England road trip pictures

Back from our recent road trip here are some of our favorite pictures. We drove across southern England and into Wales, then back into south western England, down towards the coast and all the way along into south eastern England. Good times!

Chips in Cardiff (capital city of Wales)



The southern Welsh coastline



Avebury Stone Circle (Stone Age - 2600 BCE)



Hiking in the New Forest (South West England)



The New Forest famous semi-wild (tiny) ponies



In Kent (South East England) - top of Wye Crown in the South Downs



The town of Sandwich, home of the Earl of Sandwich and inventor of the .... (can you guess?)



Season's greetings - peace to all.

Ukeleles, Mandarin and Cardiff .....

Things have been relaxing here in the UK. Have spent several days going for long walks in the country or along the sea front, visiting friends, reading and talking. Evan has been leaning the ukelele, including some Christmas songs. We are also progressing with our Mandarin learning, and while still only very much at the beginner stage, are also now feeling a little bit more confident and that it is starting to make a little more sense now.

On the Shanghai front, all our papers are in and have now gone for visa processing. The original time frame of February is still looking good, and it has all gone quiet now as we wait for the processing time (about 30 days is the general length it takes).

But not ones to sit still for long, Evan found a very cheap car rental option and so we are off on a road trip for the next few days - first stop is Cardiff, Wales. Evan has always wanted to see Wales, and after we made friends with a fellow CELTA (English language) teacher from there, it was our first choice. So in a couple of hours, we're off! Back in time for Christmas.

That's all for now.

Photographs of our Mediterranean trip

Some photos of our recent Mediterranean trip...

Milan


Olympia (the site of the original (Greek) Olympic Games



Santorini (Greek island formed from the remains of an exploded volcano - thought to be the origin of the Atlantis story)



Marmaris, Turkey



Lemesos, Cyprus



Rhodes, Greece (a fabulous island with ancient walled city)



Messina, Sicily



Naples, Italy (home of pizza!)



Genoa, Italy (home of Christopher Columbus)

Back from the Mediterranean

Arrived back in the UK yesterday from Italy. We had a wonderful trip and will upload some photos over the next few days. So ...
Genoa, Italy - arrived easily, ripped off by taxi driver!, had foccacia and real pesto, usual city sights
Savona, Italy - got a train from Genoa - found the port and had a look around, onto the cruise ship - large, lovely room; huge ship (space for 2400 guests!) complete with 10 story glass elevators and lots of lovely things. Started the cruise. Tried not to eat too much or make too many comments to people acting crazy greedy in the buffet (note - "tried" .... :> )
Naples, Italy - has pizza in its birthplace, cathedrals and vespas and narrow streets - whole street of Nativity scene sellers was a bizarre surprise.
Messina, Sicily - huge, bizarre medieval clock with 20 minute moving bronze mechanical show - quite a show! - sea walks and most delicious cake shops
Rhodes, Greece - our absolute favorite place - fabulous old walled city with tons to see and also time to wonder around the new city too and soak up the sun and eat Greek salad under the trees in a market.
Lemesos, Cyprus - nice old town and trendy cafes, castle where Richard II did crusading from, dusty streets
Marmaris, Turkey - fabulous coastal cruising - really pretty, plus wonder around maze of old streets and enjoying the luxury side of Turkey amidst the jet setter boats and cafes
Santorini, Greece - amazing Greek island formed from remains of an exploded sea volcano with famous views over the waters. Very pretty. Andy refused to ride a donkey.
Olympia, Greece - very interesting visit to site of original (2000 BC) Olympic Games, plus hanging in a Greek village for a while.
Back to Savona, then Genoa - had time and confidence now, so caught fast train to Milan and spent an afternoon/evening wondering the streets of Milan - fab cathedral and lots of gorgeous Italian people swanning around and shopping and being gorgeous and expensive.
And then back to UK yesterday.

Had a great time.

Where now?.....

Cambridge certificates have finally arrived so we'll send them in to the Shanghai office tomorrow and so will have submitted everything for our visas for teaching in China! Background and education checks all came back clear. Getting excited now and a bit nervous too.

That's all for now. Will sort the photos soon.