England...take 2!

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England take two!

So, back to England we go. This time it’s to Durham, England. We arrive around midnight in Newcastle (northern England) and drive to our hotel about 20 minutes away.

We enjoy a nice night’s sleep and awake to meet everyone for breakfast a 9:30 am. I went with Jeroen, Gene, Joe, Julie and Tony (who had met back up with us) for a walk after breakfast. We ventured to the town cathedral and castle. We ended up taking a tour of the castle. It was very interesting to see. It is now the university in the town. The whole area is absolutely gorgeous. The castle and cathedral were both constructed in 1093.

I had received an email before we arrived from my mom… in which she remembered that 30 years ago, or so, she had been in Durham. I took a ton of pictures while we were there because I wanted to see if my pictures compare to her memories of the town.

After our tour of the castle ended, we all went for our midday espresso, before meeting up with the rest of the group back at the hotel for lunch. We went to a great Mexican food restaurant. We were absolutely shocked that chips and salsa were the equivalent of $9 US!!! YIKES!!! 😉 The US dollar is so weak now, that everywhere we went seemed very expensive.

After lunch, I went back up to the castle and the cathedral with the rest of the group that had not been in the morning.

We spent about an hour there, and then went back to the hotel for the guys to get ready for their show. They had a 5pm performance in the town square before their 8pm performance.

We walked back into the hotel in just enough time to see Lisa (Jeff’s sister) checking in! She and Alex and Tilly had all driven up (about a 3 hour drive) from where they live in Market Harborough for the concert.

Lisa and I went to the lobby for a beer while Jeff rested for a few minutes and changed into his concert garb. We all walked together to the town square where the guys played 2 pieces, and then took a few pictures for an English newspaper.

The wives all went to the Indian restaurant, which opened at 6pm….while the guys went to the hall to do a sound check for BBC, who was recording their concert. We ordered a ton of food and the five guys showed up JUST in time to help us eat it. YUMMY!!!!

We all ran to the concert in time to make it there for the 8pm downbeat. Lisa, Alex, Tilly and I all sat in the balcony for CB’s first piece. Tilly was SO excited to see Uncle Jeff playing the horn. After the first piece, I escaped with Tilly back to the hotel room. She is just 2 years old, and it was bedtime, so we thought it best to have one of us put her to bed. I volunteered, so I could spend some time with her. We watched a DVD and drank some warm milk and put her to bed. Lisa came back at intermission to check on Tilly (just in time to change her diaper!....lucky for me!!!)

Jeff and Lisa and Alex all stayed out late visiting while I watched Tilly. We had a great bonding time, as I’m sure they did too! From what I hear, they went BACK to Indian food after the concert and ate more. There’s nothing like Indian food in England…YUM!

We were awaken up by Tilly at 6am the next morning, and we were able to share another hour with them before our pick up to fly to Germany….

It was great to spend some more time with them again (2 times in 2 weeks…it must be a record)…..and hopefully we’ll get to see them again soon.

Next stop…Nieder- moos Germany!

Enjoy the pictures.

Love,
Nina (and Jeff)

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Comments

[Sharron]

wish I was there!!
Thank you Nina, for continuing to take us on your journey. It has been so wonderful to see the photos of you and Jeff with Lisa, Alex and Tilly. I miss them a lot and it is fun to be with you while you are visiting. I hope the rest of your trip is equally as wonderful - keep in touch. Love to you and Jeff, Sharron