Our Italian Dream: Friends and family

Here we are leaving 30 degree sunny days in Roma for England.

Mmmnnn, what to pack?

Well guess what, it was cold. 16-18 degree days were the norm although as the week progressed in did get into the early 20's. But I guess it is England!

We left at the beginning of the world cup so lots of English flags prevalent in old London town.

First game 0-0 against USA.

We stayed for the first two nights with Margaret (better known as the Baronness). A very dear friend of Carolyn (and now myself) whom she has now known for 30 years.

She has a beautiful apartment in St Johns Wood.

We had a wonderful time dining at La Aventure on the first night and fish and chips on the second. The Brits still know how to do good fish and chips!

Waiting for our royal carriage on the way to La Aventure

In our royal carriage on the way home

The fish and chip queue. Note the two sitting on the left.

We also had a wonderful lunch at Margaret's son's house in Hearne Hill. Jon and Allison made us feel very much at home!

Then off by train to Herefordshire, on the Welsh border, to visit John and Katherine. John is Carolyn's cousin from her father's side. They have a beautiful old "rectory" property which they enjoy outside of their London base in Kew.

John and Katherine were gracious hosts and showed us many wonderful places in and around the area which will be the subject of a separate blog.

John has a cellar with some greart French wines. We were fortunate to have red wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy dating back to the mid 1990's. And of course we shared a traditional pint!

Then we were off to Watford to catch up with my son Peter and his fiance. They both work at The Grove, an amazing resort of 300 acres just north of London. Peter and Victoria are marrying in October this year in Mallorca Spain and the whole family is looking forward to it very much.

We stayed at the Grove and it was clear from the reaction of the staff that both Peter and Victoria were liked by their colleagues.