Fender - Wheeler reunion!

Eric's youngest sibling, Molly, and her husband Trace came for a visit in September and we had a fantastic time hanging out with them. They arrived on a red-eye flight into Heathrow and Brooks and I were both so excited when they showed up at our front door. While Brooks napped that afternoon, I had a wonderful time of catching up and good connection-conversation with both of them. Actually, a part of me was a bit afraid that Eric would be jealous that he'd missed all of it! That evening, I spent some time helping them get oriented to our neighborhood (ran errands, found the grocery to buy lunch stuff, etc) and then we shared a low-key dinner at home when Eric got home from work.

Much of their time in London was spent zipping around public transportation to visit museums and top sites at a pace that would have been tough to match. The next day, Brooks and I hung with them in the morning through the highlights of the National Gallery and then a picnic lunch on Trafalgar Square with Eric before pointing them in the right direction with Oyster cards and tube maps and heading home for naptime. That night we had dinner together and then introduced them to the joy that is the Chocolate Waffle!

Thursday, they took a train to the Cotswolds and we stayed behind to do real life. But Friday morning, we rented a car and drove up to pick them up and have some non-city tourist adventures with them. We really enjoyed the car time and a chance to catch up... the month or so before that had been pretty packed, so it was nice to just decompress for an hour or two in the car. We met up with them easily (they were patiently waiting for their late transport!) and drove on straight to the BnB.

One of the things that I love about traveling around Europe is the abundance of Bed and Breakfast options available pretty much anywhere. Large cities, small towns, rural areas... with the right resources, you can find a homey welcome most anywhere. This BnB was memorable because of our hosts. An older English couple who had spent several years living in the US, they were eager to discuss the US, the economy, the election, pretty much any topic that could be safely broached. Usually, the BnB check-in schpeel is about 5 or 10 minutes - getting info on us, telling us about the house, giving a tour (what you can use, where you can find extra blankets, etc), showing us the room and bath, teaching us about unusual plumbing. For her, it was almost a half an hour. While that normally wouldn't be too big a deal, we were hoping to just drop our bags and keep going into Bath so we could see a couple of sights before dark. When she found out that we'd be continuing on, she described a Bath park n ride system in great detail (really? How bad can parking be in a town the size of Bath?) She drew us detailed maps on how to get back to her place from Bath after dark. It was funny - charming, odd, cute, and just a bit annoying to feel trapped by this friendly, eager, talkative host.

Our first stop when we finally made it into Bath was the Costume Museum. Okay, clearly as a theater major this is a must-see for me, but when the guys heard that it was one of Rick Steves's top museums in all of Europe, they were up for it too! Unfortunately, the renowned Assembly Rooms in the upper floors of the building which house the collection were being used for a private function, but we really didn't have time to tour those anyway. We zipped straight downstairs to the exhibits. There was some really great stuff in this small scale, but beautifully organized museum. At the beginning was a primer in vintage undergarments, along with versions that museum goers could try on over their own clothes. We look like we're all set to be dressed, don't we?!


Trace looks particularly svelte in his hoops and running shoes!


There were lots of great bits, including one exhibit with fashions from various periods alongside brand new imitations in a more current tweaked style. It was so true that everything old does become new again!

Another fantastic room was the gallery of formal court dress. Apparently court dress styles didn't change very much - when meeting the King and Queen, it's best to stick to traditional... I picked out this curtainy one as my favorite, do you think it makes my hips look big?! :)


This was one of Queen Victoria's gowns. She was so in love with her husband, Prince Albert (she had proposed the marriage when they were both twenty!) and so crushed by his early death that she wore formal mourning dress for her remaining 40 years before her death in 1901. Someone commented that she was very square - definitely on the short and wide side.


This one, I think, was my favorite of this section ... This photo shows the back - I love the shiny silk and the feminine print, you can easily envision how the fabric would move on the wearer. And the drama of the shoulder train reminds me of my mom's wedding gown - beautiful!


As we left the museum, we discovered that the event upstairs had finished, so we got to peek through the Assembly Rooms - the places where 18th century fashionistas would come to socialize and be entertained while they spent the "season" in Bath. Lovely!

From there we zipped over to a yummy Italian place for supper, and then we walked Molly and Trace over to the spot where they were going to pick up their evening walking tour of town. We had decided it was best for Eric to take me and Brooks back to the BnB so the little guy wasn't out all night long and then Eric would come back and get the Fenders. But Brooks was feeling pretty cheeky and had all sorts of fun laughing at his own funny faces. Definitely already a bit punchy by this point!


This was the point at which we declared it was bedtime. He's saying "Nooooooooo!" :)


I enjoyed turning in relatively early and we met up for breakfast the next morning. Our BnB owner was Miss Chatty Kathy again, but the food was yummy and plentiful. We finally checked out and got on the road... a bit later than planned, but no problem!

From there we drove back into Bath to tour the Roman Baths - the city's namesake. This standard Bath postcard shot shows the main central bath, with the 1800's portico above and around it, and the lovely church behind it.


Molly and Brooks enjoyed listening to their audio guides together. Actually, I know Brooks enjoyed it... pulling hair, bumping her in the back of her head with his wand - what's not to love!? Molly was a trooper.


