It may seem like a giant leap in this blog (weren’t we just living in Annapolis?!), and it is because we update here less often than happenings occur. For more real-time updates, Instagram is a better representation of our timeline.
That said, we’ve flown to Europe! No, we didn’t sail here. Crossing the Atlantic in a sailboat is a huge endeavor that requires loads of preparations (months/years of work), so we took a shortcut and hopped on a plane.
The less enthusiastic we were, the more we fantasized about other options. And the more we talked about other options, the more real those plans became. Next thing you know, we booked two one-way tickets to London (a cheap option because we had miles to burn) and were on our way.
I won’t regale you with every detail of our European adventure because I’m currently reveling in being in Europe at a slow pace. However, I want to share some highlights and a photo dump to share a bit of our experiences so far here.
The Journey
We start our journey in the UK. Landing in Heathrow, we rented a car and drove to Windsor Castle for lunch and a quick tour before checking into our quaint pub B&B (the Black Swan) in Devizes (dee-vy-zes). We met up with one of my internet friends I met during Covid (zoom meetings, ftw) who showed us around Devizes and Avebury, including a sister henge to the big Stonehenge in Amesbury. Charlie braved driving the English countryside roads in a 5-speed car, and we visited Stonehenge in Amesbury.
From Devizes, we returned to London and stopped in Marlborough for lunch and a tour of a restored silk merchant’s home/museum. London was a few days of glorious sightseeing and enjoying the big city life. Sites included the British Museum, the National Gallery (the Execution of Lady Jane Grey is one of my favorite paintings), the London Eye, drinks on a Pub on the Thames, and Westminster Abbey. We couldn’t leave London without seeing a musical, so we booked seats to Wicked and it was so fun!
Public Transit: Double Decker Bus
Old Moat at Windsor Castle is now a Garden
View of the River Thames
Where to Next?
And that concluded our first week in Europe. Next up, I’ll post about our journey to Belgium, and share photos of our Belgian adventures. We are planning to spend some time in Belgium (I fell in love within 2 days of arrival), and then start making our way east toward Munich for Oktoberfest in September and Slovenia & Croatia afterwards. We’re planning on a couple of weeks at a time, in true cruising fashion.
Love it!! Thanks for sharing Pinky and Charlie’s most excellent adventure.