Stitching on holidays

I did manage a bit of stitching and knitting on holidays. I enjoyed knitting on the cruise as Ma and I joined a knitting group each sea day. I had bought this little kit, thread, needles and pattern at Craft Alive and managed to get it knitted. Still need to block it.

 These two were easy and fun to stitch on the plane. They are from a little Christmas quilt pattern by Marg Low.

 I did the stitching for this little house and finished it off when I returned home.

 This little Gail Pan stitchery was also started and then finished recently. It was lovely using the Cottage Garden variegated thread.

So I have finally caught up on the holiday, Now to catch up on June!

Windsor Castle

On our last day, Tuesday 5th June, we had a great day in Windsor and enjoyed visiting Windsor Castle. It was amazing! We especially enjoyed seeing the wonderful St George's Chapel. No photos allowed inside the chapel and castle so here are a few of the outside. We just happened upon the changing of the guard.

We also had morning tea and lunch in Windsor and enjoyed a look at the shops. It was so chilly that I had to buy an extra fleece to wear! We then headed back to Slough and picked up the luggage and caught a taxi to our hotel in Heathrow. We had dinner there and then were up early for our flight home the next day.

London

On Sunday, 3rd June, we had another big transfer day. Taxi to the station in Bruges, train to Brussells and then the Eurostar to St Pancras station in London. We then were advised to take a bus to Paddington Station. So the luggage was moved again out of the station and up the road to the bus stop. The bus was quite interesting as it took us past lots of interesting places. From Paddington station we caught the train to Slough, where we were staying for 2 nights. It ended up being a good choice as it was walking distance from the station to London and also to Windsor. It was a tiring day so we had an easy dinner in Slough and then rested. On Monday we headed into London and first stop was Liberty! We enjoyed a lovely wander around this gorgeous shop.

At lunch time we were to meet Rhian, who is the son of Ma's niece. It was such a lovely time. Rhian lives in London and so knows it well. He took us to a wonderful restaurant for lunch. It was downstairs from a bar area and was amazing. It was like something out of Downton Abbey but reasonably priced. Well worth a visit if you are in London.

 We also visited Fortnam and Mason and then enjoyed a coffee at a bar overlooking St Paul's Cathedral.

 We then headed back to Sough on the tube and train and had an easy dinner in our rooms.

Bruges continued

Today, Friday 1st June, we wandered past the Sint-Janshospitaal and decided to go in. It was an amazing old building and now houses a wonderful collection of 15th century art like triptichs etc and a display of scary medical tools used long ago. It wouldn't have been good to be sick or having a difficult birth then!!!

The ticket included a visit to the apothecary. This was amazing too.

I then went to the Kantcentrum, which is the lace centre. Bruges is famous for its lace, particularly bobbin lace. I loved seeing all the old samples of lace.

On Saturday we wandered to the Koningen Astrid Park. We saw some of the Almshouses for the poor on the way. Ma and I shopped a bit for in the afternoon. It was nice to have a bit of a quieter day.