Visit to England and Germany with Buz and Kathy

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Buz and Kathy visited us in Europe every few years. This visit would be their last. It seemed to be a bit unusual that they would come at this time of the year, but it turns out that Kathy had her sabbatical from school, and wanted to do some research on European and British school systems. In any case, it was great to have them...and a good excuse for another trip. They arrived on Tuesday, 2 November and had a couple days to recouperate from jet lag before we hit the road.

4 November 1993 Thursday. We drove from Overijse to Calais where we caught the ferry to Dover. With the near completion of the Channel Tunnel, the quality of the ferries had drastically improved...horray for competition. We had lunch on the ferry so that we didn't have to waste time eating upon landing in Dover. We immediately drove to Canterbury and its cathedral and also did some shopping as Canterbury was a miniature version of Oxford Street in London...all the stores but few of the crowds. We then drove through the countryside and its quaint villages to the Trust Houses Forte Post Hotel in Maidstone. By now we were favoring this chain of hotels as they provided more upscale accommodations, including an indoor pool for the kids, at a reasonable price. After dinner at the nearby Beefeater restaurant, the kids used the pool while us adults played Dutch Blitz, a favorite game for the four of us.

5 November 1983 Friday. We drove the M25 across the southern side of London and made our way to Hampton Court Palace for a great tour of this favorite palace of Henry VIII. He was constantly expanding the palace...all six of his wives had apartments here as did his children, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, all three of whom would rule England from this palace. He used the palace to impress his foreign guests. It is truly magnificent.

From there we drove to nearby Aldershot to the John Hines Studios where David Winter Cottages are made. They were a bit hard to find. The studios were sold later that year and the name seems to have disappeared since then. Anyway, we were priveledge to have a tour of the place and to make our own objects. This was particularly interesting for the kids, although Will didn't appreciate the frog he made. We spent a few hours there.

We then drove around the west side of London to a Holiday Inn Express at Brents Cross on the north side of London. I had arranged for a babysitter through the hotel for the kids so that us adults could enjoy an evening of theater in London. We caught the Tube into the West End and had dinner and saw Agatha Cristie's very long running "Mousetrap." We promised not to revela the ending. On the Tube ride back to the hotel, a very drunk man decided to sit next to me. We decided to call him "Percy." He went to sleep with his head on my shoulder. I felt a bit awkward, and a bit amused. When we arrived at the Hampstead Heath stop, about three stops before ours, I tapped him on his shoulder and told him that this was his stop. Without questioning, he got up and stumbled of the car into one of the posher villages of London. I hope he had a good time there and was treated kindly by the inhabitants.

The kids had done fine with the babysitter.

6 November 1993 Saturday. A bit chilly to be touring, but that never stopped any of my tours. We took the Tube to Green Park and walked, and walked, and walked. First to Buckingham Palace, then through through St James Park and the Serpentine Lake, and along Birdcage Walk to Westminster Abbey, where we had a tour and saw the tombs of many great people, and the Houses of Parliament. We continued down Whitehall and peeked down Downing Street to see #10, the residence of the Prime Minister. We fed the pigeons at Trafalgar Square before spending time in the National Gallery. We had lunch at the Sherlock Holmes pub. And then we took a red double decker bus past St Paul's Cathedral to the Tower of London. After the tour there we had pretty much run out of time...just enough left for some shopping on Regent and Oxford Streets, but no time for the British Museum...before returning to our hotel.

As the babysitting service had been a success the previous evening we did it again. We caught the Tube to the West End and saw the musical of old gold classics "Forever Plaid." It was light hearted fun, which had us singing all the way home. We missed Percy.

7 November 1993 Sunday. Today we concentrated on the Knightsbridge area of London. Our first stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum. But this was just a mere diversion to the real activity of the day...Christmas shopping at Harrods, a true institution not to be missed by devoted shoppers, of which Lind and Kathy are in the foremost rank. After totally depleting our bank accounts by mid afternoon, we drop to the Post Hotel in Ashford for dinner at the nearby Beefeater, and a night of more swimming and games. We would return to this hotel for Rosanna's birthday in October 1995, just before we moved back to the States from Belgium.

8 November 1993 Monday. We drove to Dover and caught the ferry to Calais, and then by autoroute to Overijse.

9 - 10 November 1993 Tuesday and Wednesday. I had to work as my committee met every Tuesday to conduct business, and Wednesday was reserved for reporting the results and taking follow up actions. Kathy used this time to visit the British School of Brussels where Will was attending, and Brussels American School where Tamara and Rosanna were attending, to talk to the principals.

11 - 13 November 1993 Thursday through Saturday. We spent these three days touring southeast of Brussels to the Ardennes, where we visited Bouillon Castle, and then Luxembourg; Trier and the Mosel River, which we had previously visited with Buz and Kathy when they previously visited us when we were living in Glan Munchweiler, Germany. This time we didn't visit Burg Eltz as the kids were not up for the long hike. We stopped at the Spangdahlem Air Base PX before returning to Overijse via Spa Francochamps, where we drove a part of the Belgian Grand Prix circuit.

Buz and Kathy flew home to the States on 16 November, my birthday.

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Photos

Bob feeding pigeons at Traflagar Square
or is it pigeons eating Bob?

Buz on the main square in Brugges
trying to decide which restaurant to eat at

John Hines Studios where David Winter Cottages are made
Kathy and Linda with Rosanna and Will