Gang, Cotty reported day by day, Gianfranco has given his, and Mike Wilson has just left for two weeks in Poland without a word.
So it's time for a last report of the UK PDML holidays. :-) In addition to the full week of quality time spent with the Cots, our family's holiday also included two stops at Mike and Catherine's place in Newcastle, with a couple of associated events. Mike picked us up by the ferry when we arrived. And boy, was I happy to have a car to follow when driving my first English miles on the wrong side of the road! Mike and Cath helped us do some essential shopping, like road map, some food, and most important; "driving bribery" for impatient hobbits. Which, FYI, is a selection of snacks and drinks with minimal spillage factor. :-) Anticipation rose to its heights among the hobbits when finally the Cots hit Newcastle late the same evening. The kids were really happy to see each other again. Stefan Cots and Simen are 9 and 10 years, respectively, and play very well together. I shall not repeat Cotty's reports on our seven days together, but a few words are in order. Vera and I are truly honored that Steve and Alma chose their holidays with us as time and place for their wedding. The ceremony was intimate and charming, and even the kids thought it was a nice setting. The restaurant afterwards was a culinary experience, and the stroll along the river Spey in the soft and warm evening sunlight rounded off the day in an excellent way. I shall cherish the memory as long as I live. At the end of the week, the Cots headed out to visit family and to break the news of the wedding to them, while we set course for Newcastle again. Mike and Catherine met us at Alnwick, where we stopped to have a look at the Alnwick castle. Ufortunately, it was too late in the day to get a peek inside the buildings, but the exteriors were quite interesting in their own right. Especially since many of the scenes from the Harry Potter movies have been recorded there. The first thing my kids did when we came home yesterday was to fast-forward through both films to see how many scenes they could recognise from the castle. Our last whole day on British soil we spent at Hadrian's wall. First the Housesteads fort and museum, and then the ongoing excavations at Vindolanda. The archaeologists there were very friendly, and took time to chat with visitors. They even passed around the day's find of roman artefacts for all to see. The most impressing was a bronze/silver coin and some pieces of leatherwear. In sum, a great vacation. Possibly the best ever for my family. My oldest, Simen, is pretty fed up with car driving at the moment, but he'll get over that. He seems to have gathered a great number of fond memories too, and has already asked to see the pictures taken. Most of which are away for processing tonight. I will collect them at the lab tomorrow, and hopefully start scanning straight away. A web page with some selected shots will probably follow. Thanks for reading, Jostein --------------------------- Pictures at: http://oksne.net ---------------------------
