Catch up post!

It's been a while since I've had a chance to post anything that I'm not quite sure where to start.  Maybe I'll go with a highlights post.

Doha
Our visit to the mosque was really informative.  I think it was great for the boys to realise how much Islam and Christianity have in common and hopefully a reminder to them in the future to focus on those similarities rather than the differences.

That night we visited Souq Waqif.  A souq is a market, and this is the most popular market in Doha.  It was unlike anything I'd experienced before.  Arabs in their long white robes everywhere.  I don't remember ever seeing an Arab in traditional dress in Melbourne just wandering on the streets.  It was easy to see the practicality of it though because it was scorching hot, even at night.  The smells were amazing - so many spices and perfumes!  Angus bought himself his "first" fez.  He wants a red one like the 10th and 11th doctors in Dr Who but he couldn't find one.  So he bought a different colour and decided to start a collection. 

Another thing we saw in Doha which I found fascinating was actually at the airport where there were three Arab men with hooded falcons on their arms.  They didn't look too friendly when we went to have a closer look so I'm still not sure what they were doing with them at the airport!

London
Where do I start!  We had greatly overscheduled our time here and had to cut several things out.  But I thoroughly enjoyed all we did do.  St Paul's Cathedral was breathtaking and I preferred it to Westminster Abbey. 

One of the most moving things I saw was all the hand-made ceramic poppies in the moat of the Tower of London.  They are continuing to add them until they have 85,000 poppies - one for each British person who lost their life in the Great War.  That huge sea of poppies really brought home the reality of those deaths.

I loved the location of our apartment!  It was right around the corner from Covent Garden Market - in fact we could see it from our bedroom window and could hear the buskers as well.  There was a beautiful old-fashioned toy shop there that specialised in cardboard puppet theatres.  I managed to buy myself a Cinderella theatre which I have no idea what to do with!  It comes with a script, so you'll all have to come over and I'll put on plays.

Edinburgh
The most beautiful city I've ever seen!  I loved Edinburgh Old Town with all the little closes off the streets.  We arrived the day of the referendum which was exciting.  There were news cameras all along the Royal Mile the next day interviewing people about the result.

Edinburgh Castle was wonderful.  Despite the cold, the drizzle and the mist, it was still beautiful.

That night I had drinks with a very, very distant relative on the Lothian side.  We decided that we are fourth cousins.  The funniest thing was her talking about how all the Lothians in her family look alike because they all have "the Lothian nose".  This is exactly what my family says about the Lothians too!  Good to know the Lothian nose spans generations and continents!

The next bit
The last couple of days we've been driving down from Edinburgh in search of family graves.  I've found Lothian, Oliver and Goodrich graves, including direct ancestors so I'm very excited!  The town where the Goodrich family came from was particularly picturesque and the church they attended has a history of over 1000 years!

We also went to Rosslyn Chapel (known by many from The Da Vinci Code).  I know I'll probably say this many times through this trip, but it was the most amazingly spectacular church I've ever seen!  The carvings were worn, but you could still see the detail and the craftsmanship.  I loved that rather than having a building and decorating it with art, the building itself was the art.

Now we're in Stratford-Upon-Avon and about to head out to explore the town.

There you go.  A very brief summary of what we've been up to.  Only 1/4 of the way through our trip and we've seen so much already! 

Jess