I am Henry VIII, I am

Originally published at Robin Burks. You can comment here or there.

Saturday’s night dinner started out with a nice glass of an Italian cabernet. My first Italian wine. I have obviously had American wine, as well as South African, but never Italian. A shame! Anyway, the hotel restaurant was apparently fairly authentic. The staff were Italian. I have not had real Italian since I lived in Boston. I mean, yeah, I love Olive Garden, but it’s not as good as the real thing.

So for my culinary feast, I had some AMAZING canneloni and then cappucino with tiramisu. This might be my most memorable meal during my trip. Truly wonderful.

Anyway, yesterday morning, I woke up, got my daily dose of Starbucks, and headed to Waterloo station to catch a train to Hampton Court, to see Henry VIII. And I have to say it again, we need more trains like this in the States, but I am sure the automobile industry wouldn’t allow it. Bastards!

Needless to say, Hampton Court was awesome! Probably my favorite thing I have seen on this trip. I felt (and wished!) that Jonathan Rhys Meier was going to pop his head out at any moment and start insulting us peasants. I recognized a lot of the locations they have recreated for that series. However, The real Henry was much shorter and much more overweight than how he is portrayed on t.v. I saw the portraits of him. I ended up buying a calendar with photos of the gardens, which were gorgeous, and noticed a photo of a cat. I asked about this animal, and found out that he, Lord Scruffs, is the garden cat. I was told he likes to hang about the cafe, but I did not see him. Oh, well. The staff seemed amused that I asked about him. What can I say? I like cats!

So I finally took the train back to London and thought I would try Covent Garden again. This time, I did find the market, but there was nothing of interest there for me. I checked out some local shops for those boots I wanted, but apparently, they are not in this season. The little short boot from the 80’s, however, is very hot. So I guess that’s money I won’t be spending.

So I went back to my hotel room and got some junk food and a sandwich and call it a night. I love this city, but now I am ready to go home, I guess. Never thought I would say that! Lol I miss my cats and even my mom. And even my friends.

Speaking of cats, I watched a programme on the telly last night with Joanna Lumley called Catwoman. It is about… cats! Lol It is apparently a series. You have to love the UK in that the have an entire series about cats! Hehe

Then I went to bed early and woke up early for my long day back to the States. So glad I brought an extra bag this time, because I am full up on souvenirs. And at Gatwick, I bought more stuff so I could spend the last of my pounds.

Which I did and had plenty of time to continue to do as one of the engines on the plane I was flying would not start. And it was going to take several hours to repair. An new part was needed and it was a part they did not have at the airport. So um… I got angry at first, but after some thought, I am glad that whatever was wrong with the engine was discovered before it took off. And with that, I headed to this shop called next and bought a new outfit. A cute pink scoop neck tee and some cargo pants that can be tied up to be capris. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade! Or you go shopping!

Anyway, this probably sounds long and disjointed, but I started typing it yesterday, and am having issues with net here in London. I a currently awaiting news about my flight. I had a 3 and a half layover in Charlotte, but now it looks like I will still be missing that. And I am pretty sure that it is the last one to Memphis for the night, so I will probably be spending the night there on US Airways dime.

More details to follow…

Update… I made it to Charlotte nearly six hours after I was originally supposed to and I have been put on the 10:30 PM flight to Memphis. And then I have about a 90 minute drive home. I am going to pray I can drive without sleeping for 24 hours. If I crash, someone sue the hell out of US Airways, okay? And to top it off? They put me on an overbooked flight. WTF?

I am tired…

You can’t go home again? Well, I did!

Originally published at Robin Burks. You can comment here or there.

I have returned to home. I got in at about 2 a.m. and should have originally been in at around 8 p.m., but oh, well. Totally worth it, obviously. I took a long, hot bath and once I was in my bed, I don’t even recall my head hitting the pillow. I did wake up at around 5 a.m. confused, because in the dark, I kept thinking that my room was some ornate chamber in some European castle or something! LOLOL Yeah, I was having some dreams about Europe.

I slept until about 8:30 a.m., woke up and had some toast with some orange marmalade and strawberry preserves bought at Fortnum & Mason and munched on a piece of chocolate from Buckingham Palace and a cookie from Paris. It was a continental (literally) breakfast kind of day!

I am tired, but in a good way. I think getting adjusted to the time zone isn’t an issue, though, due to the long day I had yesterday, so maybe that’s good.

I ended up buying a new outfit at Gatwick (oh, the shops at Gatwick… they are so GOOD LOL) because I was just SURE I’d be needing fresh clothes for today because I was sure that I’d be in Charlotte. Part of me wanted to spend the night there, just so I could sleep. But they put me on the last flight to Memphis and although exhausted, it felt good to sleep in my own bed after the day I’d had.

But as I said, I’m glad something went wrong with the engine on the ground and not in the air above the Atlantic Ocean. And I got more shopping time in, so why complain? The airline gave us food vouchers and took care of us in the course of that time, so it wasn’t all that bad, except for the whole being up since 4:30 a.m. UK time. I pretty much pulled a 24-hour day. But it’s not like I haven’t done that in awhile… anytime I go to Memphis, that somehow happens! LOLOL So at least I’m fairly used to it.

The drive home was challenging, but thanks to some wonderful Doctor Who audio adventures sent to me by Joe, I kept myself awake. It was the longest drive EVER, though! heh

I got home and was greeted by some very grateful (and yet awfully spoiled) cats. Maggie missed me the most – she always does. Mom has fattened them up even more and they’ve apparently had the run of the house in my absence. She’s apparently grown quite attached to them… ha! LOLOLOL