LONDON! (Part 3)

Ok, this is the last retrospective post I'll do. From here on in I'll be blogging "in real time" about what's happening in London.

So, after leaving Dublin, we flew to Heathrow and stayed overnight in a budget hotel near the airport. It was a grungy, dive-y sort of place. There was no hot water for the shower, for instance,and we had to hunt high and low to find a roll of toilet paper.

The following morning we dragged ourselves into London proper and found our way to Euston station where we caught a train for Lancaster where my old pals from graduate school, Jonathan Munby and Karen Jurs-Munby live. We arrived ( a bit late)around dinner time.

It had been 12 years since we last saw Jonathan and Karen and in many ways they haven't changed a bit. Now they have two kids (Alex, 15, and Hannah, 10) and both teach at the University of Lancaster (Jonathan in American Studies and Karen in Theater). Jonathan is still as sharp and witty as ever and is still a bit of a "kitchen fascist" (and his film noir collection is of course even bigger than before). Karen is still as sweet and ethusiastic and
creative as I remember. We had loads to talk about and we spent a lot of time just drinking (and/or eating) and chatting during our stay with them.

The kids also hit it off. It turns out Hannah and Aleeza were born only a week apart and they immediately bonded. Within a few hours they were running off to the corner store together. And by the time we left they were doing song and dance routines. While there was a substantial age gap between Alex and Sebi, they did bond over-- what else? -- video and computer games and would disappear for hours to play some Roman war game or another.

Our first full day in Lancaster Jonathan took us on a quick tour of the city and we saw mideaval Lancaster castle and an impressive old cathedral, among other things.The following day we all took a trip up to the Lake District where we hiked around the picturesque Lake Grasmere and walked past Wordsworth's famous Dove Cottage (which is where Wordsworth lived and wrote during his most productive period). It is easy to see why the Lake District landscape was such an inspiration for the romantic poets; around every turn in the trail and over every hill, one is greeted by yet another breathtakingly beautiful view.

We spent the follwing day relaxing, drinking beer and watching football on the telly, which allowed us to re-charge our batteries for the trip back to London. All in all it was a wonderful visit.

Now we're in London, have settled in to our flat and I've already started teaching. The kids had their first day of school today and I'm anxious to hear how it went. I'll write more, much more, tomorrow.