Home again, home again, jiggedity jog
Got back yesterday and am happy to be home. As nice as travelling is, being home is better!
We saw quite a bit in London-Monday, wandered around a bit with Jim monday night, then out for supper with Jim and Mom. Poor mom, as I noted earlier had a cold.
Tuesday we went to Victoria and Albert-R and I spent most of our time in the British area, since we were in Britain. Mom rested most of the time and Jim wandered about, appreciating everything.
Went out for dinner Tuesday night,along with Sam and Nancy. Mom barely made it to the restaurant.
Wednesday, to the Tower of London. Crown jewels were impressive, but I liked the beefeater tour best, along with the TORTURE ROOM. Just wandering around was good-R liked the armory part best, and we both liked the replication of King's room. I felt slightly miffed when Beefeater mentioned France, US, Australia, but not Canada. Slighted Canadian abroad.
Thursday, we caught some of the changing of the guard, went to Churchill War Rooms. I am fascinated by Churchill-so we spent quite a bit of time there. Then we went to Parliament area-decided not to go in as it cost 16 pounds. I thought better to go to our own government for free. westminster abbey, we just appreciated from outside, as we had seen several churches. I feel a bit of regret about this. Saw Downing Street, and many police wandering around Buckingham Palace and Parliament area. I did think, 'couldn't more money be spent on social programs, and less on pomp and pageantry?' They get lots of tourist dollars from it, I guess, but couldn't all that royal serving ware be sold and used to provide food for people, or things like that? They only use it every 50 years. All that being said, I am also fascinated by the Queen.
Friday, we met Laura at the British Museum. Saw the Rosetta Stone, Lord Elgin's stolen marbles, and part of the Sphinx's beard! Also had cream tea with Laura. Then R and I wandered around Covent Gardens (which reminds me of English children's novels), and looked at things we couldn't afford.
Things the UK does well:
trains
tube and public transit
manners in general (Richard especially appreciated the way people walked on sidewalk-in Spain people did not courteously move aside or make eye contact)
using local food and resources
using and saving old buildings
cream tea
dairy products in general
different dialects
Things I appreciate about Canada
space everywhere!
more smiling (or as R says, maybe it is related to dental care?)
this is tremendous generalization, but I think Canadians are happier-or at least we seem that way
plumbing
more affordability
less focus on social class (not that I think we are the cat's meow on this either)
nicer public areas such as bathrooms, waiting areas etc.
also, this is the nurse in me, but I think we wash our hands more and better.
Saturday we got up at 430, walked to train station, took train to Gatwick, stared at people in Gatwick and nodded off, got on plane, slept, got off plane in Calgary, stared at people in Calgary airport and nodded off, got off plane in Kelowna, got home, hugged cats. Went to Mom's, hugged Mom, ate supper, went home and slept. Mom is indeed alive and starting to feel better from her cold.
Today, went to walk in, yup, urinary tract infection, on antibiotics. Richard has a cold, I am fighting it off, or possibly just jetlagged still. Weirdly, 2 things that I get when I travel: cold sores, and bladder infections.
All in all, a really great trip! We had such a fun time at the wedding-meeting Del and Del's family-they were so lovely. I want to go to Northern Ireland now. Spending time with everyone in Cornwall was really excellent-I wish we had also been there a bit longer.
We saw quite a bit in London-Monday, wandered around a bit with Jim monday night, then out for supper with Jim and Mom. Poor mom, as I noted earlier had a cold.
Tuesday we went to Victoria and Albert-R and I spent most of our time in the British area, since we were in Britain. Mom rested most of the time and Jim wandered about, appreciating everything.
Went out for dinner Tuesday night,along with Sam and Nancy. Mom barely made it to the restaurant.
Wednesday, to the Tower of London. Crown jewels were impressive, but I liked the beefeater tour best, along with the TORTURE ROOM. Just wandering around was good-R liked the armory part best, and we both liked the replication of King's room. I felt slightly miffed when Beefeater mentioned France, US, Australia, but not Canada. Slighted Canadian abroad.
Thursday, we caught some of the changing of the guard, went to Churchill War Rooms. I am fascinated by Churchill-so we spent quite a bit of time there. Then we went to Parliament area-decided not to go in as it cost 16 pounds. I thought better to go to our own government for free. westminster abbey, we just appreciated from outside, as we had seen several churches. I feel a bit of regret about this. Saw Downing Street, and many police wandering around Buckingham Palace and Parliament area. I did think, 'couldn't more money be spent on social programs, and less on pomp and pageantry?' They get lots of tourist dollars from it, I guess, but couldn't all that royal serving ware be sold and used to provide food for people, or things like that? They only use it every 50 years. All that being said, I am also fascinated by the Queen.
Friday, we met Laura at the British Museum. Saw the Rosetta Stone, Lord Elgin's stolen marbles, and part of the Sphinx's beard! Also had cream tea with Laura. Then R and I wandered around Covent Gardens (which reminds me of English children's novels), and looked at things we couldn't afford.
Things the UK does well:
trains
tube and public transit
manners in general (Richard especially appreciated the way people walked on sidewalk-in Spain people did not courteously move aside or make eye contact)
using local food and resources
using and saving old buildings
cream tea
dairy products in general
different dialects
Things I appreciate about Canada
space everywhere!
more smiling (or as R says, maybe it is related to dental care?)
this is tremendous generalization, but I think Canadians are happier-or at least we seem that way
plumbing
more affordability
less focus on social class (not that I think we are the cat's meow on this either)
nicer public areas such as bathrooms, waiting areas etc.
also, this is the nurse in me, but I think we wash our hands more and better.
Saturday we got up at 430, walked to train station, took train to Gatwick, stared at people in Gatwick and nodded off, got on plane, slept, got off plane in Calgary, stared at people in Calgary airport and nodded off, got off plane in Kelowna, got home, hugged cats. Went to Mom's, hugged Mom, ate supper, went home and slept. Mom is indeed alive and starting to feel better from her cold.
Today, went to walk in, yup, urinary tract infection, on antibiotics. Richard has a cold, I am fighting it off, or possibly just jetlagged still. Weirdly, 2 things that I get when I travel: cold sores, and bladder infections.
All in all, a really great trip! We had such a fun time at the wedding-meeting Del and Del's family-they were so lovely. I want to go to Northern Ireland now. Spending time with everyone in Cornwall was really excellent-I wish we had also been there a bit longer.
posted by lisaandrichard at 1:01 PM
6 Comments:
I think Canada wasn't as good at torture as the UK was.
No they were not! The worst one was this terrible looking small, round, metal thing that they stuck people in, the opposite of the rack. The person was all scrunched up in there. generally people would last 1/2 hour according to the sign. When people talk about the good old days when things were better, remembering things like gruesome torture is important
It was called the scavenger's daughter!
Brits are also good at using space, my hotel room is not very big, but it has a double bed, desk, 2chairs cabinet for the TV and tea making stuff, bathroom with a bath, toilet, sink .
What do you mean about plumbing?
Old plumbing, with lack of hot water.
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