Garden Tea Party at Buckingham Palace

We were lucky enough to be invited, through Canada house in London to one of the three Royal garden tea parties that the Queen offered this summer in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, in July. It was a remarkable experience for us, we had a short conversation with Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall (Mainly Scott, I basically nodded and smiled while Scott told them about our lives in London). We were are able to walk around the private gardens of the palace while two bands dressed in bright red uniforms played happy tunes (Among them Beatles and some of the songs of the Chicago musical).

We tried the famous cucumber sandwiches, Victoria sponges, strawberry tarts and square chocolate covered cakes with a crown on the top. Incidentally, if you are ever in this situation do not go for the Victoria sponge because it is quite messy and they apparently do not like to give you napkins. Even though they had the famous Buckingham palace tea, made from loose leaves of earl gray and jasmine, it was a very hot afternoon and most people had iced coffee or juices instead. Towards the end of the party, they offered Loseley ice-cream with "real jersey cream".

Of course one of the highlights for a hat lover like me was that the invitation stated that ladies must wear a "day dress with a hat". So after careful research and consideration, I realized that what most people do is hire a fancy hat rather than buy an ok one. So I hired my first British hat from a very peculiar and cute store. They even added some red feathers to match my dress.

It was a beautiful treat to see the Royal family and spend time inside the gates of such famous building. It was also a very British experience for us which we will never forget.

All roads lead to Rome

We just recently returned from our camping/road trip through Europe. We camped for 17 days and drove at least 5000 kilometers through seven countries. It was a truly amazing experience and also a very effective and inexpensive way to see Europe. I will not post pictures of France, Netherlands and Belgium again since you've probably saw and read about those places last year in this blog.

The itinerary


We had 17 days and our final desitination was Rome. Based on that, we decided that we would visit selected cities on route, while keeping long driving days to the minimum and trying to stay in the same campground for at least two nights. So we pre-calculated the distances and times of each segment and selected campgrounds along the way.

The selection of the campgrounds was based on their location with respect to public transportation (i.e. near a train or subway station) in the big cities or their scenic views or distance to the sea in some other cases.

There is a lot to say about the campgrounds in Europe and we have come to know them quite well. The main advantage is that you save a lot of money comparing it with staying at a hotel and the campgrounds are very convenient with many different services such as restaurants, bar, store, fresh bread delivered every morning, laundry, hot clean showers, etc. We were able to access public transportation to the city center from all the camprgounds located near or inside the cities and some of the campgrounds even had free shuttle buses. For 17 days we were outside for the most part of the days and into the nights, enjoying fresh air and open skies.


Highlights of the trip


It is hard to say what were the best parts of our trip, but we came to the conclusion that it was the two days we spent in Switzerland, camping at the feet of the giant mountains Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau in the valley of the 72 waterfalls. We camped literally at the foot of a waterfall and with views of snowy mountains on each side. We took a cable car up the mountain to a region declared UNESCO world heritage site called "Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn". From there we continue the hike across some of the most glaciated parts of the European Alps




Northern Italy: Lerici and Pisa

Lerici was sort of what I imagined an Italian mediterranean town to be like. The relaxed athsmosphere, the small town feeling, the blue ocean contrasting with the houses built on the cliffs painted in bright colors and whites.

Tuscany

We spend a couple of nights in Barberino, Tuscany. We visited Sienna, St. Gimignano and Florence. It was a brief introduction, so we will have to come back again to fully grasp the essence of Tuscany.

Rome

Rome was more than I expected, if that is possible. It is a truly amazing city, every corner, every street, every piazza and every church. I absolutely loved Rome, even though it was crowded with tourists and incredibly hot. We waited in line for hours under the sun to visit the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and walked around and learned all about the Coliseum and the ruins of the Roman forum. We saw the fountains and the Spanish steps. We tried their pizzas, lasagnas, pastas, risottos, gnocchi, gelato among many others.

Venice
I guess I did not realize the whole island of Venice is off-limits to motor vehicles, so all the transportation is done in boats, water taxis and of course, in gondolas. Venice smells like salty water and is much bigger than I thought. The campground was one of our least favorites, they were many mosquitos and it was really hot and humid.