"Where are all of the fossils?"

A two hour train ride from London took us to the small town by the sea, Folkestone.  Our friend Milauni, visiting from Canada, suggested we go there on a sort of geological field trip to search for fossils along the cliffs.  It is a beautiful town with many great walking paths and incredible views.  The three of us walked along a path by the sea beside big white cliffs for several hours.  We had a lot of fun but, no fossils!  We gave up our search and decided to go and eat fish and chips at the local pub instead.

Les Lassalas à Londres

What a wonderful week with les Lassalas!  I was overjoyed to be reunited with my french family in London- how crazy is that?!  We covered a lot of ground during their stay including Buckingham Palace, Camden Town, and Greenwich.  It was over much too quick.  Vous allez me manqué les Lassalas!  A la prochaine :)

Weekend Adventures: Stonehenge, Bath, and the Tour de France

Built 5000 years ago over the course of 800 years, Stonehenge made for an impressive sight.  To think that these stones have stood and have been protected through all this time is mysterious in itself.  Stonehenge is believed to have been built as a temple for meetings of great importance such as religious ceremonies, death, and celebration.  How these massive stones got here is a puzzle to this day.
Next a visit to the Roman Baths in Bath: a beautiful and unique town.  The Roman history and the Georgian architecture made the trip outside of London worthwhile.
To finish off my Sunday/Monday weekend (the two days I had off) the Tour de France had their grand sprint to the finish at Buckingham Palace.  What I love about London is that crazy stuff like this happens seemingly all the time.  The city of London is always on the go.  And the fact that I was right at the finish line as the bikes came whizzing by- awesome.

Canada Day at Herstmonceux Castle

To celebrate our big beautiful country, all Canadians (and whoever else wanted to celebrate Canada) were invited to a barbecue at Queen's University Herstmonceux Castle.  This is a moated castle built in the 15th century, about an hour train ride from London, and is surrounded by fields and forests to explore.  We had a tour of the castle, a feast of hot dogs, burgers, and poutine, and a live band to finish off the night.  If only there had been fireworks, it would have been perfect!

 

The Royal Ascot Races

This past Tuesday was the first day of the Royal Ascot Races.  Sara and I put on our dresses, pinned our fascinators in our hair, and took the train to Ascot to spend the day in the sun bidding on horses.  It was a wonderful experience to remember that felt truly british.  We even got to wave at the Queen!