Travel With Me Tuesday: Day 13 Farewell to England

This first page is a match to the December 6 page showing  our departure from the US. I felt like giving it a visual feel to the book, bookends of a sort.

But then I added this one to show the various pins across England for our three locations and some of the food delights we had. Nothing posh but food that fit us on this trip. All shown are MY meals!

And finally my feelings, wishful feeling but it's how I feel about the United Kingdom, and England in particular. Will I ever move? You never do know do you what the future could bring!

Travel With Me Tuesday: Day 12 Evening in Bath

We were happy to wander around a bit more but our last day on this English trip meant packing up to go home. Fortunately we found a calming event for the evening and a time to visit Bath's gorgeous Cathedral.

A children's Christmas Pageant. I'd seen these in my earlier years in England but Dick had never seen one. Oh the excitement and the anxious parents hoping that their child/children would do well, remember their parts and all that kind of things parents worry about. There were the occasional criers but only their parents seemed to mind. The arrival of the donkey really did seem to be the highlight of the show. So much fun and such tender feelings for me.

Next day it would be an early departure for our train to London/Heathrow and on home. A very good trip rounded out with the joy of children and the ever inspiring Christmas story.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Bath Day 12

Day 12 of our trip started with an overcast day. Dick was happy to go out early in day and enjoy the river and the many architectural sights. Bath IS a beautiful city.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Bath Day 11

After our time in Avebury, it was time to head onto our 3rd destination on this England trip. Dick had been the one interested in seeing Bath, though it was never clear to me why he felt this draw. He's certainly not a reader of Jane Austen. But Bath seemed just fine to me and so we chose this city as Spot #3. Our guide had picked a lovely place for lunch and then it was down into Bath. I do mean down. Why had I not looked at a geographical guide to be aware of the hills.

Once we got settled into our gorgeous flat and were ready to go out it was drizzling. No big deal but it was still nice to get into this bookshop. I could have spent the night there! But it had been a long day and an early night was called for.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Day 11 Off to Avebury and Bath

Years, decades,  ago my fiancé met me in England so we could meet up again before we got married the following year. This was, of course before the internet, cell phones and even easily made international calls, especially from his Air Force location in Turkey. I did not go to England alone but rather with my mother as chaperone. Yes, that was the old days but I might add it was also before the pill and I suspect my parents figured it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

We three did a lot of traveling in our week in England and while we drove one day from London to Bristol, we did not stop at Stonehenge along the way. Our 24 hours of car rental were one pressing reason but also we were pretty sure we'd be living in England when said fiancé was out of the Air Force.  Amazingly, in our seven later years in England we never did make it to Stonehenge and thus a bucket list item for me on this decades later trip was Avebury.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Day 10 Final London Day

I had sorted my clothes out the night before so I had free time to go back to the Courtauld to give more time to things and exhibits I wanted to see. My daughter in law's sister had been an exchange student in Mali, so that was one for me to enjoy slowly. Plus there was all the music!

It's always a wistful feeling when it's the last day in London. I realize how fortunate I was to live in England for seven years long ago, when it could be an on the spot decision to either go to London for the weekend or just take the train for the day. Who could tire of London?

And finally, a good time looking and and listening to the Christmas crowds and carolers.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Day 9 East End Afternoon

Truthfully, this was one of the days in London that I enjoyed the most. Lots of walking at my own pace, going to see places I wanted to see. Or rather I should say areas I wanted to see. Walk and see what catches my eyes is the way I like to explore.

Travel With Me Tuesday: England Day 9 London East End

I really wanted to see the East End again especially after seeing it again in so many PBS shows.  This was something I wanted to do as opposed to something my husband wanted to see.  He saw as much as he wanted in a very short time. So, these pages are mostly about my day.

Travel With Me Tuesday: England Day 8

I inadvertently put two of Day 8 ahead of the tail end of Day 7 but that's how the brain fails to work correctly some times. I doubt anyone is upset about that, are you. So here's wrapping up Day 8.

The light in London on this afternoon was nothing less than spectacular. I know part of it is the city's latitude and reminds me of Vermeer's light or the photos I've seen taken up in Vancouver BC. In my memory of my year's in England, we didn't often have these gorgeous days or if we did they were rare and relished.

Travel With Me Tuesday: Let's get back to England Day 7

Not sure where I left off but just to say from the start, I FINISHED that album and it went to print and I have it! Just a little issue of a bad dent in the spine. I've got to call Shutterfly and let them know.  Yes,  I wold like an undamaged book.

I don't often do lined up pages like this but it was such a simple evening that it worked.  It also made it easy to get another day wrapped up with less work.

and together they look like this. Pretty, right?

Travel With Me Tuesday: England Day 8

Continuing the theme of 'simple gets it done' I moved on to Day 8,  which also led to a  'check before you go to visit' experience. On trips, we should probably be each other's back up in checking. Just saying...

I missed having a cup of tea at Twinings and he missed seeing the inside of Temple Church. fwiw, Twinings did sell tea (of course) but not by the cup

Travel With Me Tuesday: London Day 7 December 13 a.m.

Some days need to be rest days for each of us on longer trips. We each have our own body clocks which works quite well at home when we can each easily go our own way and on our own time. Travel involves more compromise. I'm loving the double page layouts for lost of these days and coordinating and letting the flow work can be both a challenge but really rewarding. I really would like this trip scrapped by Easter? summer? We'll see!

Trade With Me Tuesday: London Day 6 PM

I decided to have a go at this final part of Day 6. I'd put this one off because I remembered how poorly I'd felt every time I looked at the photos. Finally, I had to give myself a talk  and when the double pager challenge came up in  Anna Aspnes weekly challenges, I thought that was a sign! I always try to do a good many of my pages from trips with Anna's products at Oscraps.

Doing this as a double page from the git go was not nearly as hard as I remembered it to be. I think I'll plan on doing this for a couple more layouts so this trip can finally be finished.

Wordless Wednesday: Spot the Birds

San Francisco

Travel With Me Tuesday: The Sun Sets On the Thames

Sunset this Sunday in London was absolutely perfect. The Golden Hour before the sun set bathed so many of the building in a warm pinkish gold. I could have stayed there longer but he was tired and wanted to go back to our flat. Of course he had been up earlier than I had and had had his own morning jaunt. Days with light like this make up for a lot of the darker grey days. Probably.

By the time we got out of the tube at our station, Russel Square, the sun had set and night was upon us. But I did take time to take a shot of our building as people scurried to get home and back into the warm. I took my time and plodded up the steps to our flat but...I did get my photo first!

Wordless Wednesday: London Blue Bug

immaculate vintage Bug

Travel With Me Tuesday: We Walk to the Thames

Travel With Me Tuesday: Sunday Pub Lunch

I like to put some simpler pages in between a bunch of artsy ones. Usually, they are easier to do but not always. These were and were a good way to get just one event of the day done. A bit of a semi Christmasy look here.

Travel With Me Tuesday: London Walkabout - His Then Ours

One of us wakes up much earlier than the other so when he did, he went out for a walk north towards what I think of as 'train central'  - Euston, St. Pancras and Kings Cross. After he came back, we were ready to go out for lunch and a good walk down to the Thames. This gave me a good 'mental map' again. I was pretty familiar with this part of London, in fact my first visit and stay was in Bloomsbury - 1965!

Travel With Me Tuesday: Goodbye Yorkshire Hello London

I like pages that include maps because in later times looking back on these trips it's always interesting to trace our paths. It was a nice train ride but still it was good to get off, get a coffee and walk to our London rental. Stage 2 of our trip had begun!