Yesterday was one of those rainy Sunday days when you might stay in, read, and eat comfort food. But if you stayed indoors every time it rains in England, you wouldn't do very much. We drove to Hampton Court Palace in Richmond, just outside of London. The palace is most famously associated with Henry VIII, but it was first owned by Cardinal Wolsey, who took it over in 1514 when it was a country manor house. Wolsey spent a lot of money expanding to house to look an Italian Renaissance villa fit for man on a meteoric career rise as a favorite of the king. Henry VIII was a frequent guest and liked Hampton Court so much that he took it over in 1525, when Wolsey began losing favor. Henry added the great Medieval style hall ... read more

Our friend, Dr. Amber Soja, up and coming NASA scientist, visited us last weekend on her return from setting fires in Siberia. She and the Russian scientists are studying the boreal forests in the area of the world that has the highest concentration of carbon. Amber told me of her passionate interest in environmental science back in the late 80s when she was a computer technician for Wang in Germany. She is quite accomplished, having earned her masters and Ph.D. at University of Virginia, been published in scientific journals, presented papers at global warming conferences and was interviewed recently for the national radio program, "Earth and Sky." We've traveled together over the years through Germany, France, Crete and England and have always had fun. She has visited me every place I've lived since my return to ... read more

Since our first visit to London, Jay and I have been hoping that we could see Spamalot, but it's been such a huge hit we didn't think we could get good seats without paying too much money. On the occasion of Dr. Amber's visit this weekend, we decided to try. One of the open secrets about buying theatre tickets in London is that instead of paying a big fee at Ticketmaster, you can go to the several half-price ticket booths on Leicester Square and get reduced price tickets for the that day's performances. While waiting in line I looked at all the list of shows, wondering which one I'd be willing to settle for if we couldn't get the tickets we wanted. When Amber and I were in London in 1992 we couldn't get the tickets ... read more

Thank all the powers that be! Travelblog is back online. I feel so bad for the webmaster, Ari. It sounds like he's gone through hell trying to keep the site from crashing and feels so badly about the entries that have been lost. He says the site is too much for one person (an unintended consequence of success). I'd be willing to pay for this service. Hope he gets the corporate backing he is seeking. I'm just grateful that the site works again and have no hard feelings because I backed up everyhing on our laptop. I've been trying to use the google blogger site. I don't care for it because there is no provision for notifying subscribers about new posts and I can't arrange the photos in the order I want or put captions on ... read more

Here are a few photos from the famous food floors at Harrods in London. The day we were there was very crowded, but we still managed to buy some tea, coffee, and chocolate truffles. We plan to return during the week when it isn't so packed with people. In the meantime - feast your eyes! ... read more