Once luggage was checked in we has a few minutes to grab a bite to eat. When is BWI going to get something other than Bill Bateman's? We refuse to go to the one near our home in Reisterstown after a disastrous meal where we walked out without paying after speaking to the manager. However, our charming waitress made the meal at the airport a bit better. She claimed to a be an aspiring singer/actress. She kept mimicking Jon's accent and I think found him rather charming (seems to a be something a lot of Americans do).
This was Patrick's first flight and although he admitted he was nervous I think it went smoothly. Unfortunately, neither he or I slept much. He was kind enough to share with his mother a virus he had managed to get before we left. He was okay but I had a sore throat for 3 days that even Advil could not abate. Getting on the plane seemed to trigger the nose running portion of this bug and I'm sure my fellow passengers where "thrilled" to have someone blowing and sneezing the whole flight. Jon as usual, slept through the whole thing. Wish I could figure out how he does it.
Immigration and customs were a breeze (I love how it is on the honor system - you have nothing to declare....walk right through here and you don't have to talk to anyone). However, getting our luggage took quite a long time. Heathrow is busy I know but nothing like a bunch of grumpy people just wanting to get their bags and go to start your morning. Finally off to get the rental car - a manual much to my husband's disdain.
I let Patrick sit up front so he could take England in better (hard to see things from the back seat and since I was exhausted I didn't mind just lying back and trying to rest in between nose blowing).
We stopped for lunch at the Rising Sun pub (Patrick's first pub!) and decided to take advantage of the English summer to enjoy the outside seating. Jon had managed to get UK maps for his GPS before we left. However, it did take us on a few "side journeys" that resulted in seeing a bit more of the countryside than planned. We even wound up in what looked like a polo ground. Finally we arrive at our B&B.How lovely! The couple who run the Three Quebec B&B originally lived in the US for awhile. Her husband was with the Royal Navy and they were stationed in Arlington, VA. In fact, their 2nd daughter was born in Bethesda, MD. We each had a bedroom, 1 bath and a sitting room all with it's own entrance and garden area to enjoy.
Speaking of gardens, they have one of the most lovely terraced gardens I've seen. Mrs. Stevens was kind enough to give me a tour of her garden and didn't seemed to mind all my questions about the beautiful flowers, shrubs and plants.
Dinner at a local pub and back to catch some much needed shut eye.
2 comments:
The gardens look beautiful!! Were you able to eat outside?
Actually it was too chilly in the mornings to eat outside. She did have a table and chairs outside if we had wanted to but it would have been more work for her to drag it all outside. We ate lunches outside as much as possible and even some dinners.
Post a Comment