Belgium & France

Today we started the day in Brugge, the weather was cool & wet…lucky we went on our Battlefield tour yesterday! We took a morning train from Brugge to Paris..we had lunch whilst the train was cruising at 300km per hour, yesterday I had a Pate sandwich & the pate was a cm thick, then today a lovely lunch of ham & salad but the Europeans cut all their vegies into tiny little pieces, I had vegetarian lasagne for dinner last night & it had these tiny squares of carrot chopped in it, it didn’t look appealing but tasted nice & then today the lunch had a salad of peas & beans & carotts chopped to the same size as the peas, didn’t taste too good though!! I love Brugge & could live there with the furkids!! Laid back & friendly with a unique quaintness with a lot of cyclists, in the UK they were pests on the road holding up the traffic but in Brugge it was like the Von Trapp family from the Sound of Music belting around the city’s dedicated bike lanes.
Yesterday we did a Quasimoto day tour to the Battlefields which was awesome & Phillippe stopped at the White House Cemetary so I could lay a cross on behalf of the Minerds family, Henry was a Lieutenant & was killed in 1917 aged 27. We stopped at 8 memorial sites including Tyn Cot….I am sooo grateful to those young men who paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could live in a free country, let there never be another war, we saw both Allied & German graves…
We had a bad incident this afternoon whilst making our way by train to our hotel, we had made it to the stop we needed & Alan felt a hand in his pocket, 3 young gypsy women had stolen his wallet, they made away with 150 Euros & $150 but with his quick actions, he was able to snatch back his wallet with credit cards & drivers licence, which I guess is a positive.
The hot weather is following us & it is quite unbearable as not many of the hotel’s have air con, mini bars or guess what…irons, damn I didn’t bring my travel iron!!!!! Have looked at Stuttgart weather for next week & in low 30’s…Agggghhhhhhh, even Alan is feeling the heat!
Tomorrow night we are going to Moulin Rouge which is just around the corner from our Hotel.

Edinburgh

We spent a couple of days in Edinburgh, we dropped car off on Sunday & then checked into our hotel, The Place, a let down as there are no lifts in the hotel & our room was on the top level, so we had to climb up to our room, but Edinburgh was so beautiful, with the castle so close to main city & we were able to see the 1 o’clock gun salute & were having dinner at the Royal Mile when the baby prince was born! We left there yesterday afternoon, after sending home 8kg’s of clothes, so checkin was painless but poor Alan nearly cacked himself when we flew from Edinburgh to Brusells on a 49 seater! I couldn’t help but laugh when we took off & his breathing was out of control!!!

Scotland

During our time in Scotland we spent most of our time in Cannich which is about 20 mins from Inverness. We were there for the Golden Gathering & Scottish Champ Show, again we were treated to the most awesome hosts especially Jim Richardson & his committee for organising a wonderful show & supporting dinners & events. We enjoyed a torchlight procession to Guisachan House & picnic in the fields of the house the following day with 222 Golden Retrievers & their owners!!! Alan enjoyed throwing on a kilt & tossing a haggis.

Centenary Show – Southern Golden Retriever Team display.

Well the Golden Retriever part of our holiday is over, we have had a ball meeting new friends & catching up with friends I have not seen for 16 years! The shows were amazing….so much more relaxed than home. The history, architecture & scenery of the UK is amazing…The weather has been incredibly hot, have not used jackets or thermals & have not bought enough cool clothes….This photo is of Southern Golden Retriever Team who provided a demo of the display that is on UTube from Crufts.

Cirencester’s main street

Well I have not been keeping up my blog as much as I had hoped, we have been out day & night! But absolutely loving it, our time in Cirencester is over & we spent 4 hours on the road yesterday & have arrived in Pooley Bridge in the Lakes District, from the history of Cirencester to the tranquil & unique Lakes District, we have been truly spoilt. The history & architecture of England is fab! Then the amazing motorways to the narrow backroads, it’s just like in Heartbeat…narrow roads…only enough room for 1 car & there isn’t much room if you have to pull over on the side to pass, we did have an instance where a car had to reverse back to let us through!!! The English countryside is just like we imagine, big open green fields with dry stone walls separating them..we will be doing some sightseeing in the area this morning before heading north to Scotland!

Our travel buddies

Dinner time!

Cirencester

The first stop of our European adventure! After a long long flight from Adelaide, picking up our hire car & navigating the motorways, we arrived in Cirencester for the Golden Retriever Clubs Centenary Celebrations…we have seen so many beautiful sights, attended an amazing dog show on Friday & another one today, the Centenary Dinner last last night….but missing my furbabies!!

My furbabies

Blossom, Bernie & Betty!

dsc_4803_1663b02.jpg

This is my middle furbaby Blossom, she is 3 years old & suffers from seizures which is really sad but is a learning curve for all of us, she is such a special girl with an awesome temperament!

My first post

This is my feral dog Betty!