Stroud, England - in the heart of the Cotswalds

Plane from Copenhagen to train to Stroud, England

Our friends (Olga and Tara) whom we know from LA pre-school New School West - one of the greatest schools in the world!! - Below is their home. They moved to England when we moved to Berkeley and we had not seen them since we moved.
A very exciting site - the trampoline!!!
Tara with one of their 6 guinea pigs.
Olga jumping the horse fence - it's English exercise!
At the public pool I thought it was funny to see this sign - only in England would it say "gentle pulls"...
This is the Red Lion (we think) pub and Inn in Avebury - a place with ancient rocks like Stonehenge but not as tourist-y. Case in point, I had never heard of it.
Here are the rocks - you can walk all along them and touch them etc which you can't do at Stonehenge.

part of the crew....Mark is shooting.
The rocks are situated all around the town - actually it's visa versa. The rocks are placed in a curving pattern with an entrance. The town was built hundreds of years later.

Farwell to Cotswalds and onto London to see other friends.
Thank you Olga and Tara!! xo

Last day in Copenhagen

We enjoyed taking a harbor tour on a stinky boat. It was cold and rainy, but fun. We saw the little mermaid's backside. She was much larger than we were led to believe.
The canals around downtown Copenhagen are wonderful.
One of these places was Hans Christian Anderson's home.
We got to say goodbye to a small version of the little mermaid at the Copenhagen airport.
We really enjoyed cycling all over Copenhagen.

2nd to last day we Hamlet's Castle and The Viking Boat Museum

This is Kronburg Slot (Castle). Ol' William Shakespeare was supposedly here during this castle's heyday as a traveling actor.
As you can see, we had many rainy days in Denmark. Our home exchange host said he wasn't responsible for the weather, but apologized none the less.
Quite a place. It existed in full Danish glory when Denmark was the empire.This is the Danish national hero Holger the Dane. He is 600 or more years old and only sleeping in the basement of Kronburg Castle. The say that he will awaken when Denmark needs to be defended again.
After that we rushed to the Viking ship museum. It was a very cool museum that had many hands on displays and authentic boat reproductions.

Here Coke is making a nail in the blacksmith shop.
Viking boats of all sizes.
This is Coke at the front of a huge Viking boat they sailed to Ireland a few years back.

Welcome to Sweden!

The Swedish toll booth sign...

This is Marstrand Sweden - a little island off of the north/west part of Sweden. It's very nautical. You can walk around the island in an hour. It's so quaint and the homes are beautiful. We are visiting an old friend who I haven't seen in 12 years - Paula Malm. She has two girls 5 (Luvisa) and 9 (Karin). Karin had her birthday the day we were there.

Believe it or not they were shooting a film here. This is the do not cross sign. It was a 'period' piece.



Coke and Luvisa.


Charming home....



Paula standing in front of the storefront where Paula's Mom sold her line of dresses when Paula was a little girl.
Camille and me - staying at Paula's house on the left.

Karin and Coke getting ready for Karin's b-day.

Party preparations and lots of catching-up!!





8 am dip in the ocean. It felt like Long Island waters - I was right 'at home'!
Coke getting his strength together to take the plunge!!
Luvisa and Karin showing their swimming medals.
Coke's find during our walk.
Camille and I on the rocks.
Coke checking out each and every little thing.
Man ho!
A Marstrand transport since there aren't cars.
Mark and Paula having lunch. The day was perfect weather.
The buildings are perfectly maintained which is amazing because the season is so short like 2 months.
The fort which sits on a hill overlooking the town. It was also a prison.
Paula's delicious birthday spread...
...singing the Swedish version of Happy Birthday!
A yummy treat (my fav was the licorice ice cream) before our drive back which was in a crazy downpour of rain.
This was a 24 hour visit and lots of fun not to mention another country!