June 25 -- Back to the U. S. of A.

This was and early starting day. Everyone was up by 6 AM. The taxi to take us to the airport would arrive at 7 and we of course needed to be ready. We got things loaded up into the taxi and said our goodbyes to Melanie and we were off to the airport. The trip to Heathrow was uneventful. It's much more of a challenge to get you bags to the terminal if you have a lot of them and we did. Fortunately the trolleys were free so we loaded one up and off we went. I had checked in the night before so all we had to do was get our identities verified and we were then off to security.

All of us were either scanned after going through the metal detector or had our luggage searched. It was not big deal. The folks were very courteous and had a sense of humor about the whole thing and we didn't have to take our shoes off. Even with the delay it was much more pleasant that have TSA do the same thing in this country. I think the biggest difference is the attitude of the people doing the screening. Any way that got accomplished and we were off to get some breakfast.

We all expected breakfast at Heathrow to be very expensive but it turned out to be very reasonable and very tasty as well. The passenger waiting area was like as shopping mall with a large food court and plenty of bars. The gate assignment came up about 15 minutes before boarding time that had actually been delayed about 30 minutes due to late arrival of the aircraft. Got on board after going through another security procedure and we were ready to go. The pilot came on the intercom and said we would be delayed because the airport went into one runway operation. So we didn't push back and taxi for takeoff for about another 30 min.

The flight to Chicago was very pleasant. The flight attendants were very attentive. All-in-all it was a very pleasant flight even for being in the cheap seats.

Got the bus to Waukesha about an hour and a half after we cleared customs and retrieved our baggage. Seemed to take forever for the driver to get the bus loaded and we finally left the airport about 5 PM or so. Nice trip back to Waukesha but my butt was really sore from sitting all that time. With errands still to run and dinner to eat we finally got to bed between 9 and 9:30. We were all hoping for a good night's sleep.

June 24 -- Last Day in London

Another lazy morning to start the day. We did finally make it out of the house though at about 11:00 this morning. Melanie pointed us to the British Museum and she went to the London Eye to perform a task for me. She also had a couple of conference calls to take for work this afternoon. We walked around the Roman period of the Britain for about 45 minutes. We initially went there for a tour but the volunteer never showed up. So we decided to browse around the area until about 12:00 and then get back together. While I was browsing Mel called and said she had retrieved my property, woo hoo! I was quite elated with that. It took her about an hour to weave her spell on the unsuspecting security folk and others at the Eye.

Once we all met up again we decided to meet at 13:30 in the lobby near the main entrance. There is so much to look at in the museum that it would take days to get through it all. Everything I looked at was amazing. I can't believe the British stole all that stuff from around the world. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Bonnie went to look at the porcelain exhibit in the China section. She was impressed as well.

Melanie met up with us at 13:30 in the lobby. From here we went to get some lunch at Gail's Kitchen near the museum. Lunch was quite delicious and inexpensive, Melanie picked up the tab. Mel had another conference call to attend to so Ed, Kay, and I went to the corner coffee joint and had coffee and dessert. Bonnie joined us shortly after and said her and Mel were going to go shopping after the conference call was done. So we headed back to the house and left Melanie and Bonnie to go shopping. When we got back to the house we had a lazy time again. Soon we will be off to eat at the pub. Last dinner in London until next time.

It's now 19:30 and we are off to dinner at the Draft House. Our last burgers and beers or wine were very good and the company was marvelous. It seemed warmer this evening that it had been all day. An enjoyable dinner. Printed the boarding passes. Printed the bus tickets. Have the car coming at 0700 in the morning. Packing is nearly done. I think we are ready to go. The next entry will be from the United States of America.  Thanks for reading and there will be a couple of more entries with general observations and the results of our journey across the "pond".

June 23 -- The Day After

Another lazy day was had by all today. Bonnie, Kay, and I went to church this morning. Bonnie was welcomed warmly by a couple of the parishioners that she became acquainted with last winter. We stayed for a cup of coffee and a biscuit some chatting and then were off to the house.

