Cosses are back in the UK

Dear Family and Friends We leave in just a few days so this will be our final post. We had several adventures to round out our adventure. The first was our visit to Paris for Phil's birthday. Once again we stayed in the 17th arrondisement in an area called Batignolles. Along with Montmartre it was the home to several impressionist painters in the late 19C and early 20C. It is in no way an upscale tourist area but we always manage to find really nice accommodation in the area just north of the Clichy metro station. We like it because it is more a family neighbourhood - we see the same people most days and get to know the locals in the shops and restaurants. This was a much more relaxed visit - we didn't even buy a Paris Pass - we finally got to see the Rodin Museum (mostly closed for renovations) and the Parthenon. We wanted to see the Grand et Petit Palais but they were both closed as it was a Monday. Are you sensing a theme here?? If Sharlene and Phil are o...

Dear Family and Friends   As Joan Rivers used to say, “Can we talk?” We’ve now been in England for almost 2 months and as much as it is awesome to be here with the kids, and as beautiful as the countryside is, there are things that drive me around the bend! Firstly (but not the only point) is that the roads are too busy and there are too many people!! We need to devise a way to ship about 10 million people offshore to leave some room for the rest of us! I’m thinking retired pensioners are the obvious choice – send them all to Ibizza, Spain or France – anywhere warm and sunny. I’d consider changing citizenship to cash in on that one. Do you think it will fly?   And driving on the left isn’t the big deal, it’s the narrow roads!!! We drive the back country road to pick up Kirei from school several times a week and I hold my breath the whole way! There’s not too much traffic thank the good Lord as the roads are so narrow that you feel like you are going to scrape the side of...

Dear Family and Friends   Since arriving on the 30 th of April, we have pretty much been on the go until today (written May 21st) We have almost a whole week to rest before we are off again this coming weekend which is a long weekend here in the UK and I think also most of Europe if I remember correctly.   On the 2 nd of May, Beckie had us at the Ryanair departure point at Luton airport (a short distance from here) and off to Dublin. Beckie had been there on business and was quite taken with it. It was a miserable weekend weather-wise sadly and probably influenced my opinion of Dublin. What was impressive is the warmth of the Irish people we met. There was a pub right around the corner from our hotel which quickly became our ‘local’ and the wait staff greeted us warmly every time we went in – which was quite often!! Being a bank holiday weekend, many businesses and tourist sites were closed so we had to make do with the ones that were open. Chief among  thos...

 Dear Family and Friends   Gayhurst is quite impressive as you drive up the long lane that passes 3 small fishing ponds and a large field filled with gamboling lambs and their moms. Your first sighting is actually the church built on the property which must have been the family’s chapel originally and is still used for services. You pass the church and the manor comes into view – beautiful yellow sandstone similar to Cotswold buildings.    Front view - there is a circular drive up to the front door     Back view    Staircase with gorgeous chandelier (no lifts) The manor has 3 main floors but each floor has several levels with each apartment quite private – not the usual layout where everything is off one long hallway. The staircase to each level is fairly grand until you get to the top floor – which would have been servants’ quarters presumably – and the stairs are winding and quite narrow. Beckie’s apartment (3 bed, 3...

After a pretty good flight (it helped that I took a whole Ativan – not a half as I usually do!) we arrived safe and sound at Heathrow where Beckie met us and drove us to her home in Gayhurst. Heathrow was looking pretty good actually – they’ve done a fair bit of modernizing and it was cleaner than we remember. We also discovered at the immigration point that if Phil had been travelling on his British passport, we could have gone through the MUCH shorter EU line even though I am travelling on a Canadian passport. Next time I’ll make sure I use his Brit passport when I’m booking the flights. After leaving Heathrow, our introduction to British highway traffic was M4 to M25 to M1. The M25 and M1 are arguably the busiest highways in Europe. Even midday it was busy – it must be insane during rush hour. Lee (Beckie’s husband) is in Edinburgh on business at the moment. He left the house 2 hours before his flight out of Luton, which is only 25 miles away, but got caught in traffic and missed...