The hot springs that these baths were built around still pump millions of gallons of steamy water into the complex every day, using much of the original plumbing. However, the last time people bathed in this water it wasn't green. Unfortunately, the missing roof allows the sunlight to pour into the pool area, creating an enormous petri dish full of algae.


Another random fun thing about our visit to Bath was that the annual Jane Austen Festival was taking place there that weekend. Lots of folks were wandering around the city in period dress.


I kept looking for Mr. Darcy but never found him. These girls were having a nice picnic in the park in front of the Royal Crescent.


I think if I lived in Bath this is the address I'd want.


Brooks enjoyed sharing the back seat of the rental car with Molly and Trace. There was lots of laughing as we ventured from Bath to Stonehenge at least until someone fell asleep.


Confession - I used to think that Stonehenge was a bit dorky and that people who wanted to go out of their way to see it were, well, dorky. But that's until I visited and boy, was I wrong!! I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed seeing it in person. It's literally right off the highway, we had gorgeous weather, and our ticket provided an interesting & informative audio guide (including one for Brooks... he thought it was a phone and kept saying "hello?" to the voice coming from the speaker). Everyone seemed to have a great time running around this huge pasture with Brooks. In all, I'd give the site two thumbs up!



Near the entrance/exit, some very interesting hippie types were holding what looked like an on-going, consistently futile protest, demanding that the stones of Stonehenge be "released from bondage". While I agreed that it would have been really cool to walk among the stones and not have to stay behind a rope fence, I completely understood the need to protect the site from would-be pranksters. I'm amused by the causes that some people get behind...


After Stonehenge, we headed back into the city and that night we introduced the Fenders to one of our favorite spots - Alounak, the yummy Persian restaurant.


The next day was Sunday, and we had tickets to see the Buckingham Palace State Rooms. The Queen allows visitors for only two months of the year, while she's vacationing up in Scotland at her northern castle of Balmoral and I had really been looking forward to seeing the interior of the historic palace.

Oh my!! It did NOT disappoint! From the gilded staircase to the gorgeous collection of paintings (the Queen has a stunning gallery with some masterpieces by Rubens, Rembrandt, etc), to the music room that was the recent location of Condelessa Rice's piano concert - we saw so much. I imagined waltzing into the entry hall on some official purpose like my friend Margeaux (who attended a black-tie dinner as the guest of Prince Edward). Actually, I couldn't imagine it - what happens when your car pulls up? "Um, I'd like to see the Queen, please?"

The very best part of the tour to me was the State Dining Room. It was set up for an official State Dinner - usually just one or two of those per year, for visiting heads of State. The china and silverware, the SIX glasses per place, the linens, the flowers, the individual mustard dishes (curiously absent in front of the Queen's chair - when I asked the docent in the room, she said that the kitchen knows exactly how the Queen likes her food seasoned, so she doesn't need condiments. WELL, then.) There was a special video showing the set-up and "behind the scenes" of a State Dinner. The queen herself comes and makes sure that everything is perfectly set that morning, before getting ready to meet her guests. I can not even imagine how fun it would be to see all of that in person. There are certain special uniforms for the ceremonial guards, specific songs being played by the live orchestra in the balcony at pre-determined moments, multiple members of the waitstaff whose job it is to cue the kitchen so that all is delivered from downstairs piping hot and right on time, entire hidden hallways for those who come to clear each course. It was like a food symphony!! I loved it and didn't ever want to leave that room!

The rest of the tour was just as stunning, but all I could think of for the rest of our visit was becoming Cinderella for a ball or a state dinner at Buckingham Palace. :) While I can't imagine living that way every day, I think occasionally it would be fun to be the Queen's special guest!

As expected, there were ZERO cameras inside the palace, but this is a shot of the back of the huge sprawling building, with the sun reflecting off the beautiful stone onto the garden area.


The exit took us down a trail through the wooded gardens behind the Palace and some fall colors were just starting to peek through in some spots. It was lovely.

That night, Molly and Trace played with Brooks while we slipped away for a date night. Wah-hoo! Thank you, guys!!

Monday was an incredibly full day of touring for Molly and Trace, while Brooks and I did our usual routine, puttering around the house and our neighborhood. Eric left work early that day after coming down with a nasty cold, so we got take-away Indian and had supper at the house. We love all the great ethnic food we can find in our neighborhood and we discovered Trace can handle the heat!

The rest of the week was pretty mellow for the three of us. Molly and Trace left for a whirlwind trip to Paris Tuesday morning and got back late Wednesday evening. Eric ended up staying home from work the two days they were gone, trying to breathe and trying not die from sneezing fits. The remainder of the Fenders' visit was split between them touring London and just great hang-out time at the house -

Entertaining the little guy during bathtime...


Fun at home with Aunt Molly's hat, the mirror, and the digital camera. This is the week that Brooks learned the word "Picture!"



Going for a stroll in the neighborhood...


Tickling a toddler just after bathtime is a great way to get out those final wiggles before bed!


I just love this picture of them...


The last night of their visit, after Brooks was tucked all in, we got into a wonderful conversation about marriage and family and parenthood, family traditions and "normals" that each of us brought into our marriages, and all kinds of good relational stuff. Molly gave Eric and I back and neck massages (ahhhh!) and we ate cookies and talked until the wee small hours.

Their whole trip here felt like a special relational family treat! It was awesome to have so much two on two time with them with plenty of freedom to let conversation flow where it would.

Thanks so much for coming over, guys! We love you!