Travel log

Daughter is letting me use her computer on this beautiful fall afternoon. I am outside on my back deck and I am going to attempt to write about the trip we just took. Pictures will probably come later.

I had traveled to London and Paris as a very young person in 1975 when I was 17 years old. It was a great experience but, like most 17-year-old boys, I was extremely immature and did not have a full appreciation of the things I was seeing and experiencing. I thought one of the coolest things we did was having lunch in a McDonald's on the Champs Ellyses. Pitiful. (There are McDonaldses all over Paris now -- and London, as well as numerous other American chain establishments).

Returning some 38 years later, my perspective had changed a bit!

Wife, Daughter and I arrived in London late on a Friday morning after taking a "red-eye" flight in which we slept hardly a wink. Just couldn't do it. We got to our hotel in the early afternoon and the excitement kept us awake.

One of the things that helped make this trip possible was our Marriott points which Wife and I had been saving for a long time. We had enough for four nights at our hotel in London and it was great -- the Marriott Town Hall, right on the Themes next to the London Eye, the huge ferris wheel-like structure built for London's millenium celebration.  Although some Londoners looked on it scoffingly (kind of like the Parisians with the Eiffel Tower in 1899), it has become a permanent landmark and is making money hand over fist.

We could see "the Eye" right out our hotel room window, as well as Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament across the river. It was a stunning view, and all for free! Also included were a lovely breakfast each morning and drinks and appetizers in the late afternoon.

We took a late afternoon nap that first day, then set out for a walk that evening. The next three days we hit it hard seeing the standard London sites -- the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace (including the changing of the guards), Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Churchill War Rooms, the National Gallery and St. Martin in the Fields. We also rode the London Eye late one afternoon and it was spectacular, with stunning views of the city.

One afternoon the girls shopped and I conducted my own pub tour which I might say was a huge success. The British are proud of their ales and, while enjoying them at room temperature is not the norm for us here in the U.S., it's an easily acquired taste in the delightful atmospheres of these establishments.

We hated to leave London, but by Tuesday morning it was time to move on to our "vacation from our vacation" in the Cotswolds. We took a train back to Heathrow airport and rented a car there.

Here is an unqualified truth: Wife is a better driver than I. That has always been the case. Therefore it made sense for her to at least start as the driver in not only a foreign land but in a land where they drive on the left (wrong) side of the road! And once she started, that was it. I rode in the backseat and lent moral support while Daughter rode in the front passenger seat and served as navigator.  (And by the way, she was the driver permanently. I never got near the steering wheel).

Wife did an incredible job, keeping her wits about her and her senses sharp as she drove into the confusing roundabouts and "gave way" (a British term) when it did not seem logical.

We drove first to Bath, about 90 miles west of London, a city where there are natural hot springs and where long ago the aristocrats would travel for the supposed healing powers of said waters. About 200 years ago (or so -- don't hold me to this) it became the "Hollywood of England" and the wealthy and powerful traveled there as a place to see and be seen.

Today it's a beautiful small city where the ancient architecture and beauty has been preserved. Today's citizens of Bath are proud of their city and volunteers conduct free tours daily. We participated in one and it was greatly beneficial.

After a late lunch there it was time for our Cotswolds destination, the charming village of Chipping Campden. We stayed two nights in a Bed and Breakfast there that looked like something out of a coffee table book.

We spent the next day there with a guide who drove us to other villages, and through breathtaking hills and meadows populated by scores of sheep. I can't do justice to the beauty and charm of this lovely area but I can tell you that by the end of this day I was looking at real estate listings to see if I could buy a pub there. Daughter assured me she should would move there with me, get a teaching job and help in the pub in the evenings. (Pragmatic Wife brought us back to reality . . .  but I can dream).

On Thursday we bid goodbye, far too soon, to this little piece of heaven, and drove back to London, where we boarded the Eurostar train for the two-hour-and-twenty-minute ride to Paris, part of which goes under the English Channel (through the "chunnel").  This was a non-event. I opened a book, read a few pages and I was in Paris!

Prior to Paris we had enjoyed beautiful weather -- highs in the high 60s, and I even wore shorts one day in London. We had a a few drops of rain in the Cotswolds but not enough to even cause us to open an umbrella.

It was cold in Paris. It had rained before we arrived and a few drops fell on us the first day but, again, hardly enough to notice.

