Conclusion

Today we leave to return home to the U.S. after living nearly a year in England. Since we created this blog with the purpose of keeping in touch with friends and family while we were abroad, today we are suspending any new posts to this site. While the blog will go inactive and lie dormant, we will be very active the next few weeks as we see friends and family and return to the Washington, DC, area mid-August. We look forward to being in more regular touch with friends and family in the U.S., and we look forward to keeping in touch with those beyond the U.S.

God bless,
Josh and Lindsey

Celebrating our First Anniversary....in Italy

We celebrated our first year of marriage by traveling to the Cinque Terre (pronounced CHEEN-kweh TEHR-reh), which are five coastal villages in the province of La Spezia in Italy. The ruggedly steep olive-and-grape-growing coastline, the five charming villages, and the surrounding green hillsides are all encapsulated in the Cinque Terra national park. The five villages, from west to east, are: Monterosso (the largest and most touristy), Vernazza (where we stayed), Corniglia (the smallest, up on a hill top), Manarola (beautiful - we enjoyed some gelatto there) and
Riomaggiore (we lunched there). We enjoyed our time: we kyaked, swam, hiked, relaxed, took lots of photos, sampled tasty Italian food, and just generally enjoyed our two and a half days there. What a change it was, though, from England!

Cambridge, England

Several weeks ago we traveled to Cambridge for the weekend. Since the city of Cambridge is small, we had a lovely visit and fit in punting (boating in shallow, flat boats) on the river, sight-seeing, climbing a historic church tower, and seeing some of the University grounds -- even though we were there only from a Friday night through Saturday evening.

Great Scot!...er, Scotland!

Earlier this Spring, we traveled to Scotland, with our friend Josh, from DC. We stayed for a couple of days in the capital of Edinburgh and enjoyed seeing the Scottish national parliament and beautiful historic downtown, including this historic and old Edinburgh castle, the Queen's summer residence (Holyroodhouse Palace), the Royal Mile, and more. We stayed in a lovely Georgian townhouse on the edge of town and soaked up all things Scottish, while we were there -- even venturing to taste haggis. We also took a day trip up to the historic and scenic St. Andrews, home to the sport of golf (and some ruggedly beautiful coastline which is pictured).

Bath Race Course

Recently we went to the Bath Race Course to see what the drama of horse-racing was all about. We bought the super-cheap seats in the middle, but enjoyed a picnic on the lawn and a great view. It is quite dramatic to see the horses thundering by in a blur of color and fury.

U.S. Ambassador to Ireland...Home Away From Home

We traveled to Dublin, Ireland several weeks ago to see the city and visit our friend Melissa who works for the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. Melissa was a gracious and generous host and we enjoyed our time with her. She gave us a tour of the palacial Ambassador's residence, and on the unofficial tour we walked by a clever sign post, which we appreciated. Interestingly, an Irishman, James Hoben, designed the U.S. White House and the Irish President's residence as well. Dublin was a lovely, vibrant, and yes - green - city.

Duck, Duck, and...no, not Goose....More Duck!

We recently fed the ducks on campus, which was a fun experience. Bringing an old loaf of bread, we were literally surrounded by about 30 eager, pecking ducks (yes, it was a little intimidating!). We got a good laugh out of watching their antics. The most fun either of us have had with an old loaf of bread in a long time.

University of Bath Campus Photos

You can see why Josh loves the English countryside in which the campus is nestled, without being at all enthusiastic about the 1960s-era utilitarian architecture that seems to jettison all sense of classic asthetics.

We Couldn't Help Ourselves....

We saw some fun statues of Henry the VIII and of some unknown pirate (I insist it's Edward Teach, popularly known as the infamous "Blackbeard").

Paris!

Photos on Blog

Since some folks have asked....
Note: You can double-click on any photos on our website to enlarge them. Also, unless it is otherwise obvious (like for example with historical photos), all photos you see on the blog have been taken by one of us.

Normandy American Cemetary & Memorial

We visited the American cemetary in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France.

Tea with Family Friends

We enjoyed a nice afternoon tea with family friends, Peter and Janet, who were friends with Josh's parents (Friends of Josh's Parents, FoJP) who lived in England for eighteen months (1972-73). Also at the tea were FoJP Tony and Mary, who we'd not met previously. We enjoyed hearing about memories and impressions of Josh's parents from 30+ years ago, and we enjoyed meeting them. Below is a photo taken of Janet and Josh's mom in 1972/3. Amazingly, when we were in London several weekends ago, we bumped into Janet and Peter at a museum cafe -- neither of us knew the other would be in London that weekend, muchless at the same cafe! Amazing.

D-Day Map of Normandy

Just for reference

Omaha Beach...

Here's what it looked like on D-Day...


And here's what it looked like when we visited...covered by the waves and water...

Omaha Beach, Then and Now

Then...


Now....

Point Du Hoc Photos

One of the things we laugh at when we review our photos is how the two of us have been all over Western Europe, but because so many of our travels occured in the Autumn/Winter/early Spring, we're wearing the same coats. Well, these photos confirm that, ha! You'll see here the Normandy coast, still pock-marked with the bomb craters left my Allied shells which had been targeted at the German guns entrenched in the coast. You'll also see the photo of Josh standing down in a crater, and sitting in the gun hole of a German bunker. Eerie. Moving. Neat opportunity too.


Laughing because we are getting whalloped with 40+ mph winds from the sea.


You see the craters in the field, and the steps leading to the oberservation deck.


Here are photos from Point Du Hoc in Normandy. The