Sweden and UK - Sept 2015

Keith was able to manage 3 weeks time off between Aimco and Continental so he decided to catch up with friends in Sweden and the UK.  Shawna could not get extra time off but was able to join for an extended weekend in London.

Sweden

Helena, Victoria, Keith, and Kerstin

Friday Sept 11 was my last day at work (though it was technically extended to Oct 2).  I ran the 9:30am stand up meeting, said a few goodbyes, and then headed home to pack and then to the airport for a 2pm flight.  There was a 4 hour connection in Chicago, which worked out well since the SAS flight to Stockholm was in the international terminal which took some time to get to.  That flight was easy with a 4 hour hour sleep.  Stockholm was very quick to get through so I was out the airport seeing Helena within 20 minutes of landing.  Helena drove me to Kerstin's house where we had a delicious lunch of tomatoes/mozzarella and reindeer stew - delicious!  Helena stayed for lunch and a chat and then headed home as she had a dinner that evening.  Kerstin and I went for a walk down to Lake Malaren before having a shower and heading to a party of her friend Sofia with a crazy cat theme.

Keith, Andreas, Victoria, Kerstin, and Lasse

The next morning (Sunday) Kerstin and I took the subway into the city and then the boat to Skansen which is an open air museum that has houses like the traditional Swedish villages.  We then left the museum to meet Victoria, Lasse, and Andreas for a brief lunch.  We then all walked along Strandvagen and through Gamla Stan (old town).  The last stop was at the old city hall where we were hoping to go up the tour - unfortunately the tour was sold out.  Helena met all of us on the water side of the city hall - we then walked a bit more to Sodermalm, passing the "smallest house" and seeing the view from Fjallgatan.  Victoria and family then headed home, with Kerstin, Helena, and I grabbing a beer and sitting outside at the Beefeater Inn.  Dinner was at Rolfs Kok - it is a favorite of a friend of Kerstin's.  Dinner was delicious - and Hakan joined us and we had a really enjoyable evening.

Mia and Keith

Monday I got up early and took a cab to the airport for an 8am flight to Ostersund.  Security was light for the domestic flight so I was at the gate quite early and even slept on the flight.  Mia was working until 11:30am so I took a bus to town and camped out at the cafe in the library near Mia's school.  Mia picked me up and we dropped my stuff at her office before heading to Arctura for lunch - this is a restaurant at the top of the city hot water tower so provided some fantastic views.  After lunch we walked over to Froson where we got to see the house that Mia and Bryon had bought and will move in to in November.  The house has a great view of the lake and 2 floors plus a cellar so heaps of space - they will rent out part of one of the floors.  We walked past the ski hill and then grabbed a coffee before heading back to the school to get my stuff and then back to Mia and Byron's rental flat.  Mia's parents were in town so it was fantastic to see them - I had last seen them exactly 10 years prior at the wedding on Froson.  The kids were also great - three years older than when we last saw them in Australia.  Mia's mother made dinner for us which was delicious.  We stayed up chatting for a while - then had to sleep as I had a 7am flight the next day to Edinburgh.


Scotland

Val, Keith, and Lorraine

Bryon drove me the next morning to Ostersund airport - I connected through Stockholm and made it to Edinburgh by 10:30am.  I picked up an Avis rental and then drove to Valerie's house.  Val is selling the place and moving a couple miles down the road, so there were a few boxes around as she was still packing.  We had a bit of a chat before heading to Vittoria on the Bridge for lunch with Linda and Lorraine.  It was fun to catch up with them.  Valerie then drove me around central Edinburgh and Arthur's Seat before going back to her house so I could pick up my car.  I then headed over to Kirsty's place which was about a 45 minute drive in the afternoon traffic.  Kirsty and I went for a walk along the river before heading to dinner at The Outsider - which funnily enough was immediately next door to where I had lunch.  Dinner was delicious - starting with a couple of G&Ts and a bottle of wine - and another bottle of wine back at Kirsty's!

