More Granada...

Views from our hotel in Granada...fabulous place.

Granada photos...hope you can figure them out...

Views from our room in Almeria, hams everywhere, and Huxley Conference scholars.





We’ve just spent a couple of wonderful days in Granada. What a fabulous place and Jesus (Jim’s colleague he’s been in touch with from Almeria University not the other Jesus...) has been great showing us around and driving us here from Almeria.

His suggestion of staying at the Alhambra Palace Hotel was perfect as we were a 5 minute walk from the Alhambra and we were high up with wonderful views of the city and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The hotel is super but didn’t have wireless just some way of connecting through the TV so I couldn’t post photos to my blog and we were pretty occupied so we didn’t bother. I must say this hotel has had the most luxurious toilettries I’ve ever had in a hotel...a brand called Pascal Morabito from Paris.

An interesting combination of the new and the ancient. I’ve been using my iphone to check the time by the bedside and also listening to the church bells ring off the hours...thank goodness they don’t start until 8am!

We all visited the Alhambra yesterday...what can I say..it really is the most amazing place as you will see from the photos.

When I post this we will be in Nerja...a couple of hours by coach and on the coast. We hope to get a swim in the ocean..

We have arrive in Nerja...wonderful village and loved the trip down by coach...fabulous scenery. More later about Nerja. Will post Granada photos in the next one and try to catch up!

Last day in London

Katy, Susan, me, Madsie, David



Susan, David, Katy, me.


Katy and Madsie x two


Madsie's wonderful eye painting.






We went to the British Museum our last day in London since it was just around the corner and we hadn't been there for a while. The mummies are always interesting and of course the Egyptians loved cats and mummified them as well.

Well, we couldn't visit England without having fish and chips...this sharing platter with scampi and mushy peas was super.

Then to Katy and David's where we were treated to a fabulous dinner. David did a steak au poivre that was incredible served with a wonderful wine. He's going to make a great wine merchant...his new career. And Katy made this chocolate mousse that was sinful really...but you only live once! Thank you so much!

Susan had come down from Yorkshire specially to see us and it was wonderful to be together again. We really missed you, Alan, but we know you need to rest and take good care of yourself.

Vicky's at university in St. Andrews (and having a wonderful time we hear) so we didn't see her but it was great to see Madsie and to see her wonderful artwork that she's been doing in a course in school...wow! The portrait is of herself and her mom, Katy. And I just loved the "eye" painting where London landmarks are reflected in the eye...probably hard to see in the photo.

And we have arrived in Almeria and have a great view overlooking the port. Photos to come. It's been a fun, interesting, and exhausting trip so far. We've always had a very slow approach to travel so this whirlwind is a bit different for us.

Regent Street

We went down to Regent Street last night since Jim had just been talking about it in his presentation. It also happened to be the night they turned on the Christmas lights so it was very festive. Huxley was quite horrified that the street might become a jumble of architecture and the classic architecture torn down. It started to happen with the Liberty Store building a fake tudor as you can see in the photo. In the end most of the original architecture was preserved.

We ended up in another great Nicolson's pub and Jim had Shepherd's pie which was fabulous as it was lamb shank and I had a wonderful chicken and mushroom pie all washed down with great pints. I think pub food has really improved in London or perhaps we've just got lucky.

I thought the camel at 1500 pds would make me a nice Christmas present...

A relaxing day in London

Jim's talk went very well last night and there were about a hundred people there and many came up afterward to talk to him. Now that pressure is off so relaxation is possible. We headed to the Strand today and walked around Charing Cross and found this great pub where we had a special ale called "Titanic Tomahawk". They specialize in lots of interesting brews and suggest food matchings. It was very cosy and the publican not only took our photo but insisting on taking our photo behind the bar pulling beer so we became "publicans" for a few minutes. Rainy today so cosy in the pub.

