Happy 4th of July everyone!
We hope you all had fantastic 4ths at home! How were the fireworks. Mat had to work a full day (and then some) but came home with some american style barbeque food and managed to put together a hamburger and ribs dinner on the patio.
A few brits even wished us happy independence day... the first time it was a little surreal but then we realized that they could care less as they alternately consider us the UKs largest county or themselves the 51st state, or so it seems culturally at least.
Taylor and Lily put on their annual Old Navy American Flag 4th of July shirts (thanks for sending them over mom!) and went to play at the park, check out the pictures to the side. Mat of course put his shirt on too when he got home.
Sunday 6 July 2008
Scottish Highland Weekend
Where to begin...we started the weekend by missing our flight and heading out for a 10 hour drive to the Highlands of Scotland at 2:00pm. With the major bumps out of the way our trip was great. We drove by Edinburgh and through Glasgow and past almost every loch (lake) in the Highlands. It was absolutely beautiful in the hills, with all the little winding roads along the loch sides, speckled with castles and old stone houses. Mat swears he's going to come back some day with a kayak and spend a week or two paddling around the huge lochs. We spent our first night in Fort Williams, a quaint little harbor town alongside a loch. We then continued north to Skye at 9:00 in the morning after a full Scottish breakfast; beans, fried tomato, bacon, sausage, egg, toast, and tea. We drove through one of the prettiest series of valleys any of us has ever seen, through winding gorges covered in green grass and with streams tumbling over rocky beds, through meadows and down waterfalls. We passed an old rock crofters hut at one point.
Skye is a beautiful island in the Highlands of Scotland, a bridge connecting it to the mainland was built in 1995. It was breath taking! After being in the flat farmland for the past 3 months it was nice to be somewhere that looks like the foothills of the Cascades. It rained off and on the whole time we were there, but we are use to that.
We then spent Saturday evening at our friends wedding, which was in a castle (Eilan Doonan (?sp?)). Mat eat and enjoyed Haggis stuffed chicken, in his defence he didn't know until after he finished it. Her wedding cake was a carrot cake smothered with caramel and chocolate. Most of the men wore kilts (Mat briefly considered buying a kilt in his ancestors, Macalister Clan, tartan but reconsidered when he found out they cost more than $500) and there was a bagpiper.
On Sunday we went to the northern most tip of Skye for some locally produced and hand-dyed yarn (dyed with organic traditional materials). It was an hour and a half drive across the island and by the end we were driving down an 8 foot wide road through tiny village after village where you had to pull off the road any time a car came in the other direction. The women who owned and ran the yarn shop was American, but had been there since the 70's. I bought a ton of yarn and have no idea what I'm going to make with it. On our way back down to the Midlands we stopped and walked around Stirling Castle (the castle of Robert The Bruce of Braveheart fame as well as the castle of the Scottish Stewart kings). It was the neatest castle we've seen so far high above a broad farm valley on a rocky promonotory with expansive buildings and a series of walls and keeps. You could see across the valley to the large Wallace Monument Tower dedicated to William Wallace.
The Highlands and Skye are the most beautiful places in the UK! Mat and I are trying to figure out why more people don't live there. We would relocate there if we could for the remainder of our stay!
After the yarn we headed southeast to Loch Ness and searched for Nessie, Lily swears she saw it! See if you can spot it in our pictures.
We love and miss you all,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Skye is a beautiful island in the Highlands of Scotland, a bridge connecting it to the mainland was built in 1995. It was breath taking! After being in the flat farmland for the past 3 months it was nice to be somewhere that looks like the foothills of the Cascades. It rained off and on the whole time we were there, but we are use to that.
We then spent Saturday evening at our friends wedding, which was in a castle (Eilan Doonan (?sp?)). Mat eat and enjoyed Haggis stuffed chicken, in his defence he didn't know until after he finished it. Her wedding cake was a carrot cake smothered with caramel and chocolate. Most of the men wore kilts (Mat briefly considered buying a kilt in his ancestors, Macalister Clan, tartan but reconsidered when he found out they cost more than $500) and there was a bagpiper.
