5th stop - England

England - Wednesday 3rd May - Thursday 11th May 2006

We arrived in England both feeling a little less then perfect. I had a nasty episode of gastro from Cuba that I shared with Nick a few days later. It certainly affected my desire to take photos, eat & even enjoy wine which I had been looking forward to after rum was the drink of choice in Cuba. While in the UK we met up with Ed & Cheryl (my dad and stepmum) who had left Australia a few days after us to head to the UK & spent Easter with Nick's parents (Monica & William).

On the first day that I started feeling myself again we went to Bath for the day. Bath is steeped in history and I did not expect it to be as pretty as it is. I had only wanted to visit Bath to tick off another UNESCO listed site ... the Old Roman Bath. We found that we spent longer than expected at the Roman Baths as the audio guide was so interesting. At each site you pressed a number & were told the history & details about what you were looking at.















The Roman Baths has an amazing rich history that stretches over 2000 years. It was amazing to feel the heat that came from the water & it was tempting to touch it but there are lots of signs warning you against it.














It was a beautiful day in Bath as you can see from the sun ... the weather was warm for the England (surprisingly) & the flowers were in their spring bloom.



A sample of the archetectual style with Ed (my Dad) attempting to take a photo of the row of houses.









After the trip to Bath, we went out for dinner at a local pub. The gourmet pub grub has certainly taken off & this place had a wide choice of food & a very good European wine list. I was still feeling a little fragile due to the 'castro gastro' & found that I could not over indulge in either rich food or wine. I look forward to making a return visit next time we are back in England (Christmas).

Over the weekend we had a small gathering of friends & family for a BBQ & a few drinks.



Nick gathering with his old uni pose (Bob & Chris) for the first time in 4 years. Living on the opposite side of the world can delay the opportunities to gather. However, it did mean that Kelly, Sat & myself had to sit through the stories of old which we all have heard numerous times ... they still laugh & think they are funny after 10 years !!! Be warned those who live in Melbourne once Bob & Sat emigrate you may also be made to sit through the stories. Then just wait if Chris & Kelly decide to do a trip down under .... it we be the same stories again ... the delight of having married myself to one of these boys !


Monica, Cheryl & Ed being caught on camera by Nick.











William whipping up a BBQ delight









Nick is once again in fine form behind the camera & attempting to catch Chris in the most glamours postion of eating ...

Then the next day the family came over to visit ... Nick and his Granny













Me with Nick's Aunt Julie in Adian's bright yellow night jacket. As you can see we have gone from beautiful warm weather in Bath to the weather changing to being cold which felt very typical to England (well for this girl coming out of an Australian summer it felt cold but was being told that this was nothing). The reason for the rain jackets was not as a fashion accessory but due to good old English rain that was about to come down while we went for a walk in the woods.




Ed with Nick's niece Emily who had become hs apprentice in the garden.


Then it was with sadness that we left England & back to work after an amazing round-the-world trip !!!



We now starting to plan the return trip to England for Christmas , Austria & Budapest for new years .... you need to have a few long-term goals to help get through the cold & grey Melbourne winter that greeted us on return.