The Happiest Place on Earth

Our next stop after Savannah was Orlando where we spent 2 days at Disneyworld and Epcot. Darcy was such a trooper. We stood in lines for hours where just about everyone else was under 3 feet tall and dressed in either princess or pirate costumes and the stroller parking lots were packed. I didn't totally embarrass him by wearing the mouse ears but I really wanted to. I was disappointed that we couldn't get into Peter Pan and they don't have Mr.Toad's Wild Ride in Orlando. Because we were there just after Thanksgiving, it was crowded but we did get to all the big attractions (Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean). It was great fun but we were glad to finally get to Fort Myers, unpack all the boxes and put our feet up for a while. We have a condo in a golf community (so Darcy is in heaven with unlimited golf) and the sunsets out of living room window are beautiful. Everyone except Chris and Brooke will be here for Christmas and we can hardly wait. We are stocking up on beer and snacks.

Our Time in Charleston and Savannah, Y'All

I just went back to the post I did yesterday. Wow! How bad am I at this computer stuff? I don't know how I managed to post the pictures twice and I don't know how to fix it. The kids will help me when they visit at Christmas. When I was describing our time in Williamsburg, I forgot to mention the drive along the Colonial Highway from Jamestown through Williamsburg to Yorktown. We thought Massachusetts and Virginia were beautiful, but that drive along the rivers with trees still showing some of their fall colors and forming canopies over the road was spectacular. From Williamsburg, we drove to Charleston where we had an apartment in an historic house in the French Quarter. We walked miles learning about the history of the city during the American Revolution and the Civil War. We also toured the Slave Market where domestic slaves were bought and sold. We are both big fans of Pat Conroy so of course we had to do the "South of Broad" tour. Charleston is full of beautiful and varied architecture. Food is also a big part of the Charleston experience so we had to try fried green tomatoes, okra gumbo, collard greens and of course, fried chicken. It is no wonder we have put on a few pounds. After a quick tour of the Citadel, we headed for Savannah. We have been here three days and have done all the walking tours of historic Savannah. The city is laid out in a grid of squares. Each one is a park, usually dedicated to either a revolutionary or civil war hero and surrounded by historic houses, churches and civic buildings with all different kinds of architecture. We read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" so a tour of the Jim Williams house was must. You can't come to Savannah and not go to Paula Deen's restaurant, y'all! Reservations are required even for lunch at 2:00. Tomorrow we are on the road again heading to Orlando for an appointment with a certain mouse.

An American History Buff's Paradise

Even though we stayed in Alexandria, VA for 5 days, took the metro into Washington, DC every day and walked for miles, we still didn't see everything we wanted to. Seeing the Smithsonian Museums was on the top of both of our "bucket lists" so this was a dream come true. Because each museum is huge, we took the "highlights" tours whenever we could. It was impossible to see everything but at least we saw the most important exhibits. We were so lucky that there was a Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Museum of American Art. Anyone who was ever in Darcy's office knows how much he admires Rockwell so seeing originals was fantastic. We toured the Museum of American History, the Museum of American Art, the Newseum, the Capital, the Archives (saw one of the original Magna Cartas and the Declaration of Independence), the Natural History Museum, the White House, Arlington Cemetary, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Darcy went to the Air and Space Museum while I toured the National Gallery. It is no wonder we were exhausted when we left. We decided to drive to Mt. Vernon to see George and Martha Washington's estate and tour their house. It was beautiful. Our next stop was the triangle of Jamestown (the first English settlement in North America), Williamsburg (where the Rockefellers donated land to build a replica colonial settlement) and Yorktown (where Cornwallis surrendered and the Revolutionary War was basically over). We love all the history we have been learning probably because we are a couple of relics ourselves. The next stop was Charleston and now we are in Savannah. I will leave them for the next blog.

Our New England Adventure

We left St. Margaret's Bay and headed to Annapolis Royal to see the other side of Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. We thought it was windy in Peggy's Cove but was that nothing compared to the wind we had in Annapolis. We even had a little snow near the Bay of Fundy and couldn't get to the border fast enough. Concord, Massachusetts was out next stop. We missed their fall colors by about 2 weeks and it was rainy and cold but that didn't stop us from touring the area. I loved it there - all the trees, historic homes and quaint towns. Darcy was so patient letting me tour museums and homes of Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott and Hawthorne. We even went to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to see where all of them are buried. We saw the sites in Concord and Lexington where the American Revolution started and we toured the Paul Revere and Minutemen Museum along the route he took from Boston. These sites and most of the others we visited are run by the National Park Service. The rangers are full of interesting information and love their jobs. We also spent 2 days following the Freedom Trail starting at the Boston Common and ending at Bunker Hill. We learned so much about the American Revolution I thought our heads would explode. On the rainy days we drove all around the areas where Elizabeth worked and lived. From Concord we headed west to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where Elizabeth got her masters. It is a beautiful campus and cute college town but the football team was playing that day and the traffic was unbelievable. I wish she could have been with us. The next stop was Gettysburg where we toured their enormous museum and drove all around where the battle took place. Now we are staying in Alexandria, Virginia. This is perfect. It is only a ten minute walk to the subway and 20 minutes to downtown Washington DC. We have been walking miles and trying to see as much as we can but I will leave for the next post.

