Christmas in California

Nothing says Christmas in California like sitting on your deck with a freshly made Sapphire Martini - with a twist (from a lemon tree on said deck), while enjoying the last of the sunshine and 70f degree weather (21c).
Merry Christmas everyone – We hope that no matter where you are, it is a White Christmas!

Queens and Castles

Losing track of what we are doing and what we did…  So, the Queen called back and decided not to come into town after all, enjoying her stay in Scotland too much.  But she did say to stop by the house and visit with the staff, spend the afternoon wandering the castle and enjoying the garden.  So we did.  The outside of the Palace itself is not that impressive, but inside is another matter.  Rather then bore you with the details, I will just say that it is good to be Queen.  And to think, she prefers Windsor Castle?  I can’t imagine how nice that place is.  Plus, it is outside of London.

Walking home, we decided to eat across the street at Coco Momo. Nice ending to a another long, busy day.  No tables outside, so ate in the restaurant area, with a waiter from Chicago. As we ended our meal, the table next to us filled with a family from Toronto.  Small world, indeed.

Wednesday morning, up early and off to meet a tour bus down the street for a 7:40 pick up to Stonehenge, followed by a couple of hours in Bath, the legendary town south of London.  Home of Johnny Depp, Jane Seymour, among others (had heard the Johnny lived in the south of France.  Why then would his children be enrolled in school in Bath?).

Arriving early (I travel with Cathy, enough said), the Hotel clerk at our pick up spot said the tour bus usually arrives sometime between 7:40 and 8:00 AM.  We had plenty of time for a quick breakfast at their restaurant, it was only 7:15.  Well, a funny thing happened while waiting for the bus - as soon as the breakfast was served, I noticed a bus parked out front. 

But wait, it is only 7:30.  So we wolfed down two perfectly cooked eggs, wrapped our toast in napkins, and ran off to the bus.  The hotel wait-staff could not have been more helpful, so thank you, whoever you are…

Stonehenge was interesting.  We had perfect weather,  which made it much nicer.  I have been told that viewing it in the rain is not that much fun, right Linda & Shannon?

Nice blossom's; new to me.

Nice ride to the location, as well.  Tour guide was OK, just talked a little too much, with corny jokes.  Now we are off to Bath.  We are behind schedule, thanks to the tour company, the guide, and the group.  We should have dumped them right away - hindsight.

So our trip to Bath was quick - but a beautiful location - we see why people love it.  Nice walk about town and a nice lunch, followed by another nice ride back into London. The English country side is beautiful, and very familiar.

Back in time to answer a Skype call from Linda - Carolyn out strolling with Bennett.  After a bit Carolyn returned.  Dinner was discussed and we decided dinner across the street at Med Kitchen.  Just the two of us.  Hugh out with a work function and Carolyn preferring to stay home with Bennett.  I don’t blame her, we are the ones on vacation, so we can sleep on the plane ride home.

London, con't.

Actually, this is the start, as the previous post explained.  Here is the start of our Journey to see Bennett, Carolyn, and Hugh!

Got a ride to the airport from a friend at work - thanks, Mark.  Cathy road the Disneyland Express to LAX.  At check-in, upgraded to a seat with a little more leg room - or knee space as Virgin Atlantic calls it.  What a good call!

Went for a drink at The Endevour Restaurant, that funky structure at LAX that many people think is the control tower.  The recent re-do is nice, although after all that time, you would think they could have also done the Lift (sorry, speaking London now).
Has anyone ever heard of Plane Watchers?  Me either.  The two blokes we met from Manchester had visited 11 cites in 12 days.  Well, actually 11 airports.  They liked LA because of the restaurant has great views of the take-off and landing of every flight.
They record the tail registration numbers; then when home they update their database and look for planes they have seen before - and where.  Some people collect stamps…

Flight was fine. Slept a little, watched Bridesmaids - good, not great; started out slow for me, but got better.  And a dark British Comedy called The Guard, also good.

Landed in London without a problem.  Terminal 3 in Heathrow is another story.  With local cutbacks, the average wait time at customs is 60 minutes.  We were more like 90 minutes.  Our ride from the airport had to wait two hours for us.  Thankfully he waited!  Thank you, Carlos.

We left Friday night, arrived Saturday afternoon (10 hours flying plus 8 hours over PDT) and it is now Tuesday morning.  Saturday evening was a quiet evening with the Sanderson’s, a nice local pizza from Princess Di’s favorite place, some wine and cheese and then off to sleep to try and adjust to the time change.

