Top of the morning!

"I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes." 

e.e.cummings

England.  Quirky.  Beautiful.  Refreshing. 

For the past week, Alex and I have been traipsing all over England.  From London to Sunningdale, Southport to Lake Country.  England has not disappointed.  From Paris Alex and I flew Easyjet to London, where we settled in for a few days.  Last year, our time in London was very short, only one full day.  This year we stretched it out and it was grand.  Upon arriving at our B&B near the British Library and Museum, we found our bearings and then began exploring. 

Highlights included the British Library and viewing the Magna Carta, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Gutenburg bible, and the codex sinaiticus (one of two of the earliest Christian bibles dating back to the fourth century).  Other highlights included the British Museum, Hare and Tortoise (one of our new found favorite Asian restaurants), a 3-story Whole Foods, Kensington High Street, Imperial War Museum, National Army Museum, and Sunningdale Golf Course.

We really liked London but after four days were ready to hop in our rental and head north!  Thank goodness Alex is left-handed, it's much easier for him to navigate and operate our manual car:)  From London we drove up to Southport, England home of Royal Birkdale, the golf course we visited last year for the Open Championship.  It was even more fun being there after the event, remembering fun little tidbits from the tournament, and enjoying the gorgous landscape.  From Birkdale we traveled even furthur north, stopping for hot chocolate and a walk towards Derwentwater lake in Keswick, the heart of lake country.  Then we stopped for a walk on Hadrian's wall.  All the while we were driving up and down winding roads, with lush green landscapes and the company of many, many sheep:)

We are now in Ayr, Scotland home to many of the best golf courses in the world; Turnberry, Troon, and Prestwick to name a few.  We'll keep you posted on how they fare:)

By far, what we have seen up until this point, we are uttering the words of cummings as we go, we thank you Lord for your gorgeous landscape.