"Mind The Gap"

Well...I'm back! Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently. I apologize for the "gap" between my last post and this one as I've been overseas for the last few weeks. ("Mind the gap" is the automated phrase one hears when boarding a train in the U.K. by the way). For the last few weeks my wife and I have been enjoying a whirlwind tour of the U.K. visiting much of England and southern Scotland. Here's a pic of Kate and me in London in front of Tower Bridge...

Our trip started in London two weeks ago when we flew into Gatwick Airport. After a 7 hour flight, we spent the next two hours negotiating London rail (including a busy rush hour tube ride) to King's Cross rail station where we boarded a train to Scotland to spend the next four days with Kate's aunt and uncle...in fact, we stayed with family the entire time. (It pays to have a wife who was born in England). We walked the Royal Mile, toured Edinburgh Castle, saw Abbotsford (the home of Sir Walter Scott), visited a real whiskey distillery, dipped our feet in the North Sea and toured countless other sites. Here's a great pic of our visit to Melrose Abbey...

After four days in Scotland it was off to the "heart of the empire" (stopping by Hadrian's Wall on the way) where we visited more of Kate's aunts, uncles and cousins who were all very great to take us in. (I apologize for the lack of names but I met so much of Kate's family it would be impossible to name them all without forgetting someone and I don't want to be rude). While there, we toured the Cotswolds, Blenheim Palace, Oxford University, Stratford, Warwick Castle and a ton of other amazing places. Here's a pic of Kate and I at the incredible Warwick Castle...

Finally, it was back to London for 3 days and two nights at Kate's cousin Oliver's "flat." We walked Millenium Bridge, toured the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the V&A Museum, Hyde Park and of course we saw Big Ben...

All in all it was an amazing two weeks full of adventure. We saw over twenty castles, palaces, manors, museums (oh...and countless pubs) and truly experienced what it's like to not only visit, but live in another part of the world. As a meteorologist in training it would be wrong of me to not touch on the weather...not good. It rained for much of the trip and we saw very little sunshine. I guess that's life in a maritime climate. Oh well. Bad weather aside, our journey was an experience of a lifetime and I have to send out a big THANK YOU to all of Kate's family for taking us in and showing us what Scotland and England have to offer. I also have to say thanks to Jamie for doing such a great job filling in for me while I was away. It was a great trip but it does feel good to be home and back on CHEX TV.