Rain was gently falling this morning, but the forecast indicated it would be over by noon. We decided to visit some indoor museums, but on the way in the car, the rain stopped. This is bank holiday weekend in France so we expected a huge crowd at our first stop, St. Paul de Vence a hilltop town, but we were lucky. I think everyone stayed away thinking it might rain all morning. We hopped out of the car at the car park and followed a group of people along a winding road up the hill for about a mile, but it all seemed rather odd. They must know where they’re going, I thought to myself, but why wasn’t there a sidewalk and most important, where was the town? Suddenly a car sped to a stop. “Would you like a ride?” they kindly asked. “You are going the wrong way!”

St Paul de Vence was a beautiful old town of stone houses and cobblestone lanes. It seems to be a community of artists. Art galleries fill every space with paintings and sculpture and even the cobblestone Lane was artistically designed with stone flowers in some places. Each studio had colorful wooden flower boxes bursting with flowers and some had tiny wooden table displays with flowers or ceramic mugs. Even the church which was lit with prayer candles had beautifully displayed artwork including statues and paintings.

As the sun came out the crowds arrived. It turns out this is the most visited village in all of France. We ate lunch in a small cafe and I regretted not ordering a mushroom crepe. It looked and smelled amazing.

Our next stop was a tiny hilltop town the hotel had told us about called Gourdon which is in Provence. Along the way we pulled over in various spots for views across the valley. As we drove up the final part of mountain though, we began to wonder if it would be worth it. No one else seemed to be on the road and our guidebook didn’t mention it, but when we reached the top, we found a full car park and lots of happy visitors. The views from the top were stunning, almost as if you were in an airplane and in the distance the Mediterranean glistened in the sunlight.

Gourdon is very small but one of the prettiest hilltop villages I have ever visited. The stone houses were all beautifully decorated with flowers, tiny statues in the windows, or ceramic jugs. The shutters were painted in light blue and tiny lizards basked in the sunlight. We stopped at a cafe just to enjoy the view.

Dinner was back in Antibes in a restaurant with tables outside. We both agreed this is truly a beautiful and peaceful place to visit and are thankful we will be here for four days.

We generally don’t like early departures but this morning couldn’t have been easier. After a quick breakfast (Simon our host even kindly offered to scramble us an egg) we drove to Newquay Airport for a 10:00 flight to London Stansted. Our plane, a Flybe flight with propellers, had wheels that came down on the side of the plane rather than underneath it. That was quite a surprise to see that sight out our window.

Getting to London was the easy part. London Stansted Airport was total chaos with waves of people pulling suitcases toward each other. Our flight to Nice was on Jet2.com, another new airline to us. Our plane was a brand new 737 300/800 with soft lighting, but there is a definite party vibe on this airline. All announcements are prerecorded and end with “Have a lovely holiday.” Our flight even began with a recorded but upbeat speech about how everyone should be nice, no verbal abuse allowed, no drinks will be served if you appear inebriated, no opening any alcohol you might have in your possession, and have a lovely holiday. It was pretty amusing. They even said, “Time to tidy up. Turn in your trash to the cabin crew.” It was like being on a school field trip. I actually nodded off and was awakened with a jolt when the plane landed,

At Nice Airport we were thrilled to be upgraded to a BMW and followed the GPS aided by my phone’s Google maps to our hotel in Antibes. It is bright and airy with a swimming pool and outside sitting area. The hotel itself is cream colored with light blue shutters. The contrast in weather is striking. Rather than rainy and cool, it is sunny and in the high 80s. No more sweater weather for us. We were even given chilled water at the Sixt Car Rental,

Tonight we took a 10 minute walk to a restaurant located in a garden. It’s been a long day and today’s blog is short, but we are excited to head out tomorrow for new adventures.

There’s something about me many of you may not know. When I was a child, my father worked for Royal Typewriter in Hartford and spent a considerable amount of time on business trips with the Imperial Typewriter Company in England. While working in England, a business associate told him about a beautiful seaside village in Cornwall known as St. Mawes. We first traveled there when I was 13 and during the next 10 years, I spent many summers in St. Mawes. This is why I love things from England so much. When I met David, I told him about this perfect seaside village that I was certain would remain unchanged and promised that someday we would visit it together. Today we were able to make that journey on what was truly a memorable day.