On Sunday we went to the northern most tip of Skye for some locally produced and hand-dyed yarn (dyed with organic traditional materials). It was an hour and a half drive across the island and by the end we were driving down an 8 foot wide road through tiny village after village where you had to pull off the road any time a car came in the other direction. The women who owned and ran the yarn shop was American, but had been there since the 70's. I bought a ton of yarn and have no idea what I'm going to make with it. On our way back down to the Midlands we stopped and walked around Stirling Castle (the castle of Robert The Bruce of Braveheart fame as well as the castle of the Scottish Stewart kings). It was the neatest castle we've seen so far high above a broad farm valley on a rocky promonotory with expansive buildings and a series of walls and keeps. You could see across the valley to the large Wallace Monument Tower dedicated to William Wallace.
The Highlands and Skye are the most beautiful places in the UK! Mat and I are trying to figure out why more people don't live there. We would relocate there if we could for the remainder of our stay!
After the yarn we headed southeast to Loch Ness and searched for Nessie, Lily swears she saw it! See if you can spot it in our pictures.
We love and miss you all,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Twycross Zoo
Lily and Taylor found a somewhat local zoo. It was a privately owned zoo up until 1972 and they are still trying to update the facility to make it more than the "personal menagerie" that it was before. We saw Gibbons, Gorillas, Oragatngus, Elephants, various Lemurs, Giraffes, and some new animals we had never seen. Capybaras, a jackalope looking animal (Maras), Asiatic Lions, and Binobos (over sexed chimpanzees) :)! It was pretty fun and great to be doing something other then seeing castles or large houses. Lily's favorite zoo animals were the Pink Flamingos. All she could do all days was point and say "OH!" at everything she saw.
London...forever ago!
Crap! We totally forgot to blog about going to London! In early June we took the train to London and stayed in the Victoria Station area, which was quite nice and very low key.
We then went to several, if not most tourist attractions. Big Ben and Parliament were great, but we didn't know at the time that Westminster Cathedral was Parliament. Shakespeare's Globe was fun to do a tour of and Lily practiced her stage voice the whole time. Buckingham Palaces was nothing to write home about, if people want to see the Queen they go to Windsor Castle in the countryside. We did get to see the royal horses getting exercised because with a toddler you are up that early. Taylor got a picture with a Beefeater and even made him smile a half smile. Mat was able to see Trafalgar Square and get nostalgic over the Master and Commander book series. It was a great place to see and very picturesque. After all that sight-seeing it was time to go look at the shops.
Harrods, Soho, Piccadilly Circus, and all the stores that live in those areas. Harrods is a country itself and very over priced, but we did buy some loose leaf tea there and a couple of clothing items that Taylor just conveniently forgot to bring that weekend.
Oh, I almost forgot we went to the British Museum. This museum is full of "liberated" booty from the various countries the British kingdom interacted with. The museum even states that Egypt asked for artifacts to be returned and the British said "no". I was shocked, especially since we know that not all artifacts were gifts. It was very cool and we have to go back and see more of it as we only got through Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Oh, and one more thing, Taylor got to see Harry Potter's train platform in King's Cross!
We will go back to London and we'll let you know if we find anything new. Mat's scheduled to spend a day in London to watch the Arsenal/Emirates football tournament featuring Juventus from Italy, Hamburg from Germany, FC Barcelona from Spain and the Gunners from the Premiereship. Also if you feel we should see something leave us a suggestion so we don't miss anything.
Take Care,
Taylor, Mat, and Lily
We then went to several, if not most tourist attractions. Big Ben and Parliament were great, but we didn't know at the time that Westminster Cathedral was Parliament. Shakespeare's Globe was fun to do a tour of and Lily practiced her stage voice the whole time. Buckingham Palaces was nothing to write home about, if people want to see the Queen they go to Windsor Castle in the countryside. We did get to see the royal horses getting exercised because with a toddler you are up that early. Taylor got a picture with a Beefeater and even made him smile a half smile. Mat was able to see Trafalgar Square and get nostalgic over the Master and Commander book series. It was a great place to see and very picturesque. After all that sight-seeing it was time to go look at the shops.
Harrods, Soho, Piccadilly Circus, and all the stores that live in those areas. Harrods is a country itself and very over priced, but we did buy some loose leaf tea there and a couple of clothing items that Taylor just conveniently forgot to bring that weekend.
