Our Last Days in England

Sunday we drove from Leeds to Whitby through the yorkshire moors. What interesting country. If only all that heather was blooming!!! Whitby is a coastal town built on the cliffs of the Northern Sea. On the bluff is Whitby Abbey, another amazing ancient ruin that we toured. Bram Stoker's Dracula, which the students read, was inspired by this abbey.

We also went through the St. Mary's Church which was built in the 1500s.

From Whitby we drove a bit to Robin Hood's Bay, another coastal town with breathtaking views. We climbed down through the tight and winding cobbled streets to the beach and put our toes in the very cold water. It was lovely.

Our Mother's Day picture!

One of the little tiny shops had a couple pieces of flow blue.....the souvenir I had really hoped for. So, being Mother's Day and all, I bought it! I love it. It is a small oval with the willow pattern. I was so excited to find it in such a quaint place by the sea!

On Monday we made the long drive back into London with a stop in Cambridge. We were able to spend a couple hours there walking the streets, viewing the beautiful colleges and having a delicious lunch.

This was the cutest place....

and our lunch was fresh, healthy and beautiful!

We had a speed tour of London seeing all the major sites on the way to our hotel: Westminster Cathedral, Parliament, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge and Buckingham Palace.

The city is loud and bustling...a real contrast from the countryside we have enjoyed for the past week. We are in an old row house in London turned into a hotel....the rooms are small, but quaint. We walked to a lovely Indian restaurant for our las group dinner. We had fun discussing memories from our week together and we presented Mr. Nadolny with some gifts we had picked up along the way!

Tomorrow we head to the airport and our long flights home. I am anxious to hug the kids. I know Ian will be anxious to have us home, too. He was a real chap to tend to the homefront. I am sure his golf weekend away was the incentive he needed - he leaves the day after we get home! We are so thankful to have had this opportunity and to share it together. This is such a wonderful high school experience...a great tradition for our school that really does enrich their curriculum in an amazing way. In two years they plan to go to Italy for a history trip.....sensational! So sad we won't be here for that...I'd love to chaperone again.