This will be a slow start to the next series of blogs from England. We are going to set them up as blogposts, but will not offer a final closure to these stories.......for days, if not for weeks. There is just too much happening on these travel/transition days to have time to sit down and create the blogpost! We will do our best to catch up. This is important because it is so easy to lose the details!
Today is Wednesday, June 11th. This is the day we drive from Il Bottaccio to the Florence airport for out flight to London.....and a hopeful, exciting stay at Gravetye Manor. There is a lot to get done in 24 hours, so we will see how it goes.
This is being written late on Thursday night, so a lot has happened already and we have to say it was crazy, stressful, energized, and ultimately quite an extraordinary experience at Gravetye. We can't wait to share the stories and photos. It will just have to wait a few days!
Time is flying by.......and this adventure is now being edited a week later! on Thursday night. It may not even be completed tonight.......as the days continue to be full of great experiences and not enough time to sit back and record what has happened. I will try to advance the Florence to Gravetye experience tonight, but quite honestly it may take several more day to catch up!
Starting off with a wonderful sunny morning and a great breakfast on the terrace. This place is very relaxing and accommodating!
We had a fairly smooth drive to Florence after leaving Il Bottaccio, but the last couple of miles proved to be rather stressful.......and understatement at best! We needed to drop our car off at the rental car lot at the airport, but this was far more challenging than we expected! It is a good thing that we left some extra time for the flight because this part of our trip was crazy difficult. It was a combination of difficult signage and a complicated set of twists and turns. In the end, it all worked out. In the photo below, Andrea's facial expression represents the situation! We made the flight with plenty of time, but also with a lot of anxiety. Actually the Florence airport was a nice scale and the processing through the ticket counter and check in was fantastic.....no waiting at all.
LEAVING FLORENCE......CIAO TO ITALY!
PRETTY GOOD FOOD
LONDON
LNDING AT LONDON CITY AIRPORT......TOTALLY AMAZING VIEW OF THE CITY.......CHECK OUT THE 'SHARD'
Landing at London City Airport was a total surprise. We had always landed at either Heathrow or Gatwick. This airport is really in the center of the City! The views during landing were exhilerating......it felt like we would hit the tops of the buildings!
AND THE FUN BEGINS!
Everything about this airport was great.......except a 1/4 mile walk to the car rental counter......and then a route through the city which was full of construction and detours......just as we were trying to get used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. This was a challenge at best, but as a team we managed to maneuver through it......and finally got out of the congestion and onto some country roads leading to Gravetye Manor. That being said, the country roads were almost as challenging as the crazy traffic in downtown London!
GRAVETYE MANOR
It will be hard to describe this place other than with photographs. We had read a lot about it in the guidebooks, but nothing quite prepares you for the reality. It was totally AMAZING!
THE WALLED KITCHEN GARDEN.......HARD TO EXPLAIN HOW MUCH WE LIKED THIS!
OVERALL, THE GARDENS HERE ARE BOTH INSPIRING AN MEZMERIZING AT THE SAME TIME......NEVER SEEN ANYTHING QUITE LIKE THIS!
AND WHAT A PLACE FOR AN APERITIVO!
AND EVENTUALLY INSIDE FOR DINNER
