Greetings from Lord Baxter. Had oh such a lovely lunch onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. Lovely view over the Firth of Forth (or the Fourth of Firth but definately not the Turd of Third). I saw the Queen's bed (just a tiny single bed, not even a queen bed for a queen, Philip got the room attached and his own tiny bed). It's very basic modern 1950's furniture, nothing fancy. Just what Lizzy wanted...to be normal. Got my lovely jumper from the Yacht, word has it some 200 lbs was dropped in that gift shop.

After our return to Alnwick we spent the next day at Bamburgh Castle. Armstrong dude fixed it all up, he was super wealthy cuz he invented tons and tons of stuff to do with cranes (not the bird kind) and all sorts of various gadgets to do with shipping and stuff. Now there are so many lords and sirs and dukes that I can't remember whose who. I know the Duke of Northumberland is a Lord (so I guess you can be both, I don't know), then I think Armstrong was a Lord (but not a Duke) but perhaps also a Sir. Oh yeah...his castle he fixed up in the late 1800's and he made this super fancy hall, I really liked his hall. He had a little aviation museum with bits of shot down German planes. Stuff washes up like old engines and propellers and stuff. Anyway it's a big castle but really different than Alnwick.

Ok so then we were castled out and yesterday drove to Beamish (outdoor historic park on 300 acres). We went inside a coal mine (that was nifty, and cramped, and cold, and dark, and wet). We talked to lots of Geordie's, one even was a coal miner nearby and he knew tons of stuff. Do you know the miners crawled in and only were in a space 18 inches high? If they took their shovel in the wrong way around they had to back all the way out just to flip it right side round. I asked where they pooped (cuz that's my job). Anyway they pooped in the carts that they filled with coal, cept they didn't get paid for their poop (not even if it was heavy and black like coal). Oh yeah, Bamburgh Castle had a poop chute and if it got stuck they put boys up there to clean out the stuck poop (think I'd rather be a miner).

Okay so that's your poop history lesson.

Beamish had other stuff, kind of like how department stores started and candy shop and trolley and mason hall and old bank and a dentist's surgery. Did you know that people could kill people with arsenic and that you could get arsenic from scraping it off the old wallpaper with your fingernail (cool!).

Today to Chillingham Castle, most haunted in U.K. A little odd, he's a Sir but not a Lord or Duke. He's 74 and just fixed it up and it's super haunted. His emblem is a bat, there's bats everywhere. It is a super strange place and he lives there but he had to sell his Irish Castle to buy it. He's sold the great paintings to have money to restore it. You can go on night ghost tours or stay overnight but I wouldn't. I'd be too scared, just of the bugs he's collected (their huge). I'm sure they are crawling around. Then there's the wild cows that are more rare than the giant panda, there's 78 in the world and they live nearby. They've been at Chillingham for 700 years. We didn't see them cuz you have to walk a ways and it was looking like scary rain.

Tonight it's time for chocolate hedgehogs (not the dead squished one from the road). We got them at the Chocolate Spa near the Alnwick Market.

Trip almost done, lots I didn't see but need lotto money to come back and finish up all the sights.

So many castles, kind of blurred together in my wee head. Alnwick my favorite, Banburgh very impressive with larger rooms, Chillingham is strange in a chilly sort of way.

Favorite bit...um...Alnwick I think and my favorite meal was at Cafe Rouge in Durham. Oh and the elephant safari, I loved my London elephant safari, and walking up to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral...and the chocolate.

Ta..ta..for now,

Lord Baxter

Harry Potter World

Hello Muggles! Our wee house (all right it's pretty bloody big with 3 bedrooms, a lounge, a large kitchen, 2 full bath's and a garden out back. Just a 1/2 block away is Alnwick Castle where the 12th Duke of Northumberland, Lord Percy, lives. He is living in London so while he's away the tourists are allowed in him home (even the living room and dining room they use daily). The rooms are breathtaking and I can't afford even one painting, one small Canneletto or is it Caneletto or Canelletto (famous Italian painter dude) has his little art projects hanging everywhere. I liked his version of Alnwick Castle but they wouldn't let me take it home with me. You'll see a famous painting next to a fuzeball (fuzzball) game. Then a stuffed dog next to a painting by Turner. An HD TV surrounded by books thousands of years old. I love it!

