It has been an amazing ride. We have covered six countries, flown on six airplanes, ridden the chunnel under the English channel, rented 2 cars, driven for days on the "wrong" side of the road, and slept in 19 beds. We have hiked through a glacier cave to Jungfrau and stood outside atop of the highest mountain in Europe. Next we savoured the beaches with clear blue warm water, visited a few of the 1,200 islands offshore and learned of tumultuous history of Croatia. A week later we walked the canals of Venice, and enjoyed the art and architecture of Florence.
Tuscany also had its romantic charm. The endless vineyards and walled cidiital cities such as Siena have an alluring attraction that makes one relax in a past cradle of time. The numerous bottles of Italian wine certainly help blend body and time.
In Rome we found accommodation a few hundred yards from the coliseum and visited the Vatican, enjoying the sights and food of this ancient town. Before flying to Paris, Vesuvius and Pompeii captured our attention for most of a day.
Paris, the city of love, also did not let us down. The beautiful wide and tree lined avenues, squares, statues, Louvre, and Versailles are truly sites to remember. Cruising the river Seine really helped us get a true appreciation of the beauty, romance and history along its tranquil river side. Ade's love was to enjoy walks along either side of the river to soak up miles of of true Parisian atmosphere.
Finally England delivered the icing on the cake. There were the seaside towns of Brighton and Torquay--the countryside in Southern England and it's numerous small towns focused around a large Cathedral and numerous city pubs. The first division Soccer match where "our" team (Bristol City) scored the winning goal with 30 seconds remaining in "extra time."
Our final stop, London, had everything from nightlife to history, theater and spacious parks.
It has been an amazing ride!
As luck would have it, we experienced our first morning rain in over 7 weeks as Brian picked us up from the Vancouver airport. We did experience a little bit of rain in Britain, but were lucky as it generally took place at night and the day was either cloudy or sunny and easy to enjoy.
On the ride home from the airport to Surrey, we were all struck by the urban development of the lower mainland compared to Britain. Britain's Greenbelt legislation has caused the cities to become much more densely populated but this has allowed the countryside to remain much as it has for The last 1000 years. Also the "Heritage legislation" has made homeowners build and renovate in the ancient look of the various villages.
England truly is a nation you can travel over "hill and dale" and enjoy very pastoral scenery along narrow roads lined with hedges as you go from town to town (driving on the wrong side of the road with roundabouts to negotiate very frequently).
However, home is HOME! The ease and the speed of the drive to Surrey was truly refreshing. Finally having spacious accommodation of a home and yard such as Harvey and Wendy's is something we will forever have a much greater appreciation for.
… Back to Kelowna's!!
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