Upon arriving at the train station late that afternoon, I realized we had not brought any umbrellas and, since it had rained at least part of every day so far, I decided to pick up a couple at one of the station shops, because who wouldn't want an umbrella from London?
But then I got the stink eye from Paul.
Because he thought since we had some umbrellas back at the flat there was no need to purchase more, even though we were traveling 1,000 miles AWAY from the flat.
For three days.
So then.
We had a 90 minute train ride through the beautiful English country side. And I do mean beautiful. The scenery was out of a perfectly set movie. We saw deer, sheep and lots of rabbits. We saw beautiful farms and rustic little cottages. Everything was green, greener than things are around here in late July.
We arrived in Portsmouth, England at about 5:00 p.m. Portsmouth is also an historic town. It served as a staging ground for Allied Troops as they prepared to cross the English channel to France. Except I think our method of travel across the channel was much more pleasant than that of our troops.
Of course it was raining when we arrived.
So we carried our luggage out of the train depot and flagged a cab to take us to our Holiday Inn Express, only to have the driver say "Do you know where it is? It's just right around that corner. It's really not worth your money for me to drive you there."
Okie dokie then.
So we dragged our luggage up hill and around the corner.
In the English drizzle.
With no umbrellas.
We had two adjoining rooms - nothing fancy, which was fine because we were only going to be there about 12 hours. Paul and I were especially lucky because we had a wheelchair accessible room that also happened to be a smoking room.
So we had plenty of space AND were able to inhale second hand smoke as we slept.
I will get to the shower later.
We had been told about a great new outdoor mall, Gun Wharf Quay, that we were eager to explore.
It was especially exciting to explore it in the rain.
Without an umbrella.
As I got wetter and hungrier, I unfortunately also got grumpier and less forgiving. I grew tired of dashing from awning to awning. So when we decided to separate for a while, I turned into an obstinate 12-year-old and decided that, by golly, I was going to buy not one umbrella, but TWO so Kayla could have one also.
I knew Blake wouldn't want one and I had decided that Paul didn't deserve one.
It was surprisingly difficult to find umbrellas at an outdoor mall in England, but I managed.
And yes, when we met up again, I made sure my umbrella was up in full bloom and managed to give it a couple of twirls as I said "Here's an umbrella for you....Kayla."
Because I'm mature like that.
One of the first shops I wanted to visit was the Pastry Shop because I'm all about pastry and sugar. So I walked into this shop that smelled like Heaven only...wait a minute...I didn't smell sugar. I smelled meat and spices. Turns out in my drooling excitement over another European pastry I had misread the sign and had entered a PASTY shop - not a PASTRY shop. Boy do I wish there had been an "R"on that sign.
After exploring the mall and agreeing that we needed another day to fully enjoy it (which we did not have), we headed to supper at a very nice seafood place - Loch Nye. This was one of only three full service restaurants we ate at on our trip. It was a little out of the kids' comfort zone but they were good sports.
After dinner, Blake and I headed back to the hotel because we were cold and damp. Paul and Kayla explored the area a little more, looking at the ships that were moored in the harbor.
Before bed, the four of us had a wonderful time simply sitting in the lobby of the hotel drinking sodas and talking about our trip so far and what was to come. Simple moments like that are what make the trip so memorable for me.
Since we were getting up at 5:30 to catch the ferry to France, we tried to get to bed early. I did not sleep well at all so it was a difficult morning for me.
A morning made even more interesting by my experience with the wheelchair accessible shower.
See, it was basically a shower nozzle without a stall. There was a curtain, but nothing to contain the water.
It literally flooded the entire bathroom floor.
Perhaps I did something wrong, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how I could have showered in there without leaving standing water ALL OVER THE BATHROOM.
So as I was using every spare towel we had to mop the bathroom floor I kept telling myself "this is no big deal. I'm going to France. I'm going to France. I'm going to France....."
We finally were able to make it to the ferry landing where we started our three hour trip to Cherbourg, France.
Since I had not slept well the night before, I settled into my seat, popped a Dramamine and slept the entire time.
We arrived in Cherbourg, where we had two hours before we could get our rental car, because in France, most businesses shut down from noon to two. We took this time to eat at a little family owned diner, where the kids and I enjoyed Croque Monsieur, or French Grilled Cheese.
Leave it to the French to make grilled cheese better than anybody else. It had some really yummy ham in it and...get this...cheese on the outside of the bread as well as the inside. I don't know how those French women stay so skinny and, frankly, I resent it a little.
Coming up next...Bayeux -what turned out to be the best part of our trip for Paul and me.
1 comment:
"It's no big deal. I'm going to France." Way to be a trooper. And I bet some more of that raspberry lemonade would have chased the chill away. . .lol.
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