St Mawes is located on a remote peninsula in Cornwall. This morning we learned that due to high swells, the ferries from Falmouth would not be running. Instead we drove through the countryside on narrow winding roads with high hedgerows to the edge of the River Fal and took the King Harry Ferry on a five minute car ferry ride across pulled by chains. I remember it well from my childhood so was excited when I saw the website that said, “Experience the chains.”

We arrived at the southern part of St Mawes and parked in the car lot at the castle overlooking the sea. Today the castle has a visitor’s center and has been restored with cannons, wooden beam ceilings, and glass windows. Years ago I remember it only as an old abandoned castle on a windswept point of land.

Walking down the winding lane to the village, I recognized it all, The whitewashed houses looked the same and even a large house covered with ivy with a thatched roof was still there and beautifully maintained. We stopped in at the Hotel Tresanton, a hotel where we first started staying when I was in my late teens. The rooms of course did not look anything like my old brochure showing comfortable furniture covered with floral fabric. Instead, it has been beautifully updated and is quite elegant. I showed the woman at the reception my brochure and she was very welcoming, She told us that most of the same guests return year after year just as we had long ago. I had a little book I had written as a teenager about St. Mawes and the hotel and it was fun to read the story of how I had seen this place long ago. The small stuffed rabbit featured in the book still travels with me today.

Down by the pier in town, little had changed. Sailboats bobbed in the harbor, people strolled down by the sea wall eating ice cream, dogs raced on the pebble beach, and children were crabbing. We saw a young girl release her tiny crabs back into the water. As they scuttled down the slipway, she chased a seagull away and called out goodbye to the crabs.

As a child, my favorite hotel was the Idle Rocks. It’s right on the water and used to have a beach vibe to it. I knew that it is now considered elite and although the people were very nice, encouraging us to explore, it was very upmarket and people were dressed up just sitting around in the lounge. “St. Mawes is the Hamptons of England,” our hosts at our accommodation had told us. We learned that Prince Charles and Camilla go there. We walked out on the terrace and I found the exact same spot where I had my picture taken with a boy from Wales when I was 13. He was a guest and we used to play Monopoly together in the lounge of the hotel but back at school that fall I showed everyone the photo and said he was my Welsh boyfriend.

Walking back to the car at the castle, memories of being in St Mawes came flooding back to me. Some people wonder if it’s possible to go back to place you once loved years later. I believe that you can if you are open to places reinventing themselves to keep up with the modern world. Yes, St. Mawes is now part of the modern world; too, but for me, it will always be special.

Breakfast at the Highcliffe Contemporary Bed and Breakfast http://www.highcliffefalmouth.com/ is a real treat. In addition to fresh fruits, cereals, and a traditional English breakfast, there is always something special on offer. This morning it was the fluffiest French toast ever topped with maple syrup, blueberries and strawberries, all dusted with powdered sugar. It was delicious.

We started our day with a visit to Trebah Gardens, an exotic tropical garden of more than 20 acres.There were tiny gravel paths winding through gardens bursting with hydrangeas in deep blue and purple, and hidden koi ponds where fat lazy fish basked in the sunlight. As we walked, we were surprised by a sudden sun shower, but no one seemed to mind and took shelter under big tropical leaves and bamboo stalks.

We followed the trail down to the water where the beach was almost deserted except for one seagull and a few people at picnic tables enjoying a Cornish ice cream-cone. We learned that this very spot had been covered with concrete during WWII and was used as a point of disembarkation on D-Day for over 700 American soldiers. After the war the concrete was removed but you can still see one of the walls.

We wanted to visit Lizard Point for spectacular views and to enjoy the best crab sandwich and Cornish pasty according to Simon at the B&B, but the roads to get there were winding, super narrow, and surrounded by hedge rows. On this type of road, if another car comes along, someone must back up and give way. A scary moment was when a bus appeared out of nowhere, Fortunately the skilled driver backed up and let us through,

We decided to visit some more accessible towns. Our first one was Mousehole. It’s an adorable town tucked into a cove but so popular there was not one place to park. We headed next to Porthcurno to Minack Theater an outdoor performance center with an amazing history. In 1923, a woman named Rowena Cade moved to Porthcurno and had a house built for her family on a cliff overlooking the sea. She was interested in sewing costumes and in 1929 when a local group wanted to stage A Midsummer’s Night Dream, she offered her garden.

