Hello from Riga, Latvia.  Just finished doing a tour of the absolutely wonderful art nouveau buildings here...just amazing examples.  We have a super hotel in the "old town" and there are wonderful things to see there as well.  Riga does have wonderful architecture and is very scenic with the river, the canal, and beautiful parks.  It's also an extremely good value compared to England...less than half price for pretty much everything.  Nice to get some relief from prices in Britain.

We got out to the beach area of Jurmula (23 miles of sandy beach).  Didn't go swimming but waded and the water was fairly warm.  Lots of people swimming.  Taking the train out was quite an experience too...again, very cheap...$2 dollars (CDN) return for a 40 minute ride.  Jim's conference has been very good and his paper went over well.  We're off tonight for the final dinner...Latvian food, of course!

Another really fascinating place was the Central Market...loads and loads of vendors...probably about 200 of fish alone and selling everything.  Lots of smoked fish.  We have a great buffet breakfast that has everything you could want including about 12 varieties of smoked fish dishes.  Visited the Occupation Museum today...very depressing history...so glad to see things really looking up for this country and its people.

 

Just came back from a wonderful stay at Patty Brooks (mother of a friend) lovely 16th century thatched house in grounds in a wonderful  little village in Buckinghamshire.  Sipped Pimms under the apple tree, went for a super walk round the fields and were absolutely spoiled with lovely meals and great conversation...even got some tips on how to do these cryptic crosswords these English love.  Thanks so much, Patty.

Before that had a couple more days in London and saw a great play by Conor McPherson (wrote The Weir that was at the Belfry not long ago) called Shining City.  Also got to the Tate Modern and walked across the Millenium Bridge (could do that in 00 because it was "wobbly".  Great way to cross the Thames.  Then lined up to visit the "Stranger's Gallery"  (viewing area) in the House of Commons.  Really neat even though Tony was seeing the Queen that afternoon and wasn't there.  Also went into the House of Lords.

Back in London now strolling around Earl's court and Hammersmith before overnighting at Heathrow and on to Latvia (very early...!) tomorrow.

 

I had my first experience with the NHS (National Health Service) and it was quite fun really.  I was getting a little worried about this thumb so thought I should get it looked at.  Also, didn't get a very encouraging response from a pharmacist I asked.  She said I should go to Accident and Emergency immediately and that they would have to take my thumbnail off (wasn't the case).  Our B & B in Reading is very close to the Royal Berkshire Hospital so figured I'd drop in on the way home.  I had nice chats with lots of people and things weren't too backed up.  Covered for some young men who wanted to take smoke breaks. 
 
They took an xray and it wasn't broken so decided to try to let out the blood that was causing the swelling by what they called "a rather primitive method". It consisted of lighting a little coal oil lamp and heating a needle until it glowed red then pop that in my nail.  They weren't sure if it would hurt...screaming from the next cubicle didn't help but actually didn't even feel it in the end.  Blood was too clotted but let some out so the pressure subsided a little.  I think at home they would have shielded the process....a bit unnerving to watch this needle heated to glowing and see it coming towards a thumb that was very sore....!
 
However, everyone was very nice and no charge.  I really do think they should charge tourists but no complaints.
 
This was our day for bargains as we actually had a meal that cost less than at home rather than twice as much as is usual in England.  We happened on a J.D. Wetherspoon pub mainly because it had a view of the river.  We had two meals (one fish and chips and one lasagna) and two pints of Abbots ale for around 20 dollars CDN.  The food was pretty good too.  I  paid 3x for inferior  f&c in London.
 
Trying to get tickets for a Proms concert but the oneline booking is down...will try again after I post this.  We were hoping to see Measure for Measure at the Globe but not on when we're back in London.  Just about seen most of Reading.  Think I might take a train to Swindon or Chippenham this aft just for something to do.
 
 
 

Just left Oxford and are now in Reading. Jim's doing the usual research library thing and I found this very cool public library with lots of free Internet access. Reading seems quite pleasant and it's been fun walking along the canal (Thames also runs through the city) and saw some interesting canal boats floating by. The best was one with loads of plants, herbs, a dog, young couple (guy with hair to his waist...very 60's)and a young baby bouncing along in a little cot. Very charming. They waved at everyone and seemed like they were having a great time.

