Happy Memorial Day,
another great month come and gone. The start of May began the the blowout ending of April, thanks to other planned events we had and other bank holiday's I still have not had much "full time" work so great.
We spent the several weeks after daughter's birthday party mostly recuperating from the vast amount of stuff we had been doing and preparing for our trip to Chessington World of Adventures. We were there for daughter to do the zookeeper for a day... thing. She had a blast, even cleaning up after them, so maybe she really will be the vet she has wanted to be since three. We stayed at the hotel on the park grounds which was very nice. We picked daughter up on Thursday right after school and went straight out. Arrived at the hotel which was quite nice and got bumped up to an executive suite!! Supposedly nicer and more luxurious but what it did have was a great view of part of the park with the ostrich and zebra, right outside the window!
I went downstairs and booked a table for dinner, we freshened up and had a fabulous though expensive dinner. The next morning we all woke up and had the breakfast included with the room (very nice brekkie, full english and more) and daughter was collected by the zookeeper and went to work. Partner and I were then free to wander around the park, arm in arm together, how romantic. Picked up daughter about 2ish and went for lunch then had a wander around the park. Did a few rides and went to have an amazing supper. Next morning was checkout but we left our bags with the front desk and had a real nose around the park after breakfast. Because we stayed at the hotel we were allowed to go to the theme park bit earlier than the "general public," so we got to enjoy even more rides and do a lot more stuff. We had lunch, had our caricatures done and came home.
Though I guess that was really only one thing it was so great that it seemed like we did more.
Today we went back to Windsor Great Park and had a picnic with some friends, which is always nice. It was quite nice and we left before it started raining. Unfortunately while walking back it decided to release the much needed rain on top of us. We all stopped off at the Savill Garden entrance nearby, partner and I decided we might go back after she drops off daughter with grandparents, to wait for the rain to move on but it started back up again after we started walking again. Though it never rained hard the walk was long enough that we were quite wet by the time we got home.
As for upcoming stuff, we are planning on going to Legoland this Friday after I have a dentist meeting (to discuss filling my remaining cavities) which should be quite fun. Partner wants to get the big passes then and possibly take daughter back every other weekend until she leaves, which would be super cool. I am thinking that then maybe we will take in the new X-men movie which looks quite good.
Love..
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
wow, what a month
Talk about going out with a bang. The last month has seen us take heavy advantage of the great number of public and bank holiday's over here and do many of the things we had been so wanting to do.
Daughter left school for her end of term (in the UK there are generally three terms to the school year September to December, January to April and April to July) on 8th of April for two weeks off. My holiday from work started the 10th through the 17th, thanks to careful planning of days off. Our first trip was one by train through Great Britain, from London Kings Cross to Inverness (Highlands Capital) in Scotland. If you wanted to tour Great Britain and arrive (you most likely will fly) into any of the airports in London, I highly recommend traveling the country by train. The country is so beautiful and you can see incredible things from the train not least of all the changing landscape of the land.
Our purpose for going to Inverness was to visit Loch Ness which is a 20 minute cab ride from the city. We stayed at the Clansmen hotel, one of surprisingly few hotels to have their presence nearly on the water. With a room with a balcony t made for spectacular viewing, especially when the sun came up. Our obvious reason for going to Loch Ness was to search for the monster, Nessie, and so we obviously brought binoculars along. We spent the remaining daylight of the day interchanging between the windows and the balcony (it was very cold and windy) looking for the creature. Our only full day was spent touring the several museums dedicated to the big tourist draw as well as the town of Drumnadrochit the closest to the many sighting of Nessie. We had thought of doing a couple of the other things including touring the local castle ruins and the boat tour of the loch but the weather could not make up its mind. The hotel was average and the food at the hotel was hit and miss, the dinners were uneatable but the breakfast (I had haggis and black pudding) was good on both days.