Next day was a full day of walking, taking in the sights and sounds of London. Through Hyde park, past castle’s, through SoHo, Covent Garden, and several other places whose names I now forget (it is already Tuesday morning, local time).
The National Gallery is an amazing museum of paintings - for our OC friends, saw a few Pageant of The Master’s artworks! Enjoyed the food there for a light lunch.  Unlike most museum food, this one is quite good, and reasonably priced.  Worth doing.

On this walk, we also experienced our first ride in the double-decker bus.  Thankfully, the Brits have come to their senses and are bringing them back.  Not only are they cool to ride in, they look great and work perfectly on the narrow streets here.  Those long, extended buses just don’t work.

At some point we made it back to the house, had a nice dinner at home, bored the Sanderson’s with our stories some more until Hugh could not take it anymore and he went to bed!  Actually not true.  Unlike us, he is not on vacation, so he had to say goodnight as Monday morning would be here shortly and he had a job to be ready for. 
Around 10 PM, Cathy made a run across the street to Partridges.  They sell Hot Cross buns year-round in the UK.  Who knew.  Plus, they don’t sell English Muffins here.  They are simply muffins.

Monday, up early-ish.  Time to take the city tour on the Hop On - Hop Off DD bus.  Includes a bonus ride along the Thames, pronounced tems.  Once again thankful for the drivers and quite happy I did not foolishly think I could drive here.  Wrong side of the road, wrong side of car, other side of The Pond.  An Oyster Card is the 'pay as you go' way to go.

Next up, a ride on the Tube.  Will let you know how that goes.

Guided tour around the city is the way to go to see it all.  We hopped off for lunch on Fleet Street, at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub - Thanks, Terry.  Nice lunch of a Half w/ Fish and Chips.  Very British.  The place is old - people were not only shorter then, they had a tiny ‘arse’.  Could barely stay on the seat.

Back on the bus for a ride to the Tower of London pier to hop on a boat up to Greenwich.  We did not really have the time for a visit to Greenwich - it was getting late - but wanted the full ride along the Thames.  Beautiful waterfront these days.  Plenty new construction, while pieces of the history left in place, such as the original dock of The Mayflower - yep, THAT Mayflower.  Next to the Mayflower pub, no less.

At Greenwich, we did not venture far as we only had thirty minutes - but with our time pieces not having the correct time, we missed the first return boat.  How ironic, in Greenwich, of all places!  GMT, my ass.  Plus, the attendant was a bit of a pill.  Killed another 20 minutes and then hopped on the next boat. 

Finally, the threatening sky opened up and it rained like the Dickens for about 15 minutes - but we were prepared, so no harm, no foul.  Me thinks it might rain often in London.

Back on the 'hop on' bus, we learn that they won’t be taking us back to where we started - off season they shorten the day.  Time for a nice walk in the beautiful London evening.  We have a torn, soaking wet map, but we shall make our way!  This is the home of Churchill after all, so we shall endure.

It was a great walk, with nice assistance from a young lady living here only a year.  She confirmed we were going in the right direction.  Not sure where she was from, so I will just say North American.  Next, a stop at Nicolas for some wine.  Young French clerk was very excited to hear we were from Los Angeles - seems he has this thing for Venice Beach and since I work next door to Venice, he was quite pleased.

Finally made it home, after Cathy walking past Harrod’s and not going inside.  It had been a long day and we needed to get home to change and rest.  And what a nice home we returned to - the smell of  home cooking in the air!  Baked chicken and scalloped potato’s, and wine of course.  Time to go, the Queen called and would like to meet us.  More later.

Across the pond, London.

It is Wednesday evening here in London.  We arrived Saturday afternoon.  Have been trying to post something here to update anyone who cared.  Time is not only fleeting, it moves at the speed of neutrinos, sheesh!  I will follow this post with what I wrote yesterday morning.  Details of our first days here.  Cheers. 

Meanwhile, at a wine tasting…

Shameless plug of my (less than) awesome writing skills. Note the three links in the article. Please click the first two to show support, and the third one to view a video of the evening by the lovely wife©. Or watch the video here first, and then go to the article.  Either way, stop by LMG and get a great deal on wine.  Or order online.

The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First

If you like baseball, I highly recommend this book. I have worked with Jonah, and not only is he a great guy, his is also a Montrealer... Well done, Jonah!

BTW, when are you coming by with the bagels?

Casa Dumetz: Malibu's finest wine.

Emilio Estevez, winemaker. Hope he keeps it away from is brother...

Casa Dumetz: Malibu's finest wine.

Actually, hope to try it sometime. Just have to convince the wife to drink a Pinot; I know my sister will like it.

H/T: Wine Cast