Got in from my 8 day stay in the UK last night. Had a great time. Stayed in Anglia, Essex area about 6 miles from Colchester. Saw lots.( Did Norwich, Constable Walk, one castle experience and lots and lots of shopping, tea and Chocolate.)
My friend lives in a converted school house that was built in 1860. Her parents live in a thatched roof cottage that is 500 years old. It was simply magnificent.
Despite being pregnant, I had a great time.And felt great. No problems at all. All my souvenier money went towards baby stuff. Since the exchange rate is not in favor of the USD ( 1 pound equals .71 cents) and things are so expensive over there, I did resale shops for baby clothing. No one will be able to tell the difference.
Did a day tour of London with our friends dad who worked 40 years in london for Britrail and he kept a frenetic pace the entire time. Stood outside Buckingham Palace, wondered if it was an honor or punishment for the guards to stand there all day as they do.
Got attacked by pigeons in Tralfalgar Square ( the ultimate tourist thing to do and worth the 30p to do so.) High recommend doing the National Gallery of Art. We only did 20 minutes or so in there and it was totally captivating.
Weather was great. Flights were great. The flight home was not filled to capacity BUT nearly everyone on board had a cough or sniffle. Nothing like inhaling recycled air for 8 hours. Hubby and I got off the plane with our throats scratchy and we could barely breath. He’s off at work today feeling poorly and I’m back at home wondering how many vitamins are in Halls cough drops and can I live on them for the next couple of days to keep myself from coughing up a lung.
Things I learned while over there:
Fanny as in fanny pack means vagina over there. They call it bum bag. They’ve never heard the phrase ‘bumping uglies’ so I enlightened them.
No one (that I met) likes the monarchy or Sir Cliff Richards.
No one will play Sir cliff richards songs on the radio.
The english walk lots and lots and lots.
Their cars are all small.
I could never drive on the left side of the road. I would have died/killed myself 20x a day.
Hi Shirley! Glad you had a good time! I missed you, really I did.
And don’t let the fact that you bought baby stuff in resale shops bother you. Just tell people you bought that darling little outfit in London. That’s all they need to know.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. I love England, too.
I do think, though, that you got that currency conversion backwards. If 1 pound equaled less than a dollar, you would’ve been getting a hell of a deal.
Doc, I’d like to say I was coughing with a little cock-ney in my throat…or should I saw …my hubby would like to be able to say that…(ok, that’s a visual you can all live without.)
The exchange rate always confuses me and hubby. It’s like our brains refuse to convert the currency over from the last international vacation we took (Canada, as if that counts) with the trip we are on at that time. Thank god I carry a small calculator on me at all times and a copy of the latest exchange rates to set him straight.
But if you take the GBP price of say 25.00 GBP ( I don’t know how to make the sterling symbol) and times it by 1.71 (USD) it is $42.75. I paid cash for most of my stuff. Hubby charged everything. Still, considering we had free room, board, car for eight days, we are wayyyy ahead.
Interesting side note: The french have been boycotting British beef since the whole mad cow incident 2 or so years ago, so all of England is boycotting French products. We were eating in a nice restaurant and the waitress offered me non-french dressing. It was pretty amusing.
I only bought two books ( reference) while there. One was one, I later learned, that I could have bought through Past Times ( a mail order catalog) and the other was a pamphlet on John Constable ( a famous painter, not a cop.) I really thought I would go book nuts while there, but was frankly disappointed in the selection in the bookstores. I think Borders or Barnes and Noble have a larger British History section than any store I went into over there.
But, the ( of many)highlight (s) of the trip was finding the exact swatch watch band that I’ve been looking for for two years over here. I found it at Gatwick for the same price if I sent in money to the Swatch repair people outta state. Now I just have to have the dumb thing put on and re-sized by a horologist. Might as well get another battery put in for good measure while I’m at it.
I feel like crap. Damn the sick idiots on the airplane.
