Us, May 10, 2026: John, Leo, Ondine, Roy, with Shadow pasted in from May 24, lol
Us, May 10, 2026: John, Leo, Ondine, Roy, with Shadow pasted in from May 24, lol
A quick wrap-up of the last month and a half:
Leo graduated from Grossmont College with four associate’s degrees for transfer (AS mathematics, AS physics, AS university studies, AA philosophy, all with honors), plus a fifth stand-alone AS with honors in Mathematics), and a certificate of transfer (for four-year colleges). He is in the process of transferring to UCSD, where he was accepted with a full ride!
We took a three-week trip to Germany and England! Because Leo was on summer break, he was able to join us; Roy had just taken his big month-long trip to Japan so couldn’t take the time off work. He looked after the dog and the house, drove our cars (John’s Fit apparently needed a jump, so Roy had to drive a different car every day for the next couple weeks), watered the yard, and came in every once in a while to flush the toilets and check everything.
We spent several days in Mülheim on a grand tour with Dax und Jürgen that included the Tiger and Turtle, a trip on the Weisse Flotte to Essen, Europe’s biggest camera obscura, a road trip to Düsseldorf where we went to a photo exhibit and the Filmmuseum and saw another camera obscura, a nature exhibit at the Gasometer, and more! We also walked around our old stomping grounds at the MüGa, including the Matschspielplatz and the Wasserspielplatz, which was fun! Dax organized a brunch gathering of some of our old friends from Germany 2004, Peter und Conny and Erika und Paul! It was great to see them again! It instantly felt almost like we’d never left; like home from home again, so warm and happy! (It was probably completely different for Leo, who was two years old when they last saw him.) We also took a daytrip to Köln.
Then we went to Heidelberg for a couple days, where we connected with Ondine’s friend Desiree! Desiree came out to visit us at the end of the Coast to Coast walk! In Heidelberg, we were treated to an amazing surprise tour of some underground passages with histories going back hundreds of years.
In England, we based ourselves first in London, where we saw the sights: the Sky Garden, the London Eye, the Tower of London, Greenwich, The Churchill War Rooms, Trafalgar Square, the British Museum and the National Gallery, and John Soane’s Museum, among others. We also took a great historical walking tour. After Germany, England, and especially London, felt so easy to get around!
Then we moved on to Bristol, where we stayed for the final third of our trip. Bristol was a great base for day trips, and also had a great vibe. We spent a day in Bath, including the tour of the Roman baths and a long wander around the town checking out Pulteney Bridge, the Circus, and the Royal Crescent. We took a Rabbie’s tour to Stonehenge, Avebury, and a couple villages in the Cotswolds (Castle Combe and Lacock). We took an impromptu trip to Oxford – impromptu because we had planned to go to Cambridge, but the train line was down for the day, so we pivoted to Oxford. Locally, we went to the SS Great Britain, the Clifton suspension bridge, "The Giant’s Cave," and our third camera obscura.
Multiple heatwaves during our trip made international news, especially in Germany, when the hottest week ever recorded coincided with our visit. Temps were over 40C, and at night the fans could only bring it down to the 30s. We slept in dampened t-shirts, drank hydration drinks all day, and just kept motoring along.
All our short-term rental apartments were great, well-situated and equipped (the one in Heidelberg actually had AC, a real rarity, and the one in Bristol was steps from the bus stop and a lovely park).
Food was exceptionally good everywhere we went. Leo thought the iced chai lattes there were far better than the ones in the U.S., and the coffee drinks too. Even the Dr. Pepper, Fanta, and Coke tasted better in Europe than what we get here in the States (the Dr. Pepper and Coke, in particular, tasted the way we remember them tasting from way back.) We especially enjoyed the local sausages and the doners in Germany and the fish and chips and steak pies in England, of course! But we also had some of the best Japanese food we’ve had, from a little restaurant in Oxford, and lots of great Indian food in both Germany and England. Our last day in Bristol we went to a well-rated buffet, and that was fantastic too!
When we returned home, there was a lot of stuff to deal with, plus re-entry back to work, so we’re actually still unpacking the last things. While we were gone, a large, pregnant rattlesnake took up residence under the patio next door, which our neighbor Meg dealt with professionally ($$$), but then we had to Quikcrete the hole, which was huge, to prevent some other critter moving in. And, the long spell of disuse killed our garbage disposal, so that needed to be replaced. John, who works on-call, feels very fortunate to have had steady work awaiting him when he returned!
And, we’re already thinking about our next couple trips. The next one will probably be to Guanajuato, Mexico, but the one after that will be back in Europe, possibly walking a few northern legs of the Moselsteig in Germany, walking Hadrian’s Wall, doing the Herriott Way, or even, moonshot, walking the Coast to Coast again!
We celebrated Leo’s birthday at Little Sakura all you can eat sushi! Roy joined us for that; we hadn’t seen him in a while!
And then, over this last weekend, it was John’s birthday, which we started celebrating low-key at home with a nice hearty breakfast omelet and sausages, and Ondine made scones. Roy was in Las Vegas on business, but Leo came over to join us for breakfast and we had a great time reviewing our trip. Then, he offered to take us to dinner! He suggested a couple places we’d never been, so we took him up on that! We went to Yakyudori, a Japanese restaurant in the Convoy area, which was excellent! For dessert, we moved on to a place Leo knew called Mngo Cafe, which specializes in mango desserts, smoothies, coffees, and teas. We had the OMG (Oh Man Go) sticky rice, which was a sampler with fresh mango, three kinds of sticky rice, and mango sticky rice ice cream. Leo got a mango kakigori, which is a Japanese shaved ice. John also ordered a mango smoothie with crystal boba. Everything was so good, easily the best sticky rice ever, and the kakigori is so light and refreshing!
Somewhere in there we saw a play, the first of the new season at Lamplighter’s: Boeing Boeing, by Marc Camoletti. This lightheaded farce was turned into a movie in the mid-1960s starring Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis.
Whew, that’s us kind of caught up! We probably missed a things in there, especially in the trip part, but we’ll post a proper travel log, with photos, eventually.
Neighborhood gas prices range from $5.79 to $5.99 per gallon for regular unleaded.
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