We had a private tour of the castle (cuz we got there super early) and learned all about the current Duchess who has built the most amazing garden ever! We saw the place where Harry Potter took his lessons in Quiddich (that flying broom thing). Someone has hidden little white owls and green dragons (keychaing size but soft and fuzzy) around the house...okay castle. They are hidden by statues and by marble fireplaces intricately carved with more statues or just sitting on a velvet couch of red (but the dragon is red so he blends).

The castle faces due north so you can see those nasty Scots coming, mostly though you see sheep...lots and lots of sheep. Oh and a river that was more bubbly with rocks but got flattened out so it would have a pretty reflection.

Then to the world's largest treehouse where we had spiced sweet potato soup and a roll. Then across the swingy bridge where we filmed an entire school group crossing in absolute terror. We are going to YouTube it for the school.

Then time for the bamboo maze and then to the silly water park. It's super scientific so you are busy reading the explanation when suddenly the innocent looking fountain gets nasty and soaks you. Mommy got caught in a fountain and tried to escape but fell down instead...silly Mommy. That's okay other folks go soaked at various pretty scenic fountains. Even the most beautiful fountain I ever saw looked innocent and then blamo...you are soaked by a series of water cannons that you didn't notice because you were busy going oooh...aghhh over the beauty of the fountain. I think the Duchess isn't in London at all, she's likely hiding in a bush laughing at all the silly wet people.

Then there's a poison garden full of hemp and poppies and lots of super poisonous plants that will kill you dead in just a few minutes. That you have to be with a tour guide and they lock the gates behind you.

The bestest part of all was that I found a new jumper with Alnwick Castle on it. One for me, Normie and Gerry. It's navy glue with the castle on it.

I like our house a lot, we can watch everyone on the street peer in the window at us and we peer back at them so they run away. We are on a famous street with a museum across the street and of course the people that visit the castle park along by our house too.

Tomorrow we are taking the train to Edinburgh to have tea on the Royal Yacht Brittania.

I know it sucks to be us...we manage. Now that my yummy bar of mint chocolate is gone I need to see if I can find a few Cadbury buttons to wash down my Ribena with.

Later loyal followers...the name if Baxter, Lord Baxter of Victoria.

The Good Ship Trincomalee

I just wanted to upload a quick pick of the Trincomalee. Really really impressed with it. Dad had to duck under almost every beam except in the Captian's quaters.

Durham and Hartlepool

Up early in our litle B&B (nice place...bad parking). Had eggs and eggs and an English muffin and a croissant and yummy coffee. Then it was walk down the hill, under the giant trestle, up the hill, up a street that goes up another hill, and then up another hill (all cobblestone) to the tip top where somebody built a castle thingy and a big and pretty darn huge cathedral back about 1078's. I'm surprized they had a hill left after using all that stone (I haven't found the missing hill of stone yet). We heard bells and an organ and saw lots of high stone arches. They builded it for a dude called St. Cuthbert. He's in there, well his bones are I guess.

We got lots of pictures of the quadrangle there which was used for a lot of Harry Potter shots.

Next stop Hartlepool for the Historic Quay. We only had like 2.5 hours there which was about 2.5 hours less than we needed. There was so much to do and I super liked the giant warship with tons of cannons. It was way bigger than the ships we saw in Victoria during Tall Ships. I could live on it if they asked me to. This big ship apparently did sail up the Strait between Vancouver Island and Victoria and there is a museum (they think maybe in Vancouver) with it's history there. Guess I'll have to go look it up.

