Summer 2012 was kicked off with a grand trip to England! As soon as Karen, Mike and Gavin's visit was over, we were off to London...via Munich, Germany. Olivia and Zach were VERY excited to say that they had been to Germany, even if it was just to touch down in the Munich airport. That's frequent flier miles for you! A limo turned up as our ride to the airport...their SUV's were all taken. Oh well, I guess we were in luck. It was a sweet ride to kick off the 2012 summer travel season. The Olympics were starting late July in London and our trip was from June 29-July 9.
The trip over was fairly easy. I did not sleep at all, even with the offer from my fellow seat neighbor to let me 'put my feet up on him'! Crazy fool :-) Zach and Olivia stretched out on each other, which would have worked perfectly, but Zach ended up moving every 4 minutes and waking everyone up. Poor Olivia was kicked in the head multiple times. I finally wizened up and switch their angle. After landing in Germany, we flew to London, hopped in a rental, which was touted as a 'minivan', but with the 3/4 rule in England, it was more like a small car in the U.S. It took me 3 days to realize it was actually supposed to be a minivan! Dave drove us Northwest to Chipping Norton. We stayed at the Crown Plaza. It was recommended by Barbara's friend, Claire...thank you, Claire, it was ooh, la, la nice. The kids had their own room...entirely. The Crown Plaza had an indoor swimming pool, golf course and beautiful grounds. We took a dip in the pool and I took an hour long nap to 'get me through' until bedtime. It worked!
Crown Plaza - Chipping Norton
Now, it was time to explore this new concept of a Gastro Pub! England is not known for their food, so they have been incorporating gastro pubs to shush their critics. We were up for a treat! Our first night in England set the stage for many nights in gastro pubs. I fell in love with a gluten free beer while I was there....Crabbie's. It's a ginger beer and oh, is it good. I'm anxiously waiting for the distributors to bring it to New Jersey. It's coming!
Lots and lots and lots of peacocks! The children must have spent an hour in the garden, taking pictures, wandering around, harassing (oops) the beautiful birds....
After a quick, crowded walk around the High Street in Leamington Spa, we saw the Olympic torch repeat. Not bad in a day's work....er, tour.
Ostrich - yuck
Can you tell we were a little jet lagged? We all pulled through and were ready to go the next morning.
An hour nap suited me just fine:-)
To Warwick Castle on our first official day in England! The grounds were much different than when Dave and I had visited the first time. The castle was ready for the Olympics! As a matter of fact, the Olympic torch was visiting the castle the day we were there and we were able to see it twice on our first day! Warwick and Leamington Spa - nice!
As you can tell, the weather is a bit cooler in England. Even though we had rain showers each day, it never really deterred us. We had dry skies while we were touring around and a shower would pop up later. All was fine on this trip!
Olivia and Zach, much to our happiness, were excited to visit and tour Warwick Castle! Let the castle touring begin! Although, I must say, Guy's Tower, with over 500 steep steps gave my muscles a beating. I was sore for 3 days! It was quite the workout, a much needed workout if I planned to visit the pubs each night:-) Grey clouds were looming overhead, but never fear, we'll keep going!
Warwick Castle
Nice helmut, Zach
What better way to learn history, than to live it?! For the Olympic torch rally, costumed historians showed the children how they used to play games at the castle (not really). The kids had a blast throwing stuffed black rats through the hoops. Of course, the adults had to give it a try here and there too.
Archery! Zach has been longing to take archery lessons. and this was his first chance to hold a bow...leave it to England! He loved it (and of course, I have video)
Peacock Garden
Zach had the camera at this point and came back to tell us that the ducks were fighting. Turns out, after we watched the video...they were mating. Lesson learned.
None other than..... peacock shrubbery
The best part of the day was the Birds of Prey show. AMAZING! These birds would fly from his arm to the top of Guy's Tower, spot a piece of meat the trainer had and would fly the long distance back down. A Sea Eagle is pictured above...a first sighting for us!
The Olympic torch is coming, it's coming, I think it's coming....we waited a long time to see a flame.
I couldn't resist....it's the Royal Prior's...or Pryor's?!
Nothing like a cold pint on a hot summer's day after seeing the sights. We found a beautiful spot along the riverside, called Saxon Mill, to quench our thirst and grab a savory bite to eat. Dave had been here before. The kids found meadows of 'wheat' during their excursions and we found sun, glorious sun!
