ToadMama – Page 64 – ToadMama.com

October 2, 2014October 2, 2014

The Great UK Road Trip

As I said in my last post, we didn’t want to bother Annelies while she was working, so we took a “little” road trip up to the UK.

I am the family travel planner. Because Hubby is such a good sport about letting me decide where to go, what to see, and how to get there, I usually try to avoid stuff I know he will HATE and include stuff I think he will enjoy.

I wanted to see the Cotswolds in England.

Are you wondering about this “Cotswolds” thing?

It’s actually a region in England known for its beautiful setting and honey-colored limestone villages. And sheep or, more accurately, wool. Which, of course, comes from sheep. My friend, Janet, had visited there last year, and the pictures she shared of the villages enchanted me. I’m a sucker for cute and colorful villages.

The area is pretty rich in history, too. And Hubby loves old stuff. Plus there’s tons of castles, manor houses, and cathedrals, so I knew we’d find something that he would enjoy.

1_map — Zaffelare, Belgium to Bourton-on-the-Water, in England

Google maps said this route was about six and a half hours and a little over 300 miles. After studying the map and seeing that we would be going past Oxford, I got an idea. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Initially, I thought we’d take the Channel Tunnel over to the UK, but I didn’t want to buy the tickets in advance in case the weather turned crappy and we nixed the trip. Then, the night before we were to leave, we discovered that a Chunnel ticket (you drive your car onto a train which carries you through the tunnel) would cost about 139 Euros ONE WAY. That’s about $175. Yikes!

Then Annelies started looking into ferries and discovered we could get a round-trip ticket for about 50 Euros or $64. The ferry took longer, but that was a pretty big price difference. Plus, I love ferries and am slightly creeped-out by long-ass tunnels. So the ferry it was.

We had to drive into France to reach the ferry terminal. My, what a busy place.

GB 007 — Hi, ho, hi, ho, a ferrying we go.

The ferry was HUGE. I’d been impressed by the Washington State ferries. These were far bigger.

I love boats, so I couldn’t stay below deck while we sailed. Unfortunately, it go foggy pretty quickly, so I didn’t get to see much.

At one point, I noticed something odd peeking through the fog on the horizon.

My first thought, honestly, was, “Is that a glacier?”

Not that I really thought that would even be possible, but that’s what it looked like through the haze.

It was the famed white cliffs of Dover. Now, if I’d done more reading about the ferry crossing, I would have expected that. Anyway…

Canterbury, which was our first stop, was only about a 20-30-minute drive. (I covered that visit in yesterday’s post.)

We spent much longer than we’d expected admiring the cathedral, so we had to hurry a bit to reach our next stop before the business day ended. And that meant we didn’t have time for a proper meal, so we just grabbed some road snacks.

GB 167 — Chocolate-stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies for Hubby

GB 168 — Caramello-looking Cookies and a Flapjack (like a soft oat cake) for Me

Oxford was our next stop. Since we were going to be in the neighborhood, I thought it would be fun to visit a certain little paint shop.

It was quite a lively little neighborhood.

As for the paint shop… you know the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® I prattle on about? Well, her shop is in Oxford. I thought it might be fun to stop in

Plus I knew it would make Janet’s day. It have been even more fun if Annie had been there, but she wasn’t. It was still really cool to see her shop. It’s where that magic paint began.

ASCP collage — ToadMama at Annie Sloan’s shop.

It’s a tiny little shop, so we weren’t there for long. Besides, by then, we were starving. Since we’d already paid for the car park (aka parking lot), we decided to grab dinner in Oxford. We actually found an adorable little cafe right down the street from The Annie Sloan Shop.

GB 183 — The Tick Tock Cafe got two thumbs up from us.

It had a colorful, fun, funky interior, which you know I loved.

It also had really good paninis.

We still had a couple hours worth of driving to do, so we didn’t linger long. Getting out of Oxford during rush hour was a bit trying, but we made it. And, soon enough, we were in the Cotswold countryside.