Paris was, in short, magical. The first night we went on a driving tour that ended in front of the Eiffel Tower at 9 p.m., at which time it lit up with flashing lights as it does each hour on the hour. Our driver let us out there and we boarded a river boat that took us up the Seine, by Notre Dame, which was spectacular.

On Friday morning we took a train to Versailles Palace and Gardens, which was breathtakingly beautiful. The crowds there were massive. Although this is considered the "shoulder season" in Europe, I could not have imagined it being any more crowded in London and Paris.

The rest of our time in Paris was spent going to museums and gardens, sitting at charming sidewalk cafes and finding hidden-away streets that made us feel as if we were in a movie. We also went to the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset and it was spectacular.

Monday morning, 11 days from our departure date, we boarded the plane for home.  We were glad to get here but the memories are strong of this wonderful vacation. The time spent with Wife and Daughter is something I'll always cherish.

I'll write a little more about my impressions, and post some photos, in my next post.

Back home

We are back from our trip to England and France. I had hoped to have posted an update, as well as photos, by now. Alas, my home laptop seems to have finally breathed its last so it's not going to happen just yet.

We had an incredible time. Wife and Daughter were wonderful travel companions and the time we spent together was something I'll always cherish.

There are so many highlights I can't even begin to recount them all, especially on this blasted iPhone. London and Paris, although massive cities, were magical places. And the "vacation from our vacation " in the Cotswolds was a beautiful excursion that at times left me speechless.

So stay tuned. Hopefully there's more to come.

Good time of year

Fall is here, my favorite season of the year.

Probably the number one reason for that is the fact that this season ushers in cooler weather. But God smiled on us here in middle Tennessee this year and we had such a pleasant summer, I can hardly complain. We hardly made it into the 90s and never even got to 100 degrees.

Still, there's a crispness in the air now that tells me it's that time of year where not only the temperature drops, but we don't have the stifling humidity either. I want to be outside as much as possible.

September brings the intersection of two of my favorite seasons in sports -- the end of the Major League baseball season, which brings in post-season play, and the beginning of college football.

In baseball, the hapless Houston Astros, whom I long ago claimed as "my" team, once again posted a 100-loss season, this being their first in the American League (and I'm not too happy about that either). Something's gotta give. I don't know what it is, but something.

On a brighter note, my adopted favorite National League team, the Atlanta Braves, whom I can see by driving about 3.5 hours from my front door, clinched the eastern division just today.

Atlanta's a sentimental favorite because Older Son, when he was a wee lad, used to watch them on cable (TBS) when they became "America's Team" and they became "his" team. When he was eight, he and I flew out to Atlanta from Little Rock, where we lived at the time, and saw them play at the old Fulton County Stadium.

That started our quest to go to every MLB park. He's well over half-way there, having added Nationals Stadium in D.C. this summer. I'm a little behind him. I've been to Philly and he hasn't, and he's seen the Giants, As and Marlins play at home, which I have not. Most of the others we've managed to do together and often Wife, Younger Son, Daughter, and now DIL and DSO, have been with us.

I'm hopeful that one day we'll cross through the turnstill together at our last park and it will be a glorious celebration.

As I said, I'm also a college football fan and it's now in full swing. We suffered through a terrible season with Auburn last year so, with a new coach (and coaching staff), we're hoping for better things. At 3-1 (after having their first loss last night against SEC powerhouse LSU), they've already won as many as they did last year.

We were down last week for the Mississippi State game and got to see a win. Also visited Younger Son, now in his third year, and he's doing great. He is living in the fraternity house this year and we visited his room, which he and his roommate had dutifully cleaned before hosting us.

I'm not much of an NFL fan anymore but had a late invitation to go see the Tennessee Titans here at home in Nashville today, so spent a beautiful afternoon there and got to see a Titans win.

It really is a nice time of year.

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Wife, Daughter and I will soon be taking a very nice vacation. We'll leave here the evening of October 3rd and arrive in London the next morning. We'll stay there a few days, then visit the Cotswolds outside of London for a couple of days. We'll take the Eurostar train through the English Channel to Paris, and come back home on the 14th.

Traveling with my two favorite girls, there's no doubt it will be a great time. If I don't get around to posting something before we leave, look for a retrospective and photos when we get back.