My Love

Oh my goodness... Paris is unreal. City of Romance for sure! People are everywhere gazing at one another, kissing, giggling... It's impossible to not follow suit! Our hotel is adorable in the center of Montmartre. We are in the John Lennon suite & it is very pink & gold! Our window opens wide & has a cute wrought iron railing so we can lean out & watch the craziness happening at all hours below! we can see Sacre-Coeur which if I had not copied down the spelling would of spelled it Sockaree-Ocure, but it is apparent I have no clue here. I find it a bit humiliating to be in France & not even have a polite amount of French to speak. We decide to walk up towards Sacre-Coeur & grab dinner along the way. Only a block up the hill from our hotel I am swept away with the endless adorable shops & cafes & people sitting around speaking their beautiful language drinking wine & mojitos in every direction. It is so cute! We wandered from cafe to cafe trying to find some recognizable foods on the French menus posted outside each until settling on one. We shared a bottle of wine & the staff warmed up to us as the meal went on, but I can tell we are an annoyance to be in their city trying to make them speak English! Oh well, what can we do at this point!? Haha. We say Merci as often as possible to show we are trying. ;)  So now we get directions to walk on up to Sacre-Coeur. Ugh, it is not far but the hill is steep! Its a mixnof steep walkway & about 80 stairs. My legs were on fire & we stopped & laughed calling ourselves fat lazy annoying Americans a time or two. But when we got there it was so worth it! The building is beautiful, but what was cool is that hundreds of people sit on the stairs of it drinking & singing & visiting. Guys walk around w/ cases of Heineken & Eiffel tower trinkets & laser light toys harassing you buy. We had one guy who was amused at us & came by asking nicer & nicer each time. His last attempt he says, "change your mind please!?" in his sweetest voice that made us both laugh. There is a gorgeous view of all the city from there & the Eiffel Tower did its twinkly diamond thing while we were up there & it was so unreal I decide we will not go see it until tomorrow night as I want the twinkly experience up close!  On the walk down the hill we pass a large group blocking 1/2 of the stairs singing together as one guy played the guitar. An old French guy came along & joined in belting out a French song at the topof his lungs that had the whole crowd rolling in laughter. We laughed too but had no idea whathe was singing about. :) we stopped at another cafe for some more wine closer to the bottom of the hill & enjoyed watching the locals harass the vendors who harass everyone else. Musicians stop & play for you & then gruffly beg for a tip, guys sell flowers & junk. One tried to sell us a giant plastic palm tree with parrots that lit up & played some island jinggle! People here are hilarious! One of the waiters would tell each of the vendors that his customers (a couple of regulars I assume) wanted to buy whatever it was so they would stand & beg them until giving up while we all laughed at the annoyance he was causing. One wonderful first night in Paris.

PARIS!?!? For reals???

Oye! What a surprise! I've always wanted to go to Paris! A bit nervous that I cant think of any of the French i learned in high school! Bonjour! Avoire!  Humm, that should cut it. Part of the train ride was solid black tunnel (underwater) but once we hit land again we travelled along the borders of Belgium & France & then down to Paris. as far as the eye can see it is rolling farm land & vineyards for the most part. Everything is green & looks storybook-like. Small villages of homes scattered about & I think I might trade our crazy life in the states for a small home in one of these villages any day. Of course if I were not blessed with this adventure packed crazy life, how might I have ever made my way past here? Ha!  During the dark sightless part of our ride Dustin & I watched our final episode of Game of Thrones. (Aaahhhh! I cried!) if you watch it then you will understand why I would even mention it at a time like this. WOW. Ok, back to Paris.....

