My Family Visits England!!!

To my great joy, my family came and visited England 28 May-11 June! It was bliss. Two heavenly weeks! We toured all over England (and even spent an exhausting day in Paris!). This is my favourite picture. We are at William Wordsworth's house in the Lake District.

London

Ted hosted us and was our amazing tourguide throughout our London travels. My family was absolutely smitten by him! He felt like a grandfather to us all by the end of our time together. We're in front of the Tower of London in this picture.

She's Squashing Me!! Two of the cutest girls in the world at Trafalgar Square, London.

We had SUCH a fantastic time in London. We saw many of the touristy sites that one must see when they visit London! The Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, museums, and a West Ender...Les Miserables! What a treat. Ted really did highlight our time there - it wouldn't have been half as special without him there.

Paris!!

Paris! We went to Paris! I have to keep reminding myself of that fact because a most unusual, fleeting trip it was! We rode the overnight coach (bus) to Paris and by the time we arrived, we were absolutely shattered. My predominate memory is how incredibly TIRED we all were (three hard-core days trampsing around London, jet-lag, and hardly a wink of good sleep on the coach created a deadly combination). We arrived in Paris at 6 am. I remember walking around this beautiful city in a haze. We managed to fall asleep in Notre Dame during noon mass and at the Eiffel Tower after taking in the views. We must have been a sight! We saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and called it a day. We went back to the coach station four hours early (!) and fell asleep there! Sad but true....but we were there and made good memories! Boarded the overnight coach back to London at 10 pm. Would post more pictures but my laptop with all my pictures isn't working at the minute.

Oxford

Next stop: Oxford. We picked up our rental car there. Yes, dad was heroic and braved the streets of the UK -- not only did he drive on the opposite side of road, but he tackled an endless amount of round-abouts! We only feared for our lives when approaching those...well almost only. He did a really great job. Bravo dad. I was planted in the front seat next to him and designated navigator; I succeeded some of the time. Oxford was really awesome. Another magical place. Almost organic and hodge-podge in its creation while still maintaining its regal and stately distinction.

A hilarious restaurant we ate at in Oxford! Puccino's - I highly recommend it! They had humorous things written on the backs of their sugar packets (on everything, really). Carly is demonstrating how to use a sugar packet as 'a very small pillow'. Sweet Dreams!

Mom's 51st Birthday!!!

We celebrated mom's 51st birthday in Salisbury! After an evening walk along the River Avon, we bought a toffee cake at Tesco and headed back to our B&B. We filled our teacups with squash (a concentrated English drink) and ate the cake on our saucers! It was great! Happy Bday Mum.

The Lovely Salisbury Cathedral

Tallest spire in England! Absolutely gorgeous.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge surprised me! I was in no way interested to see it - what did I care for an overrated pile of stones? BUT when we saw it, I could sense the unusual, mythical fascination surrounding the place. It surprised me as it popped out on the skyline right next to the highway (see above left); it was unexpected and almost magical. We parked the car for about ten minutes and took a few photographs, and then we were off again! I was glad to have seen it.

Carly's 15th Birthday!

Carly's birthday was one of my favourite days! We spent it in the Lake District - the one place in England I feel my heart really lies. This is Windermere.

We went and visited Wordsworth's Dove Cottage in Grasmere. No wonder he was so inspired!!!

Practicing Poetical Poses in Wordsworth back garden!

Walking in Her Footsteps...

One of the tastiest treats was visiting Bradford on Avon in fecund Wiltshire where Ruth May Fox lived as a little girl. Our ancestor's on mom's side go WAY back there - probably to Anglo-Saxon times. It was mind-blowing to BE in this deeply-rooted home of my DNA...to realise that I, wandering around in my current mortal tabernacle, exist because of the people who walked here years ago. So the top picture is Bradford just as you're entering it. It's called Bradford on Avon because it's on the River Avon. The second picture is of the River Avon. Trust me--the pictures hardly do it justice! Bradford is like the quintessence of English history and quaintness.

So now I'm going to take you on a little journey. We had the address of Ruth May's childhood home (she wasn't "Fox" yet!). It was 85 Middle Rank Rd. It was ironic cuz when we parked our rental car, I took this picture from the car park thinking, "I bet she lived in housing something like this..." What to my happy surprise, but the kind old lady in the tourist office told us she lived in those very homes! It's the second row to the top! So let's go!

Pre-departure pit-stop at the award-winning Loo of the Year! Break now - it's going to be an uphill climb!

First we cross over the River Avon...

And this is what you'll see once over the bridge! An old Anglican church built in the 1100s. Whoa. Very likely our ancestors went there! Amazing.

I could almost see the shadow of a little Ruth running in black dress and knee socks-kinky curls bouncing-to creak open this rather imposing gate as she ran late into Sunday School. Cuz I think she would have been late. :)

Outstripping phantoms of the past, we curve a little to the right and voila! We reach Church Lane. The most flippin awesome Church Lane I've ever seen! It is a little pedestrian Lane. The steeply terraced housing the Mays lived in is basically only accessible by walking! It's so unique and just felt so right, strangely! So, up we go!

Continuing On...(this is Angie and Carly, by the way)