When we got back we snacked for lunch on leftovers from the party. Surprisingly there were not that many to be had. There were just a couple of pieces of chicken, three or maybe four sausages, a little jello salad, and some potato salad. They all made a very nice lunch. We hardly left the house this day. It looks like everyone is pretty much ready to get on an airplane and go home.

Watched a few episodes of Dr. Who in the evening and then we were off to bed. This was indeed a very quiet day.

June 22 -- Solstice Party

The day started out rainy and windy. We had our usual breakfast, everyone had something different. Got the things cleaned up from breakfast and then began the to finish the preparation for the party this evening. Ed finished the potato salad and put in in a serving bowl. Bonnie made a quinoa salad. And we all pitched in with miscellaneous and sundry tasks. By 5 PM we were pretty much all ready to go. We started snacking on the hors d'oeuvres as soon as we started putting them out.

Our guests started arriving at 18:30 right on schedule. Melanie has a wonderful group of friends in the UK. We all had a great time. The Alaska smoked red salmon was a smash hit. The reindeer sausage was very well received. But the biggest surprise of all was that everyone thought the teriyaki chicken we marinated was the best ever. We passed out recipes for those who wanted them. And everyone said we should bring more salmon and sausage when we return.

The last guest left at about 23:30 and it took about an hour to clean everything up. Just left a few small finishing tasks for the morning. We all got into bed after a wonderful evening.

June 21 -- First Day of Summer

Today was a day of preparation for the big solstice party tomorrow. We had ordered the groceries on Thursday and they were to be delivered today. Melanie got a call from the grocery and they wanted to delivery early and that was not a problem. We got the counter tops in the kitchen cleared for the delivery. Once delivered we put the stuff away and began the preparation. The chicken was cut up and the marinade made. Bagged them together and into the fridge they went. Ed and Kay made potato salad. The first batch of potatoes was used for dinner since it was left to cook too long and would not slice well for the salad. But it all got put together and I'm sure it will be wonderful. Bonnie and Mel made dessert as well, an orange jello concoction that is Kitty Flint's creation. It's pretty tasty I might add especially if you like oranges.

Various errands had to be in the midst of all this kitchen commotion. Had to still go to the store for things we forgot to order. Went to the post office to send post cards. Went for walks in Wandsworth Common. Miscellaneous and sundry other things.

The weather was nice today. Sunny most of the time and temps in the 21-23 C range. It was a Goldilocks day, not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

Oh, and the saga of the personal property is at an end. The police department isn't willing to help me out. Sorry Bob I really tried to get it back. I hope whoever ends up with my beautiful, functional, spectacular knife will enjoy it as much as I have over these many years.

June 20 -- St. Pauls Cathedral & Westminster Abbey

We had eggs and left over sausage from breakfast this morning, yummy. Mel set-up and order form for a local grocery to have a delivery made on Friday. The list was quite extensive and included beer and wine for a solstice party on Saturday evening. Got that all figured out and submitted and tomorrow will stay close by so they can deliver the groceries between 11 and 12.

That done and off we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Took the tube right to St. Paul's station. The cathedral is really spectacular. We were given a player and headphones as part to the admission. The players were very nice and gave a lot of information about the cathedral you would not get just browsing around. While we were there there was a young people's choir from Singapore that performed. Their 40 minute or so concert was really good. All of the pieces they did were contemporary and I like more "traditional" sacred music but that's me. They were really good! We had lunch here as well. Lunch was reasonably priced and tasty.

We walked around in the crypt for a while. Watched a portion of the movie they show. The format of the movie is something I have not seen before. It takes a long time to go from subject to subject so the movie is probably much longer than it need be. Of course it may be designed that way so you move on after a short period. The different way the vaults and "tombs" are done in the crypt is quite interesting.
There a some vaults that have been there for a long time.

I was feeling poorly, so instead of accompanying the "gang" to Westminster Abbey I went back to Mel's by my self. Remembered the way without a problem. When I got back to Mel's I laid down and woke up at 10 PM. I guess my problem was that I was tired.

