After twelve awesome days in Egypt (which you can read about
here), I went with my mum and dad to England for six weeks (oh the luxuries of having two months of no work!)
How was the time in England? Here's a (really lame) rebus puzzle to answer that:
FANTASTIC!! (Fanta + Stick)
I had an absolutely fantastic time, from start to finish.
It was great to be able to spend lots of time with family, take in London sights and, of course, The Olympics!
We spent time with Nanny (my dad's mum) for the first bit, and it was really nice. We mostly stayed around Walton, although we did have a really long day in London, where we took in Hyde Park, the newly unveiled Bomber's Memorial, and then walked through Westminster Cathedral and also got to see where Dad did his culinary college.
I spent some time at my uncle and aunt's house with them and their two boys. I got to see Henry perform in his class's end of year talent show. We went to the park, and we played lots of Roller Coaster Tycoon on my laptop.
One of the days, Henry and I went to do a tour of The London Dungeons. I had done it before, but it was cool to go through with Henry (who was 10 at the time). Most of it was on the funny end of the funny-scary spectrum, but there were a couple of times when we both were spooked! One of which was in a retelling of the Jack the Ripper story, when the lights went out and "Jack" appeared with a knife. I'm pretty sure everyone in the room jumped, but maybe not as high or with as much force as Henry, who practically ended up in my arms. It was awesome. That afternoon we then went to go see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. It was a modern retelling, with the setting being a trailer park. It was terrific. A couple of weird moments, but overall it was really enjoyable, with cool use of music and a really, really cool set! We also spent a day at the Imperial War Museum, which was really cool and interactive. It included a bunker experience from WWI and an air raid shelter experience from WWII.
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Propaganda where a shadow of Hitler is telling a woman to bring her kids back to the city. Creepy stuff. |
Then Mum and I went down to Bath to visit Granny (her mum) and Dad joined us later. We had a great time at Granny's, filled with lots of walks, card games at night, amazing cooking, and just a little bit of wine! One day we rented a row boat and rowed along the canal, which was so fun.
After rowing down the canal, and watching all the rowing on the Olympics, I'm super interested in taking up rowing - all I need now is a . . . . boat, oars, and somewhere to row. Must get on this. We were so lucky with the weather all the time we were there. It pretty much rained non stop in June, but thankfully was clear, sunny, and even hot in July. Thank goodness!
We were in Bath for the anniversary of Pappa's death. We went to a special mass in the morning, and then we went to a National Trust house and garden for a picnic lunch and a lovely walk around. It was a gorgeous property, with a big lake, lots of trees and flowers, a beautiful house, and it was a lovely day. We ended our visit buying a plant which we put in Granny's garden in honor of Pappa.
It was nice to spend so much time in Bath and get to have a feel for the place. Most days we walked into town and spent time wandering into shops or running errands (I got my watch fixed and renewed my passport). One morning Mum and I did the audio tour of the Baths, which was really interesting. Apparently we did it when we were kids, but I don't remember it. It was cool to hear about how advanced they were with therapeutic treatments back then, and it was especially interesting to learn about because of having been to Rome now.
The Olympics started while in Bath, and we watched the Opening Ceremony (which I loved!!) and many events over the next few days. I was super excited about the Olympics before they even started, but wow! It was so great to be in England for the Games. Everyone got so into it, you could really feel the energy everywhere. I remember watching when Britain won its first gold medal (Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won for women's pairs in rowing), and literally tearing up watching. That definitely wasn't the only time I got emotional over an event, the whole Games were full of them.
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The Tower Bridge decked out for the Games |
We actually left Bath to go over to Wales for two nights, the first of which was to go to see England's football team take on Uruguay. Again, it was Fantastic!! We went first to visit Mum's cousin for some tea and to catch up, and then we walked from their place over to Millennium Stadium.
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The stadium from the outside |
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From our seats |
We were impressed with how well organized everything was. There were definitely lots of people there, but we didn't wait in long lines, everything flowed smoothly. They did a bag check before even entering the park area, and at that point sealed up your bag so that the ticket takers would know it was all clear. And everyone in the crowd was friendly and happy to be there. England won, which was great (although they didn't make it that much further in the tournament). It was really cool to actually attend an Olympic Event.
I've now been to a World Cup game and a Summer Olympics game - maybe I'll head to Sochi for the Winter Olympics next year!!
We stayed in Wales with another of Mum's cousins and her family. The next day we got to visit Pappa's brother Paddy and his wife Celia, which was really nice, but also a bit sad for me. Paddy has the same laugh as Pappa, and it was a little unnerving to be around that. But, ultimately, it was a lovely visit, and I'm glad we did.
That night there was a small party at Fi's house, and we got to catch up with even more of the Welsh family! It was lots of fun, even if we were all a little worse for wear the next morning.
