Day 8 & 9

Well, I'm starting to fall behind. 

Let me tell you what I do while I'm on trips. 

I get up early, get on my computer, get organized for the day, get ready, have breakfast and then head out. That pretty much sums up EVERY day in my life except when I'm home, add "workout" which is the very first thing. And by "workout" I mean walking either outside or on the treadmill. "Workout" is anything that gets my heart pumping--which is my main goal--keeping my heart healthy. When vacationing, that happens naturally through the course of the day. Case in point, Butch and I walked 41 miles in our week together! 

Then, in the evening in the hotel, I edit my pictures, do my blog post for the next day, try to read the blogs I follow (that's easy to fall behind on), make trip notes from the day (Butch does the detail journaling now), organize my tickets/brochures/memorabilia for the day (I carry a large manilla envelope and some scrap paper to separate everything by day. That makes it easier when I get home to scrapbook all of it.) I never watch tv in hotels.

You would think that there would be enough time to do all the "things", but there never seems to be. Just like writing all this has wasted more time than just getting right down to it. So here goes.

Day 8:

Butch left this morning for Heathrow and his flight home. I thought I was going to have the day to myself, but I think Diane was worried that she needed to entertain me. Believe me, I never need anyone entertaining me. I always have 5 million things I need/want to do. And yes, if pushed, I could probably come up with all 5 million of them!!

She picked me up at 10:00 a.m. She had her daughter, Fiona, granddaughter, Layla and young visiting friend, Caroline with her. We went to her daughter, Sara's house to pick her up for our day of lunch and brewing the shops of Melbourne.

In Melbourne, we browsed a little and had lunch at the tearoom. I was just going to get scones, but decided to take Diane's advice and try the Buck Rarebit--a popular English dish. Plus, I really like to try new local things.

It's sort of like an open-faced grilled cheese with a poached egg on top on a crumpet. A crumpet like a soft English muffin. I liked the whole thing very much. Actually, you can put an egg on just about anything and I'm going to like it. The salad was not so good. At home, I just about always order a salad when I go out to lunch. Here, I do not like their salads. They all are the "weedy" type of lettuces. Don't get me wrong, I do like those, but I prefer them mixed in with others like romaine or iceberg---not by themselves. Plus, this salad had no dressing! I don't know if it was supposed to have dressing or not, but since Diane got the same thing and didn't mention it, neither did I.

After lunch, Diane and I strolled through the gardens. She asked if I wanted to browse more of the shops. I said that since the "girls" were coming in, I'd be doing plenty of shopping. Plus, I'm such an impulse buyer who doesn't need a thing, I'd rather stay out of the stores.

We went back to Sara's house to meet up with the rest of the girls. They were still out shopping, so we waited. By the time I got back to the hotel, it was 4:30. The day was just about gone. 

The girls arrived at 6:30. As soon as they got settled, we went to Mann's Cantonese restaurant for dinner. It's the same family as the one that Butch and I went to with Diane and Gren. Diane and a couple of the girls met us there.

The amount of food they serve is staggering. This is the appetizer plate. I could have just this and be satisfied! Every bit of it is so delicious! Chicken satay, shrimp sesame toast, spring rolls, and spareribs. Even the seaweed was delicious.

The second course was crispy duck. Now you have to understand, I do NOT like duck. So, I did not expect to like it. But, it was so delicious, that I had two of them the first time I had it with Butch. It's almost like a taco in the way it's assembled: rice tortilla, hoisin sauce smeared on top, thin sliced cucumber and green onions with the duck on top. Then you roll it up. With the girls, I only had one since I new the main course was still coming.

For the mains, we had a shrimp dish, fried scallops (OMG!), beef, mixed vegetables with chicken and of course, the fried rice. It was all so delicious. We do not have Cantonese Nashville. It's like Chinese food, but better! 

We had a delightful evening together and was a great start for the girls after their long day of travel. We walked back, Diane and girls hopped in a taxi and we were on our way back to the hotel. Since we didn't have a chance to have cocktails before dinner, we decided to stop for a nightcap at Pitcher and Piano. 

I had a strawberry cosmo which is now my favorite cosmo. I doubt I'll get that in the U.S. From the left, clockwise: Beth Ann, Stephanie, Pam, me, Kim and Karolyn.

Day 9:

We started the day by meeting for breakfast at 8:30 in the hotel. We walked to St. Barnabas Cathedral for Mass at 10 a.m. 

A couple of observances here: 

1. People did not clear out after communion---they all stayed to the very end after---

2. Every. Single. Verse. of the concluding song! OMGosh, I think there were 5 verses!!

The church was beautiful and very old--as most churches in England.

We were able to get a passerby to take our picture under the lace in the lace market district where we were staying. I showed the girls the was to the caves tour. While I went back to the Justice Museum.

Here they are with their tour guide. They said it was fabulous! Even though Butch and I had done the self-guided tour, I wished I had just done it again! They seemed to have gotten even more out of the tour than we did. 

We headed to Patisserie Valerie for a snack. Of course I got scones--again! Steph and Pam got them too on my recommendation.

We got these pictures while waiting for Karolyn. She had paid with "old" coins so the guy had to run her down outside to make her go back and pay with current money! I have an old £10 note that I need to exchange at the bank when I see one. That will make Butch happy!

We shopped around a little and went to Marks & Spencer. I was really looking forward to that since our last trip. Once inside, I remembered that the sizes here are different than ours. Suddenly, I didn't feel like trying on clothes. 

We went to a few more shops including a tea shop with beautiful teas. I know that sounds strange to say, but they are beautiful in that the shop is pretty, the packaging is pretty, and ALL the samples are delicious. Of course I had to buy something. Stephanie found the most adorable cup and saucer!

How darn cute is that?!! Those little birds...

We decided to meet at the Cosy Club for cocktails after everyone was done shopping and before catching the tram to Diane's for dinner.

We had quite a conversation about the napkins. In the states, you get a napkin every time you order a drink. Not here. You have to either ask for one or go up to the bar and get it yourself. At the Cosy Club, someone went up and got these. Clearly, they are food napkins rather than beverage napkins. We talked about how nice they are. Karolyn said she'd like to have some at her house. After several minutes---way too long to be discussing napkins, Stephanie quipped, "We're officially OLD! We've just spent 10 minutes discussing napkins!" 

I like how she put herself right in that category with US!!! It's exactly what I always told my girls, "You become who you hang with!" 

Even funnier was when Kim and Beth Ann arrived, the conversation over the napkins started up again. They were really nice! Okay, I'll admit, I've got an extra to take home with me. Of course I'll use it in my scrapbook!!

After our cocktails, we hopped on the tram to go to Gren and Diane's for a "proper" Sunday Roast.

They started us off with grapefruit gin and tonics---another new favorite for me!! I'll be brining some of that home for sure!

Okay, so a Sunday Roast means lots of food! We had pork, chicken, broccoli/cauliflower/cheese casserole, 3 kinds of potatoes, cabbage, carrots and something else mixed in, gravy and popovers. For dessert, we had cheesecake and plum and apple crisp with custard. It was all delicious!

After a few hours, Gren drove us back to our hotel. It was a fun day. I was tired!