Suddenly she had a vision for an outdoor theater cut into the cliff and with her gardener, built the first one in six months. Over the decades improvements were made by Rowena who could single handedly carry six bags of sand up a cliff to make cement and even lugged 12 wooden beams from a wrecked Spanish vessel up the cliff to the theater. With a screwdriver she carved Celtic designs into the seats and posts before the concrete was fully hardened. We saw the names of countless productions carved into the stones dating back to the 1930s.

Today there are nightly theater productions outside people can attend and Rowena’s vision lives on.

Our last stop was Land’s End, the most southwest point of England with the next stop being America. I visited it as a child and remember it as a touristy place with windswept barren land. Today this is still true, but they’ve added odd amusements to it such as King Arthur’s 3D theater and zip lines. The scenery was dramatic though with waves crashing into the cliffs. I wondered if there had ever been a shipwreck there and sure enough there have been 37.

Tonight we had fish and chips down by the harbor. On our way we noticed hundreds of people wearing bright pink wigs and pink t shirts. Turns out it’s a fund raiser for breast cancer research. We walked around town after dinner and even at 11:99 people were still out and about. Tomorrow we’ ll explore more of the amazing coastline.

Today we flew on a new short haul airline to us, Flybe, from London Gatwick Airport to Newquay here in Cornwall. Getting to the airport couldn’t have been easier. From Victoria Station it was a quick 30 minute train ride on the Gatwick Express to the airport.

The Newquay Airport is very small. In fact we were the only airplane there. As we walked out into the departure area, a friendly man from Cornwall Car Hire was there to greet us. Our rental car is a brand new Kia. It’s bright red, but looks economical.

Our drive here to Falmouth took almost an hour. Traffic was quite heavy. We love our accommodation the Highcliffe Contemporary Bed and Breakfast. Simon, the owner, greeted us warmly and gave us a thorough overview of the area. Our room overlooks the harbor where we can see fishing and sailing boats.

The decor of the room is really unique. The wallpaper is a collage of photos.

Dinner tonight was at Hunky Dory. We had hake filets with Cornish potatoes and it was amazing. Not only was it was delicious, it was artistically designed on the plate. The interior design was lovely too with sage green walls and local artwork including paintings and pictures created with colorful cut glass in shades of blue. We learned that the owner we met had been a makeup artist for Phantom of the Opera and had worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

We walked around Falmouth after dinner and even though it was rather cool outside, people were sitting outside at cafes and restaurants. All the shops were closed but we noticed the majority looked privately owned. We picked out a few art galleries we want to visit and some shops selling locally made arts and crafts. Tomorrow morning we’ll follow the itinerary Simon has mapped out for us and even if it rains, it will be a great day.

When I was a child, my father gave my mother a short wave radio. The transparent dial moved along a world map etched on the front of it and when listening to it, I felt connected to a world others did not have access to in pre-internet days. One station I remembered had nothing but pips until on the hour when a deep British voice would announce, “The time is 12:00 Greenwich mean time.” Today we went to visit the origin of this broadcast.

We took the Westminster Underground line to the port on the Thames for the tour boat but it took several tries to get it right because the train was diverted. The boat was very nice with a dining room with huge windows and outside deck. There was entertaining commentary along the way. We saw the Shard, a tall pointed building, the London Tower, and a replica of the ship sailed by Sir Frances Drake when he circumnavigated the world. The replica apparently has traveled around the world twice.

Once we arrived in Greenwich we walked up to the campus of the Old Royal Navel College. It was designed by Christopher Wren who is best known for designing St Paul’s Cathedral. It was originally designed to care for ailing British seamen. The school closed in 1998, but the campus is a beautiful place to visit. In the Chapel of Peter and St Paul there was a nautical theme with old wooden floors.

At the Royal Observatory, people lined up to pose on the longitudinal line marking the prime meridian. The museum was great, but way too technical for me. Years ago I watched Carl Sagan’s Cosmos on tv and read his book, but today the information was over my head.

