We are now in full vacation mode, at doing things at a comfortable pace, yet getting a lot in each day. Today was no exception. The weather has been very cooperative, but none of that famous London fog. It’s been mostly clear and crisp, just hovering in the mid-thirties. It is however a wet cold, much like a Portland winter. Today we started with a traditional English breakfast at the Wellington pub a block from our hotel. We also learned about pub etiquette. At pubs, you don’t get table service. You sit down at your table look over the menu then go to the bar to order and pay. The food is brought to your table, so it’s not totally self-service. They also do not include the automatic 12.5% gratuity to the bill in pubs. Perhaps ... read more

We slept-in today, really need to catch up on some sleep. The day was primarily devoted to shopping and possibility Westminster Abbey, but the hours are very restrictive, closes at 3:30 and we hadn’t even finished a late lunch by that time. Today is Boxing Day, a holiday throughout the UK and most of the common wealth. Here it is also likely the busiest shopping day of the year. The holiday has little to do with shopping, the tour guide the other day gave us two explanations for the holiday, but no one really seems to know what it is and where it really came from. One version is, that in centuries past, boxing day was the day the churches open the boxes in the church that were set there for donations to the poor. They ... read more

No rest for the wicked, or at least so they say. The alarm went off at 5:30, with a bit of snoozing. We needed to be at the Dickens Museum by 10 am sharp for our “A Christmas Carol” tour of the museum. Normally it is just a self-guided tour through the house that Charles Dicken once lived (he wrote Oliver Twist in this house) but today was a special day, more of that later. We again had room service for breakfast to save time. We had eggs benedict, now as you know I am pretty fussy (if not downright bitchy about my eggs benedict) but today met standards. It was a very different take on an American classic. The hollandaise was very good, but it was more like a custard and actual slightly browned on ... read more

The day started very early, 3:30 am to start a day of travel. After much petting and affection bestowed on Tarragon we headed for the airport. Not much to really report about the flight, other than a bit bumpy for my taste. This is our first trip to Europe that we arrived the same day we left. So as I write this it is already early Friday morning here in merry ole London. This is just an introductory post as what really happens on a travel day, unless it is something bad, which is not the case here. We are staying at a hotel that is a bit nicer than we normally do, but I think the aging process accounts for that. Comfort seems to be a higher priority these days. No pictures today, but we ... read more

Sunday morning, I was up at 6 so I could shower, change have some breakfast and pick up our Zipcar all before 8:30. The Zipcar was about 10 blocks away so it was easy to walk to and the drive back to the hotel to pick up everyone else was just as easy, straight down the road the car was on and one turn on to Rue du Champs de Mars. We were driving to Versailles, where we would drop Christina and Jourdan off for the day, so they could visit what I consider to be the most treasured place in Europe (that we have seen so far) and that is Chateau Versailles (Pompeii is also amazing). I specifically recommended a Sunday so the fountains would be going in the afternoon (unfortunately it rained and they ... read more