Budapest

Highlights from a quick trip to Budapest. Now that I officially have my UK residence card I can leave and enter the country without any hassle. Let the travels begin!

Jesse, Michelle, Joey, Kim, Melinda and Ryan on the banks of the Danube

Holocaust memorial

Chain bridge over the Danube - connecting "Buda" to "Pest"

Hungarian goulash was served in red metal pots

Hortobágyi palacsinta pancake filled with chicken and
served with a sour cream and paprika sauce.

St Istvan's Basilica

Hungarian sausage stands

The Great Market Hall- where you can find hundreds of different Hungarian sausages and paprika for sale

Hungarian street food- stuffed cabbage with paprika sauerkraut

Eating "langos"

Langos on display at the Great Market Hall

Heroes Square on our way to the Turkish baths

Budapest has the second oldest underground metro in the world (after London's Underground)

On the Metro. I found it striking that the handles were made of leather.

Matthias Church on Castle Hill

View from Castle Hill

Funny looking communist-era cars (this one is a Lada)

Pretty colors on Castle Hill

View of Parliament from Castle Hill

Battle scars on Castle Hill at the site where the Nazis
had their last stand against the Soviets

More Sailing and Family Visits

After sailing our boat in Scotland, we've since joined the Cam Sailing Club on the River Cam about five miles from our house. It's a small friendly club that is very low key. We store our boat there and have sailed a few times during the "leisure sails" where the more experienced members offer help and advice to newbies like us. Eventually we hope to get good enough to take part in the races that they hold weekly during spring and summer.

Uncle Dave, Aunt Patti and cousin Mark visited us in Cambridge during their UK/Holland/Germany tour. We celebrated Richard's birthday while they were here on a morning punting cruise complete with birthday mimosas.

Birthday cake at Patisserie Valerie

Birthday mimosas

A few weeks later, Richard's sister Sophie visited from Frankfurt.

Sailing in Scotland

We drove to Scotland over the bank holiday weekend to pick up our newly acquired 14 foot dinghy sailboat. On the way we stopped in Durham then stayed overnight just outside of Edinburgh with the couple we bought the boat from. We then camped at St. Mary's Loch in the middle of nowhere in Scotland. We camped at Tibbie Shiels campground, located loch-side and also conveniently next to a pub and sailing club. Aside from that, there was nothing else for miles around. I camped only a few nights until I had to go back to work, but Richard stayed on in Scotland for more fun and sailing.

Durham cathedral

Entering Scotland

Trailing the boat to St Mary's Loch

Campsite at Tibbie Shiels

Our first sail - we just managed to put it all together,
with some help from the friendly sailers at the club

It floats! Success.

I even managed to skipper for a little bit

Lindsay's Visit to the Cotswolds

While Lindsay was visiting we also took an extended weekend trip to the Cotswolds, popular for good hiking and quaint little villages. The Cotswolds are about 2.5 hours southwest of Cambridge. We stayed at the Old Stocks Hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold, built in the 16th century.

Walking in the Cotswolds

We walked through many wheat fields

Everything in out hotel was extremely crooked

cute Cotswolds houses

View of the valley

Cotswold houses are famous for being made from yellow limestone