One of my favorite British things (besides high tea) are the hats. They were first drawn to my attention at the Royal Wedding, and while wedding is probably the more common function for a good hat, I found another. The Ascot.

The biggest occasion for the Ascot is the Royal Ascot where the hats are taken to a whole new level. That, plus all the special rules for dress, such as woman must wear dresses with sleeves at least one inch thick, even if a cardigan or blazer are covering the dress, or if they wear a pant suit, it must be both matching colour and fabric. Or for men, they need to wear tails and a top hat!

But, alas, we were in Norway this weekend and missed out on this glorious festivity.

I was not to be deterred though. The Ascot hosts other races throughout the year, so we found one in early September that was the Food & Wine Festival. Perfect? I think so.

So we joined our friends the Houses for a day at the races! We bought premier tickets, as these had a 'stricter' dress code, which I thought would mean more hats. Sarah and I decked ourselves out in our fanciest hats for the occasion.

Striking a post in front of the track where the winners are paraded

The most difficult thing about a fancy hat? Not knocking someone else in the head while trying to pose close to them for a photo.

Fancy hats call for fancy dress

Besides the hats, there was lots to do at the races. With our premier tickets, we had access to everything but the boxes, meaning we could head to the top of the trackside building to sit down and watch the races, or enjoy a glass of bubbly.

We also had the chance to get right next to the trackside. This was much more in the action, because you could see the horses as they raced past. In the 30 minutes between races, this was also the place you wanted to be to place your bet.

Ascot building and other race goers waiting for the action

Each stand had information on the upcoming race - the horses and the odds on each.  Most of the time, the odds were the same, but once you knew your chosen horse, you had to try to get yourself the best deal. We were small time gamblers, usually just 5 quid, but the bets could go up much higher.

I'll put 5 on 7!

After I picked a horse (most often based on the name), we waited, admiring the track, the pretty day and chatting. Once the races started, the game was on though! Sarah and Paul ended up winners for the day, each winning about enough to cancel out our loses. Perhaps I need to go again next year so I can find my winning horse!

And they're off - til next time!

We often have walked through Kensington Gardens with Belle, around the paths, trying to avoid the Round Pond so Belle doesn't join the swans, and strolling by Kensington Palace.

But, we have never taken the time to venture inside.  When my parents were in town, we decided to finally stop by.

Besides being the home of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Palace is famous for it's detailed history of Queen Victoria. You hear Victoria & Albert's names over all types of monuments, but I wasn't too familiar with their history.

Victoria became Queen at age 18, and would go on to become the longest serving British monarch, with 63 years on the throne.

Many stories about Victoria though talk about her relationship with her husband Albert, and what they achieved together. Albert took a strong interest in arts & industry, famous for the Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park in 1851. They also had 9 children together (geez!).

Wedding gown - see how short she was? 1.52m - less than 5 ft tall!

The stories aren't only about the happy times in the relationship; some stories also talk about Victoria after the untimely death of her husband. She went into mourning for years, only wearing black for the remainder of her life, and avoiding public appearances for many years following.

Mourning garb

The exhibit is covered with quotes from letters from Queen Victoria over the walls and glass, a very quirky modern museum throughout.

While this is one of the largest portion of the museum exhibit, there are a few other wings as well.

There are the Kings and Queen State Rooms, with history of other parts of the British monarchy. Lots of intrigue and drama of course. Make sure to check out the "interactive" type displays in each room, otherwise you may run through them without gathering any information. Sometimes they are fake newspapers and gazettes, other times it may be a voice whispering through the walls.

Exhibit to represent Queen Anne & her children - 17 pregnancies with only 6 children living; of those, only one lived past infacy only to die at age 11 of suspected pneumonia

The newest exhibit we saw was Fashion Rules. It is not a very large exhibit, but features dresses worn by the royals, including the current Queen, her sister Princess Margaret, and probably most famously, Princess Diana. The most interesting part was comparing the fashions of the Queen to her sister, one needing to be more conservative, while her sister had the possibility of playing with fashion a bit more.

