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After 10 packed days of driving around England/Scotland, we managed to make it home late Sunday evening. Although we had a really great time, by Sunday morning, we were ready to come home - sleeping in our own bed never felt so good!! After 10 days, two trans-Atlantic flights and 1500 miles in the car together, it's amazing we didn't kill each other - we haven't spent that much time together since we were in college! I'm still having some time adjustment issues (I woke up at 2 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep...) but it's a small price to pay.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we ended up having to skip two places on our itinerary: Ely and York. The first was due to our flight leaving late from Denver, getting late to London and having to circle the airport for a while, the line at customs taking forever which didn't leave us enough time to do anything that afternoon like we had planned. The second was because we decided we needed to catch up on some sleep by the middle of the trip. I was disappointed, especially at not going to York, but being overly tired wasn't going to end well for anyone - especially the poor people of York!!
I ended up not buying any books there which was a good thing since on the flight back, one suitcase was .6 kilograms under weight and the other one was 1 kilo under - that was close!! I did buy guide books though for all of the places we visited, some small trinkets and these (when I saw they had a whole set, I just had to have them - Happy Anniversary to me!!!!):
My husband's going to make me something I can use to display them! Aren't they cute?!!
One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to meet Elizabeth Chadwick. We happened to be staying one night close to where she lives and she offered to meet us for dinner - I was so excited I could hardly stand it!! We had a lovely dinner and some great conversation. Elizabeth is so nice and gracious - she even brought me a signed book!! Here are a couple of pictures:
The day before I also had the opportunity to meet Helen Hollick at the Battle of Hastings re-enactment. I"ll post a picture of that as soon as my husband gets it downloaded from his camera (I'm not allowed to touch it!). Given that I got to meet two of my favorite authors, I was fine with not buying any books!!!!!
I'm hoping to start posting about the trip on my travel blog in the next day or so - I have about 3500 pictures to go through (we got a littel carried away...gotta love digital cameras!) so please pop over there and add it to your reader if you would like to hear about our trip. Cheers!
Glad you had a wonderful trip! That is so exciting that you got to meet up with your favorite authors while you were there!
October 19, 2010 7:39 PM
Welcome home Daphne Sounds like you had a awesome time. I will be checking out your travel blog soon to see your photos.I love the little ornaments you brought home they are so neat.
October 19, 2010 9:35 PM
It sounds like you had an awesome trip, and you got to meet Elizabeth Chadwick! It's a bit of a bummer that you didn't get to make all your planned stops, but I am sure that you ended up having a great time anyway. Oh, and I LOVE the dolls! They are just the cutest things, and I would love to see the shelf that your husband builds for them!!
October 20, 2010 9:23 AM
Oh, very cool you got to meet EC and Helen. Let alone a signed copy of Falcons. You will fall in love with Sabin, I promise
October 20, 2010 9:23 AM
That sounds like the perfect anniversary even if you missed two places. Two authors and a signed book!! How exciting! And I love the dolls.
October 20, 2010 10:36 AM
Those dolls are fabulous, I want them!
Welcome home, the trip sounds fantastic.
October 20, 2010 1:04 PM
Glad you two lovely people are home safe! Thank you for the nice things you said here Daphne - but in all honesty the honour is mine at meeting you - and I would guess that Elizabeth would agree when I say thet without the delightful people such as yourself and your visitors to your blog taking an interest in our books, there would not be a lot of point in writing them in the first place! I value my readers very highly, so it is a great pleasure to spend a moment chatting with you.
Add to that, I have not stopped giggling over the Chair! (LOL a jest between Daphne and myself)
October 20, 2010 1:50 PM
A trip to England, including meeting Helen Hollick and EC! Sounds fantabulous!
Glad you had a fantastic time and that you made it home safely!
October 20, 2010 8:13 PM
Sounds like you had an awesome trip! Even if you didn't get to see al the places you wanted, maybe next time :)
And so cool to meet EC and Helen!
October 21, 2010 4:02 AM
Gah, my horrid handwriting on display!!!
It was so lovely to meet you and Chip, Daphne and I really enjoyed the evening.
I have to ask with the dolls (love them!) ...do Anne Boleyn's and Katherine Howard's heads come off? :-)
October 21, 2010 4:29 AM
EC - lol!! I seriously didn't even think about that. But no, they are firmly attached.
October 21, 2010 8:58 AM