Score card on London, Portugal, Wales packing

I wore everything but the two extra dresses I packed for Portugal.  Did actually wear a linen J. Jill

dress the day we went to Porches to look at pottery.  But, the other two never saw the light of day.  

I did wear everything else, including my scarves, but no bracelets or tights either.  

This was a hard trip to pack lightly for, since we were essentially in two different climates.  But, my little Susan Sez polar fleece coat kept me toasty at all times.  

Next time, fewer dress up things, although that will be hard headed for Paris!

Day 16,17 Wales to Manchester, U.K.

KI think I lost a day in there some way, but at least we didn't show up to MAN airport a day early, like 20 yrs ago when I had more of a mind, even!

We decided not to push things in the drive down hilly, narrow roads from Wales to Manchester airport on the day we were to fly out.  So, I booked a hotel near the City Centre of Manchester, on our last night in UK.  No windows in it, but a new rehab of an old building with a great roof top garden/bar,

within short walking distance of the City Centre with loads of restaurants and a great modern bath and a first for this trip, pillow top mattresses!!!!

Had an ok dinner meal last night, deteriorating from the asparagus toast, down through hake tapas.  Found our fav restaurant from DC, Pret something, for fresh croissants for breakfast, and ran a little late heading out to the airport, but suffered no consequences gassing up, returning the car, and checking in for our flight.  Even had time for a "spot of tea" after security clearance.  

We are on board AA Flight 55 (Boeing 767-300, my fav plane and not even close to full) to Ohare, five hours out, with minimal turbulence so far and free flowing wine.  Even Rex is taking advantage, relieved as he is to have turned in the rental car with no incidents (they didn't even spot our side mirror repair complete with my custom spit polish to remove the white car scratches from the plastic part I made Rex retrieve)

Thank you Uk and Portugal for all your courtesy and kindness.  We had a wonderful time!

Days 14,15 Last Days of Wales

Day 14-Drove down the other side of the Dyfi valley to Aberystwyth, this big town with a castle.

Took a train ride up the coast of Wales on our last full day.  

Had to be careful which car we sat in, as the train split in two and went two different ways at the foot of the estuary we were on.  

Nice electric train, though.

Our destination, Portmerion, a two hour one way train ride.  The train dumped us off in the countryside.  The resort director had reassured us there would be taxis to take us the 2miles into town.  Course, she probably went in busy season, like the above photo.  We were the only ones off the train and had to walk both ways a bit to figure out where this "fake Italian village", Portmerion, even was.  After a totally delightful 2mile hike through the woods, 

we came upon the "village", Portmerion.  Rex was shocked to learn the entry fee was more than our round trip train tickets, just to walk through the dang place.  It's supposedly been used for numerous movie shoots, most famously The Prisioner (not a film I remember), but. . . 

Posh hotel at the bottom of the hill on what, another gorgeous estuary.

Plentiful bathrooms and a small tram ride and we were finished with Portmerion, aka Wales Disneyland.  So we hiked again and had a big snack and waited forty-five minutes more for the return 2hour train ride.  

Days 11,12, 13 the beauty of Wales

It was cloudy and cold for two of these days, but the sun broke out yesterday and it became incredibly warm.  No more coats in the tiny house, etc.

Sunday, our first full day here, we found a fantastic grocery store, with multiple fresh things from all over Europe and the world.  We had fresh salmon with orange tarragon sauce and asparagus for dinner.  Yummy.

Viewed Europes largest estuary (we are further up the Dyr river from it) whole Dyr river valley is a UNESCO Heritage sight, for the people and the natural beauty.  Everyone is quite friendly and helpful.  Beach isn't quite up to St John standards but it is long and wide and pretty abandoned, but not totally.

Drove home through Happy Valley and saw no one but a mother sheep and lamb having a nap on the asphalt.  Oh, and like at home, a few very hardy bikers.

Monday we toured their MOMA and drove up the mountain for sandwiches at the spot pictured above.  A huge view of the valley behind us.  Windy up there, but stunning views.

Tuesday we toured Dolgoch waterfall where a steam train was used to take the farmers goods to market, before they made a highway.

