week eight.

Having spent a solid chunk of our 12 day excursion with Dutch relatives, we spent much of week eight saying things like, "I need a kopje koffie" and "heh heh" and "so." 

If you didn't grow up with Dutch grandparents with thick Dutch accents, you won't understand the above. But if you do... well, I'm going to bet you were just transported back to your Grandma's doily-covered living room on a Sunday afternoon.

 Bicycling! Obviously. Look how Dutch I be.

Wayne blends in pretty well too! He has a nice oranje hat. 

Wayne also experienced having the chain come off his bike and then he had to fix it -- check out those Dutch bicycle grease hands of power, my friends. That is the stuff of Dutch genes. 

 Our last leg of the trip found us in jolly old London, England!

Hullo, Kensington Palace! Duchess Kate was hidden away inside there somewhere, three days away from birthing a future king named George. 

London was hot and smelly. They were experiencing a brutal heat wave/drought thing. It was awful. We were tired and sun-stroked. Wayne caught a bug. We were what the kids call a hot mess. Hot messes? I can't confirm the grammar on that. 

Look at those forced smiles. Our eyes are saying "Yes, we just walked across the whole dang city of London despite feeling nauseous and experiencing horrible foot pain because we are not going to spend hundreds of pounds on taking the underground, that would be foolish. And we're going to smile with the Tower Bridge in the background and look like we're loving this, doggone it."

We pretty much didn't like London. Sorry London. You were too hot and too expensive. At the end of the week we hopped on our train and rode the coast all the way back up to Edinburgh. Cooler air and that delightful sea breeze met us as we stepped onto the platform at Waverly Station... happy to be home.