Last Days Abroad

On the weekend, we went to Gartocharn convention.  It was very rainy and wet and quite cold but we just bundled up under blankets and 4 layers of sweaters.  Monday around lunch a wicked wind storm blew up.  Most were sitting in their cars waiting for the afternoon meeting to start when people starting running by.  We went to check it out and the dining tent had blown down!!!  Everyone helped to get things out of the wind and rain that was starting.  With no place to feed people and because of the danger being among so many trees, the rest of convention was cancelled so we caught a ride back to the Norman's while Wayne stayed over to help with clean up on Tuesday.

Since we had an extra day on Tuesday, we decided to take a drive to Caldbeck and then on to Keswick in The Lake District.  It was very beautiful.

We took a walk by the river in Caldbeck.  There was a wool store by an old windmill that was very neat.  Most of the yarn in there is from the local sheep.  No pictures allowed in the shop for some reason.

We went to Keswick directly from Caldbeck using our GPS and boy did it take us down some narrow roads through farmer's fields!  We learned later that the road went through the commons.

Here's how narrow the road was!

Sheep (and cows) right next to the side of the road.

Eventually we got back to more major roads and found Keswick.

Near the parking lot, we saw all these old cars.

Tuesday night we went out with Wayne, Beth, and Ormond (and later Jane) to Penrith.  Ormond was willing to take some anniversary pictures of us around some castle ruins.  We'll save the goods for another time, but here's part of the crew.

And since Ormond was behind the camera the entire night, here's a shot of the men on Wednesday night.

Wednesday during the day we didn't go anywhere.  In the wind storm, a couple trees fell over and knocked down the phone line so Leif spent the morning outside with a chainsaw while I wrote a blog entry and then we went into town in the afternoon for internet to post it.

Thursday, our last day of the trip, we went to York.  They have the National Train Museum there.

Some ancient trains.

The biggest locomotive we've ever seen!

This is a life size model of the high speed train and channel tunnel we went through to go to Paris.

York is a walled city and you can walk on the wall.

View from the wall.

One of the entrances into the city.

View from the wall of the Cathedral.

While we were somewhere along the length of the wall, it started to absolutely pour and then it even hailed for a bit.  We tried to take cover underneath some tree branches but it wasn't long before we were very wet.

The wall from the street.

Thursday night we went to Beth's brother and wife's house for some table tennis and chocolate fondu.

This post finds us at Manchester Airport waiting for our flight which was delayed 2.5 hours.  There's lots of good food to buy, some more shops to explore, and internet!  So it could be much worse.

See you all soon!!!

Carlisle and Beyond

We've had very full days since we arrived at The Bow, just outside of Carlisle.


Monday we had a bit of a recovery morning and then went to see the highlights of Carlisle.


Here's the front of the Carlisle Cathedral.  We didn't go in, just walked by.

Next stop was the Carlisle Castle, which we just explored outside again because we'd heard the inside wasn't very exciting.

Tuesday we drove out to Beamish, a town reconstructed from little bits of other towns.  We both really enjoyed ourselves.  I was a model tourist that day and took 270 pictures.  The town had a tram system to take people around, a steam engine and rail yard, an old and rather large house, a downtown with a bank, lots of little shops and some apartments, a farm with real animals, a church, a miners’ family housing complex, and a mine that we got to go in.  Some of the more interesting highlights are...

...a curly haired pig variety that was rather funny looking,

...an old burnt wagon,

...a working steam engine called Puffing Billy that we rode on,

...an old printing shop where you have to think really backwards,

...a very sweet candy shop,

...a dentist’s chair that I’m very glad I don’t have to sit in,

...a train track control room that would take a genius to operate,

...some huge machinery that almost swallowed Leif alive,

...a miniature pony like those that worked in the mines a long time ago,

...us before going for a trek down the very dark and tiny mine shaft,

...and the most complicated mine shaft elevator machine ever.

Tuesday night we got a bit down and dirty.  Wayne raises chickens and since Leif has no problem helping him, I thought I should man up and get out there.  Here is proof that I held a dead chicken.

Wednesday we took a drive out to Drumlanrig Castle.  The gardens of this place are absolutely gorgeous!

Here’s the long driveway.

This is the best garden.

We were not allowed to take pictures during our tour of the inside of this beast but it was also quite spectacular.  The Duke, who lives there on and off, has a huge art collection including a Leonardo Di Vinci that got stolen but was recovered 5 years later and now lives at a gallery.

In one of the castle wings, that used to be the stables, we went into a woodworking shop.  The man there grew up in Scotland, but his roots are German.  He was a wonderful story teller and told us all about the castle.

Thursday we took a train up to Edinburgh in Scotland.  We went on a tour of Mary King’s Close, which is the old town underneath the current courts buildings.  A close is a very narrow space between up to 7 storey buildings where people lived and worked.  It was dark down there and very scary.  They told us ghost stories and had life size plastic models of people dying of the plague.  No pictures allowed down there.

Then we took a walk up the Royal Mile to see Edinburgh Castle.

And we saw (and heard) some dressed up bagpipe players.

After some sightseeing we did some shopping and I would not be a nerd if I didn’t take a picture of this exposed floor system in one store.

Friday we had a much quieter day and stayed around The Bow, packing up for convention.  We took a walk around the farm.

Leif was quite happy to get up on every piece of machinery.

We went to convention Saturday morning with Wayne and had a wonderful couple days.  More on that excitement later.

Parisian Boyfriends for my Lovely Sister

At Le Louvre, we spotted some fine catches for Miss AEN.

Bachelor #1: You'll have some competition if you choose this bachelor but his prancing abilities will make the effort worthwhile.  You two will be the talk of the town.

Bachelor #2:  This bachelor's rippling muscles can protect you from anything.  Despite his rugged appearance, he'll be just like a big old teddy bear when it comes to loving you.

Bachelor #3:  If you want to do everything, this sleeping bachelor is the guy for you!  But choosing him would guarantee you an especially comfortable bed.

Bachelor #4:  Don't let this one-armed bachelor fool you, his beautiful armpit makes up for it.

Bachelor #5:  This next bachelor is every girl's dream - he's a dude with long hair in shining armour!  You'll have to bring the white horse into the relationship but he's got the shinpads!

Bachelor #6:  You might have to fight for this steely-eyed bachelor's affection because he sure loves his sandals.  If you like shoe shopping, he'll be your greatest companion.

And Bachelor #7:  My personal favourite, this bachelor may be short on stature but he makes up for it in heart.  He loves walks in the field while holding hands.

London

On our way from Paris to Carlisle, we stopped in London for a couple hours.  We were hoping to get on a bus tour, but we left it too late and everything was all booked up.  Instead, we dragged our suitcases along the river.

First here's a view of the escalators up from the London underground.  It must be 4 stories or so long and those picture frames on the walls are actually vertical.

Here's a good shot of the London Eye.

There were quite a few cool human statues that moved when someone put money in their buckets.  These are the best ones.

Here's yet another self portrait of us in our trusty super bright rain jackets in front of the Thames River looking weary and well traveled.

We picked up our rental car from the London Heathrow Airport, and Leif had pleasure of driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time.  The motorways were pretty low stress and I got some nice shots out the window.

Wish you were here yet?!?!