Everyone talks about the weather in the UK, and especially about the rain. One of the big advantages of the rain is the lush vegetation and flowers. Now, as the soil warms up, everything is blooming.
Some of these pictures are from our garden, some from Hyde Park in central London. And yes, it's warm enough, I had to cut the grass once.
The boats were in a canal in London called "Little Venice". People live on these boats, called narrow boats, and we ran across a club meeting.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
A weekend at home
Just so you don't think we're running around every weekend, we do spend most of them at home. And the weather is really getting nice here. This was the last weekend in April, we took the doggies for an extremely long walk along the river. Everybody was out and it was a lovely day. We when we got back to the house, we just continued enjoying the weather in our own back garden, and used the grill for the first time.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Stockholm Sweden Week-end April 19-21 2008
Again the weather was absolutely wonderful sunny and breezy. No hint of rain anywhere. James and I arrived Saturday morning James just got back home Friday night from Madrid so he was a little blurry. He then was leaving Monday morning from Sweden to Copenhagen and then to Amsterdam and then to Brussels.
We looked everywhere for a chocolate moose but couldn't find one. But we did find some interesting looking vikings.
We walked through the old town called (Gamla Stan)a island it was so beautiful. We also took a boat ride through the harbor around Stockholm. We also took a ferry ride(Djurgsrden ferry) to the Vasa Museum it has the world's only surviving 17Th -century ship and then a walk through the Nordic museum (which was disappointing) We also saw the changing of the guards at the palace.
We even found a pub with live music a 4 piece band playing American music.The band was playing in the cellar. You had to go down steep narrow stairs to the cellar where you literally were sitting among the band as it was playing. Most people were sitting around the room at long tables, when people came down the cellar stairs they just moved in tighter to make more room. People also just stood around the front of the band as they played.
The weather was so great that that we saw a few convertibles we even saw a guy walking his pig through town. The weirdest thing that we experienced was the noise the car's were making we finally figured it out they still had snow tires on. and they made a humming clicking noise.
Monday morning James left to go to Copenhagen, I had a half a day to do some shopping But I decided to go to Skansen a open air museum. It's a royal park with a zoo and living history museum. Being a Monday it wasn't busy with tourist only mothers with children. I was able to see what it was like to live in Sweden the the early days. They also had people in character but They only spoke Swedish. I took a few pictures of the animals seen in Sweden (bears, wolves and elk(moose) and reindeer. The batteries were almost dead before I got through the whole park. I really liked Stockholm the people were nice.
The whole picture album is here
We looked everywhere for a chocolate moose but couldn't find one. But we did find some interesting looking vikings.
We walked through the old town called (Gamla Stan)a island it was so beautiful. We also took a boat ride through the harbor around Stockholm. We also took a ferry ride(Djurgsrden ferry) to the Vasa Museum it has the world's only surviving 17Th -century ship and then a walk through the Nordic museum (which was disappointing) We also saw the changing of the guards at the palace.
We even found a pub with live music a 4 piece band playing American music.The band was playing in the cellar. You had to go down steep narrow stairs to the cellar where you literally were sitting among the band as it was playing. Most people were sitting around the room at long tables, when people came down the cellar stairs they just moved in tighter to make more room. People also just stood around the front of the band as they played.
The weather was so great that that we saw a few convertibles we even saw a guy walking his pig through town. The weirdest thing that we experienced was the noise the car's were making we finally figured it out they still had snow tires on. and they made a humming clicking noise.
Monday morning James left to go to Copenhagen, I had a half a day to do some shopping But I decided to go to Skansen a open air museum. It's a royal park with a zoo and living history museum. Being a Monday it wasn't busy with tourist only mothers with children. I was able to see what it was like to live in Sweden the the early days. They also had people in character but They only spoke Swedish. I took a few pictures of the animals seen in Sweden (bears, wolves and elk(moose) and reindeer. The batteries were almost dead before I got through the whole park. I really liked Stockholm the people were nice.
The whole picture album is here
 |
| Stockholm April 19-24 2008_1 |
Week-End at the Beach(Brighton)April 11-13 2008
What a wonderful week-end we had at Brighton Beach
In planning this trip we found a wonderful pet friendly hotel run by two guys (Brian and Tom) and a son (George). The place was called Avalon it is an old Victorian style Town house turned into a hotel with I think 9 rooms. We got the largest room with a king size bed and full bathroom. (Not shared) Some converted houses to hotels you share bathrooms. We had ready made breakfast every morning made by Brian and Served by Tom. The First Morning we had an English breakfast. What is in an English breakfast?