We then went back to Bath for the night, before heading back into London. I stayed with Helen and Steve again, while Mum and Dad met up with their friends for a mini-break. I went to Thorpe Park with Helen, Henry, George, Amber (my cousin), and her two boys (Denny and Bobby). It was a great day, with lots and lots of roller coasters. Henry is now tall enough to go on all of the rides, so he and I had a mad time rushing around to the coasters (my favorite). We also did some of the carnival-esque rides, which George, and sometimes Denny, were tall enough to go on. One of the last rides we went on was a ride based on the scary movies Saw, and that may not have been a smart decision on our part.
It takes you through a haunted house where you see grisly and gruesome scenes from the movie, and then goes outside for a terrifying incline straight up, with a horrible drop afterwards. At one point on the incline Henry looks over to me and says "I don't think I want to do this" - a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agreed! Thankfully it was over really quickly, and we decided against riding it again.
I also went into Hyde Park one morning to watch the Men's Triathalon. I didn't have a ticket, but there were many parts of the course that were visible to the public. If I had been taller, I could have seen them swimming in the Serpentine, but as I'm not, I saw instead lots and lots of heads of other people. I did, however, see them all cycling around in the bike portion, but had to leave before the running started.
I had to leave because Helen and I had tickets to see "The Taming of the Shrew" in the New Globe Theatre. We got groundling tickets, and it was cool to experience what it would have been like back in Shakespeare's time. It was interesting also, to see two Shakespeare plays in such a short time. They were very, very different in approach and felt so very different. The play at the Globe was much bawdier and broke the fourth wall, while the Shakespeare in the Park was more serious (as a format, still very much a comedy though). If that makes any sense? At any rate, it was really awesome, although next time I might consider paying to sit down, it was hot and long!
Right after the play Helen and I decided to pop into the Tate Modern, which is right next door. It all sounds very cultured, but in actuality the exhibit didn't really do much for either of us, and we left pretty quickly afterwards. There was an exhibit in the turbine hall by Tino Sehgal that involved people moving around in swarms. A review of the piece included this gem of a line: "Paradoxically, his work is substantial and substantive, but it is totally without substance." Yeah, modern art is not really my thing. But I'm glad we went in and re-established that. :)
Then I met up with Mum and Dad and we went to visit family friends for two nights, followed by a weekend at Mum's sister Sarah's house. We had great fun with Sarah's friends over one night, lots of good meals, cheering on Tom Daley over the television, and even a visit with more cousins! We spent two days wandering around London. One with Mum, Dad, my cousin Isabelle, and her dad Dave. We got to see some really cool parts of London - Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, and more. We ended by walking Dave to his work, for the English National Ballet, and we got to walk in and see dancers warming up and rehearsing.
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GIANT Lego map of the world on the riverbank |
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It was cool to see all the ways London got into the Games |
One day we met up with Mum and Sarah's brother, Paul, who was in town doing police work for the Olympics. We all had brunch, then drinks overlooking the Thames. Paul had to leave and Dave had to work, but Mum, Dad, Sarah, Isabelle, and I made our way back to their house, stopping at a couple (read: three) more bars on the way! We went to this awesome tapas bar called Jose's which was delicious, and then learned that the owner had just opened up a restaurant down the street, so we walked down there and had a drink there too.
Finally, on our way home, Sarah took us to this bar that is on the roof of a parking garage. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was so cool! Great views and a really fun place.
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The rooftop bar |
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View from the rooftop bar |
Mum and I went one night to see "War Horse", which if you get the chance, I totally recommend! Definitely fantastic!! I had read the book, but I still got so caught up in the story and especially in the movement of the puppets. Unbelievable. They did a great job of making the horses really come to life.
After Sarah's we went back to Nanny's for the rest of the time. We took a couple of days to go down to Hampshire to stay at the Four Seasons there before Dad had to go back to Egypt. It is a gorgeous hotel, and we spent our days walking, cycling, playing croquet and eating delicious food. It was a pretty wet, but great little break.
One of the days at Nanny's Mum and I went down to visit some friends from Nevis. It was lovely to catch up on what's been going on, as well as reminisce about our time in Nevis.
The rest of our time was spent around Walton, taking walks and exploring the area. We went into the retirement center with Nanny so that she could have a look around, and now I hear that she goes a couple of times a week, which is great. We also went to Bobby's first birthday party, where I played many rounds of Hide and Seek with Denny. We were also able to go see the rosebush they planted in Grandad's name in the cemetery.
One of the nicest things about living in Italy is getting to see family that I normally don't get to see. It was wonderful to spend eight weeks with my parents and six weeks with other family in England. While the not making any money part wasn't too fun, it was nice to have a little break. Not sure that I would like it every year (finances) it was a truly fantastic summer.