If it's not Scottish, it's CRAP!

Hotel de Davis Part Deux
Pete's sister, Nancy, and her kids, Kate and Grant, came for a visit about a day after my friend, Gainer, left! Quick turn around of sheets, bathroom clean up and grocery restock and we were ready! The kids were finally out of school, so they could do the international pick up at Heathrow.

Our plan was to hit London hard a couple of days, relax a bit with local Twyfordian activities over the week-end, and then one more day in London before we headed up to Scotland. Now I will say that Pete's sister and I are alike in the fact that we like to have a plan and we might tend to over program just a bit...so kindred sisters-in-law is how we roll!

Nancy scheduled a great all day private tour in London and we decided to accompany her because we knew we would learn something new about the city we call home. And were we right! I highly recommend Gary Egerton of  http://www.diplomatic-guide-services.co.uk
(+447812073761)...he met us in an air-conditioned van, knew right where to drop us to see the Changing of the Calvary and the Guard at Buckingham Palace (without ALL the tourists), fastpass into Westminster Abbey and tons of cool, new insight for us "locals". He was great with the kids and knew just when to speed things up or go into more detail. And the best bit...he was former British "secret service" protection duty for the Royal Family and past Prime Ministers, so he had loads of insight into Princess Diana, Will, Kate, Queen, Maggie Thatcher and Harry. His claim to fame is that he pee'd in all 78 bathrooms at Buckingham Palace!

Pete joined us for the ride in and then met his buddy Tom Bice for some bromance time...Chrurchill War Rooms, the Tower of London and then a early pub dinner to meet up with all of us! It was a great, interesting, and LONG day!

Train to London ~photo bomb by May and Kate!

Tube Gymnastics!

Smallest occupied house in London

Angelsea Arms in Kingstown

After dinner gelato ~ photobombed by Pete

Weekend hike in the Hambleden Valley

Over the weekend, we chilled while Nancy and kids did a Windsor Castle tour. Windsor Castle is one of my favourite tourist sites in London BUT I have been there so many times, that I have now learned to let guests tackle that one on their own. We are a 20 minute train ride away so it works out well for all involved. On Sunday we did a nice country walk in the Hambleden Valley, popped into a pub for a drink and then finished at the Bull and Butcher in Turville for a Sunday lunch.

Brotha and Sista

Mummy and Daughter

Brotha and Sista, the next generation

Those long legs are too tall for the Chequers Pub in Fingest

Awesome pub puppy!

Garden lunch

Nancy has her first Pimms and she LIKES it!

My Old Man

The next part of our adventure was an afternoon in London, a meet up with Gary (our awesome guide) for some touring and then he was to drop us at the train station to catch the Caledonian Sleeper up to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a longggggg day but the sleeper train worked out great!

After a lovely lunch in Covent Garden, we divided and conquered...I took the boys to the Churchill War Rooms (fantastic) and Nancy took the girls to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery. We met Gary for some night time touring, the best fish and chips in London and then we went to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. Basically, the Key ceremony is the nightly locking up of the Tower of London. It has happened every single night for over 700 years without fail. There were some great dramatics, raising of guns, bugle music, etc with the Royal Guards and it was dark and spooky. Apparently it is a hard ticket to get with waits of up to 18 months so we were lucky we had Gary on our side to procure them! Gary then dropped us at Euston station for our 11:50 pm departure on the sleeper train to Edinburgh!

Train to London and then Scotland!

Eurotravellers!

Beautiful gals in Covent Garden

Cool dudes at Horse Guard Parade

Some statue outside of the Churchill War Rooms (not Churchill)

Everyday I'm shuffilin'...

Let's climb the Trafalgar Square lions...first we have to get up...

Dumb and Dumber helpin' one another

Almost made it...May tapping her foot

CHEESE!

Love the NEW BIG BLUE COCK!

St Pauls

Those doors must be big to make this crew look so tiny!

Da BOMB!

Leadenhall Market -Harry Potter filmed here

Old and New - the Tower of London and the Shard

Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London

Good thing she didn't get locked in for the night!

The Ceremony of the Keys has happened every night for the last 7oo+ years.
It is essentially when they lock up the Tower for the night-very cool!
Tixs are hard to get-18 month wait! Starts at 9:30PM

Tower Bridge at night

Great fish and chips with our Blue Badge Guide, Gary!

Cousin High Tea!

Sleepin' on the train...so exciting!

My roomie!

Tucked in on the sleeper to Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a gorgeous city and we had gorgeous weather (which I hear can be iffy)! We arrived at 7:30 AM and had a while to wait until our flat was ready. We were able to drop our luggage (thank god) and headed off to explore. We had some tired campers and so we were relived when they texted at 2pm to say our flat was ready. We had hit  Edinburgh Castle right when it opened as it was so crowded...in fact all of Edinburgh was crowded due to the Fringe Festival that was due to start the day we left. I felt like it was a touristy city and there were loads of tourist shops everywhere. I think I would like to explore some of the quieter parts of Scotland next. There were some great street performers so we always had something to go see when we ventured out of our apartment. That evening we went to a "close" that was really old and went on a tour of the old, poor part of Edinburgh...it was the kid's favourite by far!

 

The next morning, the girls hiked up to Arthur's Seat on a bright sunshiney day! Great, expansive, 360 degree views. We then picked up the lazy bum boys and hit up Holyrood Palace which is the Queen's Edinburgh lodging when in town. It was a great tour and really beautiful inside and out.