• The key components of an English breakfast include:
• bacon *
• sausages*
• black pudding
• eggs *
• tomatoes*
• baked beans*
• mushrooms *
• potatoes
• fried bread
We only had the items with the *
What we had plus coffee toast with butter and jam and Orange Juice.
It was wonderful and I could not eat it all. The next day I just had toast fresh fruit and ham and fried egg.
I agree with Diana, Brian, Tom and George were great hosts. For more information about The Avalon Hotel, click on the link.
James and I went down separately to Brighton beach . James had a late afternoon Friday meeting so he came down later. So the Boys and I took off for our first train trip. The first leg was short around 10 min ride with 20 min wait for the next train. Then 1 hr ride to the coast. The boys were great they always get a lot of attention here in the UK. They stayed near me or sat on my lap. Because the train was not full Elijah a and Darkstar held their own seat.
I gave the boys a hair cut and Elijah needed a fleece sweater for the trip. The Weather men/women here in the UK are as bad or worst then in the states. They predicted rain and chilly. The weather both on Sat and Sun day was sunny and nice with some breeze. I brought a rain coat but did not need it. Just wore it at night when it got cold and damp.
Friday night we went to the 40th anniversary tour of Jethro Tull. I knew a few songs but James was in pure heaven. The seats were great up close and personal the concert was in an old theater called the Dome. The place was absolutely beautiful.
Before the concert we all went to dinner (James and I and the boys) The place was recommended by Brain as being dog friendly it was called the Wellington. The food was good I had a half chicken dinner and James had wild boar dinner (the boar was in a sausage link) which we have discovered while here in the UK we don’t like very much.
Saturday we walked down the coast line to the marina and harbor. Oooh one thing I forgot to mention about the beaches here no sand just smooth rocks and stones. Hard to walk on especially for the boys (no ball playing on this beach).
We had a great week-end. Saturday night James and I walked down the pier and found a bar with a live music. They were ok, more punk than our tastes. We then went to a local bar which was recommended for a few more drinks. James had to almost carry me home they made very strong drinks, thank goodness the hotel was very close. Sunday was a slow going morning. The boys wanted to play ball so we found a green park and we played and walked around town and slowly made it to the train station to go back home.
Full slideshow here
In planning this trip we found a wonderful pet friendly hotel run by two guys (Brian and Tom) and a son (George). The place was called Avalon it is an old Victorian style Town house turned into a hotel with I think 9 rooms. We got the largest room with a king size bed and full bathroom. (Not shared) Some converted houses to hotels you share bathrooms. We had ready made breakfast every morning made by Brian and Served by Tom. The First Morning we had an English breakfast. What is in an English breakfast?
• The key components of an English breakfast include:
• bacon *
• sausages*
• black pudding
• eggs *
• tomatoes*
• baked beans*
• mushrooms *
• potatoes
• fried bread
We only had the items with the *
What we had plus coffee toast with butter and jam and Orange Juice.
It was wonderful and I could not eat it all. The next day I just had toast fresh fruit and ham and fried egg.
James and I went down separately to Brighton beach . James had a late afternoon Friday meeting so he came down later. So the Boys and I took off for our first train trip. The first leg was short around 10 min ride with 20 min wait for the next train. Then 1 hr ride to the coast. The boys were great they always get a lot of attention here in the UK. They stayed near me or sat on my lap. Because the train was not full Elijah a and Darkstar held their own seat.
I gave the boys a hair cut and Elijah needed a fleece sweater for the trip. The Weather men/women here in the UK are as bad or worst then in the states. They predicted rain and chilly. The weather both on Sat and Sun day was sunny and nice with some breeze. I brought a rain coat but did not need it. Just wore it at night when it got cold and damp.
Friday night we went to the 40th anniversary tour of Jethro Tull. I knew a few songs but James was in pure heaven. The seats were great up close and personal the concert was in an old theater called the Dome. The place was absolutely beautiful.
Before the concert we all went to dinner (James and I and the boys) The place was recommended by Brain as being dog friendly it was called the Wellington. The food was good I had a half chicken dinner and James had wild boar dinner (the boar was in a sausage link) which we have discovered while here in the UK we don’t like very much.
Saturday we walked down the coast line to the marina and harbor. Oooh one thing I forgot to mention about the beaches here no sand just smooth rocks and stones. Hard to walk on especially for the boys (no ball playing on this beach).
We had a great week-end. Saturday night James and I walked down the pier and found a bar with a live music. They were ok, more punk than our tastes. We then went to a local bar which was recommended for a few more drinks. James had to almost carry me home they made very strong drinks, thank goodness the hotel was very close. Sunday was a slow going morning. The boys wanted to play ball so we found a green park and we played and walked around town and slowly made it to the train station to go back home.
Full slideshow here
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