Home again, home again, jiggety jig; pix 6/19; post #20

I'm still brain dead, though, but we had a killer time! I have plenty of house cleaning to tend to so I won't be on PT too much until I get it done. The boy is cropping, etc. all the pix we took so I'll post a few later. This vacation exceeded my expectations; it was the trip of a lifetime. Historically, England rules; architecturally it's Paris. But there's no place like the USA. We watched the soccer match between England and the U.S. while in an English pub. When the English anthem was played, nobody stood up and no attention was paid, which I thought was odd. When the American anthem was played, my son and I were the only Americans there. We stood up and put our hands over our hearts. I sang the Anthem and a table full of women pointed to me and laughed. Like I cared. It made me proud. So many good memories. Can't wait to share a few w/you all.

I see that RICHARD reminded you of the LOA and new moon. Thanx, bud. I totally forgot about it. :p

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Originally Posted by Medusa

I'm still brain dead, though, but we had a killer time! I have plenty of house cleaning to tend to so I won't be on PT too much until I get it done. The boy is cropping, etc. all the pix we took so I'll post a few later. This vacation exceeded my expectations; it was the trip of a lifetime. Historically, England rules; architecturally it's Paris. But there's no place like the USA. We watched the soccer match between England and the U.S. while in an English pub. When the English anthem was played, nobody stood up and no attention was paid, which I thought was odd. When the American anthem was played, my son and I were the only Americans there. We stood up and put our hands over our hearts. I sang the Anthem and a table full of women pointed to me and laughed. Like I cared. It made me proud. So many good memories. Can't wait to share a few w/you all.

I see that RICHARD reminded you of the LOA and new moon. Thanx, bud. I totally forgot about it. :p

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Good for you!


Patriotic snobs we all are, eh?;)

You have to tell us what the atmosphere was like when the goalie muffed that ball!;)

That was our payback for the oil spill?

:) Well so glad to hear you are home safe & sound.. Glad to hear you had a great experience.. Yes we will be waiting for some pics to be posted..

I know it was a great trip - how could you miss? Glad you're home, glad you had a great time, looking forward to pictures! :)

I love picturing you guys standing in your American pride :)

I recently saw a Stanley Cup playoff game between a USA team and a Canadian team. Now THERE was some patriotism on display :)

Welcome back!:) I'm glad to hear that you had a great trip/vacation.:) I look forward to seeing pictures too. I bet your cats are glad that you're home.:)

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Originally Posted by RICHARD

Good for you!


Patriotic snobs we all are, eh?;)

You have to tell us what the atmosphere was like when the goalie muffed that ball!;)

That was our payback for the oil spill?

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It got deathly quiet when we scored. My son and I high-fived each other and everyone looked away. He knows how to work a crowd, though, b/c he had his pic taken w/a bunch of ladies my age who were all dressed up in their England hats, etc. I forgot to pack our USA pins so we figured that we buy a couple of Tshirts there. No way. They had every country but America. One vendor just rolled his eyes when we asked if he had any American soccer team Tshirts. We searched everywhere; there were none to be found. I asked each vendor if they were sold out and they told me that they never even ordered any. My English friend Clare, though, said that the US outplayed them.

No one has asked yet, so I will. How are the furkids?

Sounds like you had an awesome trip! Can't wait for the photos!

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Originally Posted by Queen of Poop

No one has asked yet, so I will. How are the furkids?

Sounds like you had an awesome trip! Can't wait for the photos!

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I was going to start another thread but since you asked, I'll post it here. :)
Yodie ran from me as though she was scared to death of me. She didn't warm up to me until this morning. Specs only came out to eat today; otherwise, he's stayed in the basement. Creamsicle and Coco Puff came right over to me and meowed their furry heads off. Boo took his time but he's on my lap right now.

I had a real "mewtiny" on my hands, though. My catsitter wasn't able to give Specs the Clomicalm so he had a real pee fest and I guess a few followed suit. It smelled like a giant litter box in here. I've done nothing but clean since I came home. Boo made eye contact w/me and sprayed on the wall as if to say "That's what you get for being gone so long". The last time he did that was when I didn't bring RB Pidgie home. Things have calmed down now, though. I've scrubbed every inch of the downstairs. The upstairs was closed off. Thank goodness or I'd still be cleaning.

We averaged 10 miles a day of walking for several of the days. I usually gain weight on vacation b/c I eat too much and don't exercise. I actually lost inches on this trip. My jeans kept falling down. LOL

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Originally Posted by Medusa

I actually lost inches on this trip. My jeans kept falling down. LOL

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Oh yes, great walkers, I remember I was exhausted trying to keep up with my cousins, lol. Actually broke the soles across on one pair of shoes!

Glad to hear you had such a wonderful time!

Oh dear, I AM sorry to read the fur kids weren't too happy, while you were gone or now you are back. They will come around.

Sorry the furbabies are a bit upset. Shows how much they love you.
So I have to ask, can you tell me your favorite part I know it's tough?
For me it was Westminster and The Tower.

Good to have you back Mary! Happy to hear you had a good time!:)

Welcome home Mary, can't wait to see the pics, my gosh time has flown, all good things have to come to an end sadly, i am so happy it was everything you imagined it to be, and yes i would have to say Americans are really patriotic people, we are probably slack as the Brits in that department, it really is not taught enough in schools and i think maybe it is in America, correct me if i am wrong.but good for you ,be proud of who you are.:)

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Originally Posted by Marigold2

Sorry the furbabies are a bit upset. Shows how much they love you.
So I have to ask, can you tell me your favorite part I know it's tough?
For me it was Westminster and The Tower.

