Jolly Good, England

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It's the home of tea and biscuits, lots of rain, and of course, Prince William...next stop, England! The first stop was a city in the north called Newcastle, where my parents and I met my dad's uncle Marshall Jean, who lives in London. He used to live in Newcastle, and took some time to show us all around. What a grand tour! Let me tell you, I could never give a tour like this of Albuquerque--he seemed to know the history of every place we went. We headed out into the country as well, and saw some amazing scenery, all while doing what seemed like a pub tour of northern England...The weather was not great, but was not disastrous until one day of touring when we decided to visit Hadrian's Wall. Hadrian's Wall is a very long stone wall built by Roman emperor Hadrian in I think the 2nd century AD to stop Scottish invaders. Only parts of it are left standing, and we were determined to climb up this cliff path and look at one of them. As often happens, when we got out of the car the weather was just fine--a little chilly, but otherwise nice. Halfway up the steep, slippery stone steps though, the rain began to pour down (along with a little sleet I think) and the wind threatened to blow us right off the hill. I found that during some gusts I could lean forward into the wind and it would hold me up! We pressed on for a while, but then gave it up and headed back. After a long wet journey we finally made it to the car, soaked and cold and muddy and ready for another pub. :) Sorry folks, more later...wanted to start on Thailand while it's fresh!

Carnival in London
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Oops!! Forgot to finish this entry!! I'll do highlights...

*Getting to stay with my uncle Marshall and being shown around London

*Running across things like a great little carnival in a park

*A dinner party with Marshall's friends, who were all very nice and made me feel like I was in a TV show or something--all these very proper sounding British people serving me things like asparagus wrapped in salmon (quite good)--you have to admit it's funny!

Coolest bookshelf ever in Marshall's house
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*Cooking and getting cooking lessons from Marshall

*London! What a cool city! Best people watching I've ever seen. Not only are there tons of different races and nationalities all co-existing, but all different kinds of people within these groups as well. I could watch them for hours...

*Visiting my friend Maria from Florence, who I haven't seen for 2 years, in Oxford--and meeting her FIANCE! Congratulations Maria!!

I realize this was short, but it's so hard to keep up with all this! More soon I promise....and go to London if you can, it's a really great city (though expensive as all hell). Bloody good! :)