P.S. Home Safe

Our flight arrived at Seatac about 8:45 last night. We were all tired and happy to be home. It was a successful, interesting trip. I look forward to my next adventure..................

P.S. Home

Last Day in Windsor

After a hardy english breakfast of egg, bacon, bean and sausage, we set out for Windsor Castle. The hotel receptionist had warned us it was boring and Luke wouldn't like it. She was wrong. Skip and I thought it very interesting, and Luke seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards we went for a 40 minute cruise of the Thames. That was boring. It would have been fun to kayak or row.

We went to the Duke of Connaught pub for a nice lunch. The food was very good and the staff and other punters were very friendly. We are waiting for our taxing at the hotel for our final leg of this journey. We will be happy to get in our own beds and see our little doggie!

Addicted to Elegance

I saw two large frumpy, women wearing big yellow t-shirts proclaiming "addicted to elegance". Luke said he thought cheeseburgers were a better guess. They were scarfing down big ice cream cones. Do you suppose they had any idea what their shirts said?

From Dubrovnik to Windsor, I love England!

This morning we got up and went to the Cathedral in Dubrovnik. It's very ornate and has a replica of the grotto at Lourdes. Next we went to the synagogue, the second oldest in Europe. The oldest is in Prague, and we had already been there.

Our taxi driver to the airport was a Croatian/American. He spoke perfect english with no accent, though he has been living in Croatia 30 years. It was interesting to hear him talk about the

Balkans war in the 1990's. There is plenty of evidence of the war. Most of the tile roof tops in Croatia are new as they were destroyed during the bombings. You can also see shrapnel and missile scars in some of the buildings.

Our flight was delayed by 2 1/2 half hours, most of that time spent sitting on the plane. I slept through most of the delay. When we finally took off, we flew north along the Dalmatian coast, over Venice, the Alps, Germany and the coast of France. It was very beautiful and made me long to be on the ground.

We are staying the night in Windsor and since our flight is not until 6:35 p.m., we will do some sight seeing before we head to the airport. Luke said he was so happy to be back in the cool rainy weather. He says he'll never live anywhere that gets hot and buggy.

We have had a wonderful trip and have thoroughly enjoyed the sights, culture, food and just getting away, but we all look forward to getting home to the beautiful Pacific NW. The best part of traveling is coming home with new gratitude for all we have!

one more observation....

One more thing I have noticed on this trip, is Europeans wearing shirts with silly, stupid and sometimes obscene things written in english. I'm not sure they really understand the meanings of the words on their clothing, or at least don't understand the subtleties. If Asians have funny, strange things in "engrish", does this qualify as "englopean"? Who doesn't want a t-shirt proudly proclaiming "don't hate me because I'm beautiful"? Or, how about "suck my ****"? Or the non-sensical "twin love", huh?! Something to think about before you buy that cute shirt with the pretty asian characters, who knows what it means?

Moonlight and Tony Bennett

Today is our last full day in Dubrovnik. It was lazy again. Skip and I went out for our coffee and tea. We sat in a cool corner of one the squares and watched the people go by.

When we finished we went back to our apartment and got Luke. We all went to the Rector's Palace. The most interesting things in there, were the sedan chairs. They were ornate and lovely and completely miserable looking.

After a lazy lunch, we walked over to the old fortress outside the city walls. It offered some spectacular views of the Adriatic. Then we walked through a park with some ruins and the best swimming spot in the city. Unfortunately, we weren't wearing our swimsuits. By the time walked back to out apartment it was siesta time.

After dinner in our apartment, Skip and I went out to a bar that you access via a hole in the city wall. It is set on a rocky outcrop below the city walls. We drank beer and watched the sun go down over the Adriatic. Then we listened to Tony Bennett by the light of the full moon. It was the perfect end to our last full day in Dubrovnik.