Kirsty and Keith

Grace, Kate, Paddy, and Pete

The next morning I headed out at 7:30am (same time as Kirsty goes to work) to head up to Dunfermline to see Pete and Paddy.  I was not sure of the last time I was at their house - but it was fun to see the house again.  We had a delicious breakfast and then Kate stopped by with her youngest Grace who is about two years old.  We chatted for a total of 5 hours before I drove to Glasgow.  The first stop was Anne's house so I could drop off my stuff.  It worked out really well as Anne was getting home at exactly the same time to pick up Eloise to take her to work - so I got to see both of them and then could get sorted at the house for an hour.  Anne came back and we chatted before she ran me into the city - she lives on the east side and I was meeting Kevin on the west side.  Anne dropped me at the subway station and I went a few stops to then meet Kevin for dinner at the Hanoi Bike Shop.  Kevin and I had not seen each other in 30 years since my summers in Berwick so it was really fun to catch up with each other and family stories.  At 9pm I took a cab back to Anne's - she was home by 10pm and we drank wine until 2am, including chatting with Eloise when she got home at 12:30am.

Keith and Kevin

Anne, Eloise, and Keith

On Thursday morning Anne made a bit of a breakfast fry up before we drove up to Falls of the Clyde.  This is an old wool mill that is now a world heritage area.  The buildings were very well preserved - we did a walk up the river and then a tour of the old mill.  Following that we went to Anne's friend Mary to take the dogs for a walk and have tea and scones.  We had to leave to get Anne's iPhone at the store so picked that up and headed home.  I had an hour nap as I was wrecked - it was just what I needed for the night out!  Before dinner we stopped by Anne's parents who I last saw in 1990 on our way to the Irish reunion.  We picked Eloise up from work and then went to dinner at the Ox and Finch.  We stayed up chatting until past midnight - when I had to go to bed as I had a 7am flight to Gatwick.

London

Keith and Shawna

It was an easy drive to Glasgow airport.  The only drama was that the front left tire went flat a quarter mile from the rental place - so I just drove slowly the rest of the way and dropped it off.  This was before the place opened so I left a note and caught my flight.  It was only an hour to Gatwick and I was able to sleep most of the way - before catching the Gatwick Express to Victoria and then the Circle Line Tube to Temple station.  The ME hotel was only a 5 minute walk from the tube stop on the Strand.  The hotel is quite cool - perhaps
my Duke shorts were not fitting for the place.  However, the great news was that I was able to check in early so was in the room by about 11am.  I did a heap of clearing emails until Shawna was able to get here at about 2:30pm.

Keith and Shawna

Friday night dinner was at Opera Tavern, a tapas style restaurant only a block from the hotel - the lamb cutlets were excellent.  It was an early night since Shawna was wrecked from the trip.  Sat morning I grabbed breakfast from Starbucks and then we headed out for a food walking tour of East London with Eating London.  We met the  group at Spitalfields Market and went to about 8 restaurants trying items like cheese, fish and chips, sticky toffee pudding, and beer.  The neighborhood is quite dynamic - much better than the old reputation of East London.  After eating we went for a walk through St James Park, Green Park, and Hyde Park before heading back to the hotel - in time to get cleaned up for dinner at Kopapa - another tapas joint in the Covent Garden area.

Sunday morning we went for a walk, had lunch at Cote Bistro, where my parents have been, then got last minute tickets to The Play that Went Wrong.  It was a slapstick play and pretty funny.  We then picked up our luggage and headed over to Melissa and Sebastiano's place near the Fulham Broadway tube stop.  Sadly their daughter Elise had been ill the night before so we cancelled our dinner plans and just ate at home.  Elise is adorable even when she is sick! Sebastiano grilled some tasty ribs which was paired with a light salad.  We had a few bottles of wine as well and caught up on our lives.  Shawna's flight to New York was the Monday afternoon so we were able to go to Borough Market for a walk around (Rak and Sim had recommended it) and grabbed Indian and Lamb at the take away counters.  We then walked along South Bank before getting the tube back to Melissa's.  I had dinner at Melissa's and then an early night.