London in a day

Wednesday morning we wake ready for our London adventure. Back into the tube we decide to head to see Big Ben first. As we climbed the steps to leave out of the tube we find ourselves broken necked immediately faced w/ the House of Parliament & Big Ben! It's so big & beautiful we were between giggly & at a loss for words. After several pictures we crossed the Westminister Bridge & walked down towards the London Eye as It's a beautiful day & we couldn't wait to ride it! We pass County Hall which is a massive beautiful old building covered in statues & after a surprisingly short wait we are on board the London Eye. They say it takes 30minutes, but there was so much to seei could of stayed on for an hour or longer. It provides an amazing view of London & well worth the money, I can't wait to see the picutres Dustin got. After that we took an informative river cruise up & down the Thames & picked out our lunch spot for when the cruise was done. (if only we had thought about how far down the river we had gone before deciding to walk it! Ha ha! None the less, after getting back to the dock we started back down the Queens Walk which turns into the Jubalee Walk... It was probably 3 miles or so, but soo much to see! Street artists, vendors, historic sites, beautiful shops & cafes all along. We walked past Hungerford, Golden Jubilee, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Millenium & Southwark (all bridges!) We were focused on getting to the Anchor, one of the oldest pubs still standing in London right on the Thames River. We both get fish & chips (yes again!) and a pint & soon realize eating at the Anchor will mean fighting some very determined pigeons to keep our food!! Dustin almost punched one that would not be shooed away & keep coming at out our plates! It was almost a little frightening how aggressive they were! Ha ha! So the story with this crazy old establishment is that it has been home to a tavern, then a brothel, chapel, brewery, a ships chandlers & now pub/resteraunt! In 1603 it was the site of a Plague Pit & then built over in 1665 as The Ancor Tavern & a place where Shakespeare often enjoyed an ale or two. So after our long morning walk we catch the tube back (which took us past the London Dungeons b.t.w) to our starting point at the House of Parlaments & Big Ben. Next to that is the Westminister Abbey which is a breathtaking church I intend to read up on. It is adorned w/ so many details & statues & very gothic looking. I will put it on my list of places most likely worth paying & waiting in line for on a future visit. We then went to the Churchill War Rooms, walked the Priness Diana Walk through a beautiful park that had amazing flowers everywhere & ponds filled with swans & wildlife! At the end of the Princess Diana walk we came to Buckinham Palace where we gawked at through the gates, then headed over to where the actual used side entrance was & watched the guards do a wonderful stomping grunting gun twisting & slapping march across the gates before taking their solomn stands to not move again. Until.... A few police from behind the gates came out to whisper something to them each & we knew something good was soon to happen! So we waited.... & waited.... & waited & finally along came several police escorting & surrounding 2 car fills of important people that no one recognized. Ha ha! Ah, well. ;) From here we walked up The Mall which is decked w/ hundreds of flags in prep for the Queens Bday. It was a beautiful walk & we spoke w/ an English gent who told us the black lamp posts all have ships on them aimed towards Trafalgar Square where Nelson's Column stands & he "watches" as his ships come in. Apparently few people know about that & he was proud to share that tid bit with us. Soo... You guessed it, we must follow the ship posts to Nelson!  This walk lead us past St. James Place which i must admit i am not sure what that is.. My guess was university, but ill have to look into that. Also along the way we crossed under Admiralty Arch which is where the center gate is only opened for the queen to pass through, but stays closed for anyone else. After passing through it we find the square & sure enough Nelson is stating right down at us as we arrive along with his ships! Ha ha! This square is also the location of The National Gallery. Another bazillion pictures later & after Dustin climbs up to pose with one of the giant lions, we are BEAT! I spot a pub nearby & we make a beeline to get a pint & rest our feet. I grabbed us some barstools while dustin goes to make our order when I realize I am the only female in the place. Maybe this is a business men's gathering spot!? I think I might be asked to leave as I scan the place for Dustin & the reality hits me that this quaint establishment names Halfway II Heaven is a gay bar. I giggle & wait for Dustin to notice & realize he is bright red as the flamboyant bartender gives him a hard time. Lol. We drank our pints & discussed the drag queens photos on the walls & then decided to head to Leicaster Square for a nice dinner outside.  THAT I am proud to say is most of London's sights all in a day! Tomorrow is my surprise departure to who knows where! ZzzzzzzZzzzzz.....