It was just as lovely as the pictures I’d seen made it appear.

The narrow roads with unusually high speed limits were interesting, to say the least, but Hubby did a great job with the driving.

We managed to reach Bourton-on-the-Water, our final destination, JUST before dark. We hadn’t made reservations in advance (I didn’t want to be slave to any real agenda). I was getting a bit worried after all three of the hotels we’d tried didn’t have a room for us. Luckily, The Dial House had a vacancy.

GB 204 — Tea Supplies (instant coffee, too)

After unwinding for a bit, we went for a night-time stroll along the river that runs through town, hence the name Bourton-on-the-Water.

What better way to end a LONG, hectic day that with a couple of pints, enjoyed at an outdoor, riverside pub?

Ah, England…

October 1, 2014October 1, 2014

Canterbury Cathedral

The vacation re-cap continues…

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I knew we would drive Annelies crazy if we spent too much time at the house while she was working, so I planned a little excursion up to the UK. I wanted to explore the Cotswolds, a mostly rural area in south central England known for its stone-built villages, historical towns, stately homes, and sheep. And Hubby loves to see old stuff. We both really enjoy visiting cathedrals, too. So after a bit of research into roughly where in the Cotswolds we’d end up the first night, I picked some cathedrals to visit.

I only laid-out the rough plan for the UK visit a day or so before we left for Belgium. And Annelies booked our ferry passage the night before we left.

It’s tempting to do day-by-day posts to get this vacation re-cap finished more quickly. But some places are so special, they need a post of their own, like Canterbury Cathedral, our first planned stop in the UK.

According to the brochure, worship has been taking place daily at Canterbury for over 1,400 years.

Try as I might, I couldn’t fit the whole building in one frame. The place is massive. And the town was built right up around the property.

I had to rely upon this aerial view, captured by AD Photographics of Kent, England, to give you a better appreciation of its size. You can see how the town surrounds the cathedral property.

We were able to find a parking spot on a street several blocks away from the cathedral. We could see the towers, of course, but had no idea how to get to the property, which is surrounded by walls and buildings.

When you’re walking up close, like on the street immediately adjacent to the property, you can’t see the cathedral.

Burgate Street (immediately adjacent to the Precincts of Canterbury Cathedral) property)

So, clueless tourists that we were since I hadn’t done proper advance planning, we were walking up Burgate Street wondering how to find the cathedral. Hubby was still a tad stressed after navigating the labyrinth of small, busy streets whilst driving on the wrong side of the road. By stressed I only mean his brain was too numb to focus. After another block or so, I saw this…

I vaguely remembered having read that you had to go through a gate. Doesn’t that sort of look like the facade of a haunted house that you’d see on a beach town boardwalk? Until you look more closely, that is.

Remember, click on any image and a larger version will pop up. Use your back button to return to this page.

Um, that’s a rather famous gate. (I am no historian. I just like seeing cool, old stuff.)

This is what you see after walking through the gate (and paying your entrance fee).

The whole back half of the building is missing from that shot. Really.

Here are a few exterior images.

GB 063 — Historical figures decorate one exterior wall of the South West Porch.

GB 064 — Statues on outside building corner.

Maintaining and restoring this building, much of which dates to about the 11th century, is a constant and ongoing process.

GB 072 — Looking up from cathedral entrance at the South West Porch.

GB 162 — Small section of the rear of the building.

Now, how about some interior highlights?

GB 083 — Vaulted ceiling of the Harry Bell Tower.

GB 089 — Tomb of Archbishop Chichele (d.1443)

GB 113 — Site of the former shrine of St. Thomas

GB 122 — Amazingly colorful stained glass.

Not to diminish the grandeur of that window or anything, but do you see the Little Mermaid?

Or is it just me?

GB 131 — Gothic Revival pulpit (youngish; it was done in 1893)

GB 137 — Chapter House (walls date to the late 11th century)

GB 140 — Wagon-vaulted roof (c.1400) of Irish oak (decoration typical of late English Gothic style)

Here’s something a little different for you…

I took the following quick(ish) video to try and illustrate the scale of this place.

