Saying Farewell to England ~ Day 9

Our final day in London. How did this happen so quickly?!?!

Packing our suitcases and going home.
We were sad our trip was over, but still
smiling because we'd had so much fun!

From my travel journal: "When we originally booked our hotel in London {The Strand Palace} we paid for breakfast to be included. How convenient, we thought. It was a nice spread of a traditional English breakfast that was great the first day, but has decreased in yum-factor with each passing day. On this last morning in London, we made our way down the street and grabbed a breakfast sandwich (a bacon butty) on our way over to Covent Garden."

At Covent Garden we did some last minute souvenir shopping then headed back to check out of our hotel room. I laugh to myself when I see the next photo and hear Carrie's words as we made our way back to our hotel - me stopping every 10 feet to snap another photo. "Mother! I don't think you realize how much we need to HURRY!" She was right, of course.

Cobblestone is tricky to walk on, but pulling a large, heavy suitcase on cobblestone is even more challenging. {At this moment I would like to send a shout out to the genius who invented wheels on suitcases! Awesome!} We made our way through crowds of people and onto the underground train headed for Heathrow Airport.

The train was packed! We squeezed in there like everyone else, and slowly made our way to the airport. With each stop came the silent hope that people would get off of the train, but more people just kept climbing in. Wow - that was interesting. We had to disembark at one point to change train lines, and from that point on there was a little more wiggle room.

Due to me taking one-more-picture, the crowds of people we waded through, numerous stops of the train, and then a delayed train when we had to switch, we finally arrived at the airport 30 minutes behind schedule. It was no big deal travel wise, but I felt bad because Ruth and The Boy Child had been waiting there to see us off.

"It's so nice to meet you!" I said to Ruth's boy. And in all honesty he replied, "We have been waiting and waiting and waiting..." :o) Bless his sweet heart - 30 minutes must have felt like an eternity to him!

The Boy Child was lovely, and he took to me right away. {Carrie got Alice, I had TBC!} He was chatty and animated, and it was so fun to see his excitement over all of the airplanes landing and taking off. He knew each airline carrier and announced their names as he saw them, including "There's British Airways, a JUMBO jet!"

We enjoyed a quick lunch and then it was time to make our way through security...

It was hard saying goodbye to Ruth and her boy. It was hard saying goodbye to England. Our trip was over, and now we'd be left with the lovely memories we jam-packed into nine days.

With a lump in my throat I hugged Ruth and her sweet boy. Carrie and I turned to walk away and in a moment I heard Ruth's boy call out, "I love you!" {be still, my heart} I turned, with tears in my eyes then, and called back to him, "I love you, too!"

Can you think of a more perfect way to end our time in England?

Simply perfect.

♥

 

Dear friends ~ Thanks so much for your sweet and gracious comments on all of my vacation posts. It was such a special time for Carrie and me, and I realize that some of these posts were super lengthy, but it was a labor of love to put them together. I really appreciate those of you who took the time to sit through our vacation slides! It was fun, huh? ;o) ~ ♥ Deb

Our England Trip ~ Day 8

Carrie and I had packed so many things into one week, it's no wonder we were feeling a little worn out and ready for a little relaxation by Friday, day #8 of our trip.

And looky what we saw! Blue sky!!! It was so wonderful to see London with that blue sky as a backdrop, and we would enjoy that for an hour or two before heading off to spend some time with our friends in East Grinstead. Here are a few photos I took on our way to the train station.

So pretty, huh?

We were so fortunate to have the opportunity to leave London and travel to some more rural areas in England to meet up with blog friends. Our trip to Bishop's Stortford the previous weekend had been so lovely, and now we were heading south of London to East Grinstead to visit Rhona and her family. The train ride was so beautiful, and Carrie and I were both excited to see where Rhona lived.

Rhona and her youngest daughter, Emily were waiting at the train station when we arrived. Rather than head straight to their home, we parked the car and had a lovely stroll through the downtown area. The buildings were so old and beautiful - my kind of town! And there was this lovely church surrounded by a beautiful old cemetery. Dates on the gravestones dated back to the 1700's! It was so interesting to walk the grounds, and so much fun to be with Rhona and Emily.

We all gathered at Rhona's home and enjoyed a lovely lunch she had prepared for us - yummy quiche, a fresh salad, bread, and two desserts. We loved visiting with Rhona's family, we were thoroughly entertained by her little grand-daughter Alice, smitten with baby Megan, and Carrie resisted the requests to play Rhona's husband's guitar.

