Touring the Southeast England Countryside

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26 March - Friday Sunshine again. We stopped in East Grinsted for a McDonalds sausage and egg McMuffin because it was the convenient thing to do. We then walked to a bookstore to buy an AA road atlas. We could have just flipped a coin to decide which way to go as we just wanted to see the countryside. However, we headed in the general direction of Bodium Castle, a National Trust property that has a nice tea house and gift shop. Seeing at least one castle in England is mandatory, so we checked off that square. We then headed to Rye, one of our favorite towns, for a walk, some shopping, and delicious fish and chips. Then it was across the Romney Marshes, and through many quaint villages to our next Premier Inn hotel near Sevenoaks. We arrived in a rainstorm, our first real rain of the trip! We checked in about 3:30 pm. We wanted to take this opportunity to use the internet (it cost 12 pounds for 24 hours so we wanted to take as much of this time to get caught up as possible and try to contact home on Skype). We also watched English news for the first time in a week. At 5:30 we at at the Beefeater restaurant next door. When we lived in Brussels there were two Beefeater restaurants in town, so the kids grew up eating there. We return whenever we can for old times sake.

After dinner we continued to use the internet, and I was able to bring my blogs up to date with the exception of uploading the pictures. Publishing will have to wait for my return home.

We we finally able to contact my wife, Linda, via Skype, albeit with a poor connection. It turns out that my daughters flight from LHR to Frankfurt on Monday evening has been cancelled. The airline has been trying to contact me about alternatives, and without my input booked her on a 4 pm flight to Frankfurt. I will contact them tomorrow to see if they can get her a direct flight from LHR to the States, bypassing Frankfurt even though I have paid for her Ibis hotel there (discounted non-refundable). She also told me a close friend was on a business trip to London. I don't know if I will be able to meet him. I wanted to meet friends in Bath tomorrow but seem to have an old phone number. They won't give me any phone numbers...protect the privacy of the individuals...what's this...no phone directories any more!

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