Heading South

Darcy and I left Toronto at the end of September and joined up with sisters, Patty and Sandy, for our annual trip to Ottawa to help celebrate Aunt Do's birthday. Darcy had not been to Ottawa since our cross country trip in 1975 so he enjoyed touring the parliament buildings, library and peace tower. My sisters and I are so shallow. We prefer to see the National Gallery and shop in the Byward Market. It is always fun to spend time with our Ottawa relatives

Quebec City was our next destination. The fall colors were beautiful. We stayed just outside the old city and took a wonderful walking tour by a very knowledgeable francophone guide. On advice from cousin Elaine we had lunch at anciens canadiens (pea soup, tourtiere and sugar pie). It was fantastic. From Quebec City we headed to PEI where we spent four days at a golf resort on the very east side. The weather was a little windy and rainy but Darcy managed to get in a couple of rounds of golf. The rest of the time we drove back and forth on the island just enjoying the scenery. September is the Pumpkin Festival in PEI and there are pumpkins everywhere. We realized when we go to Nova Scotia that pumpkins are popular everywhere in the maritimes. They decorate their yards and porches with them and even make scarecrow people with pumpkin heads. Darcy was very patient while we were in PEI and let me visit everything "Anne", Lucy Maud Montgomery's Museum and birthplace. Our last Canadian destination has been St. Margaret's Bay, just south of Halifax. We rented a coach house and our window looks out on the bay. There are sailboats and the trees with the beautiful fall colors come right down to the water. It has been a little cool, windy and rainy but that has given us chance to rest up, do some reading, get some office work done and do lots of driving. We have put miles on the minivan touring the south shore, Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Shelburn, Birchtown, Wolfville, Kentville. There are so many quaint towns and the fall colors are beautiful. We have also spent some time in Halifax where our favorite tourist spot was the Alexander Keith Brewery tour. It was fun and we were definitely the oldest tourists there and the only ones who did not have to show ID. We also did some serious touring like the Maritime Museum, the Black Cultural Museum, the Loyalist Museum in Shelburn, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia where they have a Maud Lewis exhibit including her "little painted house" that they recently moved to the gallery. Now we are busy getting the boxes repacked. We leave Saturday and will spend the weekend in the Annapolis valley and the Bay of Fundy to see the tides. Then we start heading south.

Our Trip to Europe

I have tried 3 times to get this blog done and have been having nothing but trouble with the website. If it doesn't work this time, I give up. Darcy and I, together with our wonderful Toronto friends, Trevor and Brenda Green, left for London September 3 and that was the beginning of a very hectic 21 days. We got up early every morning and went until late every night, trying to see everything we could. The first thing we did when we arrived was go to Abbey Road. So now Darcy can cross that off his bucket list. We spent the next 3 days trying to see all the famous tourist sites - Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (I have attached a picture of that), Thames River cruise, Tower Bridge and Tower of London and Billy Elliott. My favorite was seeing the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. We also took the train to Windsor to see the castle. Unfortunately the Queen was not there to receive us so we had lunch at a wonderful pub (like we did every day) where we always tried their meat pies and banger.

Then we took the Eurostar under the channel to Paris. What a great surprise we had when we arrived at our hotel so find we had a view of Eiffel Tower. So every night we had our nightcap on the balcony watching the lit Tower. We did all the usual tourist things while in Paris - Notre Dame, Montmarre, the left bank, Musee d'Oursay, Champs Elysee, l'Arche de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur and, of course, the Louvre. Two hightlights was seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and doing a bike tour of Versaille. The tour involved riding bikes to the metro in Paris, getting them on the train in 7 seconds, riding to Versaille, buying lunch at the outdoor market and then eating on the banks of the Grand Canal. I have included the picture of Darcy with the baguettes in his backpack. (Please excuse my terrible french spelling.)

After 4 wonderful days in Paris our tour bus picked us up and took us to Trier, Germany to start our river cruise. We spent 7 days cruising the Moselle, Rein and Main Rivers. We toured many quaint towns along the rivers and saw lots of vineyards, churches and castles and ate sausages and drank beer at every one.

We docked at Nuremberg and we were taken by bus to Prague for the last 3 days of our trip. Prague was wonderful and one place, besides Paris, that we want to come back to some day. There is so much history, architecture, music, shopping and food. We just scratched the surface. I have included a picture of the astronomical clock in one of the squares. We sat at one of the outdoor cafes, having goulash, watching the clock as it struck the hour. What a spectacle.

We had such a great time with Brenda and Trevor and are already planning our next trip together.

Our Bags Are Packed

After we left South Dakota, we made our way to Ontario through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The highlight for Darcy was a visit to Lambeau Field in Green Bay. We also did a very Wisconsin thing and tasted cheese curds. They are delicious. After a night in Sault Ste. Marie where we visited the locks which are much larger than the one on the Canadian side, we arrived in Parry Sound to spend a few days with Kathy and the girls. A dream came true for Darcy as he was able to visit the Hall of Fame of his boyhood hero, Bobby Orr. We finally arrived in Toronto the middle of August with plans to really tour the city. We had one of the best times ever and didn't do any touring. We spent 10 days partying with the kids, playing games until 2 a.m., enjoying the occasional beverage and going to 2 Blue Jays games. This afternoon we leave Toronto with our wonderful friends, Brenda and Trevor Green, on our London/Paris/German River cruise/Prague trip.