I made it back to the USA on Feb 19, no problems. Really foggy out but not cold. Caught the Delaware Express Shuttle so I didn’t have to drive, which was nice. Just realized I haven’t driven in almost a month! Hope I’m not out of practice!
Anyway, I thought I would summarize what I did by day, to the extent that I can remember! So, Trip Summary Part 1 will be England Part 1 – I’ve added some photos that I don’t think I added before, but I think there are also some repeats from previous posts.
For Norway, we’ll see. I took so many photos (many of which look the same since they’re all landscape-y photos) that it’s gonna take me a while to sort through them all. Sorry for some repetitiveness – you just have to indulge me.
- Thursday Jan 25 – fly from PHL to LHR
- Friday Jan 26 – arrive LHR. Going thru Security/Customs, I have a convo with the guard:
Guard: “What are you doing in England?”
Me: “Visiting some friends.”
G: “What kind of friends?”
Me: “What kind of friends??”
G: “Yes”
Me: “Uhhh, friends I met in Europe in 1980?”
G: “OK.” - After that nice little interlude, I had a little time to kill before Louise’s plane landed so I visited the BA Lounge in Terminal 5.
Then I met up with Louise at the airport (haven’t seen her since 1993!), we took bus to Reading, and Bill picked us up there. First time the three of us have been together since 1980! Bill drove us to their home in Wedhampton / Devizes
A walk around the village:
- Saturday Jan 27 – A little trip to Lacock (pronounced Lay’-cock), including lunch at The George Inn. Then Burns night at The Lamb Pub in Devizes. Both meat and veggie haggis available! Yummy! (I already included photos in a previous post)
Sunday Jan 28 – Took Louise to Pewsey Train Station, which will take her to Reading, where she will catch the bus back to Heathrow and fly home to Geneva. Coco (cockapoo) – Anthea’s daughter’s dog, arrived and stayed the week. By the end, I have renamed him ‘Cuckoo’ because he is crazy!
- Monday Jan 29 – Bill’s birthday. We celebrated by going to the Wadworth Brewery for lunch and a tour. Saw the International Space Station fly by – right above Bill and Anthea’s house!
- Tuesday Jan 30 – We went for a walk up by the Alton Barnes White Horse, in Pewsey Vale. This was probably my second day helping muck out the horse stalls – daily routine in the morning, in the winter (in the warmer months they stay out all night). Bill made a fresh loaf of bread and I watched him skin a pheasant (neighbor had two and they were going out of town so …). Saw the ISS again!
- Wednesday Jan 31 – Went to a play “An Ideal Husband” by Oscar Wilde. Put on by the local theatre, so, it was ‘amateur.’ Apparently there were a few last minute changes in actors, and one guy was having trouble remembering his lines, but, it was fun anyway!
- Thursday Feb 1 – nice walk again, and great dinner at The Red Lion – had pithivier (pronounced pith-iv’-ee-ay) for the first time – so yummy!
- Friday Feb 2 – Outing to Bath. Passed the Caen Locks on the way there. Kenn met his doppelganger there. Had lunch at the Jamie Oliver (famous chef) restaurant ‘Italian.’ Really good!
- Saturday Feb 3 – Rainy day. Went for a walk with the dogs, to the Lamb pub, where the Burns Dinner was.
- Sunday Feb 4 – met up with some of Anthea’s kids for a belated birthday lunch for Bill. Miranda, Jeremy and daughter Hannah, and Stacey and her friend Nick. Miranda and Stacey are non-identical twins. Nick drives a VW Golf R! (look it up those of you who don’t know what it is)
Stayed up and watched the Superbowl. Game didn’t even start til 11pm! And one of my friends who shall remain nameless was texting with me during the game. At one point she asked, “Do you know who wins? Aren’t you ahead?” (meaning ahead in time). Reeaaaaallly?!? - Monday Feb 5 – Went to Avebury – walked along the Longbarrow – a grave created centuries ago.
Here’s the entrance to the Longbarrow. You can only go into one room – the rest is sealed off.
And this is in Avebury.
OK, so, Feb 6 I left England to head to Oslo. I already wrote the following posts about the first part of the Norway travels, so I’m going to leave them here for now. But be warned I will probably copy them into the Travel Summary Part 2 when I write it – I just don’t want to start another post right now. So, read it now, or read it later!
In the meantime – talk soon people!!
- Tuesday Feb 6 – off to Oslo. Got to LHR with plenty of time so decided to have a leisurely lunch. 2 hours later, and about a half hour before boarding, I realize I left one of my sweaters at Security! Luckily Terminal 2 isn’t all that big, so, got back to Security and there was my sweater! Whew!
Met Louise at the Oslo Airport and we stayed at the Radisson Blu at the airport, in prep for our flight to Kirkenes on Wednesday. Had dinner at a place called RUST. Had to take a train, bus and tram to get there. On the way back got on the wrong train (went to the airport but it was a different, fancier, rail line. Sidewalks were pretty icy! - Wednesday Feb 7 – up early for a flight to Kirkenes. Checked into our hotel – the Scandic. Basic but workable. In the afternoon, we had a 3:30pm appointment for dog sledging.