greetings from Croxley Green

Hello from lovely Croxley Green, west of London. We are staying with Caitlin's Aunt Dot and Uncle John, who have been so incredibly hospitable to us. We arrived in the UK last Thursday and spent the weekend with Caitlin's Uncle Graham and Aunt Karen, as well as her two cousins, Isaac and Caleb who were also wonderfully hospitable--they even gave up their bed for us! A grand time was had by all as we ate well, frequented craft fairs, went to the site of the Battle of Hastings (very cool!), and had some great chats--Matt loved getting to know members of his new family and did his best to give off a good impression. Sadly, he came down with a nasty head/chest cold that he is continuing to fight off.

We had an AMAZING time in Paris--the city ended up being so much more enjoyable than we ever would have expected. We took another free walking tour, run by the same company as the ones we took in Amsterdam and Berlin, and it was great. We were only in Paris for a day and a half, but we managed to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Versailles, and a bunch of other sights. Our hotel was also very nice, which makes a big difference to the time you have in a place. We were even fortunate enough to be able to attend a concert by DB Clifford, who happened to be playing a free show on the first night we were in Paris--good times!

We are off to Swindon on Saturday to visit family and friends of Caitlin's before taking off to Scotland and then (fingers crossed) to Ireland. We are having a great time in England and our trip has been such a wonderful time for us both individually and as a couple, but we will be happy to get home to family and friends in Victoria at Christmas! We don't know what kind of internet connection we will have over the next little while, so if you don't hear back from us it probably means that we don't have the net or the connection is poor. Much love to you all...