Joys In My Life

We're in London now, baby!  Back at a station called King's Cross...  let's all sing the Pet Shop Boys now! I really loved London!  It was everything I ever thought it would be! Don't I look happy with my Phoebes? I do love a man in uniform! The Prime Minister wasn't taking my calls And yes, the bell is called Big Ben and not the tower, but let's go with it OK? The London Eye was fabulous, sorry Marcia , no grey skies this day! And this is not the London Bridge as some think but the Tower Bridge.  And it was fabulous!  Grey skies came in, Marcia! Let's have a pint and some fish & chips Sir Thomas More is one of my favorite saints.  Here's his name at a memorial for martyrs. The streets were extremely clean, so I had to take this photo Cab anyone? Had to find a red phone booth! And just as red are the royal mail post boxes Architecture everywhere was amazing!!!  The second...

We flew out of Johannesburg for London and took the Eurostar train to Paris.  It was a beautiful way to see the Paris countryside on our way to the huge city.  On the train, we were provided with a delicious lunch that has given us lots of ideas for future dishes to make and wine, of course!  I don't think a day went by that I didn't have at least one glass of wine!  It was everywhere! We will definitely learn more French before we attempt to go back to Paris or anywhere else in France. We took the subway to get from the train station to our hotel instead of taking a taxi.  We had to change trains two times, but had no problems.  It was very interesting taking the subway in an unfamiliar city in another language. Everything was so beautiful!  The language, the buildings, the food!  We had an amazing time.  The streets are very hard to navigate in Paris though.  Very windy-twisty as I would call them.  There was no grid-pattern t...

I'm finally getting a little bit of time this Father's Day to reflect on the trip to South Africa.  It really was amazing!  My favorite part of the trip was seeing my dear friend, Marcia , and her family.  They are such lovely people and we spent a beautiful day at the Lion and Rhino Nature Reserve checking out the animals and had a Mother's Day lunch.  Malva pudding has become one of my favorite desserts, right behind creme  br û lée.  And Marcia is so right that it tastes best with the creme on top warm.  I think I ate malva pudding at every place that served it.  Kind of like my love for fish and chips.  I usually love to try it everywhere it is on the menu and mentally compare where I think it is the best.  I think Phoebe was really missing her brothers that day.  She was playing a lot with their twins, having races and showing them different things.  She is really good with kids, but then again she may not look like it, b...