Looking out our windows…

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

*Castleton – what a difference* *a day makes.* 🧐

*Breakfast at Thornsgill B & B in Askrigg, Yorkshire.*

*Breakfast room at the Harlingford Hotel in London.*

*Here’s a 1st for us – in Pontresina there was a window in our shower! On the left is a mural that’s in the bedroom and beyond that we could see out of the window and beyond to the mountains.*

*Out the window of the train from Caslano to Lugano*.

*Wengen at 4 am from our terrace. May not look like much in this pic but the stars were amazing every night!*

A Sign of the Times…

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” – Katherine Hepburn

Basically, signs that caught my eye 😉

*In Canterbury, this came as a bit of a surprise…*

*We say Dollar Store and here in England it’s the Pound Store. Makes perfect sense.*

*On a door at a cottage in the Cotswolds*

*Waterstones is a popular bookshop in England.*

*Ok, I have to say I just loved this. It was often an announcement* when we were waiting for the underground. I know we say “See something, say something” in our airports but there’s something about this 3 line statement in a British accent…try it – I think you’ll understand the charm!

Lovely Leeds Castle

“Better to see something once than hear about it a thousand times.” – Asian proverb

Seven different queens lived here over the centuries. In the 1920’s an Anglo- American woman named Mary Braille purchased the castle. Mary was a wealthy socialite who turned the place into “party central”. When she died in 1974 she left it to the National Trust and it is now a popular destination for locals and tourists.

*Show of hands, please – who **really** likes a good maze? Not I !!!*

Charming Canterbury

“Doing what you like is freedom, liking what you do is happiness.” – Frank Tyger

One of the most important churches in England, this cathedral is the headquarters of the Anglican Church. There’s been a church here since the year 597. In the 12th century, the cathedral’s archbishop, Thomas Beckett, was murdered in front of the alter. When Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church 400 years later, this cathedral became the Anglican version of St Peter’s Basilica.

This is where Thomas Beckett was martyred. A dramatic sculpture of two swords pointing to the place where he died (the shadows make it look like there are two more swords — fitting since there were four *murderers.*

*Whenever I visit these ancient sites I have trouble wrapping my head around the actual process it took to build them.*

*Unusual* *to see modern day figures in the niches of cathedrals* like Queen Elizabeth and Prince *Phillip* here!

*At night this beautiful cathedral can be seen from every vantage point in the town.*

*Thought the base of this old tree was impressive – also gave the photographer a break from his duties* 😉

*The site of an old mill along the River Stour.*

This is a statue honoring Geoffrey Chaucer. Around the base of the monument are characters from The Canterbury Tales — each one a portrait of a present-day resident who paid for the privilege of being depicted. 😂

*We rented bikes and rode a lovely trail from Canterbury to Whitstable* – *called the Crab & Winkle Way.*

*Our first “cream t*ea” since arriving in England.

*Back to Canterbury to visit their many gorgeous gardens, this one along the River Stour!*

Sittingbourne, England

While speaking with our B&B owner I learned that the name Sittingbourne came to be because pilgrims, traveling to Canterbury, would sit and rest along side the local river – Bourne.

“To awaken in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark

*Such beautiful gardens, complete with horses in the pasture beyond.*

*Lovely dinner at this local pub. Look at that adorable image of the “red lion”.* 😊

*Afterward we went for a walk around the village, starting at the church.*

*I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this – every gardener’s dream.*

*Then we headed out across the farmers field, on a public footpath.*

*Thatched roof “cottages” are always worthy of a photograph.*

Irresistible 😉

Practice run

Sorry for the inconvenience – trying to work out a couple of bugs before heading out on Monday.

Last year in Lisbon

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

North of Akron,Ohio

“Remember this — very little is needed to make a happy life.” Marcus Aurelius

*Beautiful ride in this jewel of a park*

All good things…

“I have found out there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain

I’d like to thank everyone that traveled along with us. A big shout out to those of you who took a few minutes to send a comment. It’s a little difficult to “play to an empty room” and I eagerly awaited your responses, so thanks again! Until next time…

Much Ado About Natas

“Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing in pursuit of something else.” – Lawrence Block

We first discovered pastel de nata while we were in Porto. “Murph, what are these pastries that everyone is walking around eating?” I wondered. We asked our hotel manager, Luis, and he told us all about them. We had to taste them for ourselves and they did not disappoint!

*We tasted them in Porto, Coimbra* *and Sinatra.*

But the holy grail is in Lisbon, specifically Belém. This café is the birthplace of the wonderful custard tarts. Since 1837, residents have been coming to this café to get their tarts fresh. Its popularity stems mainly from the fact that their recipe is a closely guarded secret —supposedly only three people know the exact proportions of the ingredients. This café cranks out 20,000 or so a day—you can get them fresh and crunchy, literally hot out of the oven.

The way I understand it, the monks at the nearby monastery used egg whites to starch their robes and as a result there were tons of leftover egg yolks. The nuns had an abundance of sugar from Brazil and along with those yokes, *they created pastel de natas! Bless their hearts* ❤️

A little more Lisbon

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl