Blogs from Berkshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

12 September 2019, Thursday Pangbourne to Reading, day 11 of Thames Path, day 27 of travel. -The Elephant Hotel had an old India decor and charm with a husband/wife team comprising a Romanian bar tender and Jamaican waiter. We sat at the classy table and chairs for dinner. Chairs are made of large rough old boards and have 6 feet high backs. Several photos are included of the hotel including the knit elephant adorning our bed. The table was used for the fruit and cereal buffet the next morning. -We have a delicious breakfast at The Elephant. By the time the specially ordered porridge arrives we have satiated ourselves with freshly made raspberry yoghurt, fresh fruit, and nuts and finished with lovely chocolate croissants. -Fueled for the day we set off for Reading--a techie, business park, ... read more

1 September 2019, Sunday Day 16 of travel. Meeting Jo Finestead, Norma Wiebe and Karen at Heathrow. Train to Kemble. Ibis Hotel in Reading was comfortable on 13th floor. The hotel is really funky and clientele punk rock. After breakfast Hotel I walked to the train station to take the Railair bus to Heathrow. The 0945 bus left me, my backpack and 2 bags at Heathrow terminal 3 but Not my Tilley's Hat! Ugh. Norma arrived at 0615 on United flight from ORD in terminal 2, enjoying the arrivals lounge before meeting us at terminal 3 arrivals. Karen and Jo were 2 hours late on their American flight landing about 1050. We wheeled our bags to train station and bought tickets to Kemble. It was just before this I realized I had left my hat. But ... read more

Miguel had been saving to come to Europe for quite some time and eventually saved enough and found a place to live in Germany. Miguel asked if he could come visit and stay with us in England via his relocation to Germany. I was happy at the thought of seeing him again and pleased to be able to offer him the opportunity to spend time exploring places in the UK he hadn't seen yet, as he has only been to London previously. I meet Miguel through Couchsurfing and we met once in-person almost 3 years ago in his hometown in Argentina (see Miguel's hometown). Fiona and I welcomed our daughter into the world in February, we named her Jovie, which is short for Jovial (If you've seen the Christmas movie Elf, you'll know where we got ... read more

Maidenhead is a lovely town on the River Thames in Berkshire, west of London. You pass through lovely villages and towns, as well as navigating very narrow lanes, just hoping that nought is coming the other way. On some roads, there was evidence of a horse float, but not towed by a car, rather like the size of a bus. One loves GPS Sat Navs and their short cuts (NOT). Maidenhead has a lovely walk available beside the tidal influenced River Thames. Old and new boats as well as ones being repaired, maybe restored, are dotted along the banks of the River.... read more

Wow! We went to bed last night at 6:30...actually it would be more accurate to say that we passed out AFTER I almost set another small fan (I brought one with me...don’t ask) on fire. I give up—small appliances just do not work in Europe. Sigh. Luckily, I was so tired I didn’t miss its “white noise”. In fact, according to John, this hotel lies on a major flight path out of London. Who knew. I never heard a thing until I woke up at 7ish this morning. Yay me! At any rate, we had a great night’s sleep and were ready to go this morning, albeit slowly. We did wake to rain and cool weather—in the high 40’s. After we had breakfast and then left the hotel to get in a walk around the town, ... read more