Vacation in October

Since retirement, we've had a chance to take a few trips during the non-busy (i.e. Summer) time of the year.  And it is pretty nice.  We just returned from 10 days in the U.K.  Spent 5 days at a cool little resort in the Lake District.  Lots of long walks on quiet little lanes through charming villages.  Lots of sheep!  Great views and great meals.  Spent a couple days on a side trip to see friends that we had met on our China trip earlier this year who live in Glasgow.  That was a whirlwind 24 hours!  I swooned over visiting Royal Troon Golf Course and Trump Turnberry.  So much history.

We then spent 5 days in London.  We've been to the city many times but never fail to really enjoy it.  We stayed in an incredibly charming little boutique hotel, the Chesterfield Mayfair.  Not cheap, but what the hell.  You only go around once.  It is a beautiful city with plentiful parks, abundant shopping, impressive museums, and vibrant nightlife.  It is a very walkable city so we were very active.  We did the hop on/hop off bus which we find to be very useful in any city we visit.  We of course went to Harrod's.  We spent hours and hours strolling through all of their beautiful parks.  A visit to the Churchill War Room Bunkers was a hightlight for me.  The British Museum is astonishing in the quantity and quality of antiquities.  It really was mind-boggling.  We went to see "The Book of Mormon" at the Prince of Wales Theater.  It was enjoyable but I was a bit taken aback at the profanity.  Maybe I'm just getting to be too much of an old guy!  And having lived amongst the Mormons for two years while in college, it really was pretty offensive.  Don't get me wrong, I get that it was a bit of a farce, but still...if you were Mormon you'd probably not want to see it.  We happened to be there when they had a celebration of the British Olympians in Trafalgar Square.  So we got to see both the Olympians and pay homage to Lord Nelson.  Great!  And we had some great meals!!!  French, Turkish, Thai and Indian.  All top shelf.

So not that we needed it, we had a vacation.  It's good to be home and back in the swing of things.  But it was fun to get away!