Travel

We have been traveling for a week in England and France and it has been one adventure after another. I will add pics when I can find a way to get them off my camera. But here are some highlights to date:

1. We did a day trip to Paris from London. We took the Eurostar train at 7 am and got back at 9:30 pm. We did a cool boat tour, saw the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral. But there were really two highlights: a trip to the Addidas store (really??? - but the kids loved it) and me getting on a train and Jim and the kids not making it on before the doors closed! I thought Drew was going to have a heart attack when the train left with me on it! But I was not worried - I knew we would all meet up at the train station. However it was quite traumatic for Drew - the GIANT 15 year old.

2. We did a tour of the Chelsea Football (soccer) stadium and went to see a game. The best part - we were in the FRONT row! At one point the ball came flying out of bounds and almost hit me in the face. Luckily Jim caught it!

3. We went to Salisbury to see the Cathedral with the tallest spire in England. When we got there after a 2 hour drive, we were hungry, so we stopped at a pub for some grub. After chowing down (Drew had a turkey sandwich, fries AND nachos), we all headed to the bathroom before the trip down the street to the Cathedral. But one of us did not quite make it! My mom missed a step, fell and hit her head on the corner of a wall. It was a bloody mess because she cut two arteries. (We have great pics!) While my dad and her took an ambulance to the hospital, we decided to see the Cathedral....after all, it takes forever to get seen at the hospital. The ambulance trip and treatment were all FREE - health care in the UK is free to everyone. Nice system. She had to wear a scarf around her head for a couple days because she could not wash her hair and it was a mess!

4. We are currently staying in a 16th century renovated barn - and although that sounds cool....it is WAY cooler than even that! This place is the most beautiful and interesting place I have ever stayed. I can't wait to post pics.

5. They must be used to seeing short people here because we have had a bunch of comments about the tall members of the family. When we first got here we were at Heathrow Airport buying underground tickets and the attendent looked at Drew and said "we don't grow 15 year olds like that here in England!" And then when we were renting a car, we each walked in separately - me, then Grace, then Drew, then Jim... the lady helping us finally looks at us and says, "wow, that's a tall family".