Blogging My Dreams

Simone our waiter

The Pope of the Coliseum

Special Guards at the Vatican

One of the most beautiful babies

We stayed really close to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain again this year. but just far enough away from the crowds. Such a wonderful advantage to be able to just walk a couple of blocks and be right in the middle of the amazing sights that Rome has to offer.

We traveled with a couple of friends for this part of our journey. This was the first time they were experiencing Italy and it was fun to see it through their eyes.

We spent our time revisiting all of the locations that make Rome what it is. Again we chose a location that was close to everything, but not part of the standard tourist locations. We find much more joy in surrounding ourselves during the day with the “real people” of the area and then in the early morning and later evening enjoying the tourist spots without so many tourists.

The weather was pretty warm for this time of year, but Rome in any weather is always a joy.

I have been very fortunate to be able to travel and experience Rome a lot of times and think I have taken just about every photo from every angle. This year I though I would just capture a few shots of the locals that stood out to me. I love the Italian people and spend a lot of time people watching when I am over here.

 

During our road trip we stopped off in Cambridge just for a quick tour around. I was surprised at just how beautiful it is, the lovely small town and the surrounding countryside.

We toured around the university and stopped off at an old pub for lunch. The Eagle was originally opened in 1667. The bar ceiling still has graffiti from the World War Two RAF airmen that hung out there during the war. It is also where , in 1953, James Crick announced that he and James Watson had discovered the secret of life. He came to make their first announcement that they had come up with the proposal for the structure of DNA.

Just across the alley from the Eagle is St. Bene’t’s Church which is the oldest building in Cambridge, the Tower dating back to 1033.

It is an area that really deserves a lot longer than a day visit and I would like to go back and spend more time learning about its history.

 

John was wanting to go to the Houses of Parliament to listen to the discussion on Brexit before they vote tonight. He spent a good four hours there listening to the discussions. He said Theresa May was there talking for about an hour and then left her Attorney General to continue. He said it was fascinating to be there and listen to their thoughts on it, but now we have to wait for a couple of hours before they take the vote.

As we were on our own, Samantha and I decided to go to Borough Market and walk around. They have so many fascinating food stalls there that you can find just about anything you are looking for. We ate at “Fish” which is one of the best fish and chip shops ever. Of course I had to stop at the Bread Ahead stand to pick up some of their world-famous donuts. After walking around there some more, we then headed along the Thames to Tate Modern to see the updated exhibitions. Afterwards, Costa for tea and a snack then home. Just as we arrived John showed up from his day out.

 

 

This morning John and I headed out to look around Camden Lock Market. This is an endless stream of stalls, stores and restaurants located in the old Pickfords stables. They have a wide variety of items for sale. Some little booths with hand-made items mixed in with clothing stores, restaurants and a great deal of vintage clothing stands.  We walked around for a couple of hours then took the bus back to the apartment.

A little later we all headed out to Hampstead. This is one of the cutest towns possible. Lots of little locally owned stores, designer stores and restaurants. As it was Sunday and England is famous for their Sunday roasts and we were starving we went and got a table at The Holly Bush which is a centuries old pub. It was delicious! Roast beef, roasted potatoes, gravy, peas, cooked carrots and parsnips and the oh so English batter pudding. After we had stuffed ourselves we walked up through the town, took another bus and headed to the Heath.

Hampstead Heath is 790 acres of beautiful fields, ponds and woodlands. You can walk for hours through this absolutely magnificent land that is managed by the City of London. Adjoining the Heath is Kenwood House which was built in the 17th century. It is listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens and is open to the public to tour. There is so much in this area to tell about, the self-portrait of Rembrandt that hangs in the house, the great little cafe where you can stop off and have a pot of tea and scones, the lovely people you meet walking their dogs in the fields, We didn’t have too much time today to walk around as it gets dark so early here so will go back again this week. We have spent a lot of time in previous years making the most of this lovely area and plan to do so again while here this time.

 

 

We rented a car at St Pancras Station, London and headed on our road trip. First stop was the coastal town of Whitby. This is a seaside port town in Northern Yorkshire, known for being the town where Captain James Cook apprenticed to learn seamanship skills.  We had rented a bed and breakfast across the street from the ocean. It was a four story house and our room was on the top floor so wrestling the bags up all of the flights of stairs (no elevatorJ was an experience but once there, very comfortable. Just about everything had closed down for the night by the time we got there but we were lucky to find a take out place that was still serving.

The next morning, after a full English breakfast we walked along the shoreline then drove around the perimeter of the town. As we drove we could see below where the little inlets with all of the local fishermen’s boats anchored, a really sweet little place. We stopped and walked around the ruins of Whitby Abby, which was destroyed by Vikings around the year 870! Part of Bram Stokers novel, Dracula, was set in Whitby and it is said he used the idea of the Abby ruins to inspire Dracula’s castle and discovered the name Dracula at the library in town.

We then got on the road again, heading for Scotland.

 

Every time my friend Carol sees my photos or reads my blog she says “Yes, great, but what about the food?” So this post is for her 😘

 

As New Years Eve is also our wedding anniversary we spent it at Somerset House in London. It was a private, ticketed guests only celebration and featured ice skating (no we didn’t), entertainment by Sink The Pink Collective. There were food and drinks booths on the  private balcony overlooking the Thames and the London Eye. From the balcony we got to watch the famous fireworks celebration at midnight. It was a fun evening and didn’t end til we got back to the hotel at 2am.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

 

The Christms spirit in England is truly shown in the amount of decorations and trees you see. Wherever you turn you see some of the most fantastic and unusual displays.

Then on New Years Day they have a massive parade through downtown London. Just about anyone or anything seems to be invited to participate. It seems to go on forever with anything from motorcycle groups, school bands to horse clubs. Such great spirit from everyone.

 

We arrived in London yesterday early afternoon. Grabbed an Uber to our hotel, dropped our bags off and of course headed out right away.

First stop was early dinner in a local pub consisting of fish and chips and Sunday roast. A Guinness for John and we headed out for a walk.

We walked along the Thames, starting out at my favorite spot right next to Tower Bridge. Spent a couple of hours strolling along seeing the sights. Everything is covered in Christmas lights and Christmas trees! There is even a Christmas tree in one of the windows in the Tower of London! All along the Thames there are little booths covered in lights selling just about everything you can imagine. Trinket boxes, jewelry, scarves, hot chocolate, pancakes and Christmas pudding! It is truly magical!

We then headed over to Burrough Market but as it was now Sunday evening everything was closed up for the night. Will be heading back there today.

We are staying at The South Point Suites until January 2nd. The location is perfect, just about half a mile from Tower Bridge and from the hotel there is a view of the Shard.

 

We are in Rome! It never seems like we have enough time to spend here, so much to see and so little time. This trip we are spending three days and nights before heading home.

Today we managed to get to Piazza Navona by 6am to have a chance to see it again before all of the crowds arrived. After taking some photos there, we took off to the Porto Portese Flea Market, spent a couple of hours getting to and walking around that. I have never been to any market bigger than this one, it literally was about a mile long! Next we walked to Palatine Hill and then on to the Roman Rose Garden. The views from Palatine Hill were amazing and the Rose Garden truly beautiful. There were rose bushes that had been planted in the 1800’s. We headed on down through Circus Maximus, past the Victor Emmanuel building and back past Piazza Navona to our apartment.

We had walked just under ten miles by the time we got back to the apartment so I stayed in for the rest of the evening. John headed out for dinner at a restaurant he had heard about, and brought me back McDonalds and my feet thanked me!