Our next day we visited the Safari in Kittington. We thought about going to the amusement park, but it was a rainy day and staying in the car, viewing wildlife seemed like a better plan. We saw an ostrich take a pee/poop all in one right in front of us. Never before and never again. It was a like he/she dumped a 20 gallon bucket of while liquid on the ground). It's a sight you can never erase from your memory:-( We also had to wait 5 minutes while mama camel nursed her young. It was a serene moment....until mama decided to defecate while nursing. Um, this is too much nature for all of us, so we decided to move on.
Feeding time
After the Safari visit was over, Dave drove us to the New Forest, in the south of England. I would highly recommend this area for anyone with kids. It's a truly relaxing spot full of nature and animals. Loved it! Wild horses galore and wild donkeys.... everywhere you turned, wild something.
The kids loved petting and feeding the horses. Unfortunately, these wild horses are just that....wild. I wasn't looking and was kicked by a donkey. It was hard enough to make me angry, but not hard enough to leave a mark. Lesson learned. Zach was knocked over by a mustang, but wasn't hurt, thankfully. The horses get jealous if another animal approaches and you have to be ready within seconds to react.
Swans! Olivia and Zach loved them.
Our only time we were spoiled by the rain was on our visit to the beach. We tried, but the rain did us in.
Dinner at the local Italian restuarant....delicious and gluten free! Always, always a plus. Oh and don't forget the Chianti.
This was taken at the Pig Hotel...seriously. We didn't stay here, but heard they had pigs all over, so we took a trip down the road. It was a beautiful property, but geared more for adults instead of kids. We'll save this one for another time.
See the pigs in the background?
The walkway past the herb garden (garden to table restaurant) and on the way to the massage bungalow. How relaxing...
Our next trip was a trip just south of SouthHampton in Beaulieu, the Beaulieu Car Museum, Abbey, Palace House and Gardens.
Inside the car museum, Zach 'drives' me around. The museum had cars in all varieties. Bond cars from the movies (Bond in Motion) and the World of Top Gear.
Olivia checks out the Jaguar from a Bond movie.
World of Top Gear...the boys also rode in a simulator and loved it.
The Abbey....another first for the kids. Amazing facts and history from this abbey.
A quick ice cream treat and the kids favorite....J20!
Beaulieu Palace in the distance - the family still lives in the upstairs portion. I loved the portraits which also displayed living members of the Beaulieu family. Finally, you can see how the family lives on!
The town of Beaulieu has a school and a little downtown. A trip to a local tea house was in order. After they were formally introduced to "Tea and Crumpets", Olivia and Zach beg for it now. "It's tea time...."
Scones and Crumpets!
That's MY tea!
Back to our hotel in the New Forest ...we were there for 5 days. Olivia was back to feeding the horses.
Shetland Pony, nicknamed "Apple"
The New Forest is located along the southern coast and we spent a lovely day at the beach. Much history is tagged to this area as well. This is where many boats launched to Normandy during WWII.
Finally, back to our hotel, sunshine galore and a pint to boot! We sat back while the kids fed the horses and hopefully stayed away from the cows.
LONDON CALLING
We saved the best for last....London. Of course it was raining, but who cares at this point, we were on the London Eye, viewing all of London. Along the Thames.... Is that Big Ben you see?
On to the Tower of London.... can you tell the Olympics were coming?
Tower Bridge
Guard or sentry at The Tower of London
A visit to the Tower of London is not complete without viewing the Crown Jewels. Olivia was fascinated by the Tower Zoo (operated way back when....many visitors to the Tower Castle were mauled to death back in the day.)
Westminster Abbey
We also walked around London trying to find places where kids could eat. It seems like the pubs were not very kid friend in London, so we had to be creative.
Kids posing in London
The rainbow sand park along the Promenade....sculptures and sand, an artists rendition and a kids playground! We visited this sand park multiple times...
On the Guilford Express train to Guilford to visit Barbara, Michaela and her family.
We have arrived! Tom....we are so happy to see you. The Goss' left New Jersey at the end of May and we missed them!
Ready for some fun going up Hombry Hill (excuse my spelling)
A view from the tower
Taking the trip in Barbara's Disco (Discovery)
We had some muddy kids on the way home.
Michaela and Jez's house. They were wonderful hosts!
Of course, Olivia plays with the dogs.
Time for a ride on the infamous, Billy :-) With Michaela...
Playsets and trampolines galore...with Victoria.
Scrumptious food and dessert, mmm.
Our last day in England. A view of the London Eye.
An exhausted bunch!
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