We can now actually say that, this week, hear that, this week we are going home. Our three month endeavor is quickly coming to it's end. It' exciting, it's sad, it has all gone by too quickly, it is time to go home...lots of mixed thoughts, but with them all comes a true appreciation of the experience and great excitement of having seen so much and, yet, having so much to look forward to on our return! Isn't life grand.
After our whirlwind tour of Paris we found ourselves in England, Manchester to be exact. There we spent the weekend with my cousins Leah and Abi. In true form, they got us shopping right away! Leah and her boyfriend Az took us up to the Lake District...a true wonder of England. It's hilly, well they would probably call it mountainous, with lots of farmland, sheep, lakes, and nice little quaint villages with nice little quaint pubs. Jij was able to enjoy a true Sunday pub roast, followed by a cornish pasty the size of his head for dessert! I was quite surprised that my cousin Leah was up for the experience seeing that she and Abi are both generally clad in heels and true city girls. Abi's response when we asked her if she wanted to go to the Lake District was quite classic, "What, you mean you are going to go WALKING, I'll stay here!" Afterall, stiletto heels don't mix well with wet, soggy ground. Though short, too short really, we had a great time in Manchester. It's hard to catch up for 3 years over two days, but we did our best!
A train took us from Manchester to High Wycombe (not far from London) where Grandma and Grandpy were there to greet us. Grandma and Grandpy have been very interested in our travels and know more than we do about the areas we have visited!! We enjoyed showing them our slideshow and chatting about our experiences. Grandpy was stationed in Burma during the war and would go to India from time to time. It's interesting to hear his experiences. We learn something every day from the two of them, have enjoyed some nice walks, Jij has been introduced to "grandmas cooking" which is a treat but recently we have been the cooks giving Grandma a rest!! Always an enjoyable time at Grandma and Grandpy's and nice to know that not much has changed!! It's great to see your grandparents so fit when they are pushing late into their 80's.
We then took a day trip down south/west to a small town called Salisbury with my aunt Judith and uncle John. Always a laugh, really, to spend time with the two of them who are probably more energetic than most people my age!!! We had christmas lunch with my Aunt Marueeen and Joan and my Nana. This is quite a proper bunch so you can imagine the laugh we had as we popped our Christmas crackers (which generally include a really awful joke, a paper hat in various colors that you must wear, and a little plastic noise making toy) and my Nana started pulling the ends of this plastic toy making quite a racket! We then came back to the Wycombe area, enjoyed a little kiddie play of the Christmas story, and had a nice evening sharing our pictures and stories with Nana, later joined by Judith and John once they had finished caroling. We headed down to Misterton, to Nana's bungalow later in the week. Had a lovely meal at their local pub...a very quaint little town in the country.
Spent the weekend in London with my Aunt and Uncle, Carole and Malc. Had a great time bustling around London seeing the historic sights...also the typical London sights, the double decker buses, beefeaters (funny looking men standing guard at the tower of london), red post and telephone boxes, mulled wine and mince pies everywhere! It was a nice weekend, I like hanging out with my aunt and uncle...their daughters might not like to admit it but their parents are fun!
We ate a lot in England. The diet is quite different, consisting of very heavy foods. Roast beef, for example, pasties (pastry filled with meats of all varieties, potatoes, veg of all kinds, you name it), lots of sweets, let's not forget salt and vinegar crisps, sausages (oh sausages), sausage rolls, some christmas lunches, and more. Food, food and more food!
None-the-less, though not in our best shape ever, we will not be embarrassed to be spending the next 10 days on the beach in our swim suits!! We (and when I say we, I mean me since we all know Jij doesn't gain an ounce) have come away with small souvenirs around the midsection but it's bearable...and was well worth it.
A visit to England, in my mind at least, was a perfect culmination to our trip. A bit of reimmersion into western culture and colder temperatures. A chance to reacquaint with family and enjoy their company...couldn't ask for a better ending really.