London... We're here!

We were sad to leave the Cotswolds today! It is such a beautiful area and we had so much more we would have liked to explore.  

One thing we won't miss are all the spiders; like one that was about 21/2 inches long and we found one in each of two bedrooms! One we killed one and the other one got away. I'd have slept on the couch if it were in my room! Very creepy! 

We also won't miss the roads and driving a big van. We actually did very well, but had a few close calls and got temporarily stuck 3 or 4 times were our van couldn't pass the other car, and other times had people pass us soooo close! But, we all lived and are safe and sound.

We returned our car, our taxi was on time and we were off to London! Monte, Dad and Isaac went to the Imperial War Museum while Paige, Aaron, Judy and I walked around the River area.

And of course, stopped for a snack :-)

We finished our day with some great Indian food! Yum, yum! We might be done with all the steak pies, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and mushy peas. I never did get a photo, we were too busy eating!

Tomorrow will be our first full day in London, can't wait for it!

Cotswolds Day 3

Remember how I said our beautiful house is the quintessential English cottage? Well, Monte is up to 9 times smacking his head on the low ceilings!

This morning we headed to Sudeley Castle where Katherine Parr lived and died. She was the 6th wife of Henry Vlll. A favorite destination for Paige.

Isaac really wanted to go to Wyck Rissington to see an organ in a local church played by a very famous composer.

It was very windy today so we didn't end up walking villages like we had hoped. We made a quick stop in Lower Slaughter.

We did stop to see a ring of ancient rocks in Great Rollright. This is the King rock.

We finished with a nice dinner in Hook Norton.

And the newest member of the family!

Cotswolds day 2

Before we began our day as a group, Monte, Dad and I all headed to the end of our street to check out the village church. Amazing! It got its first church bell in 1670....pretty old. It amazes me how they have beautiful churches for tiny villages.

First thing today we headed for Broadway. It is a very cute, more upscale village. 

Paige bought a key in an antique store. It was from the 1740's. The oldest thing we own!

It was cool to see the mail carrier delivering his mail.

 We just walked around, had lunch and then drove on to the Broadway tower.

There were beautiful views from the top of the tower.

Next we went to see the lavender fields near Snowshill. When we got out of the car the smell of lavender was overwhelming! The farmer was cutting his crop so I'm sure it was more fragrant than normal.

From there we went on the the village of Snowshill. On the way there I snapped a photo of a typical two lane road.

Not for the faint of heart! It is pretty scary, I'd imagine, in a car driving these twisting roads at fast speeds not knowing what is around the corner and if there is room. But, you throw in a 9 person van, a driver from California, and then terror strikes. Then you throw in darkness of night, double terror! But, Monte our trusty driver has kept us safe!

Snowshill

So cool how the village is built around the church. How'd you like to have a grave in your front yard?

We had been walking, exploring and getting tired. We decided to head to Chipping Campden for dinner and see the last village for the day. Again, an amazing view, such old houses, most all seem to be around 1600 yet our pub was from the 13th century. 

Wish we had more time to explore! The day ended before we were ready. But, probably didn't end soon enough for our driver since now he was forced to drive home in the dark trying to find our way.

All the villages we have seen so far are very different, but all very beautiful. 

An  interesting thing to report is that you get engaged here as often as you like! ( when you use the bathroom you lock it and then there is a sign saying it is engaged / in use)

Also, if the road is blocked by a truck, and cars pass by him very carefully and successfully, that doesn't mean a 9 person van can :-)

Cotswolds

Today we headed to Blenheim Palace in the middle of the countryside. It was were Winston Churchill was born.

They had a jousting tournament.

The palace reminded me of Versailles.

In the afternoon, we drove to Bampton, where they filmed scenes from Downton Abby. The village was really cute and very old, from the 1600's.

And for dinner we drove to the nearby village of Bourton-on-the-Water.

Tomorrow, more cute villages, after a good nights rest!

England, here we come!

We had a very long, but decent flight. We had smooth sailing into SFO, and both planes were on time and we got our connection with no problem. The only issue we had was: coughing, sneezing, blowing, screaming, and barfing! None of which were us :-)

Here is london from the plane. See the London Eye in the lower right corner?

We arrived, got our rental van, and after the third van we were on our way. Monte caught onto driving on the wrong side of the road every quickly. What wasn't so quick was trying to follow the GPS out of the airport. We ended up back in the airport in a parking garage, had to pay for driving through, then finally we were off!

We have the most beautiful, quintessential English cottage you can image.

We had dinner at our village pub, and after Paige's traditional beer spilling all over her clothes, we went to bed after being nearly awake for 33 hours.