Please mind the Gap

Well, we went from our lovely first class train ride down from Scotland into the crazy London Tube. Might be the same as NY City's subway, but with our giant packs on it felt much crazier and I couldn't help but giggle at the continuous announcement to "please mind the gap". Referring to the space between the tube & playform. We only had to take 2 trains to get within a few 100 meters of our hotel though. We are staying at a hotel on the grounds of the Chelsea Football Club. Feels a little too stark & modern in comparison to our recent stays, but we have so much to see here, we don't even care & I'm excited to be staying in one place for 2 nights in a row which means no big backpack till Thursday! Woohoo! Dustin & I both will pack differently from here out I think after seeing how little we can operate on & still be clean & look presentable.  Well HOLY MOLY! What a full day in London we had! It was beautiful weather.  It is now Thursday' think I started this on Tuesday... London kept us very busy. Tuesday night I fought to stay in good spirits as We had to wait in the queue for a donkeys age to even get checked in by the rude little snip at the reception desk. Then when we got to our room, they had put us into a room w/ 2 twin beds! Grrrrr... They never did make that right, but we managed as the beds were on rollers & the room was stuffy enough I think we made use of our distance to stay as cool as possible. We freshened up & hopped back onto the tube having no clue as to where to go since we were too pissed at our hotel to ask for ideas. We ended up heading towards London Bridge & after gawking at the beauty of everything in sight (London Bridge is probably the least beautiful bridge we saw (haha) but towers bridge was gorgeous! Anyways, we walked up & down a few alley ways, which is where all the charming places with funky smells seem to be located & finally found an Italian place that looked good to us. It was under the street & once we climbed down the stairs we were in a super tiny dining room that I will politely call "cramped". We were there though so we took our tiny wobbly table as I longed for Scotland. The menu was suspicious & the wait staff was short. We decided to split a chicken dish, a side salad & a stuffed mushroom appetizer & the waiter seemed annoyed by this & insisted we order a side of vegetables as well, so we did. He laughed at our request to bring it out as it was ready & said, "no, it will be ready as you want it" so we said, "oh.. Well how about the salad & mushrooms first" he rolled his eyes & said, "ok!?! It's your choice I suppose!" and walked off! I was too tired to be amused but when the food started rolling in my annoyance disappeared. Dustin told the waiter after we ate the mushrooms how amazing they were & he laughed & said, "of course they are!" and walked off. We both got a laugh at his behavior by now. There was a sign that said it was .10 pence to use the toilet & anyone caught crawling under the door would be punished to the maximum extent of the law! (this explains the smell in the alleyways)  So after an amazing dinner we took the tube back to our hotel for a good nights rest. 

Don't stop believing!

So I'm getting ready (still listening to my classical music & working on me new British accent in the mirror) when sirens start going off like crazy out my window. I crawl up into the window seal as the walls are at least 3 foot thick & see tons of these cute cabs they have here covered in balloons and the song "Don't stop believing" by Journey blasting in the streets as people in the cabs shot everyone on the streets w/ water guns!?! This was a police lead parade of sorts. No clue what it was about.  So we caught the noon train out of Edinburgh & are headed to London. An older couple from York sat across from us (Ron & Pat) & happily commentated our journey & told us history & pointed out castles & famous marks & told us lots of things we barely understood (mainly flower talk, they both love flowers) but none the less we thourally enjoyed their company. Dustin asked them twice if we could just come stay with them & they laughed & would say no! Ha ha! I wanted to get onto him, as I think they were unsure of his sense of humor in the matter.  I asked them about their home which they said had 3 bedrooms & a dining room & a lovely garden. Turns out that after much conversion calculation between the men, their home is only 280 sq. feet! No wonder they didn't want to take us home! ha ha. Their only trip to America was to photograph flowers in Colorado!  So we have passed through Dunbar, New Castle, Darlington, York, Doncaster, Retford, Newark, Grantham & we are now in Peterborough. Not sure how many miles that is but it's been a smooth journey & we are right at 4 hours into the journey. Judging by my map we have another hour or two till London.  On our train ride to Scotland we took a coach train & slept most of the way, but I woke up & spotted a strange animal that looked like the head of a giant white rabbit & the body of a lama maybe, short hair like a dog. I asked around about what it was called & everyone was puzzled. Someone finally said it was maybe a freshly shaven sheep & I said, nooo... Not that. Well.... It was. Ha ha! It's a special breed, but once I saw a picture of one I knew it had in fact just been a heard of large very clean freshly shaven sheep. Hee hee. It gave people quite a giggle at me & my giant white rabbit story.  This ride we splurged on a first class train which means Internet that works (woohoo!) complimentary food & drinks. I have taken a liking to a Scottish Apple Cider that I intended to name for you but they took my can away while I wasn't looking. I'll have to tell you about it later when I get another look or drink! Ha ha.  Some of the new sayings I've heard & love are  "a donkeys age" (forever) "I haven't been there in a donkeys age" People openly say things like, "I'm so excited I might pee me pants!"  Oh shoot. Just been informed we only have 20 minutes to land... Err... Pull in. I'm figuring in London, Internet will be easier to come by. Love to you all! Cheers! The Berrys

A Dingo Ate Me Baby!