We got losted on the way to Hartlepool because we should of gone by Google Map not B&B dude instructions. They aren't good at printing maps here so put in villages and road and roundabouts that aren't on a map and you get lost a lot.

We then went to the Harlepool Marina to the Black Olive to meet up all Dad's relatives. They are so super friendly and nice and funny and they loved me because one of them's last name is Baxter.

It may all go quiet for awhile. Our rented house is 400 years old and they didn't have internet back then so we don't have any. I think we may have a horse and a suit of armour but no internet.

Later Canada types!

Buddy the Elephant

This is Buddy. He was painted by Emma Elizabeth Kemp. She is one of two students who were allowed to paint the elephants in the London Elephant Parade. She also painted Seymour. We had the privilege of meeting Emma in Green Park on Thursday May 20th.

It's...um..Friday and I'm not in Kansas...I mean London anymore. We were so busy yesterday with a visit to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain at Hyde Park and then a visit to Kensington Palace for lunch in the Orangerie and then the search for more elephants. We found elephants at Harrods and Hyde Park (by the Serpentine) and Green Park and Selfridges and Carnaby Street and Trafalgar Square. Dinner was yummy, even though it was nuts and a banana and some chocolate. Up early today for the taxi to Kings Cross then the 3 hour train trip to Durham. Daddy is driving on the wrong side...course everybody does (silly English types). Visited Esh Winning to see where Grammy Kinshella was born and they had the bestest bakery in the world there. We know cuz Grammy had a sausage roll that tasted like more and Mommy had a rhubarb and strawbery crumble cake thingy.

Now back to Durham and our super B&B where they have biccies...bikkies...I don't know how to say it, lots of cookies (how's that)? Grammy napped while Mom and Dad wandered into town and there are little cobblestone pathways that lead into more pathways that lead to even more pathways and on every pathway are shops and more shops and even more shops. Then it was back to get Grammy and then to the best French Cafe in the whole wide world. It was called The Cafe Rouge (yummy). Now it's time for bed, Mommy's throat feels better, she kinda got a ear infection or something from the cold breeze on the double decker bus in London. It's better now cept Grammy has a cold I think. Dad is suffering from a giant chocolate brownie with ice-cream event at the Cafe but Mommy is eating all the chocolates in the bedroom. My family is crazy?

Mom & Grandma @ St. Pauls

Just thought I would try & upload my first picture. This is a shot I took of my mom & grandma infront of St. Paul's.

Stairs but NO Towers

Today we were going to relax, put our feet and paws up and go on a hop on and off and hop on and hop off and hop on...you get the drift, tour. This involved walking to Victoria Station, finding the big open bus top, double decker, bus and then driving past Margaret Thatcher's house (she was in but didn't ask us for tea), then past Mary Poppins house (no sign of lady flying about with an umbrella), and then past J.K. Rowlings House (who also did not invite us in for tea).

Carried on with many detours to find Westminster Abbey closed for some Navy funeral thingy, so we carried on to St. Paul's Cathedral (our first hop off). Saw no lady feeding the birds or singing about feed the birds, tuppence a bag or otherwise. Then Mommy said, "Hey I know, lets climb to the tippy tippy top top of the cathedral and I said (Yes, first the Calgary Tower now another 578 or so steps up the Cathedral). Anyway we climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed and finally we reached the first viewing area. Then we climbed some more for the tippy top where we got super fantastic pictures. Then we climbed down and down and down and down till we reached the cript. That's where we had lunch, surrounded by a bunch of famous dead folks (who didn't want to share my sandwich).

After the cathedral it was the walk across the Millenium Bridge (first scene of last Harry Potter movie). It was awesome and then we took a weird movie of people approaching us from like 3 directions with St. Paul's in the background.

Hmm..lets see, back across bridge after finding that silly moving statue didn't move, and went to the Churchill Experience and went and pretended we were in a bomb shelter being bombed except it didn't rattle or shake. Then we walked through a sort of bombed out area except it was smoky and the photos didn't work.
Back on the bus where we saw where Daniel Radcliffe went to school at some point, maybe when he wasn't filming Harry Potter.