 

Back on the train the next day for the ride home and to regroup! Nancy took Kate and May back to London the next day so they could shop Harrods, Liberty and have HIGH tea! I opted to stay with the boys and let them regroup. Nancy and kids left the next day for Paris and to meet their hubs/Dad, Pete.

Edinburgh Castle-getting ready for the Military Tattoo

Holyrood Palace

Ding Dong, anyone home? Loved that the Palace had a doorbell!

Courtyard in Holyrood Palace-Zara Phillips had her wedding reception here...like ya do!

Holyrood Palace Abbey

Arthur's Seat in the distance

Cousins...obviously the girls had done this before!

Scottish Wedding

Top of Arthur's Seat

My awesome and hilarious niece!

Highly recommend this new restaurant in Edinburgh - The Inn on the Mile. Great décor, lovely staff and the haggis was surprisingly good! It is a hotel too-rooms looked cool!

Blurry beauties in the Missoni Hotel-super chic!

Loved the Missoni Hotel doorman's kilts...tres chic!

Train back to Edinburgh-5 hrs flew by!

 



Panoramic from Arthur's Seat

Princes Street Pano of Edinburgh Castle at night



Refreshments at the Inn on the Mile



Pano from Arthur's Seat

We arrived home from Scotland for a day of recovery and to kick the Olsons out of Hotel de Davis! After we shipped them off to Paris for a couple of days, we packed up for our 10 day road trip to Normandy and Switzerland. We met the Olson family in Vicars Bocage in Normandie for a whirlwind tour of the great D-Day sites!

We took the Euro Tunnel from Folkestone, UK to Calais, FR - so easy. Under a 2 hour drive from Twyford to Folkestone, 35 minutes tunnel passage (car on a train in a tunnel) and then a 3 hour drive from Calais to the Normandy region. Along the way, we stopped in Etretat for a quick gawk, to stretch our legs and an even quicker lunch. Etretat is charming French coastal town with a big pebbly beach surrounded by dramatic cliffs. Apparently famous because Monet painted the cliffs there.

Our first Euro Tunnel excursion! So cool-England to France in 35 minutes!

Easy Peasy!



Henry laughing/crying/in shock after the seagull stole his panini!

Etretat was gorgeous!
 Note: Henry hiding his new sammie in his jacket...

Some sun would have been great!
 

A little gelato was in order!

The flowers in August were gorgeous, especially the hydrangeas

Cute farms everywhere

German cemetery in Normandie

We stayed at a great farm house ( a gite in French) in Villers Bocage called Le Ferme du Pressior. (http://bandbnormandie.com/roomsandrates.html). We rented a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, with a kitchen, gite which was great for our group of 8. Believe it or not, we actually used the kitchen!

Nancy hired another great guide for us to give a day long tour of the D-Day beaches and history. John Flahtery of Hand Maid Tours (www.handmaidtours.com) took us to all of the major D-Day sites and to some other minor sites that not many people go to. It was a gorgeous day (hot) so the pull of the beach (to May and myself) was strong-she didn't quite get it when we had to drag her off the beach to go look at some more old war stuff. John was a great guide and historian and gave us some great insight into the D-Day activities (especially from his British perspective). In my opinion, I liked our London guide better just because he was fun, great with kids and had the good scoop on the Royal Family.

American Cemetery in Normandie-somber

Teddy Roosevelt's son

German bunker

A cannon ball hit the German bunker, went through the wall...

and out the other end...

Saint Mere Englis

American Cemetery

Roosevelt Café at Utah Beach

BBQing at our French farmhouse

Sister and Brother

Nancy and Pete

Apparently the glare was too much for Grant and his iPad!

Pete and Pete (aka Dumb and Dumber)

Le Ferme du Pressoir

Dum-dums in the English Channel

The next day, given the great weather the day before, we thought we would hit a French beach. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as warm as the day before but it certainly did not stop Grant, Henry and Uncle Pete going for a swim in the English Channel!

Kate is use to the Texas heat but not the French gloom at the beach

Handstands must be done in every country!



Happy Henry

Sisters...from another Mister

Hilarious French lunch = Lost in Translation

Before the beach excursion, we hit a quaint French bistro for lunch. It was a typical bull in a china shop experience...8 Americans, not one French speaker amongst us and some partial English from the waiter. At least they were nice...and if they weren't, we had no idea what they were saying about us! I thought for sure we would end up paying 500 Euros for our meal because we all ordered the 3 course lunch menu - there was 14.95 on the chalk board that I thought for sure was for each dish ordered...but luckily it was 14.95 for all of it! We saw they had snails and figured it was typical escargot-hot butter and garlic with a few snails thrown in...BUT what Pete, Henry and I ended up with was a platter of at least 25 snails EACH, CHILLED...yes CHILLED. Rubbery and chewy, CHILLED, snails...25 of those suckers...EACH! Henry took one bite and said NO. Pete took one bite and said NO. I tried to gut down 5-6 but my jaw hurt and stomach lurched. Henry (the only one of eight who has a year of French under his belt) finally asked the waiter to take his plate away. He couldn't even look at them anymore. I am happy to report that the rest of the meal was fantastic!

Langoustines and Chilled Snails...so many snails...

Au Revoir Normandie

Old stuff

It was great visit and the last of our visitors-thanks for coming Olsons-we had a ball! Hotel de Davis was officially closed for the rest of the summer and has (at this writing) no planned visitors! After Normandy, we had a Griswald-style road trip to Switzerland all planned out - stay tuned ...next blog!