The Maritime Museum looked amazing, but as soon as we walked in the door, our attention was drawn to a special photography exhibit about the British seaside since the 60s. I used to spend time in Cornwall as a child with my parents and today David and I love visiting seaside locations in the UK. The only thing stopping us was an 11 pound entrance fee (14 dollars). Should we or shouldn’t we? Peering down from the museum we saw a lot of fun seaside props at the entrance and couldn’t resist.

The photographs were amazing and captured a slice of life on the seashore from each decade. The exhibit featured four celebrated British photographers. One of the best, Tony Ray Jones sadly died in his 30s. In a short documentary we watched, the other photographers who were featured said not only was it sad that Jones died so young, but no one would ever be able to find out what technique he would have used next.

The highlight of our day was a tour of The Painted Hall at the Royal Naval College. The paintings are currently being restored and to see them, you climb 67 steps up scaffolding to the ceiling. We were given headphones because there were industrial strength fans running. Our guide gave us the most informative tour I have ever experienced. He described every person painted on the ceiling from Greek gods to kings or local citizens and explained that this restoration should last 100 years. The last restoration was 60 years ago and the restorers at the time removed 15 layers of varnish that had once been used to enhance the artwork. They also repainted any missing pieces which today they will not do. Even more interesting were signatures of restorers over the past 150 years. One signed his name on the chest of Queen Mary. Today’s technique uses iodized water and micro sponges and they work inch by inch. The tours actually help pay for the restoration and we all signed a book which will become part of the archives.

Our trip back down the river was very pleasant and because it was cooler, we sat outside. We learned that a trip on the London Eye Ferris wheel is over $25 per person and for free you can go to the top of taller buildings instead and get the same view.

Tonight we went to a launderette around the corner from the hotel and ate at Franco Manca, an Italian pizza place that makes sour dough pizza. I am always taking notes for the blog and we sometimes end up with a treat from the manager. Tonight it was ice cold limoncello.

We love the neighborhood around our hotel and will definitely return here again.

The breakfast buffet at NH Collection hotels is always a treat. It’s a buffet with baked goods including frosted cakes, Belgian waffles, full English breakfast items including tomatoes, mushrooms, and sausage, fresh fruit, and a topping bar for scrambled eggs. That’s what I always think of it as but it’s actually a station to choose your own ingredients for an omelette.

We took the Underground to the South Kensington Station. Even though it’s a stop in the city and above ground at this point, someone has lovingly maintained a flower garden and has also placed hanging flower pots full of petunias around the platform.

While David visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, I visited the Natural History Museum. It was my favorite Museum last year and this summer did not disappoint. It was over 90 degrees in London so the lines were long, and it was hot and crowded inside, but so worth it. I love how the museum has retained rich wooden cabinets probably from the early 1900s with collections of fossils, rocks and minerals, birds, insects, and dinosaurs. Most magnificent is a giant skeleton of a blue whale suspended over one of the halls. One of my favorite galleries is Images of Nature which I loved last year as well because it describes the value of drawing nature yet this year posed an interesting question: if the only visual records we have of extinct species such as the dodo bird are drawings, how do we know which of many illustrations were accurate? Did the artist leave out any important details? I will share this with my students in the fall who will be keeping an illustrated journal of the Blanding’s turtle throughout the year.

The Natural History Museum remains my favorite museum, but for David it’s the Victoria and Albert. He says he could spend all day in there.

After meeting David, we had lunch in the outside garden of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Children played in an outside fountain pool in the courtyard and surprisingly, many were wearing bathing suits.

The highlight of our day was a trip to the Tower of London. It is officially the queens royal palace and is located on the north bank of the Thames River. Much of it was built in the 1200s. We took a 45 minute tour with an engaging and entertaining guide dressed as a Beefeater. We learned there are about 30 families living within the compound and we saw their half timbered homes guarded by royal guards. Our guide also told us tales of executions and it all sounded quite grisly. In one of the towers called Beauchamp Tower, graffiti messages from prisoners were inscribed in the walls, most with incredible letters cut into stone. We toured the Crown Jewels and saw the royal crowns. A moving sidewalk inside keeps people from lingering too long and holding up the line.