Hmm...oh yeah, message to Yuko. We seem to have acquired one medium size, "Mind the Gap" T-shirt.

Now we are back in our room eating Cadbury chocolate button pudding with chocolate buttons, strawberry tarts with custard, and a 1/2 a banana.

Tomorrow it's off on day 3 of my Elephant Safari of London, oh and to visit Kensington Palace. Maybe we'll see Diana's ghost there, wouldn't that be super cool?

The end...Baxter the Nefarious (whatever that means)

Towers and Stairs

Today we did the Tower of London and hung out with Phil the Beefeater. He lives inside the Tower of London and says it's hard to order a pizza when you want one. I went on my elephant safari and found my first elephant at the Tower. I saw where Anne Bolyn or Ann Boleen and Ann Bowling (which is like lawn bowling only with a double handed sword and her head as the ball). If you get your head cut off this way you can still look around and mumble a few quiet words for a bit. That's what Ann did. They have a sort of glass pillow where she lost her head (well she didn't lose it, I think it went into a basket or something). Then they buried her beneath the chapel floor. There are 20 towers at the Tower, that's 6 on the outside wall, 13 in the interior wall and the White Tower in the middle. We saw the crown jewels, stole the two super giant diamonds and made our getaway (oh and I bought a pen so I had a bag to put the diamonds in). Then we snuck away across Tower Bridge and over to City Hall where Grammy used the diversionary tactic of using the bathroom (which required id and bag searches) and we pretended to be tourist and took like a million zillion pictures of me on all the elephants, even one where you can look through a little glass bubble and see me looking through another glass bubble.

After hiding the diamonds and a super giant, solid gold, punch bowl with snail shaped ladel, we went to Covent Garden on our continued Elephant Safari. We found even more elephants and took another million zillion pictures. Then we had dinner at a super cute little restaurant called Boswell's where Mr. Boswell said, "Livingstone, I presume". Will he did hang out with Dr. Johnson back there in 1759. It's the oldest independant cafe in the area. It has a website at www.boswells-conventgarden.co.uk

Then we went to Drury Lane to see Oliver. We had super nice seats and it was pretty good that show. I liked Nancy the best, she was pretty.

Then we went home and ate' Chocolate cadbury buttons. That's when I realised I left the world's biggest diamond at the Clonakilty elephant. I would have gone back but my paws were too tired from so much walking.

Naughty Volcano II - The Sequel

Here's the news post on the naughty volcano.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/Travel+chaos+looms+shuts+airports+again/3036605/story.html

Naughty Volcano

We boarded our Air Transat/Thomas Cook flight but it was 40 minutes late but we took off a flew and flew in tiny itty bitty seats with TV's that didn't work so good and very silly yucky headphones. Then we couldn't manage to get any sleep at all so we are feeling a bit poorly. Still we were headed to London, Gatwick...but..well...we didn't quite make that. Seems the silly ash cloud is at it again so we re-routed to Paris but then I reminded Mr. Volcano of our little agreement. So even though Ireland and northern England and southern England and Heathrow and Gatwick were all closed the little cloud left a little hole over London Stanstead (north of London) and we u-turned that plane around and made it. Course then they arranged for everyone to go to Gatwick but we want to go to London, not Gatwick, so we hopped a train to someplace I forget and then hopped on the London Underground into the city. We were so very, very, tired but we went to Madame Tussaud's anyway and saw all the wax dudes and Morgan Freeman is about the best and then we went on the ride in the little London Taxi ride and then to 221B Baker St to visit Sherlock Holmes and buy Uncle Sean his London Cab and his London Postbox, from Sherlock's house. Matt is right, the gift shop is now next door to the house and not across the street...and it's bigger. So there Matt, you were right. Then, except for Daddy, we crashed and burned and burned and crashed some more and now we are super sleepy but have our Cadbury chocolate buttons so life is good. We are a 5 minute or so walk to Pimilco Station, much closer than Mr. Google Man made it look.