Good morning! I awake feeling like a queen in my castle, though a tired queen... Make note that castle doors closing sound like a cannon going off so when you try to sleep in a castle, you will be awakened by every door shutting throughout the night! That is unless you are my Love, who slept like a baby. I guess his snoring drowned out all noise around him. None the less, I would sleep a thousand sleepless nights here before complaining. We are at The  Witchery which is right under the gates of Edinburgh Castle. Now before you make judgement on its name (as I did) you have to understand Edinburgh's history, which I know little of, but what I did learn was that my "castle" is really a "building" built in 1595. The now hotel takes its name from the many hundreds of witches that were burned at the stake here on Castlehill during the sixteenth & seventeenth century. This spot runs deep in history as being the area where more witches were burned than any other place in Scotland during the reign of James VI. There is an inscription in the stone over the court yard that is over 400 years old saying "O Lord in thee is all my traist". So see! It's not a devils hotel! Ha ha. Ok, that is your history lesson for the day. There are only 8 rooms here & you climb a locked castle-like stair way that is carved from stone & winds tightly up a tower. If you meet someone along the way, which we have not, you would have to step off into the platform of one of the rooms. The reason I mention this is because this is a hotel many famous people like to stay, our room book lists Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones & Pierce Brosnan (along with many many other names I do not recognize. The room would take me forever to describe, think of my home decor as far as packed with something to look at in every corner. The room itself has dark tapestry covered walls, massive crown molding that is gold & dark brown, ceilings that are covered in some sort of golden fabric & wooden floors w/ beautiful rugs everywhere. There is a living space w/ antiques everywhere! Then a bedroom with chandeliers & one of those beds that is covered in a heavy canopy & antique bed that has wood work to the massive ceiling! The bathroom can only be described as endless mirrors & pillars centered around a claw footed tub. (ahhhh) my favorite things here have to be the breakfast area which has a table & chairs made from antlers & that there are antique "costume" pieces I tried on. Ha ha. They are not costume, they are actual British soldier boots I guess, they got to my thighs, metal spiked helmets, all kinds of things! No worries, we well documented everything in picutres. We are like 2 little kids left alone & trusted in a candy store. We are like, "whaaat!? Are we really staying here!?" ;) So Dustin (in typical style) was ready to run off & see more of the city as soon as breakfast was delivered. I one the other hand wanted to crawl back into the bed & take in the classical music they have playing for us & pretend this room is mine a bit longer. So on commercial break this is what I hear (in a British accent), "over the weekend a dingo ate a ladies baby, just like the case back in the 80's. It's grabbed her baby at a campsite & has not been recovered" I felt terrible for laughing, as that is truly horrid, but how many times have you heard, "a dingo ate me baby!"? I always thought it was a line from a movie or something. We are terrible for mocking an actual mum who lost her baby to a dingo! :/ So Edinburgh makes me feel very emotional, it's is so beautiful & everything is so old & magnificent I don't feel worthy of looking at it without the time to know its story. That probably sounds rediculous but we went into the most beautiful church yesterday & my uneducated eyes grazing along all the stained glass & carvings & all I know is, "pretty!" & then realizing that each carving & each glass panel was an important story that the scottish wanted documented here & I felt overwhelmed. I have never had a mind for history but this trip has swung open a desire to know it like never before. Dustin & I have promised ourselves that this city will be a place we return to as soon as possible over anywhere else we have been so far. We leave at noon on a train to London & though I am glad we have set a schedule by way of purchased hotel rooms, I wish we could stay here the rest of our time.  So last night we walked down the Royal Mile (we are at the top w/ only the main castle above us) & stopped in the pub to use their wifi & visited with the girl behind the bar. She found out we had never eaten haggis which is one of their main local foods & told a waiter to bring us some to try. It looked a bit like a pesto of sorts & tasted kind of like an herbed ground sausage, with tiny chewy pieces. Pretty good though, "what is this?" I ask. "that is a sheeps lungs, liver & heart. Pretty good, yes?" 8-/