Ball gowns galore

Overall, the museum was interesting. Not my top visit in London, but worth a check out if you are around the park. One piece of advice - if you want a nice, quiet museum experience, you may want to skip out on Family Fridays.

While we mainly went to Croatia to enjoy the beautiful beaches, we had also heard about the lakes there. There are a few different options to check out lakes there, including Krka and Plitvice. Paul wanted to check out Krka since it was closer, but Sarah and I ruled in favour of Plitvice so the decision was made.

We picked it because of its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The drive was further than Krka, nearly 3 hours, but it was full of beautiful scenery. We had checked the weather before we left, which predicted some rain, although we asked around and they said it usually always rained some there. About 30 minutes before we were scheduled to get to the lakes, the skies opened up and rain poured out. Add in to that the thunder and lightening, and I was getting anxious about our 4 hour hike.

We arrived at the park and saw we were not the only ones with that concern. People milled around, those prepared decked out in their own rain gear, and others less prepared (ourselves included) buying flimsy ponchos and umbrellas from the gift shot.

After we were geared up, we started our hike down into the park. Within 5 minutes, the rain had stopped.

Of course. We were happy for the weather in the end though - the rains kept the park cool & much less crowded than it usually would have been.

The park includes just over 73,000 acres and 20 lakes, meaning lots to see. Of course the primary attractions are the waterfalls (which weren't as full due to the summer), but there's lots of beautiful streams and the color of the water is breathtaking. It's so blue and clear, that from above, you can see straight down to the algae on the lake floor.



We started off with a hike on the east side of the park, stopping often to enjoy the views and catch our breath. I'd like to pretend it was for the 3 year old that was on our tour, but I probably needed it more often that he did!

Up next was the boat ride to take us to the other side of the park. We enjoyed more lake views, before finally coming upon the "train" which took us back to the park entrance.

Since we lived in Turkey, I have been wanting to visit Croatia since I have heard nothing but good things from friends who have visited.  But from Turkey, it was a hassle to get to Croatia's beautiful beaches - a flight to Zagreb, a layover, and another flight to Dubrovnik or the beach towns.

But from London, an easy 2.5 hour flight can find you at any of Croatia's beach hot spots. So with the bank holiday in August, it was the perfect opportunity to catch the last of summer's rays in Split. Our friend Sarah joined us, as she had never been before and her husband was headed back to the US for a wedding.

After a way too early 6 am flight on Friday, we arrived at the hotel in Podstrana (just outside of Split) and quickly changed into our suits to sleep off our early morning at the beach.  Despite it only being 11 am, the beach was crowded, full of sunbathers, swimmers and paddleboarders. We found a spot and spent the afternoon reading books, with breaks to dip in the cold water.



We made our way into the town of Split for dinner. The main attraction of the town is the Diocletian Palace, one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was originally built in the 4th century. While changes have been made over time, you can certainly get the feeling of how the city used to be. It's full of shops, restaurants, homes and people, just as you can imagine it was in its heyday. After grabbing some food, we wandered around the palace at night, checking out shops, finding a concert, and finding all kinds of unique details of the architecture.

Cathedral of Saint Dominus

The next day, we headed back to the city to first purchase tickets for the catamaran for Hvar, as we were told we needed to get there early to secure tickets. That gave us plenty of time to continue to explore Diocletian's Palace, as well as the nearby Marjan Hill. While it was a bit of a climb up, it offers some great views over the city itself. If we would have had more time, there are some interesting cave churches on the South side of the hill for people to explore.



After our climb, we headed back down just in time to catch our catamaran ride to Hvar, a quick one hour trip. Once we got off the catamaran, we were on a hunt - we wanted a boat. Paul had read about renting a boat to drive around the nearby Pakleni Islands, so we had it in our minds we were going to do it.  Apparently, it's best if you rent in advance, as we were left with once choice - a (kinda cute) little dinghy.