Nicholson's Pubs - Award winning ales

Titanic Tomahawk
stoke-on-trent
ABV 5.0%. Hops: Tomahawk, Ahtanum
This beer takes its name from one of the hops it’s
brewed from. The inclusion of Maris otter Pale Malt adds
to its memorable bitterness, while a touch of dark crystal
gives this pale ale a hint of red. rarely seen in cask, we’re
proud to be serving this during the Autumn season.
Food match: tasting platter

Then had lunch in the River Restaurant at The Savoy. We hadn't been to The Savoy in London but now that it is a Fairmont hotel and had recent gazillions dollar renovations we thought we'd give it a try. Also, the Fairmont chain is Canadian and most of the hotels were built by the Canadian Pacific Railway. For those people who don't know, if the Prime Minister John A. Macdonald hadn't insisted on this railway going from coast to coast, we would probably be Americans. And our favourite hotel in Vancouver is the Fairmont Waterfront Centre...of course, now we don't need a Vancouver hotel.

Super lunch of poached seabass to start then a wonderful coq au vin...sauce to die for. Selection of breads served with Normandy butter with smoked salt...yum.

A pretty exhausting time...

Jim is now giving his talk for the Architect's Club and I am relaxing with a cup of tea and posting to my blog. Jetlag just hit me too hard to attend tonight but Jim seemed in pretty good form and I'm sure it will go very well. The Art Worker's Guild where it is being held is just a 5 minute walk from where we are staying so very convenient. The pub we went to the first day we arrived is just around the corner from it!

We began today with a meeting with Jennie, the archivist, at the Athenaeum Club where Huxley was a member and he used various architectural features in the building in various works of his. Jennie was very interested to know this and it was great for Jim to see what Huxley was basing his descriptions on.

It's quite the clubhouse and I felt like I should have been wearing a long trailing gown when I went up the grand staircase. Jennie had retrieved Huxley's membership application and Jim and her were very interested that Edward Elgar, the composer, was one of the proposers for his membership. Jim was familiar with most of the other names.
I was more interested in an upcoming dinner with fine wines for 115 pounds per person (completely sold out and a long waiting list apparently)

I would have loved to have climbed up the staircase ladder in the library but Jennie sneaked us in as it was as this particular library was for "Members Only".

Then on to the BMA (British Medical Association) for lunch with a fellow whose father had a Huxley connection.

Quite a fascinating day but I did find it rather tiring and am looking forward to having a free day tomorrow but cold, wind, and rain are predicted so I'm not sure what we'll end up doing. Sat and Sun were really very mild and no rain so we did rather luck in.

Oxford today

We had a super lunch and visit with David and Barbara. We always have a great time with them and Barbara put me on to lots of good books as usual. And we are making progress with getting them to come out to Vancouver. Rory and Georgia are all grown up and look gorgeous (didn't get a photo of Georgia but got one of Rory helping to cook lunch...love seeing men in the kitchen). Thank you so much, David and Barbara!

We haven't been in England at this time of year and it was wonderful to see all the deciduous trees turning colour on our way out to Oxford then coming back through London at night to see all the Christmas lights...even some fireworks.

Arrived in London

We arrived in London and headed directly to a pub and of course had to have a pint of London Pride! There was an anti-Fascist protest going on hence the police. Good winds and our plane arrived an hour early which was great. Feeling pretty jetlagged so will make this brief.

Super lunch at the Blue Crab

The Grand Pacific Pool is now closed for renovations so Elaine and I went to the Coast Harbourside Pool which is very nice if almost no one is there and we lucked into that. Had a super lunch and really enjoyed their fabulous view. And we learned Gordon Campbell resigned...big cheers through the restaurant. Sunshine...does it get any better than this?

Can't let Autumn pass without a few photos of leaves....

Fiesta Espanola ...olé

Fern, all decked out in Spanish dress.


Carol, with one of the tapas "Tuna and Goat Cheese in filo pastry"...the others were salted almonds, Spanish Meatballs, Prawn and Ham Brochettes (my absolute favourite and will be making them myself)


Don and Fern.


The menu.

Our hosts extraordinaire, John and Fern.

Fern cooked a fabulous Spanish themed meal for us and Carol and Don (thanks again for driving, Don). Wow...what a feast! It certainly got us in the mood for Spain!

Fern even made up printed menus in Spanish with English translations...good for those of us who haven't been very diligent learning Spanish...

Thanks so much, John and Fern, it was a great evening!