The trip on the train again was amazing, we got to see highland cows, nuclear power plants, the coast of Scotland and England and massive fields of flowers. Truly Great Britain.
The rest of the week was spent recovering from the trip and relaxing at the house. Though I went back to work the following Monday, daughter still had time off and partner did some hanging out, including going to the local pleasure grounds. The next Friday (the 22nd) we took a trip, again another by train, to the town of Great Missenden, the birthplace of the beloved and renowned children's author Roald Dahl. The town is tiny but lovely and the museum is amazing. Roald Dahl led a very interesting life and the museum is well worth the visit. Did you know that on top of the vast amount of children'e literature that he wrote he also had a successful radio series in the US prior to that. He was a member of the RAF and wrote the screenplay for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and You only live twice. The trip was fun and the food had at the museum was great.
A week later and I have a four day weekend thanks to the banks and of course the Royal Wedding. I have become a bit of a Royalist since being here, I like the thought of it and properly administered can be a great thing. So I had been quite excited about the wedding. I originally intended to see it in person but, when hearing the volume of people that planned to come out, I decided I could get a better view from my television. So I watched the entire thing from the first moment that Prince William rode out and down the mile to after the couple went back inside after a couple of sadly underwhelming kisses, he should have grabbed her and tipped her over and shared that fairy tale smooch. The whole event was lovely and as someone who is trying to re-ignite my own personal image it was great seeing all the well dressed people.
Afterwards, we went to a small "block party" that was really more of a large garden party and only really ok.
Saturday we decided to take in a Movie and saw the first showing of the day of Thor. Thor is an amazing and enjoyable telling of the God of Thunder's story and was well worth the trip.
The Royal Wedding was not the only celebration this weekend. My daughter also had her birthday on May 1st, yesterday. This was perhaps a far more important celebration and we decided to spend it taken in the views at Windsor Castle. Entry is not free but it is reasonable, even more-so when you consider the ticket lasts a year. The inside is amazing and you get to see a surprising amount of stuff. It is open the entire day even on a Sunday and luckily the only thing we did not get to see was the changing of the guard (wish we had). The Queen Mary doll house was amazing and the St. George's hall was really cool, as was the guard room. You get to see fantastic art and priceless artifacts. It is definitely worth the trip. Since the tickets last we will probably go back again, especially for changing of the guard and to see St. George's Chapel. The castle was so amazing that we walked through once, went and had tea (lunch) and went through again. The second time we noticed stuff we had not before.
About the tea, we decided that for Daughter's birthday we would go to the Crooked Tea House. The Crooked Tea House (the current building) was built in the 1600's and is crooked because when built they used unseasoned green oak, which warps over time. The tea sandwiches were ok but the coffee and tea were great. It was quite pricey but since it was someone's birthday it was worth it.
I mentioned that I could also thank the banks, well in the UK if the banks miss having a day off because the holiday fell on a weekend then they take the following or previous day off. Hence my posting this on Monday as May Day, is a bank holiday here. We originally had no intention of going out today but some friends invited us to the park. It is nice and sunny out but the wind is strong and chilly.
We have been amazingly lucky with the weather as well, the past few weeks or so has brought incredible weather.
So as you can see, a great month. Still have more to do though.
Daughter left school for her end of term (in the UK there are generally three terms to the school year September to December, January to April and April to July) on 8th of April for two weeks off. My holiday from work started the 10th through the 17th, thanks to careful planning of days off. Our first trip was one by train through Great Britain, from London Kings Cross to Inverness (Highlands Capital) in Scotland. If you wanted to tour Great Britain and arrive (you most likely will fly) into any of the airports in London, I highly recommend traveling the country by train. The country is so beautiful and you can see incredible things from the train not least of all the changing landscape of the land.