We loved looking through Rhona's Project Life and were both so inspired for our own. How lovely to sit in the home of a blog friend and actually hold her Project Life album in our laps and have a real look. I highly recommend that if you ever get the chance!

Rhona's little grand-daughter, Alice, really took to Carrie. When the time came for us to gather our things to go, we stood in line for a few photos. As Carrie's mom, it really warmed my heart when I saw Alice hold her arms up toward Carrie. Carrie swooped her up and held her while we took photos of our girls. I loved this part so much!

We could have spent all day at Rhona's, but alas it was our last night in London and we needed to get back. It was in our plans to get to Abbey Road that afternoon and have our photos taken as we crossed the road, just as the Beatles had done for their Abbey Road album cover back in 1969. At this point, Carrie had become very comfortable navigating the underground train system, and we made our way from East Grinstead to Abbey Road effortlessly.

So, here's a thought for the folks who live near Abbey Road: You know it's Abbey Road. You know there are thousands of tourists who flock there and take up the roadway to take that photo they've dreamed of for so long, you know there might be traffic delays, so...hm...if it bothers you, why not take a different route? Just sayin... Yeah, the local motorists aren't always polite about pedestrians impeding traffic.

Anyway! Abbey Road was really cool, and we took the photo of Carrie walking across the street. I opted out because there was a long line of other tourists waiting for the same chance, motorists were honking, I was freezing...just didn't want my own turn at it. But Carrie got hers and that's what we were aiming for.

We had noticed a nice little Italian restaurant near our hotel, and we saved it for our last night in London. I'm so glad we did because we had the most amazing meal there - delicious food, great ambiance, fantastic service, and memorable conversation. It was such a special time for us to talk about the wonderful week we had spent together. We were both filled to the brim with joy and gratitude!

Tomorrow we would do some last minute souvenir shopping at Covent Garden, and then make our way to the airport where Ruth and The Boy Child would meet us for one last visit and a send off.

This trip that we'd waited so long for was coming to an end.

We were both so happy and so exhausted, grateful yet weary for home.

♥

{I'll have one final trip post next week.}

 

Team Teal Tuesday ~ A Strawberry at Buckingham Palace

Oh, friends, my mom loved British royalty!

So when Carrie and I thought about places to leave

strawberries during our time in England, we knew

that Buckingham Palace had to be one of them.

♥

Carrie and I had planned to visit Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. We went. We waited - but about 15 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to take place, someone came out with a sandwich board sign that read "No changing of the guard today." Boo.

I originally put this strawberry on the fence in front of the palace, but it didn't feel right to leave it there. {There were lots of people around there, and...I don't know...it just didn't feel right.} So after taking photos of a strawberry bouncing around in the wind with guards in the background, we walked over to the grassy area near the palace and hung it from a tree.

I love looking at this photo and thinking of my mom. She would have loved that we left a strawberry at Strawberry Field in Liverpool. She would have loved the ones we left at the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. But this one? At Buckingham Palace? I really think this would have been her favorite.

God Save the Queen,

and bless my mom.

♥

To read all of my posts about

The Strawberry Project

{click here}

Our England Trip ~ Day 7 ~ London

From my travel journal: "After spending a whirlwind day in Paris yesterday, we were a little slow moving this morning. Our feet/ankles/legs were so sore {turns out that walking on cobblestone takes some getting used to} and we were just plain worn out. I knew we had a lot of ground to cover today, so I insisted that we get up and moving early! There will be plenty of time for resting when we get home."

Even though this was day #7, we hadn't really seen a whole lot around London. Our hotel was only a couple of blocks from Trafalgar Square, so we headed there first.



Oooh...did you see that? A little peek at blue sky?!?! We enjoyed that while it lasted, and then saw falling snow later in the day. ~sigh~

Ooooohhhh it was cold! As in, ice beard cold:

Next up was Buckingham Palace, so we figured out our route and started walking.

We made it to Buckingham Palace in plenty of time to see the Changing of the Guard at 11:30. But, after waiting for about 15 minutes at a sweet spot right up at the fence, someone came out with a sign that read, "No Changing of the Guard Today." ~sigh~ Really? Ok...so we dropped a strawberry off and headed toward Westminster Abbey for our next sight-seeing adventure.