Keith, Melissa, and Sebastiano

Keith, Peggy, and John

On Tuesday I headed out for a day trip to see John and Peggy.  I was able to get the 10am train from Marlybone to Wendover.  John picked me up and we headed to their new house in Ashton Clinton.  After chatting a bit we walked across the road to The Bell - a historic old pub where I had the fish and chips plus sticky toffee pudding.  I caught the 3pm train back, headed to Melissa's for a shower, and then headed back out to meet Susi and Mike at Skylon.  I had not seen them in ages so it was a great chat and catch up.  The following day time was free so I did a lot of walking around Regent's Park and Primrose Hill - I had never seen them before.  I returned to the house yet again to meet Loveday for dinner at the Greek Larder.

Loveday and Keith

South of England

Keith, Amy, Oli, Emma, and Rachel

The following morning I left London and took the train to Colchester. It took almost an hour and a half to cross London during rush hour to Liverpool Street.   I did manage to make the 9am train and then got a cab to the Europcar rental place before driving to Rachel and Oli's place in Dedham.  Rachel and I were able to get a few hours of catch-up in, including lunch at the Essex Rose Tea Room and a walk around Dedham Vale, before going to the school to pick up the girls.  Amy and Emma are really cute kids - we first stopped by The Sun pub for a drink and then went back to the house for dinner once Oli got home from work.

Keith, Amy, Daphne, Thomas, and Dave

The Friday morning I left the house and headed around the M25 to head to Daphne and Dave's house in Fleet.  There was no traffic so was going to be an hour early - so made a game-day call and drove over to Guildford where I stopped by the University of Surrey and my old stomping grounds during my exchange year.  I parked near the Hotel and Catering School - walked around that and peeked into Lakeside restaurant before walking to the other side of campus to see my old dorm - Mole 3.  I was able to get up the stairs but could not get into the actual common area.  I then had to dash back to the car and head over to Daphne's to see her, Dave, and the kids. We had a chat at the house and then all went to lunch at Chequers at Well and ate outside.  From there we all went for a walk around Fleet Pond before going back to the house so I could head over to Rachel's.  It was only another 45 minutes or so to Corhampton.  Rachel and I were able to catch up for a couple of hours before Quentin came home from London - when we started off with some Prosecco before walking over to dinner at The Shoe in Exton, accompanied by several more bottles of wine.
 

Keith and Rachel

On Saturday I drove the 2.5 hours to Taunton to see Kathy, Keith, and the kids.  We went straight to
lunch and then walked around town and some fields before driving off to Charlton to see Dawn and Stuart.  They live in a 200+ year old house Stuart was cutting the grass so Dawn and I had a tea in the back garden and then took the dog for a walk before heading to dinner at the Mendip Inn.

Keith, Molly, Kathy, and Daniel

Keith and Dawn

Ewan, Keith, Madeline, Lewis, and Sharon

I had to get up at 7am for the 4 hour drive to Ewan's place in Hertford.  I got there around noon because of some motorway work - Sharon and Madeline were home so I chatted with them until Ewan and Lewis came home from rugby.  Ewan, the kids, and I went to town and ended up at the local fair taking in a few rides - then we headed back to the house, saw Sharon's dad and brother-in-law, and then headed back to town to have a few beers at The Old Barge where we last went with John and Jo and learned the finer points of what is a coot.  Dinner was a delicious lamb tagine at home and then off to bed.

Keith, Martin, and Michelle

I left Chez Parry at 8am with Sharon and the kids to head to Heathrow.  Traffic was rough as expected but made it to the airport in plenty of time.  The flight was out of Terminal 2 so was a good experience other than the long lines.  I took Iceland Air through Reykjavik as that was the cheapest flight - so the first leg was quite quick.  I was reading my Kindle in Reykjavik airport and I hear a "hey Keith" and look up - there were the Haiders on their flight home from Paris.  I slept a bit on the leg to Denver.  Shawna was in California so I used that as an opportunity to see Kelly for dinner at Lola before heading home at 10.