Here are a few final pics…

stained glass collage — There’s lots and lots of stained glass at Canterbury.

GB 165 — Portion of Roman wall (c. 270-290 AD) incorporated into the more-“modern” Medieval era wall.

The rest of my Canterbury pics are lumped into a UK Day 1 Flickr album, starting here.

The cathedral actually has a great Web site. You can even enjoy your own virtual tour, which I highly recommend. Not only will you see more of this amazing place, you’ll get the historical details.

As for us, after leaving the cathedral, we were off to Oxford. On the wrong side of the road again.

Would you prefer I share fewer pics in a post? Or do you have an opinion? Do share, please.

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014

And Then There Was Bruges

Ah, Bruges. I LOVED Bruges. The colors, the brickwork, the architecture in general, the canals, the churches, the myriad, winding streets… it really is my new favorite city.

2_Bruges 115 — The Markt (aka Big Market Square)

I should apologize in advance. If you’re not a visual person, you will hate this post. I posted 335 pictures to my Bruges album. It was hard deciding which ones to share here. There was just so much cool stuff to see and to share…

I was absolutely enthralled by the bricks. Everything is made of brick. Houses, barns, industrial buildings, cathedrals, bridges. And they were very creative with their brickwork.

Really.

HINT: If you click on an image, you’ll get to see a bigger version and more detail.

3_Bruges 041 — Brick, statues, leaded windows, and a stepped facade. Wow.

Bruges is known as one of Belgium’s best-preserved Medieval villages. Even though it’s big, it still feels like a village, too.

Bruges 036 — Belgian’s are proud of their football team, and for good reason.

Bruges 094 — Brick, brick, and more brick.

Bruges 142 — On the front of a building in The Markt.

Belfort as seen from the interior courtyard.

Bruges 146 — One of many canal “streets.”

Bruges 199 — Beautiful blue-sky backdrop.

Bruges 217 — Camembert sandwich (my favorite lunch of the trip).

Bruges 226 — Look closely. It’s all brick.

That tall tower is the Church of Our Lady. Built of brick, the tower is just over 401 feet tall (122.3 meters). It’s the second-tallest brickwork tower in the world.

Bruges 246 — Even the cathedral ceiling is brick.

Bruges 327 — More brick. Look at those curves.

Bruges 330 — Still more brick, color, and leaded windows.

Those pics are just a sampling of the images I captured. The rest can be seen in my Bruges album on Flickr. Some of Annelies’ captures are in there, too.

So, who wants to go and visit Bruges now? 🙂

September 29, 2014September 30, 2014

The Old and the “New”

This is another installment of our Europe 2014 trip.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Annelies and Yves recently bought a new-to-them house with a huge renovation budget. They surprised us on the way to Brussels with a stop to see their new digs.

But first… here’s a classic series of photos captured on Friday afternoon. Yves was cooking up some burgers, Annelies and Mike were chatting, and I was just taking it all in. I couldn’t help but chuckle as Annelies and Mike chatted. Their hand gestures amused me.

“Now, what are you laughing at?” Annelies asked.

When I told them it was their use of hand gestures that was amusing me, they continued… (If you just see a black or empty space below, click on it. A plug-in may need to be installed for you to see the short slideshow, with music.)

We laugh A LOT when we are together. And I sometimes get a bit of good-natured abuse.

Anyway… here we are having dinner on Day 1.

Here’s a shot of their current house from the “garden” (what we call their backyard).

028 — Brownie and Whitey (my names for them)

Their current house and yard are relatively small. They (Annelies mainly) want a more modern-looking place and a bigger garden (that’s Yves’ priority). In a small country like Belgium, big pieces of property come with a big pricetag. So, to keep the purchase within budget and get the exact house that they want, they bought an older property, built during the 1950s, and are going to completely renovate the place. And I do mean completely.

They are not yet sure whether the chickens will be making the move.

