A lot has happened between my last two posts! Here's a short recap:
Soon after my visit to Ireland, I welcomed my dad to Great Britain. It was his first trip to London, and although it was a short visit – we made the most of it! We had a pretty laid back weekend, but I managed to squeeze in a few sightseeing attractions for him (he’s notorious for not liking touristy things!). The airline lost his luggage - he had to check the bags because I asked for goodies from home – including two HUGE tubs of American-style peanut butter!! (It’s amazing what you miss... ) So after a quick spin through John Lewis (love!), we saw Buckingham Palace (I’m a regular at this place!), St. James Park, and the London Eye. As luck would have it – it was the Queen’s birthday, so we enjoyed an air show in her honour! Old planes and even the Red Arrows did a flyby over the River Thames and across Buckingham Palace. I told Dad that I’d asked for the air show for him...and he humoured me with a big thanks! We spent the rest of our time together exploring my little neighbourhood of Putney. A few walks along the riverbank with a pint or two along the way and we had a great time! I was quite sad to see him go, but I’m sure I can entice him back with the promise of more English ale...
June seemed to be a family affair...because a week after Dad’s visit – I hopped a train down to Southampton for a quick visit with Mom. Miss Linda Rae has taken up instructing bridge lessons on cruise ships and scored herself a trip on the Queen Mary II. The ship left NYC and made a pit stop in Southampton, England. Although we only saw each other for a few hours – I think it was a good recharge to get us through the next few months before my next trip home! Southampton seems like a really nice area. I didn’t stick around to explore, but I plan on making a trip back down sometime soon. It’s on the coast (naturally if cruise ships dock there, right?!) and has a lot of British Naval history. Anyway...it’s on the list to explore some more!
I rounded out June with a music festival: London’s Hard Rock Calling! It was a 3 day affair...although I only mustered energy (and money) for a 1 day pass. Luckily, I thought my day’s line-up was the best! The day started off hot and sunny with The Pretenders rocking out! Chrissie Hynde was so on point – she was amazing! It seemed like the whole band was every bit still in the prime of their careers! After The Pretenders, hottie Ben Harper was up...and good gracious, was he incredible! I mean...drop dead gorgeous and with a velvet voice! Who could ask for anything more? Certainly not Laura Dern! The final act we saw was Fleet Foxes. I was in awe. A-MA-ZING! Love doesn’t even begin to describe it! Unfortunately, as the day went on...the clouds, rain, and lightning (yikes!) set in...so I wussed out and fled the show. Sad news was that I missed Neil Young... I’ll probably live to regret that, but I was cold (it was sunny and hot early, so I was ill-dressed for the 20 degree drop in temperature!), I was wet (aforementioned downpour), and sufficiently over the mass of people crowded into Hyde Park. All in all, it was a great day and Michaela and I enjoyed what we saw...so it was definitely a success!
July started off with a visit from my high school friend Cheryl Boudreau and her fiancé Scott. They arrived just in time for the Wimbledon Championships (pretty slick planning on her part!). We managed to score tickets on the last day of the tournament for the men’s final match up. Of course...we weren’t in Centre Court - those tickets would have cost a fortune! But we were in the court just next to Centre Court and watched the e-n-t-i-r-e match on the jumbo screens. Talk about a game...holy cow! Now, I’m not normally a huge tennis fan, but Cheryl and Scott are fans of tennis and HUGE fans of Federer...so naturally I chose to root for Andy Roddick! It seemed like things were going in my favour a few times there – but Federer pulled it out in the end and won the match. After the initial disappointment I was okay with the end result because I really wouldn’t have liked spending the rest of the day with a sulky Cheryl...so I guess it was a win-win for “our” team!
[With Cheryl Boudreau at Wimbledon]
It was fabulous spending time with Cheryl and Scott. We did quite a bit of sightseeing and lots of eating out! I had to kick them out of the country just so I could fit into my trousers again! Too much eating out!
[Cheryl and Scott - that's Parliament behind them]
Within days of Cheryl and Scott leaving – I set off on another adventure up to Ireland. (Can you tell I like it up there?!) This time I headed north with Sabrina. We set off for Ireland and tested our luck on the country roads of Cork and Kerry. Was it ever worth it!! The trip was absolutely amazing and I met a new friend Christie, who I adore as well! The 3 of us took Ireland by storm and managed to 1. not kill anyone by driving on the wrong side of the road (Christie and Sabrina get full credit for that!), 2. kiss the Blarney Stone (yuck!), 3. drive the Ring of Kerry, and 4. see a proper Irish band play old Irish tunes in an official Irish Pub. Gotta love it! Here are a few photos:
[Christie, Sabrina & I at Blarney Castle...about to kiss the stone!]
[The walk up to Blarney Castle]
[Me in the gardens at the Blarney Estate]
And check out Sabrina's recap of the Ireland visit on her travel blog: http://www.sabrinasingh.blogspot.com/
Just before the trip to the south of France – I had another set of visitors: Billie (Jennifer) and Thomas Eybl. Now, I’ve known the Eybl’s since college. When you look up “good people” in the dictionary – these folks are staring back at you! We met when my parents were moving me into my apartment in Columbia senior year. Literally, they offered to help my dad and I carry furniture up the stairs (the elevator was too slow for my dad!)...and they didn’t even know me! I loved living next door to them and have enjoyed staying in touch through the years. Billie just finished her Masters and Thomas is about to start Law School, so they decided a European Adventure was in order before the next stage in their lives takes off. On the agenda were Paris and a visit to see me!
[Billie and Thomas Eybl]
I’m starting to think I could maybe get a side job as a tour guide here in London...but it’d have to be my 3 top sites...because I took them to Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and St. James Park! Surprise!! We did manage to squeeze in a trip that I hadn’t done yet – which was a river cruise up the Thames to Greenwich. It was amazing! I saw a view of London I hadn’t seen yet – plus I got to see where time starts – the Prime Meridian Line! So cool!!
[Royal Navy Academy - Greenwich England - and a view of London]
Well, that brings us up to date with the South of France trip.... I think maybe writing a little every day would be easier than writing a massive update. Must remember this in the future! Here’s to staying in touch!
P/S: Already have my next vaca planned – headed to CROATIA!!! SOOO excited!
2 comments:
Sandy, not sure who those people are you are talking about, but they sound pretty cool! Glad to see you are up and running again, and living the fab life in Europe. Don't worry, one day we'll see you in one of those VH1 episodes, "The Fabulous life of Sandy Luther."
So glad to get an update and hear about your travel adventures!! I'm so jealous and it looks like you are really taking advantage of living over there! I LOVE it!! miss you!
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