All (up) in the Family

My first weekend getaway has come by way of my friend Hannah, who is originally from London, but was transplanted to the States before she developed an accent. My journey began on Friday, as I headed 55 minutes southwest by train to Liverpool Station, London.


I made my way over to Notting Hill (indeed, like the movie) Gate station and wandered through Kensington Palace Gardens, which as Wikipedia will tell you contains some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world, exists as one of the world's most expensive residential areas, and thus is known as, 'Billionaires Row." Pish Tosh! (this is what is actually meant by Americans using the expression "pish posh") It's a half-mile road of embassies, of which I have no pictures.

Hannah and I then ventured into central London where my childhood fantasy of seeing Big Ben came into anticlimactic fruition...Ben is not that big after all.

The real reason for my trip was now about to begin. We would embark for the small (population +/- 7,000) north-easterly town of Ely (pronounced Ee-Lee), to stay with the one and only Uncle Gordon; but with 13 minutes to spare, we realized that our train was leaving in 13 minutes....47 minutes later we were off!

Uncle Gordon can perhaps only be described as one of England's finest examples of British gentry.

Don't let the electric blue paint job fool you; this loo is from 1854

Other unique features of the house include:

1) An actual bunker from when the Germans were bombing during WWII

2) Guinea Pigs!

And as one quickly finds out, no visit to Uncle Gordon's would be complete without a river boat ride

The waterway is called the Ouse. The boat's name is a play on words of the book title "Who's Who." Uncle Gordon admitted that in another life he would have been a sailor.

Per Uncle Gordon's suggestion, we missed his daughter's church choral concert and instead headed two hours north to the Lazy Otter, that is, a bar...but as Uncle Gordon assured us, Jesus wouldn't know.

It was past nightfall when we arrived back, and began getting ready for a night out in the prestigious university town of Cambridge.

Suffice it to say, prospects of bloak magnetism were unmet. 
However, before nights end a du-ragged gentleman fashioned 
me a flower from a cocktail napkin...

All in all, a splendid first weekend 
excursion!