We had a super visit with the Bradshaw family in Oxford and had a lot of laughs, great food (thank you, Barbara), interesting pubs (thank you, David), impressive cricket and trampoline demonstrations (thank you, Rory), and round Britain type quizzes (thank you, Georgia). I do have to note, though, that I am the only one who managed to get "soft hands" Jim out at cricket....very proud of that!

And a real highlight was the Griffin Circus that was performing in a nearby field. This is a travelling Victorian type circus that was just fantastic with loads of excellent acts...horses, clowns, dancing girls, acrobats, strong man, magicians...and even a tightrope walker who played an Irish jig on a violin while standing on the tightrope with one foot! All very impressive and lots of fun...super band as well. We were all exhausted just by watching all these energetic goings one for two hours. Do take this in if you're in England and have a chance. Seems it all started in 1999 when the to-be Mrs. Griffin said, "I say, darling, I would like a circus"...and the rest is history.

Been doing lots of sightseeing in Dorset...very very beautiful countryside and we have a fabulous, spacious, cottage. Huge kitchen which makes it great for us all pitching in to help. Don't have much time so try to give a bit of a quick update. Corfe Castle is a wonderful place and have also enjoyed lots of lovely thatched villages and all the Hardy country stuff. There is actually a cottage Hardy's father built at Greenwood Grange where we are staying and his birthplace is just down the road. Went to Sherbourne and were surprised by the great Abbey there and also a wonderful stately home. Walked into Dorchester today along a lovely river path and had a picnic by some swans. Then met a garrulous Dorset man and heard all about agriculture etc. Have to go.

Greetings from London! We began our stay in London with a "flight" on the London Eye. What a great addition to the city's attractions! You really can see so much and they have it all wonderfully organized. We're quite close to the Thames so doing quite a bit of walking around there. Close to the Tate so took in a special exhibition on the garden...very nicely done.

I went with Jim yesterday to Old Battersea House to help with some copying of Huxley letters to John Galsworthy (of Forsyth Saga fame among many other things). There ended up not to be any letters but it was quite an experience. It actually was the London home of Steve Forbes of Forbes Magazine. He has an amazing collection of Galsworthy papers...many original manuscripts and loads of letters from Conrad to Galsworthy..also letters from Katherine Mansfield, Henry James, etc.(alas no Huxley).

It was quite an amazing house and our work area was beside a large wonderful David Hockney work. The secretary there was having trouble typing up a talk from the handwriting of someone so Jim helped her since he is quite accustomed to reading bad handwriting.
In the end, the person came down to decipher it and it happened to be Casper Weinberger who was the Defence Minister for Reagan. Various photos around the house with famous people like John Kennedy, Clinton, Reagan, Liz Taylor (the father, Malcolm Forbes, was married to her for a while).

National Gallery yesterday and wonderful to see Van Gogh's Sunflowers again.

Off to Dorset tomorrow after dinner with the Horne family tonight.

Greetings from Yorkshire!

We had a good flight over with a small glitch in that the Underground was on strike but we managed to get a taxi without too many problems and arrived at King's Cross in pretty good time and almost immediately got an express train to Leeds. It's been so great to have some cooler weather and we've been sleeping like logs (didn't get up until noon today!).

Susan and Alan have been spoiling us with all sorts of delicacies and it's so relaxing to be driven about and not have to navigate and all that stuff. Thursday we went to Nunnington Hall which is a very interesting manor house. Lots of interesting things to see and I especially enjoyed the many miniature scenes the lady of the manor had collected and partially created. Having been deprived of a doll house I have a special affinity for these.

We had the best ploughman's lunch ever in a famous pub called the Star in a little village called Harome. There was rarish steak, duck, smoked chicken, chicken salad, chutney, salad, three type of wonderful local cheeses and I'm sure I've forgotten something. Seems this pub restaurant came close to getting a Michelin star but couldn't get it because it is listed as a pub and Michelin doesn't rate pubs. Got talking to some folks there who mentioned the AA Pub Guide 2004 which is rather new I think so we've got that now and are avidly planning pub crawls in Dorset!

It's so neat being back in Yorkshire. The countryside and the little villages are just so wonderful. Looking forward to going to York this evening and having dinner with Alistair and Jenny and seeing their new house. Perhaps we'll even get in a bit of back yard cricket...