This first day of June finds us in England’s Cotswolds region, a lush area of old stone mansions, antique shops, abundant hiking trails and Winston Churchill’s childhood home, Blenheim Palace. Contrary to our usual practice of bumping into inexpensive, little guest houses, we have splashed out and are spending 2 nights at a lovely 16th c. inn in the sleepy village of Burford, a short drive from Churchill’s digs. As I type, Sean peruses the shelves of the Burford Library
(open from 10 AM to 1 PM) and plans our journey westward.
The trip began last Saturday in London. There we re-visited some favorite sites and explored a few “new” ones, such as the National Gallery, Tate Britain (16th to modern day British art), Portobello Road Market and the London Eye, the bicycle wheel-shaped ferris wheel built to celebrate the millenium. Notting Hill, sans Hugh Grant, is a lively, eclectic neighborhood and one that we very much enjoyed.
A few days later we drove to the beach, to the 19th c. resort town of Brighton. A little bit of the Jersey shore along the English Channel but with a fantastic India-inpired royal pavilion, appropriately named The Royal Pavilion, and immense, activity-filled pier jutting into the water. The weather has been pleasant enough to enjoy the beach but not so temperate as to don a bathing suit. Brrr….
Loving the pubs, the surprisingly good cuisine, sites and endless number of independent bookstores (Sean has been keeping tabs on the number of stores entered and number of books bought. Yikes! There’s blackmail material.)
The Burford Library beckons me back to the keyboard. Smitten by the area (and perhaps a bit too lazy to move my bag yet again), we decided to stay a third
night in the Cotswolds at the Bay Tree Hotel. Thus far, we have had a peaceful journey. No flat tires (Romania), cockroaches (Costa Rica, Morocco) or days without luggage (Italy). Kind of dull for us, eh? Tonight, however, we’re putting a bit of color into our trip by attending the Cotswolds Olimpicks in Chipping Campden. Jousting, shin kicking and wheel barrow races are among the events. Hey, we missed the cheese rolling competition last weekend – we couldn’t stand to lose out on this!
Hoping that we don’t end up with bloody shins as souvenirs. . .
– stolen by Sean from 2 of Kathy’s emails 🙂