That's all folks...I told you me and Mr. Volcano were friends. Oh yeah and Grammy says not to forget to say we can see the London Eye and the Parliament Buildings from our window.

Airport sitting

Just hanging around in the first class lounge wondering if my dad is really a lesbian in a man's body because the security asked him if he had any gels in his carry on but did not ask Mom or Grandma. After all he did have orange Jello in the lounge.

After being surrounded by UN forces upon leaving Victoria we made our way to the ferry and with seconds to spare we caught the 11:00am ferry (an hour earlier than we had reserved). On board we sat outside and met a couple going to Ireland and Beirut via London, Gatwick (yup on our flight tomorrow). Arrived at our Best Western but found it was minutes away from River Rock Casino. $5.00 in, 2 minutes later we were up $55 which kept us going for 2 hours and we still walked out with $2.00 Then to airport where apparently the "special" people have landed. Two strange men saying they couldn't walk outside the terminal because " There are cameras out there" and couldn't leave their backpack inside because "There's security guards in there". Picked up Grammy from her early Westjet flight and now it's BEDTIME. Then off to England to find my elephants.

The Packing of the Suitcase

Big ass suitcase - check
Copious amounts of new underpants - check
Copious amounts of new socks - check
New shirts - check
New trousers - check
Large supply of Advil, Immodium, Sudafed, and Robaxisat (however you spell that) - check. Hey we're sleeping on tiny English beds and sofa beds and backs already killing us just thinking about it.
Jar of Peanut Butter - They haven't figured out how to make it in the U.K.
Power adaptor - check
Power plus plug in thingy - check
New hair dryer with 110/220 voltage - check
Roll of toilet paper - check
Jammies - check
New toothbrush and associated beauty supplies - check (or in Mom's case large amounts of hardware and cement which doesn't really help much anyway).
Maps (Cuz GPS sucks the big weenie) - check
Reading material for plane - check
Batteries for the....camera (watch you mind) - check
Various 100 ml size airplane friendly plastic bottles
Duct Tape...or is it duck tape (and do they allow ducks on Trans-Atlantic voyages?)
Hot Water bottle (don't ask) but it's the one from the magic Emo in Ireland.
Travel Diary - Never went on a holiday without one
Camera, another camera and a back up camera and a laptop - check
Copy of intinerary and all travel documents (is it possible to buy too much medical insurance?) - check.
Back pack large enough to carry all documents plus Mom's purse plus book for plane (which was found to be very sticky for some odd reason and now has been scrubbed and is hanging in the shower to dry) - check.
Assorted pointy sharp things (scizzors, clippers, tweezers, screwdriver, a pack of gum and some guy named McIver) - check.

Talkin to men in Durham

This morning I phoned Durham...love that silly phone ring...and Enterprise Car Rental is going to pick us up at the train station (hooray!). No more worrying about how to find the little rental agency. One teeny tiny problem. Fitting the rental guy, Joe, Mom and I plus luggage into that one tiny car. Kind of like a phone booth only less space. I wonder if they have a car rack to tie Mom to or a wee caravan to tow behind us.

Of course our B&B looks to be on the narrowest street in the world so now it's time to bother the B&B lady to find out where to park the dang thing (it ain't gonna fit on the street...no way...no how). The gent at Enterprise talks funny but I could understand him, course he's not a Geordie. Think after we get the car we'll check out Durham Cathedral (supposedly best in the world) and then a wee trip to Esh Winning to vist the town where Joe's mother was born.

People of Durham beware of little cars with way too many people squished inside!

Elephants in London

Looking forward to seeing the Clonakilty elephant at Covent Garden. Now I know where at least one elephant will be hiding (if you can hide an elephant).

My Family & I are geetting ready for our trip to Britian. We will be leaving on May 15th and will be gone for just over 2 weeks. Anticipation is building.