Their “new” house is really just a shell, so I didn’t take many interior pics.

Annelies’ home office will be in the left-hand side of the second floor, just off the terrace/deck. She’ll have a lovely garden view.

The house was most-recently used as doctors’ offices, I think. This huge door will be kept and incorporated somehow into the decor of Yves’ man room.

Here’s something we don’t see in America…

057 — Large Chestnut Tree in the Middle of the Rear Garden

Where there’s a Chestnut tree, there are…

It’s a huge garden.

061 — Our men at the rear of the garden.

Their new neighborhood is more-urban than the one where they currently live. But I think it’s got a fun and funky feel.

069 — Looking left down the street from their driveway.

Hubby and I are both looking forward to our next visit when the house renovation should be complete. Or mostly, complete. There’s only so much you can do at one time.

All of the pics from our arrival day, old house, and new house can be viewed in this Flick album.

What do you think of their new more-urban oasis?

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014

Wingin’ It in Europe: Brussels

It seems kind of weird to say we didn’t plan our most-recent trip. Of course it was planned, as in we knew when and roughly where we were going. We just didn’t map-out every day like we normally would. Which was sort of cool, really.

Let me explain…

For the past few years, we’ve been traveling with our pals Annelies and Yves, who live in Belgium. (I used to work with Annelies.) We’ve been alternating continents. This year, it was our turn to go to Europe. Since Annelies and Yves just bought a new-to-them house with a huge renovation budget, they couldn’t afford to cavort around much. So we decided to hang just out at their house for a while, mostly doing day trips and such. One thing we did partly plan in advance was a trip down to Switzerland to visit our mutual friends Tammi and Martin. Tammi used to work with Annelies and me. (There’s a whole ‘nother element to that visit, which I’ll explain later.)

Annelies works from home. On the day we arrived and through Thursday of the following week, Yves would be working at his office. They were kind enough to offer us the use of their car since they were working.

Because I knew we would have driven her crazy if we spent too much time at the house while she was working, Hubby and I took a few days and drove up to the UK. I only laid-out that rough plan a day or so before we left for Belgium. And Annelies booked our ferry passage the night before we left.

Our true goal was to visit with our friends. It’s nice, but hard, hard having friends in far-off places. Travel isn’t cheap, so we only get to see them once a year or so.

Anyway, that was our sort-of plan. Most days, we sort of winged it. And it worked out pretty well.

I already did a post about the Friday that we arrived (September 12). I also wrote about seeing The Atomium and Mini-Europe on Saturday morning (Setember 13). Although I gave you a sneak-peek of Brussels, I didn’t share much. So I’ll pick-up here with our visit into the city of Brussels.

First, you need to remember that we are not city people. We both prefer visiting the quiet, bucolic, scenic countryside over the hustle, bustle, noise, and crowds of cities. But, when Annelies suggested a trip into Brussels, how could we say no? I did want to see Brussels, especially the infamous Mannekin Pis statue. Hubby was curious, too.

We’d never even heard of the statue until, when in Texas earlier this year, Hubby and I discovered Blanche de Bruxelles beer, which I dubbed “Pissing Boy Beer.” It’s much easier to say than Blanche de Bruxelles, right? So when I sent a pic to Annelies telling her we’d found another beer we like, she told us it’s a famous statue.

So, being the uber-cultered folks that we are, how could we say no when she asked if we wanted to see Mannekin Pis? I mean, it’s art, right?

After seeing The Atomium and Mini-Europe, Yves drove us into Brussels’ city center.

The statue wasn’t the only reason, of course. We got to see where Yves works. And we also got to see some amazing architecture.

The Grand Place is Brussels’ central market square. Central squares are the norm in European cities. It’s where everything happened back in the day. Cities and towns grow up around squares. Brussels’ Grand Place is even on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.

Being a Saturday afternoon, it was crowded. But we muddled through, taking in the architecture, kitschy, touristy stuff, and the people.

