Happy New Year from the UK

The family in front of St. Michaels Mount in Marazion, Cornwall

27 December 2007 - 5 January 2008

What a great time we had seeing in the New Year from England! We flew into Bristol on 27 December and drove down to the village of Marazion in Cornwall. We stayed there in the Godolphin Arms Hotel for four nights and explored the countryside. Cornwall is one of my favorite parts of England because of the wild coastline and because of all the standing stones, stone circles and burial chambers that can be found there. We then drove over to Southampton here we spent a couple of nights, stopping at the Seal Sanctuary and the Donkey Sanctuary, before going up to London for our last four nights. The highlights of our London stay were the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the British Museum, the King Tut exhibit at the O2 Millennium Dome, and the Lord of the Rings musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.


The Merry Maidens are 19 stones that form a circle which is probably the best preserved of all the stone circles in Cornwall and is believed to be complete and unaltered.


A standing stone in a field near the Merry Maidens, possibly one of the Pipers which is associated with the circle.


Another standing stone near the Merry Maidens, possibly another Piper.


I can't remember the name of this town but it's pretty.


The Wishing Tree on the path to Madron Holy Well and Celtic Chapel.
Also known as a Clootie Well.


A rainbow in Cornwall near the Wishing Tree and Holy Well.


Lanyon Quoit Burial Chamber


Jason in front of Lanyon Quoit


Lee Anne and Wren at the Men-an-Tol.
It is an atypical megalithic monument because of the stone with the whole and the alignment of the two standing stones at either end. It may have once formed part of stone circle. There is a lot of folklore associated with it, including passing children through it three times to cure rickets as well as for adults to crawl through in order to cure back aches.


Wren at Lizard Point, the southernly most point of England.


This is Magnus, a male grey seal who lives at the National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, Cornwall. Magnus is in his thirties and was originally rescued by a zoo as a pup from the Isle of May colony in Scotland. He gradually outlived all the other seals until he was the only one left. The Sanctuary heard about Magnus's plight and offered him a home.


Wren and Lee Anne admiring a resident donkey at The Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth, Devon.


New Forest Ponies hanging out in the village green of Beaulieu, Hampshire.



Wren and Jason with the ponies.


Wren at the Oceanarium in Bournemouth, Dorset.


Wren looking at more fishies.


Wren's first roller coaster at the pier in Bournemouth.


Wren in her cute litte London dress - it has Big Ben and double decker buses on it. She's watching a carousel at a chldren's store in London.


The Temple Church in London.


Wren at the British Museum in front of a sign for the Terracotta Warriors exhibit.


Wren riding a reindeer at the winter fair in Hyde Park, London.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you have a wonderful day filled with family and friends.



We plan to share the evening with our English neighbors Phil and Gail Thompson, their children Jasper and Mia and dog Amy. On December 27th we head off to England for nine days.

Rothenburg and Nuremburg, Germany

20 December - 23 December 2007


Wren in Rotenburg

We spent a few days in Rothenburg, Germany just before Christmas. It was beautiful. The town is just like a postcard! We also drove over to Nuremburg for the day and visited their Christmas market. It was a very nice one but soooo crowded AND COLD!!! The drive down the Romantic Road was so scenic - especially because everything was coated in frost as far as they eye could see.




City gates of Rotenburg


Lee Anne and Wren in front of fountain in Rotenburg


Sweet girl


Wren and Jason in the town square

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This picture was too weird to pass up. We were driving down the road behind this hay truck and there were all these gloves in back - like it had ground up lots of people!


A pretty scene on the Romantic Road


An old chapel on the Romantic Road


Frost on a tree


Another pretty town on the Romantic Road


A pretty view on the Romantic Road

Tuscany and Umbria

12 December - 16 December 2007


The Tuscan Countryside

Tuscany was wonderful, beautiful - I loved it!!! This was my third time to the visit the Tuscany area. The first time was back in 2002 with Jason but we didn't have a car so we only visited Florence, Siena, Pisa and Lucca as they were easy to get to by train. The second time was in early November when I went with my mom and aunt. On this visit, some of the places we went to were Assisi, Deruta, San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni, Montalcino and the Chianti area.


Another beautiful Tuscan view


Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi at night


Piazza Inferiore di San Francesco at the Basilica of St. Franics


Basiclica of St. Franics by day (this is not our photo)


Inside the Basilica (not our photo)


View of Assisi from the town


View of the Basilica from the town below


Cutie-pie


A view from one of the fourteen towers in San Gimignano


Wren and Jason at the well in Piazza Cisterna in San Gimignano (our hotel is right behind them)


Piazza Cisterna at night with Christmas decorations - San Gimignano


Jason looking up at one of the towers in San Gimignano


Medieval Fountain in San Gimignano


The family at a restaurant in San Gimignano


Volterra (not our photo)


Roman ruins in Volterra


Etruscan Gate in Volterra (it is the oldest one standing)


Monteriggioni is a perfect, tiny, walled Tuscan hill town.


Abbey ruins


Abbey ruins from afar


This is our ghost picture. It was taken inside an abbey where a medieval sword in a stone is perserved. Jason was taking a picture of the beehived ceiling.


Wren riding in style (in outfit from the Allbees)

The Matterhorn

December 1&2, 2007



We had a free weekend with nothing planned and I decided I wanted to see some snow. So, we headed off to the Swiss Alps. We stayed in the small skiing town of Saas=Fee, a town not too far from Zermatt (home of the Matterhorn). The only problem was that there was NO SNOW! Okay, there was snow on the mountains - I believe it is glacial and that it is possible to ski most of the year there - but there was no snow in the town. So my hopes of building a giant snowman and making snow angels with Jason and Wren in a beautiful snowy field were dashed. It just never turns out the way I imagine it. :-) Also, we FORGOT our camera and had to settle for a disposable one - which we haven't had developed as of yet. But despite the lack of snow and camera, the scenery was beautiful and it helped get me into the Christmas spirit. Plus, it was wonderful to see the Matterhorn. While I was aware that there were no cars allowed in the village of Saas-Fee (after parking the car in the lot outside town, one either walks or is driven in a small electric buses type vehicle similar to golf cart), I didn't know that visitors aren't allowed to drive into Zermatt. We parked our car at the train station in the town of Tasch (about 3 miles from Zermatt) and took the scenic ride up to the town with all the other visitors and their skis. The trains have special ski cars where there is seating on the ends and places for sport equipment in the middle. While waiting for our photos, I've decided to post a few stock ones found on the internet. Oh yeah, and it did snow a bit on Saturday night. It started while we were eating dinner and continued most of the evening. It was beautiful to walk home in. EXCEPT WREN HATED IT!!! She didn't like it falling on her face and she screamed the whole way back to the hotel even though she was bundled up in the muff in her stroller with the rain hood pulled over her.


Saas-Fee with lots of snow


Saas-Fee with no snow


Train to Zermatt


Zermatt


Zermatt