Let's do that again-40 days/40nights!

June 28 It is great to be in the heart of it all, but the noises and lights of the city don’t stop!  Andrew, of course, can sleep through anything as once his hearing aides are out, he can’t hear anything!  Cheryl likes it dark and quiet, but when you are tired you can pretty well sleep through everything, once you are asleep.  She did have to close the curtains just a bit to shut out some of the bright lights, but couldn’t close them completely as the night air wafting in was cool and wonderful.  We updated the couple of blogs that we were behind on.  Sorry, but some nights we were just too tired to type, especially those big city walking days.  A large gull almost made it in our room but landed on the ledge right outside.  We are assuming it might have made it in had we had the door opened, but it was raining when we woke up so we kept the upper windows open and left the door closed.   Well, those big city walking days wrecked havoc on ...

June 27 We were up early and it was raining!  Actually our first full out rain since we’ve been in Europe.  It drizzled just a tiny and hardly noticeable bit in Florence, and we were showered upon in London but we ducked into a doorway of a church and then darted across the street to walk under the trees and then it was done so we never really got wet.  This morning was a good hard shower.  The clothes that we’d washed last night and hung on the drying rack by the open door weren’t completely dry, or at least the ones on the open door side weren't dry. SIGH!  :)  But that is okay, as clean and slightly damp are okay and better than dirty and slightly stinky! We checked out and drove towards the ferry dock.  It really takes work to remember to stay on the left!  You find yourself leaving parking areas and such naturally gravitating towards the right.  And apparently no one anywhere in Europe parks correctly anywhere so it’s hard to ...

June 26 We broke camp early and went in search of graves on our way to Liverpool, Brian Jones and John Bonham.  Brian Jones was one of the founders of the Rolling Stones but unfortunately his addictions got the best of him and he died in July 1969.  He’d actually been “voted” out of the Stones as his addictions were interfering with his performances.  He is buried in a cemetery near an out-of-the-way church in Cheltenham.  We were grateful as someone came by asking if we’d needed help finding the crematorium, but then directed us to his actual grave when we stated who we'd coming looking for. John Bonham was the drummer for Led Zeppelin and unfortunately his life also ended prematurely due to addictions.  His death lead to the “death” of Led Zeppelin.  Sad.  His grave was harder to find as there are many St. Michael churches!  Between “Find a Grave” and some luck we located him in a very small, and very old cemetery in the parish of Rusho...

June 25 We slept in after a BIG walking day yesterday.  We had breakfast at the hotel and, since we didn’t have to check out until noon, we ventured into Hyde Park.  Hyde Park has been around since Henry V III. In 1536 (!), he took some land from Westminster Abbey to use a s hunting ground--even the parks are old here!  It was opened up as a public park by James I in 1637.   What a lovely “escape” from the constant hustle and bustle of London town.  There were quite a few people out and about...running, admiring the Italian Water Gardens which are believed to have been created as a gift from Prince Albert to his beloved Queen Victoria a little over 150 years ago, walking dogs or pushing strollers, sitting on the benches, you name it. Further up the trail we heard the twitter of birds but they didn’t sound like mourning doves or pigeons or any bird we were familiar with. Coming around a corner we spotted what looked like giant parakeets!  We w...

June 24 We knew it was going to be another even bigger walking day, and it was.  London is  pretty city with its brownstones and flowers and wrought iron.  Our goal for the morning was the British Library.  It has some amazing original works, like two copies of the Magna Carta!!!!!!  YES!!  Okay, some of you may be thinking, “Whatever!” but the Magna Carta was a document put in place in early 1215 and established the principle that EVERYONE is subject to the law, even the king (!) and guarantees the rights of individuals and the right to justice and the right to a fair trial (in a nutshell). There are strong influences in our own Bill of Rights written in 1791! Since Cheryl has taught it, she was excited to be able to see it!  Holy Cow.  Unfortunately, no pictures of any kind were permitted so we don’t have proof that we saw it, except our words!  There are actually only four copies left of the original 12, which is pretty amazing in a...

June 23 We got up early so we could make sure we were on time for the Eurotunnel, aka the Chunnel.  It literally is a train that you drive onto and it proceeds to take you under the English Channel.  We got there a little too early so parked our car and watched the monitor for when we should line up.  We had time for a coffee while we waited. Since we were leaving England and entering Ireland we had to show our passports and then were instructed to enter the train car.  Fascinating!  Driving into a train car!  We stayed with our car chatting with a couple and their dog from Germany.  They were on their way to Wales for a two week holiday in Wales and they said they always take the Chunnel as it is a much quicker way to travel.  It may cost more but it only takes 30-40 minutes vs 2+ hours of the ferries.   It was easy on and off, but we had to remember that they drive on the other side of the road here!  We had to constantly remi...

June 22 We actually slept in as we only had one big stop to make on the way out.  We could have gotten up early and walked to and fro but we had two really big walking days with yesterday being just over 12 miles of city sidewalks, the day before was at least 10 miles, and actually the day before that was 14.  So we were good this AM! Our destination was Jim Morrison’s grave.  He was buried in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in France, among other great artists, musicians, poets, and more.  His grave is fenced off but fans still find ways to leave flowers, pictures, and other trinkets of admiration.  Andrew had a beer with Jim, and then we wandered around the cemetery for while, finally finding Chopin’s grave, an amazing Polish composer who mostly wrote for piano.  This cemetery is old, dating back to 1804! Tombs and mausoleums are stacked against each other with small trails meandering through. There was a basic map at the entrance for the most “popul...

June 21 Awe, Paris! Can we say that again?  Our one and only full day here.  We had a great time exploring some last night and you can sort of get your bearings about where things are, but today we had a few things we really wanted to see.  We did some Internet research and one thing was right on, one was not, and one we should have researched. First stop, the Catacombs.  The Internet sites we found said that you don’t need tickets ahead and just to come about ½ hour earlier than opening and it would be fine.  It wasn’t an old site so we thought we’d be good.  We got there the recommended ½ hour before and there was a good line already, maybe 150 people.  They allot 200 per time into the Catacombs and each “visit” is about 45 minutes so we thought it would be no big deal.  Some youngsters behind us had bought their tickets online and could move to the “ticket line.”  We never did figure out how the lines worked.  The ticket lin...