Once Paul figured the boat out, we were off! We prepared in advance with a picnic lunch, so after driving out to the first of the islands, we dropped anchor to grab a bite. The scenery was beautiful (minus all the nude sunbathers, especially men), and we continued on to find a good spot for a swim. In a little harbor, we found what we had been told was one of the best beach spots, meaning less rocks, and it was crowded. We didn't join them on the beach, but swam around enjoying the blue water and watching the posh people on their yachts.

Once we cooled down enough, we drove even further to find our own little island. We threw out our towels and drank our not so cool wine, lounging until we decided to return to Hvar for some exploring.


While Hvar was beautiful - cobbled streets with sea views - there wasn't as much to see as in Split. We wandered in each direction from the dock, stopping for gelato, wandering up to check out a tower, then back to a church before we decided we'd seen everything we wanted. It took one hour.  Since our boat wasn't scheduled for another 40 minutes, we grabbed a seat at the famous Carpe Diem to have a drink before heading back to Split.







Our time at the beach was perfect, with a last bit of rays on Monday. Sunday, we headed away from the sun and to the lakes - another adventure to share soon!

When my parents took their trip over to Europe last month, we planned a weekend to meet up before they headed to London. Originally our plan was to meet them in Edinburgh, then head south to London, but it was a bit of a long trek for one weekend and the prices were higher than usual with the Fringe Festival.

So we compromised and met them halfway in the Lake District in England.

The Lake Districts are famed in England, although if you were to try and asked someone to pin down their claim to fame, you'll get a response with some sites to check out, but for the most part, it's famous for one simple reason. The beauty of it's nature.

When you go to the Lake District, you spend time outdoors, picnicking and hiking. So, in our two days there, we did just that.

Upon waking up on Saturday, we had breakfast at our lovely B&B before heading out to explore the area.

As we were staying in Windermere, we caught the bus up to Grasmere where we would begin our hike. Grasmere had a view sites for us to check out, including the famous Sarah Nelson Gingerbread Store. Unlike the usual gingerbread we're used to at Christmas, it's a big of crumbly cake mixed with usual gingerbread.  Right behind the store is a church that also is home to William Wordsworth's grave. The poet grew up on a town on the outskirts of Grasmere, and is now buried in this cemetery along with his wife Dorothy and other family.

Rydal Mount - Belle's wanting a belly rub

Cute pub in the town of Grasmere

After checking out the sites in Grasmere, we headed to the real attractions - the lakes.  We chose a path called the Coffin Road, which took us around the West side of Grasmere Lake and south side of Rydal water, before continuing to Ambleside.

Overall, the walk was something like 4 miles, taking us along the shores of the lake, wandering among farms and sheep. Only at once point did we come across an area with lots of people, before we cut across the river and headed off on our own way. It was solitary in a way that made you appreciate the beauty of the countryside and this oasis in northern England.

River near Rydal Waters

It was a beautiful day, the sun even peeked out from behind the clouds for a while and Belle loved it. Even as we sat eating our picnic lunch, she swam, ran and took it all in. It was so much fun to see her joy in being in the countryside.

Belle waiting for us to throw something for her to fetch

After our long walk, we took the bus back to Windermere, after a disaster with the bus.  There are several bus operators in the area, but if you buy tickets from one, they can't be used on another. The most frequent operator is Stagecoach, but low and behold, we purchased tickets from Reays. After waiting almost an hour, our bus finally appeared to return us to Windermere!

Once back in the city, we decided our exercise meant we could indulge in some cider and pub food. Belle joined us as we snacked on pies, fish & chips and pints, before heading back to catch-up with my family.

Family photo

The next day, the weather was not so much in our favor. We decided to head out to view the lakes from the water, but turned down the 2nd 4 hour hike after it started to rain on us. The boat cruise was nice, although I think the hikes probably give you a better picture of the woods and sites of the areas.

I swear it was raining!

Unfortunately, our day was cut short due to cancelled trains and we caught an earlier train back to London. 3 hours later, we were off at Euston and wishing we were back in the idyllic Lake District.