more guest blogging - a tale of two houses and sore tootsies

A quick shout out to BK- thought of you when I saw the bus to Tooting Bec. And now to today's subject. The day began at the end of last night when we walked in the door at 12 :10 p.m. (Can you believe this,children that we stayed up past midnight).After a brief stint of sleep (the sun came up at 4) we gathered our stuff and ate some pain du chocolat, then we walked to the train station in Wandsworth, boarded for the quick trip to Clapham Junction. We then crossed over to the train that took us to Victoria Station. Once there, we set out to find the coach (bus) that would take us to Cambridge. The coach departed at 8:30 and we saw several interesting individuals, none of which gave permission to describe them on this site. Hopefully one of the more interesting individuals is not a professor at Cambridge. Two hours later, and a viewing of the movie London Suite on the personal Dvd player (thanks to R&M for providing the movie) and substantial worry about the sick wife next to me, we arrived at Cambridge. M & B & I chased K down the streets of Cambridge and she was on a mission to see the big church downtown, so much so that she passed the nearby baptist church and went to the church of the martyrs. we forced her to detour into Downing College for a walk around the grounds. After seeing the grounds, the church, etc. we boarded the train to Brandon. And now K picks up the emotional tale of the primary purpose of our journey to find her childhood homes. Cherrio! The train arrived and we took the long way to downtown Brandon with the intent to find 19 Hillside and 32 Crown St., homes where I lived as a wee child and of course searching for Brandon Infant School where my most vivid memory is falling down. (ask me about the scar) First stop was to send child #1 into a real estate office to ask for a map and directions. When he returned, my feet began to protest but not enough, so we set out and within minutes I was able to relive the trauma of Brandon Infant School and the devilish hill (that probably has a grade of 1 degree per thousand or so RJ estimated). We then decided to get some sustenance for our bodies prior to beginning the long journey to the two houses. A quick bite of the requisite Fish & Chips and confirmation that we had indeed been to the site of the fall at school - we set out on the long journey to the childhood homes. I tell you that the houses looked in really good shape for being over forty years old as a minimum (R says I look at least as good as the houses for my age as well). Oh, before we got to the hoouses, we detoured through a really neat looking cemetery with an old church on the grounds. The walk to the houses took over an hour and then of course we had to walk that total distance back so we took an alternate path along the river to the train station. We got on the train and went back to Cambridge where we ate some biscuits (cookies to non-brits) and drank hot chocolate and frescotas (M&B summer fruit, R Mocha). Then we took the coach back to London where after a trip to the grocery we dined on a concoction by chef M - Cajun chicken pasta. Tomorrow we are off to, well, I guess I'll keep that a secret so that you will tune in Friday night for a review of Thursday and Friday.

Guest KJ Writes Again! Beheadings, beefeaters and some miserable people

After an english breakfast of tea, oatmeal, mango, and toast with nutella, we rode the train to Tower of London. We spent two and half hours there, but it is a place you could spend the day. One hour of that was a guided tour by a beefeater who had lots of beheading stories and other tales of great interest. There are rooms and rooms of knights, weapons, the crown jewels, torture machines and other kingly stuff. tThere were lots of other tourists there, many speaking other languages. We then ate japanese with chopsticks at wagamama's. yes, jfer, we had edamame - very good. dad and MJ had spicy soup and BJ had curry rice and i had some noodles with calamari and lots of veggies. Then it was off the the Globe theatre (outdoor) where we were able to watch about 15 min. of a shakespearan play called Coriolanus. then we had to hurry home to change clothes for our big evening out. they kept it a secret where we were going but my wishes came true: we were going to the Queens theatre to see Les Miserables. It was a total musical and it was very amazing. Total fun!! We then walked to a steakhouse and enjoyed a nice dinner. A double decker bus ride home completed our lovely day; we were home by 12:30. Tomorrow we are off to Cambridge- bright and early.

Guest Blogger: Day 1 of European Vacation

Our British Airways flight 2192 made us feel like we were already in the UK with their accents, but we were slightly annoyed to wait an hour after boarding before take-off.

Our flight had the usual screaming babies (Martha likes full details).

I watched Shooting Dogs (about genocide in Rwanda) and The New World, while Richard watched The Last Holiday.

We had stir-fry and lasagna for dinner - followed after fitful sleep later with mixed fruits and yogurts, as the pilot announced that he was circling over London Gatwick for the first time in his career. Just our luck.

On our arrival, we made our way through passport control - just barely. After a quick scolding for not knowing the address of where we would be staying, we walked to the carousel and easily found our baggage coming by. We hurried out to make our way to the train.

Then Matt and Bree surprised us and led us to a Southwest Cab - providing us with a friendly, stress-free ride despite being on the wrong-side of the road and moving through narrow lanes. We narrowly averted a few pedestrians speeding in and out of traffic.

After a quick 20 minute nap, a warm bath and fried sandwiches with Thai sweet chili crisps, we set out to purchase an Oyster pass which would allow us to make our way to Wimbldeon Museum and tour the grounds.

Then we went dress shopping for Bree and came home with makeup.

After a spot of tea and crumpets, our hosts went off to the kitchen to make stir-fry... Richard caught another 20 minute nap.

A fine dinner was had and then we helped bring the new Barbie onto the rooftop of the flat.

Now it is 8:57 p.m. and eyes will be closing shortly to awaken to new adventures tomorrow.

A KJ Original, narrated with hubby, transcribed by son - audibly proofed and approved by DIL.

Cheers and hidey-ho.