and Maeve are standing in front of the door to go inside the building. This was originally a stable with the second floor being the living quarters for the stable help and the top floor being the hayloft. It was built in the 1860s.


The building from the back. Joe, Neal and Maeve at the livingroom windows. The other two to Joe's left are the bedroom.


Here you can see a pulley, used to haul hay at one time. Maybe now it's used to haul furniture...?

The landing.

It isn't big, but it has served us very well. Here Joe is showing Neal and Maeve some Paris sights and monuments on their placemats.



And this is the nearest Metro stop.

Off to Home Away from Home #2 tomorrow...

Yvonne

Disneyland Paris!

Just in case the photo doesn't do it justice, that does indeed say Disneyland Park. Yesterday we took the RER out of Paris and surprised Neal and Maeve with a day trip to the Surreal. Or is that the Unreal...? Let's just call it Plastique and move on, shall we?

They were surprised, and excited, and amazingly had enough energy to last the entire day - we closed the park. And then, just to keep to our theme, we had dinner at Planet Hollywood Paris.

Yvonne