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Actually, that's easy. It's Hampton Court and Hever Castle. I cried at both places. There was a reenactment of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine Parr and ladies had to curtsy and men had to get down on one knee. Brought back memories of my childhood b/c we were taught to do that in school except that the boys bowed. The magnificence of that place is just overwhelming! I couldn't feel Henry at all there but I sure could feel Cardinal Wolsey. Such sadness, especially while walking through the gardens, which were so beautiful that you couldn't be anything but impressed.

My friend captured a pic of me looking out one of the windows at Hever Castle. It gave me chills to think that Anne Boleyn looked out that same window. I'm going to have the pic enlarged, matted and framed. This place was impressive as well. I mean, who lives in a castle w/a double sided moat and a draw bridge? C'mon! :p

At the Tower there was a reenactment of Anne Boleyn's farce of a trial and I snapped a pic of the swordsman just as he was about to behead her. That gave me chills as well. Westminster Abbey was huge and majestic but a priest was unbelievably rude to me and I was so shocked that it left a bad taste in my mouth. My friend was so outraged that she went back inside and chastised him. I blew it off b/c I didn't want it to color my entire trip; I figured that there are good and bad in every profession, even priests. Stone Henge was impressive, too, but it's unfortunate that we couldn't get close enough to be amongst the stones. Only during the summer solstice is it allowed if you are part of a worship group. That's b/c some idiots kept chipping off pieces of it, so they had to rope it off. Hard to believe that someone would be so disrespectful but there it is.

I promise to post some pix later. The boy leaves tomorrow, I have to give myself time to get over my depression (happens every time he leaves), then I'll post some.

I cried at Hampton as well. I am a big Anne Bolyne fan and her trial and the death of her brother George must have just broken her heart. Such pain. I did not get to go inside Hampton, did you? I did not get to go to Hever which I know is her childhood home but will on my next visit. So looking forward to your pictures.
I saw the reenactment of Anne's trail as well as I was there on May 19 2008 the day she was killed, it was also my mom's birth date. I said a prayer at Tower Green which I found much too modern.
So glad you had a great time with your son. Did you do any shopping at Harrods?
Sorry about the man at Westminsters, what a bummer.

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Originally Posted by Marigold2

I cried at Hampton as well. I am a big Anne Bolyne fan and her trial and the death of her brother George must have just broken her heart. Such pain. I did not get to go inside Hampton, did you? I did not get to go to Hever which I know is her childhood home but will on my next visit. So looking forward to your pictures.
I saw the reenactment of Anne's trail as well as I was there on May 19 2008 the day she was killed, it was also my mom's birth date. I said a prayer at Tower Green which I found much too modern.
So glad you had a great time with your son. Did you do any shopping at Harrods?
Sorry about the man at Westminsters, what a bummer.

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Oh yes, we went through all of the palace at Hampton Court. We were allowed to get amazingly close to everything; not a lot was roped off. And I felt the same way about Tower Green but it is what it is. We had afternoon tea at Harrods and that was really nice. We were going to go to the Ritz but Clare thought that Harrods was nicer. We did shop there afterwards but the store is laid out really weird and there was too much of a selection so we didn't buy anything. However, at Covent Gardens we did some damage. ;) Lots of neat little shops there and we had a yummy lunch in the courtyard while a string trio played classical music. That was our last day there and it couldn't have been more perfect.

Sounds like a very wonderful vacation and I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures:)

Was Hampton as beautiful inside as I imagine? Did you see Windsor? Sorry for all the questions but I am so excited about going again.

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Originally Posted by Marigold2

Was Hampton as beautiful inside as I imagine? Did you see Windsor? Sorry for all the questions but I am so excited about going again.

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It's incredibly beautiful inside Hampton Court. We didn't see Windsor. We saw Stone Henge, did the Jack the Ripper tour, the white cliffs of Dover, the Tower of London, Hever Castle, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, St. Peter ad vincula, Phantom of the Opera and Paris. We squeezed so much in that looking back, I don't know how we did it all.

When do you plan on returning?

Here are a few pix of our trip. My son wrote the commentary in case you're wondering. My friend Clare took many more, too, and I'll post them later. More of mine to come.

More pix:

A few more. We have many more pix but they're on another camera, many of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc. As soon as I get them, I'll post some if anyone is still interested.

I'm glad that you are back from your trip and that you had a wonderful time.:)
The pictures are great, I would love to see more when you get a chance to post them.:)

Mary, glad that you had such a nice trip! And glad you made it back home safe!

What an interesting experience it must have been to see the soccer match of your team in the opponent's country! ;) I saw the match, too, btw! :) Oh, and did you like Covent Garden? I don't know what it's like there these days, but back in 1991, I thought it had a very charming atmosphere.

Just checked your pics. I know some of the places in London from a visit 20 years ago, like Buckingham Palace, and the Tower. But I did not see Stonehenge, I envy you for that! LOL

I also love your photos of Paris, the one of the L'ouvre with the pyramid reminds of the Da Vinci Code-movie. :)

Kirsten

Nice pics! I'd love to go there!:)

Yes - more pics please, Mary.

This is the closest I will ever get to London or Paris........:(:p

Glad you had a wonderful time Mary and your pictures are lovely! Just one thing though - that is TOWER bridge not London Bridge The old London bridge was sold to the USA and re-erected in Arizona and they have a new one now .

Awesome pictures!!

Looks like it was a fabulous trip!