A Note From Victoria

I’m back in the US after my trip to Europe; I will be at the Romance Writers of America meeting in New York City all this week.  I had hoped to post about some of my experiences in Portugal, Spain,
France and, of course, Merrie Olde England, but I have run out of time before preparing for RWA and the meeting of the Beau Monde Chapter where I will present a power-point program on The Battle of Waterloo and our trip to the 195th anniversasry last year (2010).
I am eager to tell everyone about all my experiences, from visiting the tomb of General Sir John Moore in A Corunna, Spain

to sitting in the mayor’s chair in Windsor when I spent a wonderful day with our good friend and Windsor expert Hester Davenport.

I have many tales to tell and pictures to show about my experiences and my research.  One thing that has become even more meaningful to me since I got back was seeing the Ai Weiwei Chinese horoscope sculptures at Somerset House in London. Now that he has been released from detention in China, I am really happy I visited his work, which made me sad at the time.

Now, a confession.  I had a nasty cold much of the trip.  I hope it didn’t clip my wings too much, but I would have had a much better time if I had been hale and hearty.  I took lot of decongestants which helped immensely, but gave me a sort of foggy feeling. Nevertheless, I am glad to say I saw the Queen twice.  My photo from Trooping the Colour below.

Above is a newspaper shot of the prettiest hat I’ve ever seen on the Queen.  I did see her, up close if not very personal, but I missed the photo.  Thanks again, Hester, for taking me to the “parade.”

And finally, to descend from the sublime to the ridiculous, can you believe I managed to be present at a London Naked Bike Ride for the second year in a row?  Yes, I walked out of the British Museum and headed for my hotel, only to be stopped by the procession of the group, accompanied by some police and a lot of amused bus riders, down Kingsway. I only took pictures from the rear — for obvious reasons! I know there’s a method to their madeness, but it gets lost in the shuffle!

So stick around, I’ll get to blogging again in a week or two.  Kristine has done a great job of keeping things rolling, so here is a public thank you — she does the lion’s share of the work!!  But if she enjoys it half so much as I do, it is more than worthwhile.

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