We woke up to a pretty morning and decided to walk out and enjoy it!
The roads were so tiny and blew my mind how people will speed right through them. My heart was in my throat most of the time we were on roads like this.
The only time we saw horses. They reminded me of Texas
We took a trip to Holkham and viewed Holkham Hall. This hall was different than Blickling Hall because it had been in the same family for centuries and had a line to royalty. In fact, Lady Anne, of the family name Coke, was a bridesmaid at the Queen's coronation. They had her bridesmaid dress on display at the house, but Chris snapped that picture on his phone.
I wanted this bathroom so bad. It had paintings all over the walls, a fireplace, and a huge bathtub.
All over the house, they had family pictures which gave it a feeling that it really was a house where people live. We toured during the months that the family allowed visits.
And on one of the tables was a picture of the royal family that was signed.
This was the cutest VW bug complete with daisies and eyelashes.
While we were in the city center, Chris decided to get a hair cut.
On our last Friday night, we met up again with one of Chris' oldest mates, Steve, and his wife, Leigh-Ann. They took us out to an Indian restaurant for my first taste of Indian food. I cannot remember the name of the Indian food that I had, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Chris trying out his new hair cut and apparel, with my KJZT sunglasses. These KJZT sunglasses were the best thing. I wore these everywhere and of course, with free sunglasses, I never lost them.
I tried Pimm's for the first time. It went really well with Sprite and a lime.
We were at the grocery store and they had a bunch of mixed drinks in cans. We don't usually see these in the States so I decided to take a few pics.
On Saturday night, we had a barbecue at Chris' stepsister's,Shauna's, house. It was a beautiful evening with lush green grass and friendly bugs. We had hot dogs, potatoes, "crisps", and a special chocolate cake and cheesecake!! Shauna did a superb job!
Chris' sister, Kate, and his nephew
Uncle Chris and Billy horsing around
Sunday morning, we went to Mass at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Norwich. It was beautiful and very special. It is really amazing to go to a church so far from your home, but still hear the same readings, prayers, and Eucharist.
Later that afternoon, we went to the Norfolk Mead Hotel for a very nice dinner celebrating Chris' grandfather's 90th birthday. If these cars don't tell you how nice it was, I don't know what will.
Billy and Mason hanging out in the Drawing Room. They wouldn't take a picture if they knew you were taking it.
Enjoying capers and drinks with Chris' mom, grandfather, stepfather, and stepsister
Kate and her boyfriend, Ian
Our scrumptious feast: my appetizer...I forgot the name, but I know it was salmon.lol
My entree: Chicken... a ton of chicken. I had to pace myself and it also came with vegetable sides
And for dessert: Treacle tart and ice cream
The pavlova looked delicious too!
Chris talking with his grandfather and mom
The biggest kid carrying the littlest kids
After lunch, we decided to head to London for our final two days in England. It wasn't exactly planned, but somehow we managed to go through the main part of London and see some big sites. This is the London Bridge
Since the Olympics were just a week away, we saw plenty of preparations for them. This was a lane specifically for Olympic personnel, but no one was looking
A billboard with the Royal Family on it
The Eye
And Big Ben...Parliament. If you've ever seen National Lampoon's European Vacation, you got that joke.
We found this hotel online and it was a nice quaint place in the Kensington area. Each room is different and came with free WI-FI. Since we had our iphones, we put them in airplane mode and strictly used WI-FI wherever we could get it for maps, information, and Facebook.
Out of all of the different drinks I had in England, this one is my favorite. Kind of funny that we have the same name. It was just the right amount of sweetness and lightness of a cider that I like.
Funny story with this picture. Our hotel had complimentary breakfast, but only if you went downstairs to get it. Chris went downstairs to repark our car and I stayed in the room to finish my hair. I heard a knock on the door and it was room service with this tray filled with food. I told them that I didn't order any so he ran downstairs to double check. He came back and said that my husband had ordered it. I took the tray and thought of what a sweet husband I have. I drank a little bit of the orange juice and then waited for Chris to come back to the room. A few minutes later Chris came back and asked where all the food came from. Uh-oh! I told him the story and he said he never said that. We took it downstairs, so that we wouldn't be charged, and ate in the breakfast room. The front desk said that another room had called for it and they were sorry for the confusion. They immediately took the tray back upstairs. I couldn't help but think about the person who was going to drink the orange juice after me! We didn't tell them that I drank any, in fear that they would charge us.
On our last full day in England, we decided to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This was an old choir book used in the Medieval and Renaissance period
The really cool thing about this museum was that they encouraged the visitor to interact. They had tunics to wear, so Chris got into the act to look medieval.
There was also a puzzle with tiles and you had to try and assemble so that everything matched correctly.
In the Medieval and Renaissance part, there was an abundance of religious artwork. This was one of my favorites.
To make the most of the day, we only stayed for a bit and then headed to the Natural History Museum. This was a statue of Medusa.
It was neat to go up the escalator into the world
And one of the most exciting attractions was Dippy the dinosaur. This part of the museum really made me feel like I was in a movie. The museum was so huge and just had an overabundance of artifacts and information.
Our last stop of the day was to Harrod's.This was a department store beyond belief. It had so many well known, and expensive, designer name brands. It even had a fancy grocery store inside it. It was nice to dream in that place. I had to take these pictures for my sister. She is a choc-aholic and I had never seen anything like this.
Chocolates
And truffles
We saw these cupcake liners and decorations.
For our last meal, we walked to a restaurant and had one last cider and some pasta.
We enjoyed our time and look forward to going back again. We told people that we weren't saying goodbye, but see ya later. So see ya later, England xx