 Had a piece of chocolate cake and coffee/tea at the quaint tea shop at the head of the path to the below.  Glorious sun finally came out.  Rex and I both said at the same time, it was easy to believe in the fairies in this woods.

Went back to Machynlleth, which even has a great fabric store. My one purchase, a bamboo and cotton woven for them in India, which Rex found first.

Other great shops, one had wonderfully tempting shoes, that I don't need.

Found a fresh rainbow trout and fresh Brussels sprouts and baking potatos for dinner.

Today is market day, so I think we are going back there for that.

Day 10- rocky transitions from Portugal to Wales

Thanks to the airplane door falling open as we taxied out on Ryan Air (thank goodness they had food to buy after almost a 2 hour delay before the 3hour flight to Manchester)

Then, another rental car horror story.  Their salesman tied us up forever, and then there was the great rear view mirror story (ask Rex)

So, we were very late getting into Macchynlleth,  Wales.  We'd been viewing these adorable lambs all along the very long drive, and then the resort restaurant offered baby lamb as an entree (NOT our choice-we settled for fish and chips)

Beautiful here, but much cooler than Portugal

Day 9. A visit to Porches, Portugal

Porches is home to hand painted pottery such as the above.

The town itself is very old and interesting, but had fallen into disrepair until one of the potters got the town to care again, as they passed their skills on to the next generation.

Sad to say goodbye tomorrow to beautiful Portugal.

Day 8 a visit to the medieval castle in Silves, Portugal

This town less than 10 km inland was the last Western outpost of the Moors.

The castle itself was restored in the 1940s.  Then, they added a neat coffee shop and facilities just recently.  We had wonderful shrimp po boy sandwiches with tons of fresh arugula.

This is a shot with a guy from the Crusades, who detoured to win the fort back from the Moors, in front of the castle as you enter.

Wore a cotton jacket from Focus (Ruperts, of course) and a tye dye tshirt from TJ's with my jeans.

Day 7 beach day in Portugal

Interesting caves everywhere from the Atlantic eroding the soft sandy soil.

I

Right over the hill/dune from our place were these beaches.

Many had little bistros and restrooms and beach chairs for rent.

Outfit catchup, days 5,6,7

Here is the shirt I wore on the plane, a Comfy from Rupert Cornelius in Madison.  

It looks a little wrinkly, but just needs an iron touch up after washing.  This Chicos vest is a great third piece with it

The following day I wore this Lucky tshirt and J Jill scarf

Short sleeved Lucky shirt and linen J Jill cropped pants got me through spa day

Keens and flip flops were interchangeable, depending on activity level.

Yesterday was beach day so another pair of J Jill linen crops and white tshirt were perfect.

Rex has all the beach photos and refuses to share, so I'll add those later.  

Days 5-6 Portugal heaven

After a very early wake up call, a very full flight, and two hours asking almost everyone in Faro airport where Ace rental car was (no signs for them at all), we scored a cute little four door Alfa Romeo and hit the road to Lagoa, in the Algrave region of Portugal.  Who knows what tolls we are paying, but the roads were great.

Since we were early for checkin, we hit the supermarket where we bought loads of fresh stuff.  In Portuguese and English, the checkout lady explained we needed to weigh and label said produce in the produce section.  Also, had to pay for shopping bags, shopping trolleys, etc.  Oh well, they had wonderfully clean restrooms, delicious bread, fresh shrimp and a great chocolate gateau, too.

Our first views of the huge one bedroom guest suite were encouraging, and the chimneys are a feature of this region of Portugal.

Even the colours reminded us of home.

And the terrace and outside views are in full spring bloom 

We spent most of yesterday, after our lap swimming in their decent indoor pool, looking for Euros and firewood.  Our rewarding fire last night would make any Eagle Scout proud.

Did I mention the oranges and lemons grown locally?  And, the condo has a juicer.  That, plus French raspberry jam on the local bread will keep us until massage time this morning.  Spa is having a half-price sale!

Day 4 - shopping and Two more airports

It rained this morning, but by the time we packed up and checked out of the Olympia Hilton in Kensington, it quit.  Good omen, we thought.  We were able to drag our broken wheeled suitcase to the Overground train station only a few blocks.