Friends, Westminster Abbey is one of the coolest places I've seen in my whole life! The architecture was simply breathtaking, and the inside of the cathedral just blew our minds! We were both disappointed to learn that photos were not allowed inside - there was so much to see in there. We lit a candle for my mom, and I slipped and said a bad word as I set it back in its spot and burned my thumb. {oops! sorry, Mom. and God.} And there was a little brat boy standing there blowing the candles out and fanning them with a brochure, even after I sternly told him not to. Where was his mother?!?!

It was totally cool to come out of Westminster Abbey and hear Big Ben chiming. It was magical and very surreal. We headed out from the abbey, both of us getting a little grumpy and short tempered - it was lunch time and we needed food.

I found a cute little pub nearby that looked fine, but Carrie wanted to press on. She was on a mission to get us back to Hard Rock Cafe {where we'd already been once} because she knew she could get a good burger there. Turns out, there was a wait at HRC so we ended up around the corner in a pub with a menu that looked exactly like the one we originally passed up.

Using the GPS on Carrie's phone had been really convenient, but for whatever reason we couldn't connect to the pub's free wifi, so we spread out the paper map. We got our bearings and planned our next stop, then folded up the map.

At this point Carrie said, "Hey, where's my phone?" and we spent the next 30 minutes looking in every pocket and bag we had with us. We each emptied our purses twice, and it finally dawned on us that her phone had been stolen. {~sigh~ We are so naive sometimes!} It was difficult to fathom - we'd been sitting right there, looking slightly to the side as we searched the map, and we never even saw anyone walk by our table, much less snatch Carrie's phone {a new iPhone5!!!} that was maybe 3" from her elbow! {See above photo, taken just minutes before that phone was taken. Crazy, right?}

I have to say that I was very proud of the way Carrie handled this bump in the road. She was really upset about her phone, but she took practical measures to take care of things. Using my phone, she was able to "find" hers {tracked to one mile from the pub where we'd last seen it}, remotely lock it, erase its contents, and later completed a police report with all the pertinent information. Even though it was upsetting, ultimately it was just a phone, and we still had two more days in ENGLAND. There would be other phones in her future...

{Another proud moment: Even in her upset state, she still had the presence

of mind to ask me to take her photo, being sad about her phone. That's my girl!}

Our final full day in London had been really fun, up until Carrie's phone was stolen right out from under our noses. We were trying to shake it off, but I'll admit that it did take the wind out of our sails a bit. We decided to head back to our hotel room for a while, get warm, freshen up, and then go back out.

It didn't take us long to regroup, and we set our sights on a trip to Harrods - a large swanky department store in London. Oh.My.Goodness. What a great place to forget about a stolen phone! And we both really wished we had more time to spend, as there was a LOT to see there. So very posh in so many ways! All kinds of departments, all very elegant and beautifully arranged.

And when we came across the Godiva Cafe at Harrod's, it was a hands-down no-brainer that we'd wait for a table and share an order of chocolate fondue. Yum!!!

Travel journal: "All except for the phone issue, our day exploring London was fantastic. And it's amazing what chocolate fondue can do for your spirits! We loved sight-seeing in London so much, and we have a big day planned for tomorrow..."

♥

Team Teal Tuesday ~ A Strawberry at Arc de Triomphe

I wasn’t really prepared for how fascinated I would be with the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It was massive in size, intricate in design, and I hadn’t even known that its purpose serves as a war memorial.

I mentioned in a post last week that my mom had been to Paris several years ago - she visited the Arc de Triomphe while she was there. As I stood under that amazing arc, I wasn’t struck by the size or the design or the purpose of its structure. Instead, I was struck by the fact that my mom had stood under it too - in all its glory - and I know she appreciated it on the exact same level that I was appreciating it that day.

As I prepared this blog post and searched for links to include in my text, I clicked on a link to this site and immediately noticed a link on the left that read, “Honoring the Brave.” How appropriate, I thought, that Carrie and I left a strawberry at a place that honors courage. No, my mom wasn’t a hero in a political war, but she was a hero in her fight against ovarian cancer. Truly, my mom is one of the bravest women I’ve ever known.

So we left a strawberry for my mom at the Arc de Triomphe. Feeling extra sentimental, we called Doug from there, and also left a voice message for Papa Rod.

{Carrie's Photo}

I know in my heart that my mom would be pleased.

♥

{You can read all about our Strawberry Project by clicking here.}