In the courtyards are ravens who sit on cannons and peer out of holes on the stone walls. Legend has it that if the ravens leave, the monarchy will fall. We learned they do clip their wings so they can’t fly long distances, but we saw them out and about strutting around and making a loud squawking noise.

On the way back to the hotel, we took a river boat which is basically just a way to get from one point to another on the water. There are so many on the river moving from one side to the other they spend a lot of time just waiting to dock on a pier. We noticed people looking for treasures along the shore where people can still find things from long long ago when the river was used as a dumping ground.

Tonight we went back to a restaurant we like called Zizis. It’s a chain where they make fresh brick oven pizza with a thin crust. Tomorrow it is supposed to be much cooler. We will be going to Greenwich for the day.

Our breakfast this morning at the B&B in Oban was delicious. It was wafer thin freshly cooked pancakes smothered with fresh raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries, and dusted with powdered sugar.

From our B&B it’s a ten minute walk to the railroad station, but when I asked our hostess if she was sure we needed a taxi as she suggested, she laughed softly and said, “Yes you do. it’s pouring!”

Our train from Oban to Glasgow had only two coaches. It was old and rickety, but it was better than other train experiences we have had where there have been no seats and we were left standing. Our seats were facing a table and joining us was a man named Norman from Oban who grew up in Glasgow just after the war. He was so friendly and talked with us the entire three hour journey. He had been a merchant seaman at one time and had traveled around the world. As a child he lived in a tiny house. His primary school had showers and on certain days, everyone took a shower because they might not have had this opportunity at home.

I asked him about my maiden name MacFeiggan to find out what he knew and he agreed with the man we met the other day that the original spelling was McFiggan. “Spelling was variable, though,” he said, “When your ancestors emigrated to Canada some family members may have even spelled it with a ph or a v.” He said it was Gaelic and probably had its roots in Ireland.

Once we arrived in Glasgow, we took a bus to the airport. “Which airport are you going to?” asked the driver. We had no clue. Our tickets just said “Glasgow” so we had to hope for the best on his bus and in the end it was the right airport bus. On the way we met a young man from France who had seen puffins yesterday on one of the islands called Staffa Island near where we had stayed. He showed us a video. The puffins came right up to the camera within inches of his lens. “It was magical,” he said and he was right. It’s a place we will want to visit in the future.

Our flight on British Air to London Heathrow was one hour. If you had a more expensive ticket you got to board the plane through a jetway and were served a complimentary meal. The rest of us had to climb the steps off the tarmac and the last step was so steep onto the plane, it was a little scary. You could only buy a snack, but could not even use cash. It was quite different than what we were used to with this airline but had we taken a train, it would have taken 7 hours.

It is very hot in London so we were grateful it was a short Underground ride to our hotel, the NH Collection in South Kensington. We stayed here last year and it’s in an ideal location. Tonight we ate pizza at Zizi’s and visited the area around Westminster. The London Eye was closed but beautifully lit. We stopped in an arcade of all paces and played some games. We gave our winning tickets to a young child,

Back at the hotel we are grateful for air conditioning. Tomorrow we will visit the Tower of London and explore more of the sights.

Breakfast this morning was really pleasant in a room overlooking the sea. A full Scottish breakfast consists of eggs, sausage, grilled tomato, mushrooms, and a flat potato scone. We really love the Kilchrenan House. It’s the former retreat of a textile magnate. There are 14 rooms but we think we have one of the best ones with a bay window overlooking the harbor.

Today was a full touring day to visit the Isles of Mull and Iona. We headed out from our B&B down the winding road to the ferry terminal thankful we had sweaters and jackets. The ferry was massive and big enough to carry cars and 18 wheelers. Passengers eagerly lined up to board, many with backpacks and walking sticks. “Let’s go to Castle Somewhere tomorrow home of Sir What’s His Name,” said a man sporting a blue baseball cap behind me. It was a funny moment because his whole family nodded their heads in agreement.

