January 1, 2004
Happy 2004. I can't believe another year has gone by. It has been quite a year.
Pete drove us up to a spot about 1 1/2 hours away. There was quite a bit of snow, at least for this area. I think the area was called Nidderdale.
The snow was very slushy in the hills because there is a lot of water up there. It made it very slippery. We were also fighting against the wind. The total walk was close to eight miles. It was great and the hills were pretty with the snow. There are a lot of stone fences marking off propery and they were really noticable with the contrast of the snow.
We stopped in a pub for something to drink before we finished the last bit. Then we drove back to York when done. My boots and socks were wet and cold and my pant legs were wet. I was looking forward to a warm shower and warm, dry clothes.
We made plans with Pete's daughter and boyfriend to go out for pizza for dinner. We picked them up and drove into town. The place was called "Ask". Don't ask me why. It is in a beautiful old large building that use to be an Assembly Building. It had large marble pillars along the sides. I couldn't even guess the height of the room, but maybe at least 30 feet. The tables all had candles and flowers on them and the music was from the 40's. It is quite nice. We had appetizers and then we all ordered pizza.
I was tired and was ready to go back and go to bed. Except that I told Pete I would show him how to set up a website like mine. It is really easier than people think. There are sites that make it very easy for people to do.
I went to bed about 10:30.
January 2, 2004
Pete brought us to the bus station. We had to take a local bus to Leeds and then catch a bus to London from there. Before we had arrived in York Pete checked the buses from York to London and they were all full for the day we wanted. So we had to take the other route. We arrived in London and went straight to Kevin's. He was home because he took the day off. Laurie and I did some wash.
Later on we walked to this pub. Kevin thinks it might be the oldest in London or at least in this section. We had a drink and then we walked to this Italian Restaurant. It is called Borodello. Again we had appetizers and I had an alfredo dish with peas and ham. It was good, but the serving was too big and I felt like I had to eat it all. I don't think places in Europe have caught on to the idea of "doggie bags".
We walked back. It is about a half hour walk. It was refreshing, especially after our meal.
January 3, 2004
Laurie and I went looking for boxes. We need boxes to ship some stuff home. The stores here don't seem to keep their boxes for long. We went to 5 or 6 stores and only come up with two boxes.
We organized our stuff. We left a lot of stuff at Kevin's when we were here in July. We had to sort through all of our stuff. It was kind of fun going through and seeing what we had left here.
About 12:30 Kevin, Laurie, and I took the subway to this Thai restaurant. It was packed. We had to wait awhile, but Kevin is a regular there and was able to get us in a little quicker.
The meal was excellent and I was full, no dinner for me tonight.
Kevin went back and Laurie and I went to the shopping area--Oxford Street. I hate that street, way too many people. I needed to get a hoop for a cross-stitch that I picked up. From there Laurie and I took the subway to Harrods. It is the most famous department store. It is in a large, beautiful building. We basically went to take a quick look around. It turned dark so all the lights on the outside were lit up. We walked around the outside of it. It was surrounded by limo's, Bentleys, and Rolls. It was a little out of my element. I saw people coming out loaded down with bags. It was Harrods bag sale. I saw one person come out with a large rollaway laundry basket filled with green bags. Even with the sale everything was too much money. I went in the store and there were too many people, but I did get a glimpse of the building inside. It was beautiful.
Laurie and I went back to the apartment. We were just going to stay in and watch movies. Kevin had DVD's to watch. I made popcorn and we watched two movies. One was "Ballroom" an Australian movie. We almost shut it off but I said wait another 10 minutes. It was actually very good. The other one was "Princess Diaries". It was a cute kids movie with Julie Andrews.
It was about 12:00 when we finished watching. It felt good to just relax.
January 4, 2002
Laurie and I took the subway to ASDA to do some shoppping. Other than that we didn't do much. We read up on Costa Rica because that is our next stop.
We did go out about 4:00 to visit Angela and Cal. We had a nice visit. We couldn't stay long because Kevin was cooking us dinner.
We got home about 7:40 and we ate about 8:00. We had a delicious ham and scalloped potatoes. Kevin is a great cook. I am glad I didn't eat much during the day.
We watched "I am Sam". It was a very touching story with Sean Penn about a retarded man raising his daughter. After that it was time for bed.
January 5, 2004
I am a little behind in writing. I am actually writing this two days late sitting at a movie theater in Amsterdam. So again I have to rely on my memory.
Laurie and I met Roland at the Waterloo train station. Roland is someone I met when I started the Appalachian Trail. His trail name was Mad Dog.
