Sunday 27th January
Good weather and blue skies so we went for a walk around Fewston Reservoir. Lots of people here and the car park was nearly full.


The wind was strong and was whipping up the surface of the water.


At the far end of the reservoir we could see the results of the recent gales.

Looking across Fewston Embankment towards the pathway back on the far side.

This was a good three and a half mile circular walk, which took us about an hour and a half.

On the 12th of January we went to visit Russell and Christine in Sheffield. We all took the bus into the centre which is gradually being developed by the urban design company that Rachael works for in London.

These are the fountains in the Peace Garden.


The nearby Winter Gardens were bustling and much bigger than we expected, with the museum / art gallery entrances off one side.


The following day we drove to London to visit Rachael & stay in her new flat for a few days.

On the Monday we went to Westminster Bridge and walked up Birdcage Walk to Buckingham Palace. After watching the changing of the guard we strolled up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Corner, then continued into Kensington Gardens to see The Diana Memorial Fountain.


The following evening we went to The Royal Albert Hall to see Varekai by The Cirque du Soleil. It was superb musical spectacle created by jugglers, acrobats, trapeze artists and clowns.
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/cirquedusoleil/en/showstickets/varekai/intro/intro.htm


On Wednesday, after lunch with Rachael near her smart offices, we had a look around the newly rebuilt St Pancras Station. It is light, spacious and the new blends in well with the old. The huge glass roof is particularly impressive.

On the 21st December we explored Bedford on our way to collect Rachael for Christmas. We parked down by the river and visited the museum that is based in the old brewery and full of a wide assortment of artefacts from the history of Bedford.
We walked back along the river and watched the rowing teams and individuals.

On the Saturday we visited Whipsnade Tree Cathedral which is cared for by The National Trust.

It was planted by Mr E.K. Blyth in the 1930's as a memorial to his friends killed in the First World War.

This is the nave.

The Chancel, made up of Silver Birch in front of a Yew hedge.

Today, as the sun was shining, we decided to visit Thorp Perrow Arboretum and Birds of Prey Centre in Bedale near Ripon. The Autumn colours were beautiful and the leaves were crisp and dry on the ground.
www.thorpperrow.com

In the afternoon there was a Birds of Prey display where we saw a hawk, an owl and a kestrel in free flight. Alan volunteered to hold the owl which weighed about the same as two bags of sugar.

We have decided to continue our blog to include some of the more interesting things we are getting up to now that we have finished work.

As part of Glenys's leaving present from Pool School, she was given a voucher for a two-day course in wood turning at the craft workshop of Philip Greenwood in Hutton-le-Hole. I joined her for the course and we had a super time and the two days flew by with expert tuition from Philip.
www.Greenwoodcrafts.co.uk


We learned about centring, roughing, spindle turning, cutting different shaped grooves, turning beads and coves, turning bowls, parting and finishing.
This photo shows one of the egg cups just about completed.


At the end of the course we had each completed a carrier bag handle, an egg cup, a bowl and a trinket box with matching lid.

We are both now back in Wetherby UK - ready to face the rigours of cooking for ourselves and not having the bed made and room tidied by a hotel maid!

We thought we would take just one last photo of Chicago - now our favourite city in the US.


We took a cab to O'Hare airport and set off after an hour's delay, but made up the time on the flight. The plane was half empty so we had space to stretch out a bit.


It was later on in the evening when we eventually set off but it gave a wonderful view of the city at night.

Thank you to everyone who made comments on the blog - we appreciate the time you took to give a response.

Alan & Glenys - 10th October 2007

This is our fourth, and final, full day in Chicago and will probably be our last posting for this trip.

This morning we took a walk down State Street again and went to see the building that now houses Macy's. It was built in the early 20th Century in the Art Deco style and is huge, covering one full block and rising 9 floors. It was originally the Marshall Fields store and it was he who commissioned this beautiful glass mosaic ceiling by Tiffany.


We walked from here back to Grant Park and suprisingly all traces of yesterday's marathon had disappeared and the park was back to normal. We came upon fountain which has been created as a play area and a piece of public art work. The faces are of Chicago citizens and the image changes every few minutes. During each cycle a spout of water comes out of the image of the mouth. The idea comes from Gargoyles on European buildings.



From here we walked to the Shedd Aquarium. We saw a dolphin show that was both entertaining and informative.
www.sheddaquarium.org

There were many fish and reptiles from all around the world, including this exotic sea horse.

We left in the late afternoon and walked back, via Millennium Park, to our hotel which is in the centre distance of this view along Lake Michigan from the aquarium.

We are beginning to feel that we know our way around at least part of this city and are still enjoying it and finding new things to explore.