I dressed for rain, as it was predicted to continue throughout the day but never did.  Luckily, I wore

a sweater as well.  This with my S.Betzina puzzle Rag and Bone pointe (from Mood and has a lot of cotton.  Bought this fabric in navy and black and love it!) pants and a Focus Cowl neck from Rupert Cornelius in Madison, WI

I had located a T K Maxx (that is not a typo.  Same store, but they changed the name "to not confuse people") in Soho as we had to replace our destroyed suitcase and I figured they had one.  They did and we repacked it right in the luggage department.  Heard a Code 4 announcement on the loud speaker, but it wasn't about us, fortunately.

We got handicapped treatment in the Underground, involving an escort to the hidden lift, and 3 different young men helped lift our new suitcase when there were only stairs.  Only problem was we arrived at the wrong airport. (London airport #4) as they were closing (1:00pm?) and there were no more trains back into downtown London.  A big Avis bloke fixed the fact they wouldn't let me use their bathroom, fortunately.  

Our iPhone said to take a number 474 bus to Manor Park where we could take two trains to the Stansted airport.  We jumped off once too soon, but that was the least of our worries as the bus driver helped us with that.  After reboarding, the bus driver, who was reluctantly cordial by now, informed us the football game was letting out, and we sat for an hour or two inching along in the worst traffic jam I have experienced.  At first it was somewhat amusing to watch the bus driver swear at the people who got in his way.  But, then his shift ran out and we had to get out of the bus with our two big suitcases in a stiff, cold wind and wait on the next bus for over an hour.  

No public restrooms in site.  Rex walked to a Texaco to no avail.  I took refuge in a laundromat to warm  my hands for a while.  We got sandwiches and crisps from Tesco Express since we had planned to eat a leisurely brunch at our hotel at the airport, and were starving by then.  We were in East Dem, an incredibly, racially diverse part of London someone later told me can " get a bit rough" after a game.  We heard a bit of hollering before the game from some young, white lads in the Underground in Soho, outside the Starbucks,  but fortunately, everyone else was really mellow.

Eventually got to Manor Park and followed the fans to the train station, where another polite young man carried my bag.  

What a day!!!  We left our hotel at 10:30am and made the 6:00pm train to Stansted where we finally found immaculate restrooms and Pinot Grio.  Fortunately, the airport Hilton had a great salmon dinner  and we got in a few laps in their indoor pool before bed time.

Our 4:30am wake up call, our mass transit adventure complete with a view of the Olympic grounds, or Rexs nightmare screams must have wired me.  Fell asleep finally about an hour before it went off.

Day 3 - Spring in Kensington London UK

There is this incredible app from the UK government that allows you to type in your FROM and TO places and get transportation options that include the Underground/rail/bus and intriguingly to me, bikes.  Checking bikes gave me "hire bikes" as an option.  Checking that showed me exactly where to pick up bikes from our fab organic breakfast restaurant, Down to Earth, and how many were available at that moment, an "easy" non-busy street route, approximate time of trip, and where to park the bikes and how many spots were currently available there.

We inserted our credit card into the machine after a very yummy but very slow breakfast (our waiter wouldn't take a tip) and received two of the following

There was a bit of a learning curve to biking on the left side of the road, but it was a fun trip to the Victoria and Albert museum.  We viewed the Japan, China, and Buddhist collections as well as the metal group, the fashion group and this wonderful, mammoth Chihuly 

Had fun fantasizing about how they mailed that to the museum.

Had a great tea in the gardens and watched the clouds until we figured out it might rain, so we hit the bike dispenser again.

Dinner was at this wonderful tapas/

gastropub where almost everyone was half our age.  Great food!  And charming English babies and tots. A fun day.

Besides the polar fleece coat from yesterday's blog, a Susan Sez find in Madison, WI, I wore these separates

I made the tshirt from a Gayfeathers fabric in a vogue pattern that I blogged about last year(it's also great of stripes) .  Ponte jeans are Jones NY.  Mary Janes are Naot and socks are J Jill.  Can you tell my colors are Navy as a neutral and aqua for accents?