Helen Hotel Cambridge

... to look like evening. I have been trying to go for a walk every day, both for the exercise and to try and convince my body to get over the jetlag, and have found that said walk must really take place in the morning, or one suddenly finds that lunch is over and it is too late, as it will be getting dark soon. Which leaves one to sit indoors for a ridiculously long evening, and wonder where the day went.

Yesterday I had my second training day for work, and presented the case ...

So after 6 months away and visiting 8 different countries, we have now arrived, reluctantly, back in England. Although its not as cold as we were expecting, which is a bonus!

We have had a fantastic time and visited some amazing places, and we are now hoping that reality doesn't hit us too hard!

Hope that you have enjoyed our blog and will probably see most of you shortly.

The last few weeks have been really manic while we've prepared to put our furniture into storage and get our property ready for letting. Thankfully, most of the hard work is completed and now we can concentrate on getting ready for our travels. It's difficult to believe that we leave in just under a week!

We fly into Delhi on Monday, arriving very early ...

Well since Amsterdam Josh and I have been staying in county Bedfordshire with my Aunty Sue. She lives in a country house, dated from the 1800's (and has the deeds to prove it!), with her dad - known as Grand dad to all) and her doggies, Molly and Buddy the bulldog.

So Friday we had a glorious sleep in, then headed to Milton Keynes for a couple of hours of retail ...

Well today was our last day in Amsterdam

A lovely sleep in this morning - owing part to the stone over from the previous night's events and also due to the grey skies and rain that have plagued us through Amsterdam. Packed all the bits and pieces up, left our bags with the hotel staff and off we wandered to the Heineken Experience Museum......

which wasn't open until 11am (note that for anyone wanting to visit!) - so another wonderful brekkie ...

... meter, to be used in the Anglican mass. After our time in Henry's chapel we went to Corpus Christi (Parker's college) and asked after him. I don't remember what the colleges call the brilliant people who answer the questions at the gate, but we found the best. We said we were interested in Bishop Parker's psalter, and he found us the perfect librarian who came up from the vaults and became our angel. Just as ...

Another pretty lazy day. After Alex and Emma headed off, the 'girls' (Maureen, Rachael & Michelle) went shopping in Cambridge, whilst us 'boys' stayed home and did 'stuff'. Later in the day we all met up in Marks & Spencers, and had a coffee and some cake. Bought a replacement charger for the Ipods, and some new headphones for Tom. Michelle (the Emelda Marcos of Devonport) bought some shoes . . .

... they were closed by this time. After our incredibly deep fried lunch we pretty much only ate vegetables for dinner to balance ourselves out- praise to the person who invented meals for one and the hostel microwave. We watched people punt on the Cam which looked like fun but couldn't find the hire place so perhaps Bernie will persuade Jess to act like an idiot somewhere else and and we'll take a punt ourselves.

... at something. We went to the National Gallery. One great thing about London is that most of the museums are free, including this one. Going to the gallery made me wish I knew a lot more about art history. It would've been a much more meaningful experience if I did. I mean, I looked at a lot of pictures of Mother Mary and baby Jesus, and the cruxification, and they were all very stunning, but I wish I knew more about the artists themselves. I ...

... with robes--attend services, they always wear their robes. As you sit, surrounded by perfect harmony from the choir, you cannot help but lift your eyes toward heaven only to be arrested by the vaulting. The stone vault is something of a peculiarity given the great expense afforded in transporting so much stone to Cambridge from Europe and the design. The ceiling is known as a fan vault in which the wall supports (attached columns) rise gracefully from the floor and soar ...