Bank Holiday

Bank holidays are the best days of the year.  Free days off work without dipping into vacation allotment.  There are 8 bank holidays throughout the year in the UK (well this part of the UK), and while most of them are associated with other holidays, like Christmas and Easter, a couple of them are truly nothing but "bank holidays."  So while we don't get Memorial Day in May or Labor Day in September, we do get bank holidays near the same time as each of these, which helps.  I still miss the 4th of July, and especially Thanksgiving, and there is no bank holiday equivalent for those.

For our summer bank holiday weekend (usually the last weekend in August) we enjoyed one last stress-free (school-free that is) weekend as a family.  In true UK fashion we had a wide range of weather, everything from freezing rain to warm sunshine.

On the Saturday we had a family day out in London.  We stopped off at Vauxhall (a station we pass through regularly) to first have a brief James Bond moment with a sighting of the MI6 building, basically the British CIA.

 MI6

 Kayaking on a cold rainy day down the Thames.

 After a visit to the Tate Britain Museum, we walked up the Thames towards the Houses of Parliament for some playground fun in the rain in the shadow (well you could imagine one if it were sunny) of Big Ben.

 Monday, the official bank holiday of this weekend would find us road-trippin' to the seaside with friends.  The weather couldn't have been more amazing (or in more stark contrast to the rest of the rubbish weather that weekend).  When you score with the weather in this country, you score big!  It was a perfect day on the beach with some wonderful friends!  Bournemouth Beach may now very well top my UK best beaches list.

 This post has officially made me summer-sick!  Until the next bank holiday . . .

Artist Swap

Several months ago I spotted something beautiful on Facebook.  Something that really caught my eye.  Spectacular canvases of colour of places I recognised and loved.  I knew I had to have some piece of this beautiful artwork.  I made contact with the artist, Laura Wilson, and after a bit of exchange back and forth the artist swap was born.  She'd paint me a painting, and I'd do photographs for her family.  How flattered I was that anything I would create would come close to equating to this  . . .

This large striking canvas of our favourite city in the world is definitely the centrepiece in our house. It is absolutely stunning! I love the rich texture in her brush strokes . . . the delicate, yet bold composition . . . the contrast of neutral tones with bright splashes of colour that seem to fall in all the right places . . . the combination of the abstract with the familiar. It is just gorgeous, and Laura is a true talent! Thank you, friend, for creating a piece we will cherish forever!  

Zagreb, Croatia

Leaving Slovenia we had the better part of two days to explore what we could of Croatia.  We really just used Croatia as a good airport connection getting to Lake Bled, but we left enough time to get a taste of this country and its capital.  Before heading to Zagreb we stopped at a cute little Croatian town just after crossing the border, Samobor.  

It was lunchtime and we were pretty hungry.  But for all the charm this little town claims, it seriously lacks in food offerings.  Most restaurants were either closed or only serving drinks.  So we did what anyone would do in this situation and grabbed some gelato!  After our quick tour of this town we got back in the car for the rest of the journey to Zagreb.  

 Reaching Zagreb we were all pretty tired, and also in need of escaping the heat, so we checked into our hotel and took some time out for some much-needed, air-conditioned down time before heading out for an early dinner and a sightseeing stroll around Zagreb.

 It was perfect timing going out to explore as the sun was getting low, and as heat was beginning to abate, also made for wonderful photography!

 Up at the beautiful parliament square, where the prime minister lives and parliament meets.  I was surprised at how accessible these buildings were, not like the White House or 10 Downing Street.  Such a beautiful square, and my favourite part of Zagreb.

After lunch on our second day in Zagreb it was time to head to the airport and fly home to London.  I was surprised at how much there was to see and how much I enjoyed Zagreb.  It was a really wonderful 10 days in Slovenia and Croatia!