It’s hard to choose just a few pics to share here. Hopefully, I’ll do the place justice. And, if you make it to the end of this post, you’ll ever find out how to see more pics. If you’re interested, of course.

First, I’ll share pics highlighting the amazing and diverse architecture.

229 — Making our way towards the Grand Place.

Remember, cities grew around the central market. The streets are old, and small. Today, many are designated pedestrian zones. It’s only during certain hours that vehicles — mostly for deliveries — can drive on these streets.

247 — Statues and other architectural details.

285 — I love the gold details. Especially in the evening light.

I find the detail and grandeur of the architecture spellbinding. I could just roam around looking at the buildings for hours.

I especially enjoy the more lighthearted architectural details. It makes me smile.

How about this interesting bit of preservation? I believe this is a remnant of the old city wall. Look how close the “new” building is! I can only guess the new building was erected before quality preservation became important.

368 — Could they have built any closer to the ruin?

And now for some fun stuff…

313 — In Search of the Real Mannekin Pis

We were anxious to see the real Mannekin Pis statue. Likenesses of the thing are everywhere.

I couldn’t help but smile at this older lady shopping for postcards seemingly oblivious to the giant pissing boy statue.

362 — Mannekin Pin showing Belgian pride.

290 — Some of the more tacky souvenirs, which were everywhere.

315 — A more-colorful Mannekin Pis display.

Finally, we made our way through the throngs of people surrounding the actual statue.

It’s MUCH small than we had anticipated. The whole thing is maybe about 15 feet (~3 meters) tall. And the boy itself is maybe two feet (~2/3 meter) tall.

Oh well, at least we can say we saw it. LOL.

There was one more must-see for us…

Did you know the Smurfs were created in Belgium? We HAD to visit the big Smurf statue.

And then, what better way to end the day than sitting at an outdoor cafe enjoying Belgiam beer with friends?

I love how beer is served in very specific glasses in Europe. Mike chose something we’d never had before. I HAD to order a Lindemans’ Peche (Peach) Lambic. It’s fruity beer, or what Yves refers to as “girly beer.” Lucky for me, it’s easy to get here in the states. But it ain’t cheep.

We lingered over a beer or two as we waited for the city streets to clear a bit.

We were going to look for a restaurant, but it had been a long day and we were all beat. So we just ordered pizzas on the way home.

Pizza in America — the typical kind — is much different than pizza in the rest of the world. Most other places in Europe that we’ve visited favor the thin, brick-oven-type crust.

And those “sausages,” which looked like hot dogs, were more like slightly spicy Vienna sausages than any sausage I’ve ever had on pizza.

And when have you ever know a normal, local pizzeria to offer smoked salmon on pizza?

So, that was our day in Brussels.

I uploaded my pics to Flickr to make viewing them easier. If you are interested, there are two separate albums:

Brussels City Center
The Atomium and Mini Europe

The next post will focus on what we did on our way to Brussels. Backwards, I know. But there’s so much to cover, it probably won’t be the first time I jump around.

September 25, 2014September 25, 2014

Home Again

We are back home after our fabulous European vacation.

It’s funny how a trip that really was to be an uneventful, laid-back visit with friends can result in 3,500+ pictures. It will take a while to go through those, that’s for sure.

As I write this, Hubby is in Baltimore, retrieving our doggie-girls from my mother-in-law’s house. She was kind enough to watch over our babies while we were away.

Eric and Kelsey are coming by for lunch later today. It’s a farewell-for-now lunch as they are leaving for Spain on Monday. Their plan is to live there, assuming they can find jobs to secure the work visas they will need. I’m happy for them, really, but sad knowing two of our kids will be living on a whole ‘nother continent. I do foresee a trip to Spain in the near future, however.

Since I go back to work today, I won’t have time for picture sorting. But I’ll get to it soon.

For now, here are a couple of pics from our last lunch with Annelies and Yves in Trier, Germany.

It’s good to be home, but it is always hard leaving our friends behind. Hubby and I are lucky to have these dear folks in our lives.

Here’s to more amazing adventures together.