Tuesday/Wednesday, July 16/17 Orlando to Gatwick
Where to begin?! I was all set to blog my heart out by this past weekend, but the sick kid beside me on the plane has put me a bit behind schedule. I'm slowly on the mend (still tired and coughing!), so let's get this party started!
The countdown clock on my phone was finally down to hours instead of days! We met up at the airport, had a few celebratory drinks...
We were some happy folks, lemme tell ya, especially since this was the second bar we hit in the airport. Let no one accuse Ehrigs & Wenners of not knowing how to start a vacation.
This makes me laugh every time I look at it. Jack on a big, fun airplane with his own tv. He was in heaven. I think he managed to watch 4 movies each way. He was totally excited with the food and goody bags, too. Time to settle in for a snooze...
Nope, not much snoozing went on, we were too darn excited (and no matter how big the planes are, they're just not conducive to sleep). Just 8 1/2 hours and 4,336 miles later, and we were there! We left here at 6 pm, arrived there at 7:30 am the next morning, and hit the ground runnin'!
We headed for Bev's Mom Jeannie's house, which was our home away from home for two wonderful weeks, right there at the little red dot!
Part of Jeannie's lovely garden; everything was green, fresh and cool!
We spent many cool evenings on this patio with cider, wine, beer and a variety of cheeses and sausages, enjoying the garden.
After a bit of a rest, we freshened up and set off for Bev's Dad's house. We didn't dare sleep, knowing we needed to get on a new schedule!
Just a portion of Brian's terraced gardens; you can certainly tell this is his passion! You forget that you're in someone's backyard as you walk through the different levels!
Incredible! These are very serious gardeners, folks. We don't even have one flower at our house (I need to work on that...)
The last stop of a veryyy long day was in Chiddingstone, Lee & Bev's favorite first stop of each trip. Time for our first pint of the (actual) trip!
The pub next to the church. Love the English!
We sat back here and enjoyed our first traditional lunch. I had a Ploughman's lunch of ham, cheeses, bread, pickled onions and a Scotch egg. And a cider. Yep, I'm gonna like it here.
Tower of the Church of St. Mary (seriously, right across the little, tiny road from the pub!) There are faces at the top, sticking their tongues out toward the village. This is the third or fourth church built on this site, with windows dating to the 14th century.
I'm a sucker for stained glass windows. Took this for you, Linda ☺
Ok, we're done tuckered out. We hit the store on the way home, and look what we found: a 3-liter bottle of cider! Are you kidding?! Who do I call to get these delivered to Publix?!
Day Two is a busy one; we're heading to London! AND IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!