The reports that Westminster Abbey was very nice and enjoyable. I have been there before and was truly amazed at all of the things commemorated in the abbey. Since I didn't make the trip this time and the report was sketchy there won't be any more about the abbey in this entry.

The saga of property recovery continues.

June 19 -- The London Eye, Harrods

On the 18th I purchased tickets for Kay and I go on the London Eye. Our tickets were for 11 AM on the 19th. We had a leisurely breakfast this morning and took our time about getting going since our time was late. It was a warm day, 70s but high humidity. We went to the "4D" Experience when we arrived at the Eye. It was interesting. It was free you don't have to have a ticket for the Eye to see the 4D Experience. After this was over we went to the queue to go on the eye. Our tickets were scanned and then we get up to security and they ask if you have any knives. I tell them I have a pocket knife. Since my knife has a blade that locks in place they confiscate it. Telling me that carrying a locking blade knife in the UK is illegal. This starts the ongoing saga of trying to get my property back. As of Friday still no luck but I'm working on it. But I'm not confident I will be able to recover it. Anyway, the experience on the Eye was enjoyable for Kay. I was very angry so my time on the Eye was not very enjoyable.

After this trip, we went to the Kennington, London Police Station to inquire about my options for retrieving my knife, no luck but more information. Next we went to the American Embassy. Not much help there as well but again more information.

From there we went to Harrods Department Store. I personally thought is a waste of time but Bonnie and Kay enjoyed the experience, I think. They bought some souvenirs for people back home. We had lunch there as well but there a much better lunches to be had in the area of Harrods for probably half the money. Just an example of the prices, a dinner salad or side salad cost £ 7.50, a 300 ml bottle of Coke is £ 4, and a cheeseburger is £ 18. I personally think that is outrageous, but then what do I know? My brother marveled at the price of an "ugly" sculpture that was selling for £ 240,000. I guess some people have money to burn. They do have very beautiful things sitting beside the ugly things as well. But the ugliest thing about the store is their prices.

We stopped on the way home to buy some groceries and had caribou sausage, Alaska, and boar sausage, UK, for dinner with stir fried vegatables. A nice quiet evening at Mel's and then we were off to bed.

June 18 -- A Day of Rest

Today we did nearly nothing all day. Had a leisurely breakfast that we each made for ourselves. Kay and Bonnie went to the post office and did a little shopping on the way back. I worked on this manuscript and cut the grass in the backyard (10 minutes). We snacked for lunch. Everyone took a nap. Ed and Kay went and picked up a newspaper. Bonnie went for a walk. We all prepared dinner. Bonnie and Kay took care of the dishes. Melanie got home and had leftovers from dinner. We all said good night and everyone is in bed except for me. I wanted to get this caught up today and so I did. I still have pictures to add and corrections to make but at least there is a post for every day of the trip. Tomorrow we will be off on new adventures.

Good night all!

June 17 – Back to the UK

We arose early this morning just in case we had difficulty driving to Lille and finding the car park to return the rental car. Was a good thing we left early. My GPS failed me this day. The previous night I had look at routes to the depot and wrote them out for reference. We did get lost. We ended up getting off the expressway and going into the tourist office in a small town. Our level of anticipation was quite low though. We didn’t really expect to find someone that could speak English at a small town information office. Our spirits soared when we asked the question and received an affirmative answer. Not only could she speak English she was also very helpful. I wish I knew the name of the town but I failed to write it down or ask the woman her name so I will thank her profusely anyway and hope that someday I will once again be able to thank her in person.

Being back on the right track lightened all of our spirits and we quickly made our way to Lille, France to catch the train. We go to the depot with little trouble but finding the entrance to the proper car park was a challenge. Finally I dropped Ed and Bonnie off to ask the Hertz rep. While Kay and I were waiting we got chased out of the place we “parked”. I just knew that while I was going around the block they would come out and indeed that was the case. As a pulled up to the station one more time they were already walking down the street. I was able to flag them down and we got to where we needed to be with the car.