The ferry crossing was only 45 minutes and very smooth. We arrived on the isle of Mull and boarded a coach for a 1.5 hour ride across the island. Chris, our coach driver, gave us a warm welcome and explained that 130/150 miles of road on the island are single track meaning when two cars meet, someone must give way. We drove by a small stone primary school called Lochearhead Primary School where today there is only one student. This is a safe island where people leave their doors unlocked and their mobile phones on their dashboard. Everything looked so green that it was surprising when Chris announced, “This has been such a dry summer a cafe had to close because they ran out of water.” On the other hand, maybe it was a joke. Chris gave a very informative tour of the island sprinkled with numerous jokes such as,”If you liked the tour, mention my name on TripAdvisor, but if you didn’t like it, say Derek was your driver.”

Mull was a desolate island of stark beauty. Formed over a million years ago by a volcano, it has manmade islands on its lakes where thousands of years ago, access was only by a set of submerged stepping stones placed in a mysterious pattern. Rolling hills were covered with ferns and tiny wild flowers, and perfectly planted pine forests seemed to appear out of nowhere. Highland cattle with long horns and shaggy fur grazed near the road seemingly unafraid.

The bus dropped us off at a small port for our final 12 minute ferry crossing to Iona. Iona is a small island off the west coast of Scotland in the Hebrides. It is known as a pilgrimage site for the abbey and as “The cradle of Christianity” in Scotland. St. Columba who was a scholar and soldier founded the monastic community there and it was from there that Christianity was spread throughout Scotland. It is believed that the Book of Kells was written there and later moved to Ireland due to Viking raids.

Iona is visited by over 130,000 people every year. It is known for being the center of Gaelic monasticism since the 6th century and is a place of peace and restoration of the spirit. At its ancient abbey, Ancient Celtic crosses from long ago are elaborately decorated with intricate woven designs. At the church there was a small service taking place for a couple to renew their vows.

The town is very tiny but we discovered a wonderful craft shop where all the crafts were made locally such as a knitted sheep needle felted with fibers from local sheep.

The trip back by bus and boat was very tranquil and everyone seemed to truly enjoy the trip. Dinner tonight was at a seafood restaurant where we dined on fresh scallops and lemon sole. We watched the ferries come in and people fishing even though it had started to rain. Tomorrow will be an early day. We will be flying to London.

This morning on the news we heard it would be another record breaking day for temperatures in Europe. We were lucky though. For us in Glasgow, it started out as a sweater weather kind of day.

We took a three hour bus ride north out of the city to Oban, a seaside town in the Hebrides. Once the bus left the city limits, the landscape changed dramatically. Huge hills rose up beside the winding road dotted with pine forests and small whitewashed houses with slate roofs. Lakes seemed to appear out of nowhere like giant puddles on the barren landscape fed by rushing streams. There was beauty everywhere we looked.

Oban is a seaside town that was once a popular holiday destination until short haul flights came into vogue to whisk people off to warmer climates. Today the town has many old Victorian hotels and B&Bs. Our accommodation the Kilchrenan House is a B &B just outside town. Our room has a bay window overlooking the harbor.

We walked into town to make a reservation for a day trip tomorrow and met a man who asked if we were of Scottish ancestry. When I told him yes, my maiden name was MacFeiggan, he said, “oh yes, that’s McFiggan. It’s a name found on the border of England.” I was astonished. This is the first time anyone has recognized this name, but not only that, it confirmed what I had seen on an envelope sent to my ancestors in Canada in the 1860s from Scotland. That is how the name appeared to be spelled.No wonder I never found it in any phone book in Scotland when I was 10.

Scotland is famous for Scotch whiskey and we toured the Oban Distillery which was established in 1794 and is known worldwide. Our distillery tour group was from all over Europe and North America and our informative guide was great. He passed around little glasses of whiskey for us to savor the orange and honey scent and said, “Have a wee swirl and a wee nose and you will see.” In one room he served us each a sample in a tiny glass with an etched design. Right as I mentioned to David it would be nice to buy a glass like this, our guide proudly announced, “The glasses are a gift for you and here is a nice box to put it in for safe keeping.”

Dinner tonight was at a seafood restaurant. We had mussels and salmon and it was fresh from the sea. After dinner we walked along the waterfront. It stays light here until well after 9:30. We feel very lucky to be in such a pretty place.