Home and back to work

Life is back into the normal routine for us now. The summer is fast coming to an end with the weather being cool, rainy and at times windy. You can almost feel Autumn. Next week Clayton goes back to school for his final year at Pacific Christian School. Both Rueben and Trista will be attending Camosun College part time this fall as well as working part time. We will continue to put pictures to posts over the next few days, so check the posts from our Europe trip for the updates. Also, you can click on hyperlinks to read about some of the places mentioned in more detail.
Cheers,
Ray and Debra

Almost home (for those checking daily)

Not quite the same as Club World. Waiting in Vancouver for our 2205 flight to Victoria

Club World is the way to travel! Lie flat beds. Nice!

Along the River Thames in Richmond

Petersham Nurseries - RichmondYes, it was this crowded

We are at the Vancouver airport at 7 PM having missed our 5 PM flight to Victoria due to leaving Heathrow 3 hours late. We are now on the 10:15 to YYJ. What a long day. Yesterday we spent the morning at the Portobello Road Market and then hooked up with our friends Jaime and Maree for a walk along the Thames in Richmond (and in Kingston) before a lovely dinner at their place. Thanks guys!

Cheers,
Ray & Debra

Back at The Lord Nelson, Southwark, London

Woodstock, West Oxfordshire

Kew Palace inside Kew Gardens

Inside the Tropical Garden

Drinks after work. When the space outside the pub fills up, people cross the street to talk and drink. Unique to the UK? Certainly not something done in Canada.

Our neighbourhood pub The Lord NelsonLive entertainment outside the National Theatre in Southbank

Waterloo Station - across from Southbank

After a leisurely breakfast in Woodstock (where Blenheim Palace is), we headed for London. We spent a few hours at Kew Gardens, and wish we would have had more time as the Gardens go on forever and there is so much to see. The indoor tropicals were especially lovely. We dropped the car off on Fulham Palace Road during a very busy Bank Holiday Weekend (British long weekend). We are sitting here having a drink before we meet up with some friends for dinner at Strada in Southbank. Tomorrow morning is Portobello Road.

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, West Oxfordshire

Arlington Row, Bibury, Cotswolds

Bibury, Cotswolds

Winston Churchill's childhood bedroom at Blenheim

Just one of the many gardens

Blenheim Palace

Vickers Hotel and Restaurant

Another highlight of our travels! After driving through little picturesque Cotswolds villages (Bibury was amazing), where every picture could be a postcard, we arrived at Blenheim Palace. Magnificent! It was a gift to the Duke of Marlborough for his victory at the battle of Blenheim. We are now sitting in the Vickers Hotel and Restaurant having dinner. This hotel dates back to the 16th century. It's hard to believe we only have a few days left.

Hello from Painswick, Gloucestershire

The Falcon Inn

Painswick99 YewsA stop along the way
Roman BathsRaised floors with heating underneath in the Roman BathsWe found this tour to be so educational.
The Romans were very advanced in their engineering."When in Rome......or Bath"Bath Abbey in background and Roman Baths in foregroundFashion MuseumThis guy knew his Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.

Tonight we are staying at The Falcon Inn in Painswick, just past Stroud (no, we are not outside of Barrie :)) in the Cotswolds. It is called the "Queen of the Cotswolds" and is noted for the 99 Yew trees in the church courtyard.
Today we spent over five hours in Bath and took a guided tour of the Roman Baths. It was so informative. We also visited the Fashion Museum which included a special exhibition of dresses that were worm by Marilyn Monroe. Tonight England plays the Czech Repubic on the telly. Till next time...

Greetings from Hinton Charterhouse

The Rose and Crown Inn

We have left Ireland and its rain behind us. Today we toured Salisbury Cathedral and are staying at the Rose and Crown (an 18th Century Inn) in Hinton Charterhouse, just outside of Bath. We rented a car which has been quite the experience so far. Debra had a good stiff drink once we got here. :)
Tomorrow we plan to tour Bath and then Blenhiem Palace outside of Oxford (never made it that far that day).
Bye for now.

Greetings from Dublin

Paris has come and gone. Adieu to a fantastic city. It was our favorite so far. Ireland is WET! A record rainfall is in the making. Tomorrow we fly to Bournemouth for our Cotswolds adventure. We are hiring a car and will be travelling on the 'Romantic Road'.

La Tour Eiffel

We climbed to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. What a great view. We visited Sacre Coeur and the Musee D'Orsay. The traffic around the Arc de Triomphe was crazy. It is a giant traffic circle with no lanes and cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles coming from seven different streets all trying to merge in. We toured the Opera House which was a treat. The coffee here is fantastic. The French know how to cook and how to make GOOD cafe. Ireland is up next.

Paris via Eurostar

Eurostar in Gare du Nord, Paris

We leave this morning for Paris. Yesterday we spent four hours at the Tower of London. We watched a couple of knights dueling. In the evening, we went to see Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre.
A great time to date. Bye for now.

Hi from London England

We are having a great time.
We have seen amazing architecture: St Pauls Cathedral; Westminster Abbey; Houses of Parliament; Big Ben; Regent St; Carnaby St; Harrods; Tate Modern; Trafalgar Square; Leicester Square; Covent Garden... Whew, our feet are sore. We are sitting in a little neighbourhood pub with Internet, so I can send this from my iPhone. Bye for now.

Off to Jolly 'Ole England

We leave on Friday for our UK adventure.
It will include stops in Paris and Dublin as well as some of the
English countryside and of course London. Stay tuned.

Trista's anniversary gift to us

Trista took us out for dinner at the Irish Times Pub, which was very yummy. Debra had Shepard's Pie, I had Fish and Chips and Trista had some type of Irish Poutine. THANK YOU TRISTA!!

Festival 150 - BC 150 Years 'The Best Place on Earth'

Harbour Ferries, very busy

Beautiful setting isn't it?Kick off to Festival BC 150. Speakers included the Premier of BC Gordon Campbell and the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper.

Lovely 25 degrees

The Snowbirds put on their usual excellent display

Rueben and I went down to watch the opening ceremonies

Symphony Splash 2008

Warming the crowd up with the CanUS Hot Jazz Band. The Victoria Symphony performs starting at 7 pm. They play from this barge in the Inner Harbour facing the Legislature Building.

A beautiful evening in Victoria with a temperature of 21 degrees at 7:30 pm

The water will fill up with kayaks, canoes and motorboats by the time the music is well under way.

The crowd will be in excess of 40,000 people tonight. Tomorrow on the Legislature lawns there will be a concert celebrating BC150 with Dal Richards, Colin James, Burton Cummings, Sarah McLachlan and more. At noon the Snowbirds will do an aerial performance.