Our purpose for going to Inverness was to visit Loch Ness which is a 20 minute cab ride from the city. We stayed at the Clansmen hotel, one of surprisingly few hotels to have their presence nearly on the water. With a room with a balcony t made for spectacular viewing, especially when the sun came up. Our obvious reason for going to Loch Ness was to search for the monster, Nessie, and so we obviously brought binoculars along. We spent the remaining daylight of the day interchanging between the windows and the balcony (it was very cold and windy) looking for the creature. Our only full day was spent touring the several museums dedicated to the big tourist draw as well as the town of Drumnadrochit the closest to the many sighting of Nessie. We had thought of doing a couple of the other things including touring the local castle ruins and the boat tour of the loch but the weather could not make up its mind. The hotel was average and the food at the hotel was hit and miss, the dinners were uneatable but the breakfast (I had haggis and black pudding) was good on both days.
The trip on the train again was amazing, we got to see highland cows, nuclear power plants, the coast of Scotland and England and massive fields of flowers. Truly Great Britain.
The rest of the week was spent recovering from the trip and relaxing at the house. Though I went back to work the following Monday, daughter still had time off and partner did some hanging out, including going to the local pleasure grounds. The next Friday (the 22nd) we took a trip, again another by train, to the town of Great Missenden, the birthplace of the beloved and renowned children's author Roald Dahl. The town is tiny but lovely and the museum is amazing. Roald Dahl led a very interesting life and the museum is well worth the visit. Did you know that on top of the vast amount of children'e literature that he wrote he also had a successful radio series in the US prior to that. He was a member of the RAF and wrote the screenplay for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and You only live twice. The trip was fun and the food had at the museum was great.
A week later and I have a four day weekend thanks to the banks and of course the Royal Wedding. I have become a bit of a Royalist since being here, I like the thought of it and properly administered can be a great thing. So I had been quite excited about the wedding. I originally intended to see it in person but, when hearing the volume of people that planned to come out, I decided I could get a better view from my television. So I watched the entire thing from the first moment that Prince William rode out and down the mile to after the couple went back inside after a couple of sadly underwhelming kisses, he should have grabbed her and tipped her over and shared that fairy tale smooch. The whole event was lovely and as someone who is trying to re-ignite my own personal image it was great seeing all the well dressed people.
Afterwards, we went to a small "block party" that was really more of a large garden party and only really ok.
Saturday we decided to take in a Movie and saw the first showing of the day of Thor. Thor is an amazing and enjoyable telling of the God of Thunder's story and was well worth the trip.
The Royal Wedding was not the only celebration this weekend. My daughter also had her birthday on May 1st, yesterday. This was perhaps a far more important celebration and we decided to spend it taken in the views at Windsor Castle. Entry is not free but it is reasonable, even more-so when you consider the ticket lasts a year. The inside is amazing and you get to see a surprising amount of stuff. It is open the entire day even on a Sunday and luckily the only thing we did not get to see was the changing of the guard (wish we had). The Queen Mary doll house was amazing and the St. George's hall was really cool, as was the guard room. You get to see fantastic art and priceless artifacts. It is definitely worth the trip. Since the tickets last we will probably go back again, especially for changing of the guard and to see St. George's Chapel. The castle was so amazing that we walked through once, went and had tea (lunch) and went through again. The second time we noticed stuff we had not before.
About the tea, we decided that for Daughter's birthday we would go to the Crooked Tea House. The Crooked Tea House (the current building) was built in the 1600's and is crooked because when built they used unseasoned green oak, which warps over time. The tea sandwiches were ok but the coffee and tea were great. It was quite pricey but since it was someone's birthday it was worth it.
I mentioned that I could also thank the banks, well in the UK if the banks miss having a day off because the holiday fell on a weekend then they take the following or previous day off. Hence my posting this on Monday as May Day, is a bank holiday here. We originally had no intention of going out today but some friends invited us to the park. It is nice and sunny out but the wind is strong and chilly.
We have been amazingly lucky with the weather as well, the past few weeks or so has brought incredible weather.
So as you can see, a great month. Still have more to do though.
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