Train to Edinburgh

So now it is Monday around noon here in Manchester. We had a nice morning, ate breakfast at nice bistro in the center city area. People are curious about us, I hate that I have to make people repeat themselves so I can translate their accents & lingo in my slow brain! Haha! For instance, we are on "a holiday" (this trip) and when you are waiting your turn (like in line) it's called waiting in a que. Lots of coughing & hacking over here as well (as I listen to the lady in front of me sound like its her last breath & reminded that the guy I stood next to at the concert last night had to stop dancing every few moments to cough up a lung. Maybe it's their rolled cigarettes? We are passing lots of beautiful country side on this train trip to Edinburgh. Beautiful old English farms w/ herds of sheep & those black & white cows. Dustin & I have been shooting all kinds of pictures & videos but for some reason the blog is not letting us attach any of them. :/ Pulling into the Oxenholme stop & I think it's amazing how everything is built out of stacked stone. On our ride from Manchester to Preston we sat with a mother & daughter (14) from Blackpool. The daughter reminded me of my neighbor Athena & I liked her right away. We visited & they have a relative in Ft. Worth & have been 2 times, so we had fun talking about all the things they did in the states. The girl would ask if I had been to local places of England & when I would say no, she would reply with, "it's like Walmart (or where-ever it resembled) but not nearly as good." ha ha. They said what they noticed most about Americans was how polite & helpful we were, "as if nothing was too much trouble". Ha ha. Yep, that's us! :) I'm pretty frustrated w/ the so called reliable internet. Haven't been able to get a connection to upload my email or anything since yesterday morning & I was so sick then that all I had the energy to do was send my mom a "please pray for me email!" sorry if I scared you mom seeing as I have been unable to tell you I was better. I am just typing all my blogging on my iPad in the notes section & will transfer it over once I get a connection. IF i could upload a picture I would show you that I am sitting under a t-mobile sign that says fast reliable wireless Internet. Log in now! Well, it shows I am connected, but that has not transferred over into meaning usable Internet.  You know how you see in pictures like a guy in his nickers & English hat walking in a meadow with his sheep? I just saw that! Ha ha! To sweeten the sight, his fence was about knee high & made of stacked stones w/ an occasional wooden post to support the stones. Those type of fences are everywhere. I love that it really is like stepping back into time a bit. (aside from the Internet connections, I could use some modernism in that department!) I wish I had packed less clothes, style here is very loose... ANYTHING goes & nothing it seems is to impress or offend. The main fashion is super short shorts w/ black tights under them & black Mary Jane flats or lace up boots. It's quite cute actually. But that is about the only trend I've spotted other than black is the favored color. If I were to dress in fashion here I would only have to pick out some tights & then add a pair of shorts or skirt of any style or color, then a shirt or tank that would more likely not match the skirt, layer on a blazer (seen many black & white striped blazers, but think even more 80's, like Madonna style) then a scarf that must be even less matching, maybe a furry vest to top it off & then lay your head on the bed, wiggle around a bit, setup & hairspray it into that chaotic placement & your ready to go. Snag a hole in your stockings or sweater on the way out? Oh all the better! Ha ha! Also lots of girls with red & I mean RED hair which really looks great! They are a free group of people here. Not afraid of anything fashion wise. I laughed my butt off watching as one group of girls after another would have hilarious dance offs at the concert last night. Arms flying, legs kicking all ways... Reminded me of myself if I had too many drinks & decided I had some made up dance moves to show off! lol! I know a few of you know exactly what I'm talking about. ;) Well I'm going to put this iPad away & stare out the window. I'm riding backwards so I can't look for long or it makes me a bit nauseated. Weird to be going so fast... Backwards.  Can't wait to reach our hotel in Edinburg, it's a castle! I'll fill ya in as I can!