The UK
We arrived in London and were met by Mark who would be providing us a roof over our heads while we were in London. Mark and Col had been next door neighbours in Japan while they were on the JET program and it was the first time she'd seen him since leaving Japan in 2002. We were actually going to be staying at his parent's place in Baron's Court, when we first met Kitty and Tom we knew we had arrived in England as the first thing that she did after making sure we were settled in OK was to offer us a cup of tea. So English and so lovely! We went out for a quick wander around with Mark and then met up with all the ex-JET crew at a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown. It was kind of overwhelming to see how many people showed up after such a long time and some of the guys had travelled a long way to meet up with us all.
The Kagawa-ken crew
We had a good time getting back in touch (or meeting them for the first time for me) and then all went together to the Karaoke bar. We got our own room in the Japanese tradition and proceeded to sing and drink and sing the night away. We were having so much fun in our little room that on the way back from a drink's run I overheard some people saying "I wish we were in that Moscow room tonight - they sound like they're having a ball"
Chris and I singing Angel by Robbie Williams
The girls get into the swing of things
The Moscow Room inhabitants
Truly an excellent way to spend the first night in old London Town. We spend the next couple of days cruising around London catching up with the JET crew, watching a bit of World Cup football and we met up with Rob and Louise for dinner. I hadn't seen Rob since leaving Sydney to move to Edmonton and in the intervening few years he'd managed to get married to the lovely Louise and they were pregnant with their first baby when we caught up with them. Fast work!
On the banks of the Thames
Look kids! Big Ben!
We then hopped on a train and sped our way across the countryside to the west coast of Devon and the little fishing village of Bideford where Colleen's second cousin once removed lives. She owns and runs a lovely bed and breakfast up on the hill looking over the town and the water in the distance and we spent an excellent few days with her in the Devon countryside. We had Fish & Chips at a pub, Devonshire Cream Tea, visited the old world seaside village of Clovelly, drank some good local ales and got to spend half a day at her friend's farm playing with their sheep which was one of the highlights of the trip for Col. Mary Pat was a lovely and gracious host and we spent a lot of time wandering in her garden and just soaking up the tranquility of English country living. In fact her garden was very inspiring and I ended up taking a ton of photos while we were with here, most of the flower photos in the "Honeymoon 2007 - UK" Flickr set are from her backyard. A very worthwhile sidetrip to make while we were in the UK and we'll definitely try and look her up again (and maybe drop in on Tom & Sue's sheep farm again!).
Next stop on the luna de miele? Bologna, Italy...
The Kagawa-ken crew
We had a good time getting back in touch (or meeting them for the first time for me) and then all went together to the Karaoke bar. We got our own room in the Japanese tradition and proceeded to sing and drink and sing the night away. We were having so much fun in our little room that on the way back from a drink's run I overheard some people saying "I wish we were in that Moscow room tonight - they sound like they're having a ball"
Chris and I singing Angel by Robbie Williams
The girls get into the swing of things
The Moscow Room inhabitants
Truly an excellent way to spend the first night in old London Town. We spend the next couple of days cruising around London catching up with the JET crew, watching a bit of World Cup football and we met up with Rob and Louise for dinner. I hadn't seen Rob since leaving Sydney to move to Edmonton and in the intervening few years he'd managed to get married to the lovely Louise and they were pregnant with their first baby when we caught up with them. Fast work!
On the banks of the Thames
Look kids! Big Ben!
We then hopped on a train and sped our way across the countryside to the west coast of Devon and the little fishing village of Bideford where Colleen's second cousin once removed lives. She owns and runs a lovely bed and breakfast up on the hill looking over the town and the water in the distance and we spent an excellent few days with her in the Devon countryside. We had Fish & Chips at a pub, Devonshire Cream Tea, visited the old world seaside village of Clovelly, drank some good local ales and got to spend half a day at her friend's farm playing with their sheep which was one of the highlights of the trip for Col. Mary Pat was a lovely and gracious host and we spent a lot of time wandering in her garden and just soaking up the tranquility of English country living. In fact her garden was very inspiring and I ended up taking a ton of photos while we were with here, most of the flower photos in the "Honeymoon 2007 - UK" Flickr set are from her backyard. A very worthwhile sidetrip to make while we were in the UK and we'll definitely try and look her up again (and maybe drop in on Tom & Sue's sheep farm again!).
Next stop on the luna de miele? Bologna, Italy...
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