Oh, I almost forgot we went to the British Museum. This museum is full of "liberated" booty from the various countries the British kingdom interacted with. The museum even states that Egypt asked for artifacts to be returned and the British said "no". I was shocked, especially since we know that not all artifacts were gifts. It was very cool and we have to go back and see more of it as we only got through Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Oh, and one more thing, Taylor got to see Harry Potter's train platform in King's Cross!
We will go back to London and we'll let you know if we find anything new. Mat's scheduled to spend a day in London to watch the Arsenal/Emirates football tournament featuring Juventus from Italy, Hamburg from Germany, FC Barcelona from Spain and the Gunners from the Premiereship. Also if you feel we should see something leave us a suggestion so we don't miss anything.
Take Care,
Taylor, Mat, and Lily
Monday 9 June 2008
Chatsworth
Chatsworth is one of the many castle/manors/houses in the UK and has been my favorite this far. The grounds are amazing and the sheep roam freely. There is a book written about one of the many people who have lived here called Bess of Hardwick, if anyone wants to read it. The family there now is the Cavendish family.
The Duke 1790-1858 who made the most out of his life in the house was the 6th Duke. He was a confirmed bachelor and therefore spent all his money and time on the various homes his family owned. A rock garden which you will be able to see pictures of, a wall conservatory, Egyptian statues, and numerous other things that will be pictured in the slide show. He was able to accomplish some amazing things for the period he lived in.
Sorry about the time in between posts!! We have been very busy and had a visitor for two weeks.
The Duke 1790-1858 who made the most out of his life in the house was the 6th Duke. He was a confirmed bachelor and therefore spent all his money and time on the various homes his family owned. A rock garden which you will be able to see pictures of, a wall conservatory, Egyptian statues, and numerous other things that will be pictured in the slide show. He was able to accomplish some amazing things for the period he lived in.
Sorry about the time in between posts!! We have been very busy and had a visitor for two weeks.
Friday 16 May 2008
Paris Entry
Hi All,
Mat took us to Paris for Mother's Day and it was great! We stayed in a nice area called Saint-Michel with a view down on to the street and cafe. It was perfect for people watching!
On our first day there we trained in to the city, found our hotel, and then hunted down some food. We accidentally ended up eating at a cafe we had eaten at five years ago and got nostalgic (on our trip five years ago Mat had proposed in France). We then went to the Arc De Triumph and the Champs es Lycees (not sure how to spell that). We window shopped and walked around. We went in to a store and were mistaken for Germans by the sales people, perhaps our French had a German accent.
The next two days were spent at the Louvre and it was amazing! We could hardly believe the colors that artists were able to create back then. We saw the Mona Lisa and Lily slept through that part. She'll have to see it another day. The huge paintings were breath taking, not to mention the Louvre itself. We had arrived early were able to walk through "The Heart of the Diamond" (courtyard) almost entirely by ourselves. The size of the palace was just...words can't describe it. It really made us want to learn French history.
Look at our pics and see some of what we saw or took pictures of. Our love to all and enjoy your great weather!!!
Love,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Mat took us to Paris for Mother's Day and it was great! We stayed in a nice area called Saint-Michel with a view down on to the street and cafe. It was perfect for people watching!
On our first day there we trained in to the city, found our hotel, and then hunted down some food. We accidentally ended up eating at a cafe we had eaten at five years ago and got nostalgic (on our trip five years ago Mat had proposed in France). We then went to the Arc De Triumph and the Champs es Lycees (not sure how to spell that). We window shopped and walked around. We went in to a store and were mistaken for Germans by the sales people, perhaps our French had a German accent.
The next two days were spent at the Louvre and it was amazing! We could hardly believe the colors that artists were able to create back then. We saw the Mona Lisa and Lily slept through that part. She'll have to see it another day. The huge paintings were breath taking, not to mention the Louvre itself. We had arrived early were able to walk through "The Heart of the Diamond" (courtyard) almost entirely by ourselves. The size of the palace was just...words can't describe it. It really made us want to learn French history.
Look at our pics and see some of what we saw or took pictures of. Our love to all and enjoy your great weather!!!
Love,
Taylor, Mat and Lily
Wednesday 14 May 2008
Mother's Day in Paris
No time to leave an entry now, but thought you might like to see the pictures of our Mother's Day in Paris.
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