Visitor from Canada

So, I had my very first Canadian visitor a few days ago. A friend from Calgary, who I know through my involvement with CIRI (Canadian Investor Relations Institute), was vacationing with her family in Amsterdam and popped up to England to see me and another friend of hers in the Midlands. Debbie came on Sunday night and stayed until Wednesday noon. I took Monday off and we went to Harrods and Hyde Park and Kensington Palace and the Princess Dianna Memorial and Covent Garden. It was lots of fun.

Harrods is an experience in itself! It's not just a store, it's a big theme park! Each room has lavish decorations and amazing specialty items. There is a heavy Egyptian bent to it, probably because it is owned by Egyptians. The food rooms were absolutely amazing, both in their selection and their displays.

Kensington Palace was a bit of a disappointment. It is, of course, where Princess Diana lived from the time of her marriage to Charles until her death. It is less of a palace and more of a very large brick house. We didn't want to pay the £11.50 ($25.00) admission to go in, so just went around the outside. It is right on the edge of Hyde Park.

We then walked through Hyde Park, found a lovely little "secret garden", and made our way to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. At first, it seems very plain - just a big marble oval in the grass. No spectacular geysers or anything. But once you get close to it, and walk around it, it is quite beautiful and interesting. I think it is a good indication of the public image of Diana. When she married Charles, she seemed very ordinary and "vanilla", but once she became comfortable with the public, we saw her for the interesting and passionate woman that she was. I thought it was a very beautiful and appropriate memorial.

Covent Garden was brilliant, as always. We went to the Maple Leafe pub for supper then and back to the flat. I had to work the next day, so Debbie went off sightseeing on her own. There is a brilliant tour bus that allows you to hop on and off within a 24-hour period, and so she spent the day doing that and got her money's worth! It was so nice having a familiar face and, more importantly, a familiar accent! I didn't have to ask her to repeat herself once!! lol

So, life goes on. Paul is home from the hospital and healing well. We bought a small used car, which he is picking up today, so now I have wheels, although he'll be doing all the driving for the next while. A week from tomorrow, I have some more friends coming to visit, and right after they leave, my Uncle Jac is coming up and we're going down to Greece. Life is about to get busy!!