Sunny times in England

Here we are in a very sunny England enjoying the weather and the country and Wimbledon - exciting being here for the tennis and Evan has even got into it! Unfortunately Murray was knocked out in the semi-finals ....

Highlights of our trip so far include (in no particular order):
- Visiting the Borough Market in London - a fabulous food market with hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of delicacies
- Walking both ways to the end of Southend pier (1 1/3 miles long out to sea) and enjoying the peacefulness of being on a jetty so far out in the sea
- Walking the northern England coast at Tynmouth including walking past the ruins of a medieval monastery and catching a ferry across the mouth of the river Tyne
- Surprising Andy's mum and dad with their anniversary trip on the Orient Express, the famous train from the 1920's
- Sitting in a cafe window in Newcastle/London/Southend sipping a skinny latte and watching the world go by
- Andy getting to volunteer to blow molten glass in a demonstration at the National Glass Center in Sunderland
- Walking along the river Thames in London - past the Tower of London, St. Paul's cathedral, Tower Bridge, the Globe theater, etc.

We've also (of course) been catching up with friends and family and enjoying all the things English that we miss, including fish and chips, Indian curries, and the little sidewalk cafes. Have been purposely not doing a lot of organizing and planning as we need a little R and R before we are back in the States next week finalizing all our plans for the next few months.

Just finished reading "Thrive" by Dan Buettner (Secrets from the world's happiest people). Here is a quote from this book (highly recommended):

"Here's a 103 year old woman who has no money and no real possesions, is living in a borrowed house, is half paralyzed and mostly blind, and she feels blessed .... How is that possible?" ........... :)