Pre-Holiday Activities

November - December


Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were restful, joyful, peaceful, and memorable!

Yes!!!...we are still living in London, seeing the sights, traveling, and enjoying life. Our holidays, like yours were busy with parties, family, friends, visitors, and travels which is why I have neglected the blog for so long.

I inherited a wonderful book titled: Best Day Trips from London: 25 Great Escapes. This often serves as my travel guide and I have now been on 20 of the 25 trips. In November, before life got crazy, I traveled with a friend to the very “Ancient Town of Rye.” This small, charming, and historic town can be seen in a day. The highlights include the nearly 900 year old church which has a clock dating from 1561 and the 12th century Ypres Tower which was a fortified castle, later a prison, and now a museum

December was filled with Christmas Markets and Festivals modeled after the German tradition of open-air stalls selling food, crafts, toys, decorations, and gifts. There is entertainment, ice skating, and caroling and each one is unique and fun to visit so I spent many days with friends exploring these markets in London and the surrounding towns and villages. We also toured Waddesdon Manor which was built in the style of a French chateau by the Rothschild family, and is now managed by the National Trust. It was built between 1874 and 1889 and although it has some modern touches, it also has an extensive collection of French furniture, carpets, porcelain, and paintings plus being well known for its gardens and statuary. Since it was beautifully decorated for Christmas, many of the rooms were not accessible and the statues covered for the winter so I will definitely be returning in the warmer weather as there is much to see.

Our final trip before we got into the full swing of the holidays was celebrating Rick’s birthday with a trip to Bath, the home of the most famous Roman Baths and the first spa resort. The city is designated a World Heritage Site and it well known for its Georgian architecture and distinctly beautiful Royal Crescent which makes it one of England’s most beautiful cities. We treated ourselves to a relaxing weekend at the Royal Crescent Hotel that was built in the late 18th century and was once a royal home. We enjoyed the spa services, a lovely (maybe one of our best ever) dinners, toured the Roman Baths, the Bath Abbey featuring a beautiful Jacob’s Ladder on its façade, and the Pulteney Bridge over the River Avon followed by lunch in the famous Pump Room restaurant.

Enjoy the photos and look for the next blog entry highlighting Jennifer and Ben’s visit from Christmas to New Year’s Day!
http://picasaweb.google.com/alysehirsekorn/RyeWaddesdonManorBath?authkey=Gv1sRgCL6SsvDjlv2teg&feat=directlink