Visitors
We've recently enjoyed several visitors to London in September. John and Marguerite Boley (John is a Naval Academy classmate of Chuck's) were taking a several week tour of the UK and spent a weekend in London. And Jeff and Lynn Dittrich, friends of ours from Marina (near Monterey) in California were on a European tour about the same time. Their schedules worked out so that they were all in London on the same weekend and the six of us had a chance to get together for some touring.
Being late September, we figured it was one of the last weekends when a boat ride on the Thames might be pleasant, so we arranged for us to go by boat to Kew Gardens, the huge Botanical Gardens a few miles upstream from central London. (The day turned out to have a few intermittent showers, but not enough to keep us indoors.) An additional attraction at Kew at this time was the recently-refurbished Kew Palace which, for some time, was the home of King George III (the king the Americans revolted against) and his family. In an incredible feat of logistics and timing, the six of us managed to rendezvous at Westminster pier to catch the boat at the right time (the Boleys' hotel was near Heathrow; the Dittrichs' at Earls Court and we came from Marylebone, all using different modes of transport).
We were all a bit surprised at how modest the Palace itself was -- much less luxurious (and much smaller) than Buckingham Palace (which came much later) but also less luxurious (and much smaller) than Hampton Court Palace or Whitehall Palace (destroyed by fire) which both came much later.
The first photo shows Lynn Dittrich, Marguerite and John. The second is of Jeff Dittrich taking a picture of Chuck taking a picture of him. The last picture is of the palace.
A couple of weeks later Catriana Hepburn spent a few days with us. She and her family live in Scotland where they operate a combination farm and country hotel near Ayr. We have visited them there twice for delightful country weekends. With Catriana we attended the theatre to see Guys and Dolls (a very enjoyable show!), and also visited the Spitalfield Market, one of the famous historical market sites of London. 
The first picture, of course, is of Kathi with Catriana outside the market; the other is of Catriana with Chuck at the statue of George Washington outside the National Gallery in London.
Being late September, we figured it was one of the last weekends when a boat ride on the Thames might be pleasant, so we arranged for us to go by boat to Kew Gardens, the huge Botanical Gardens a few miles upstream from central London. (The day turned out to have a few intermittent showers, but not enough to keep us indoors.) An additional attraction at Kew at this time was the recently-refurbished Kew Palace which, for some time, was the home of King George III (the king the Americans revolted against) and his family. In an incredible feat of logistics and timing, the six of us managed to rendezvous at Westminster pier to catch the boat at the right time (the Boleys' hotel was near Heathrow; the Dittrichs' at Earls Court and we came from Marylebone, all using different modes of transport).
We were all a bit surprised at how modest the Palace itself was -- much less luxurious (and much smaller) than Buckingham Palace (which came much later) but also less luxurious (and much smaller) than Hampton Court Palace or Whitehall Palace (destroyed by fire) which both came much later.
The first photo shows Lynn Dittrich, Marguerite and John. The second is of Jeff Dittrich taking a picture of Chuck taking a picture of him. The last picture is of the palace.
A couple of weeks later Catriana Hepburn spent a few days with us. She and her family live in Scotland where they operate a combination farm and country hotel near Ayr. We have visited them there twice for delightful country weekends. With Catriana we attended the theatre to see Guys and Dolls (a very enjoyable show!), and also visited the Spitalfield Market, one of the famous historical market sites of London. 
The first picture, of course, is of Kathi with Catriana outside the market; the other is of Catriana with Chuck at the statue of George Washington outside the National Gallery in London.
posted by Chuck and Kathi Calvano @ 1:12 PM
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