After unloading, I left the other three to check in for the train while I turned in the car. Coming back to the rest we had our ticket information checked, went through French passport control, and then had to fill out a card for British passport control that basically had all of the information from our passports. Went through just fine then security checked the bags and we waited for the train.

The train came and we boarded and I think all of napped at least a little while on the trip back to London. To our surprise, Melanie was at the station waiting for us. She had to catch a train at King’s Cross, which was just across the street. She helped us find the taxi and we were off to 19 Salcott Road, YEAH!

We got everything in the house in proper order then Bonnie and Kay got laundry going before we went grocery shopping. Got that stuff all back to the house and then went to the corner pub for dinner. We all had a burger and a brew or wine for dinner. Went back to the house and Ed and Kay crashed for the night. Bonnie and I were up a while longer but soon were in bed as well.

All of us were glad to be back in London.

June 16 – American Cemetery at Normandy

Breakfast this morning was an interesting walk through a bakery and a butcher shop. Picked up bread and pastries at the bakery and meat at the butcher shop. We still had the left over cheese from our lunch in Reims, France on the way to Paris. All in all it was an okay breakfast. The French have a very different idea of breakfast than most Americans do. But it all worked out okay.

American Cemetery - Normandy,  France

We were off to Normandy once again to the American Cemetery. This is both awesome and humbling at the same time. There are about 9400 graves in the American Cemetery and thousands in the British Cemetery just down the beach. When this monument was built the families of the dead servicemen had the option of returning the remains to the U. S. or having them left in Normandy. This is one of the American Monuments that cannot be adequately explained by words, pictures will not even do it justice but I will try to include some.

American Cemetery - Normandy, France

The cemetery and the museum are on the heights over looking Omaha Beach. The Germans heavily fortified this area.  It is nearly impossible to imagine how the Allies were able to get up on the heights at all and they did it in just a few hours. The cost was indeed tremendous in lives and equipment. I thank each of the men and women, who fought, were wounded, or died in order that I might live in freedom. Without their heroic efforts we might still be under the heels of the dictators or emperors of the world.

This was a sobering visit that brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.  I experienced a constant wash of conflicting emotions. I would return in a heartbeat to honor once again the fallen heroes of World War II.

Once again this evening we enjoyed a nice meal in Deauville, France. No seafood this time. We went to a crepe restaurant. Bonnie and I had omelets, Ed and Kay had “burger” crepes and Melanie had a ham and cheese crepe that was set on fire. After dinner we went for a short walk on the beach and had gelato. Ending the day we took Mel to the airport for her flight home.

June 15 – Off to Normandy

Grabbed some breakfast this morning at the hotel in Paris and off we went to Normandy. Once again we drove around the area of Paris we were in before we found the way to the expressway to get on the road going west.

If you go to Europe and mess around in the big cities you should have a GPS. We don’t and life would have been so much easier. If you don’t think you can buy one then rent it from the car company. I will try to come up with some recommendations when I get home but the mapping data is always subject to change and before any trip you should download updates if they are available.

It took about 3 hours to drive from Paris to Omaha Beach. We stopped in Caen, France to see if there were any tours available. We thought we might take a half-day tour and then go on our own. I did check on a couple yesterday on the Internet but none of those were available. Didn’t find one available while in Caen either.

We decided to go to Omaha Beach before we checked into the hotel so we would have more time there and more time at the American Cemetery tomorrow. It’s difficult to imagine what it must have been like 69 years ago. From the beach to the high ground surrounding it is more than ¼ of a mile. A clear open killing field was the only thing I could think of walking down the beach. What a horror it must have been for those soldiers and marines jumping from the LSTs into the water and then trying to storm up the beach to the base of the high ground. I just can’t imagine it and I’m sure movies like the Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan do not really do the horror justice. Tears come to my eyes just writing this. My emotions were very conflicted as I walked up the beach, from anger to joy, from horror to elation. One that was always there was the humble feeling brought on by the great sacrifice of the soldiers who gave their lives so that I might have the freedom I have today.

