So Here We Go Again...

It seemed like such a good idea 10 months ago!  We had just returned a couple months before from this fabulous Black Sea cruise and I think we were in some sort of "happy memory haze" or something.  So we decided to do ANOTHER big trip!  And we went through the same agony deciding on where!  Bos wants (always) to go to Scotland.  Because he's Scottish.  Been there.  Done that.  I always dream of floppy hats, sitting at a bistro table with a glass of wine like (we imagine) the French people do!  So guess who won?!  Me, of course.  But with a twist...we are flying to London, renting a car (yes, we know they drive on the 'wrong' side of the road!) and bumbling around southwest England for 8 days.

Why there?  Well, in the 70's, I watched a dramatic BBC series on Masterpiece Theater called "Poldark", set in the 1700's in Cornwall with the tin miners and ladies in fancy dresses, all those period things.  And, in my heart of hearts, I think I should have been born back then (except for the slop jars!  I need bathrooms, thank you very much!).  So we are going on a Poldark adventure with winds blowing off the cliffs, tumbledown manor houses, and a GPS system to guide us.  Only MY way of going is:  modern day manor houses with bathrooms and air conditioning for hotels and tea at 4 p.m. with cucumber sandwiches!  All I need to do is overcome this distinct feeling that we will probably get lost, our American GPS system is supposed to also do Europe but I figure will not work, and we may end up in RObin Hood's forest or something!  Anyway---

THEN after 8 days of careening around, we hop on a cruise ship and go to France, Portugal, Spain and the south of France, leaping off the ship in Monte Carlo.  Where  we get another rental car and follow the GPS up through France to the Loire Valley and then Paris to come home.  (Again, it seemed like a good idea back when...not so much right now!)  But more of all that later.  We have more immediate problems today!