Dinner at a local seafood established was wonderful. It’s so much easier with Melanie because she speaks French so well. She does get irritated with us taking for so long to make decisions about what to eat. The seafood should be good. We stayed in Deauville, France. It happens to be a fishing town on the English Channel. The food was very good and the company was exceptional.

The “hotel” for this night and the next was adequate and clean. That’s about all I will say about it. Rooms for 100€ are very basic in general. That being said there are nice deals to be had like the place we stayed in Alphen in the Netherlands.

Off we went to bed after another long day.

June 14 – Paris France

We decided to take it pretty easy this morning. Everyone was tired, especially of being in the car. Bonnie and I browsed the Internet to see if there was a Laundromat nearby and indeed found one. We attempted to walk to it but went the wrong way. We stopped to ask for directions from someone that didn’t speak English and we were on our way again though to a different location than our original destination. Found a Laundromat and spoke for a short time with the proprietor. He was from Mali and his wife from Senegal and of course did not speak English. Told them we would be back and indeed we were.

While the laundry was in we went to a local establishment for a drink. However we ended up having lunch. We both had the plat du jour. The lunch was wonderful. The gentleman sitting next to us spoke English very well and we chatted with him during our lunch. Lunch was a glass of wine, chicken or beef, a small salad, and frites the cost was an astonishing 8€. Certainly the best value for a meal of the trip so far and it was very tasty. Back to the laundry and finished it up.

Went back to the hotel and decided to take the train into the city. Purchased metro tickets and off we went. First we went to the Louvre, then the Arc du Triumph, then to the Eiffel Tower and back to the hotel. Didn’t go into any of them because of the lines and the time but we did get to see them at least.

Had dinner at a nice sidewalk café and then we were back to the hotel after another tiring day.

Yes, I know there is not as much as you might expect from on Paris here. We all were tired including Melanie. We all agreed that we should have just passed by Paris and saved it for another trip. There are impressive things in Paris but you have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate them. Today, none of us were in that frame of mind.

June 13 – Off to Paris

Said our goodbyes this morning and we set off for Paris. I was pretty excited because we were supposed to meet Melanie the next day.

We stopped at Reims, France along the way to visit beautiful Reims Cathedral. We pulled into the city and found a likely parking place. Didn't even think about having to pay. We just left the car, locked of course. We were hungry so the first task was to find a place to get something to eat. We stopped in a "pub" (again I'm sure they don't call them that in France) and ordered a cheese platter with some drinks. The cheese and the bread were excellent and it just happened the proprietor of the cheese shop was in the pub and told us all about the cheeses. It was a nice lunch.

We next asked for directions to the cathedral and the man from the cheese shop directed us down the street and it was just a 10 minute walk. Oh did I mention it was raining. We had left the umbrellas in the car and didn't go back to get them. So we walked to the cathedral in the rain. It was certainly worth the walk. To say it was impressive is an understatement. Very beautiful and no admission charge. I did donate 10€ but nothing was required. Mark had suggested that we stop here especially since we missed the cathedral in Cologne. I'm glad he made that suggestion.

The rest of the trip to Paris itself was pretty uneventful. However after arriving we had to find our hotel. This turned out to be most difficult. The initial directions I had copied off from Google Maps were inaccurate because the information was inaccurate (my fault). We had even flagged down a couple of taxi drivers in this area and asked them to lead us to the hotel for their regular fare. None of them were interested. We did finally stop at a McDonalds, they have Wi-Fi even in France.

Discovered the error and tried to copy down the subsequent directions from the McDonald’s to the hotel. Once again got to the new area but were hard pressed to find the hotel once again. This time we flagged a taxi driver and he very graciously led us to the hotel. He did not even charge us when I’m sure he could have had a paying fare. We forced 10€ on him anyway with our undying gratitude.

This hotel ordeal actually took about 5 hours including time out for dinner. You have no idea how tense things were in the car. We were all ecstatic to get into our rooms and get some much-needed rest.

The moral of this story obviously is, if you are going to a big city in Europe that is unfamiliar be sure to have a reliable GPS. Next time we will have one.