A Vacation within a Vacation: Nerja, Spain

Although we’ve loved our trips in London and around England, it had been too long since we’d been to the beach. Therefore, we decided to take a trip during the semester break to Nerja, Spain (known as Balcón de Europa). John’s cousin, Karl Hoffmann, moved there almost 20 years ago. Nerja is a beautiful small resort town on the southern coast of Spain. We enjoyed seeing the various species of palm trees, the hilly landscape, the tan beaches, and, of course, the Mediterranean Sea.

We stayed at the El Capistrano Sur, which is about a mile from the sea and combines retirement apartments and rented villas. Brian, Christopher, and Brandon shared one villa and the rest of us shared another. Going to the beach was wonderful, but we also had a great time at the pool.

The boys also enjoyed a skateboard park that was just down the road from the El Capistrano. They went back three times, once at night.

Up in the hills above Nerja are the famous caves that include the world’s largest stalactite. Wandering through the caves was a refreshing break from the hot spring weather that we experienced during our stay.

Thanks to Karl, we feasted on some delicious food in Nerja. He took us to a seaside restaurant for paella and a couple of downtown restaurants for seafood (shrimp, octopus, and bacarones), tapas, and Spanish ham.

Two of our favorite adventures during the trip were Brandon’s ride on a kayak in the sea and recording some music in Karl’s home music studio. We came home with a CD of Brandon’s and Curtis’s brief piano compositions with Karl accompanying on the guitar.

More London Sites & Some New Friends

Our winter semester trips are over; the students leave on Thursday and Friday. However, we’ll be here for another eight weeks, with another group of students arriving in late April for the spring semester. We thought we’d finish off this semester’s posts with some London sites we visited recently.

We went to two military museums in the last couple of weeks: The Imperial War Museum and the Royal Air Force Museum. The Imperial War Museum has exhibits on World War I and World War II, including a recreation of a smelly trench from the first “Great War.” There were also tanks, submarines, bombs, and jeeps. We plan to return when the Ian Fleming/James Bond exhibit opens later this month.

The Royal Air Force Museum in north London includes many hands-on activities for children and various airplanes from several periods of the last 100 years.

We also visited the London Temple last week with most of the students. It is located south of London in the town of Newchapel. Brian took this nice postcard shot.

John just completed teaching a class on the criminal justice system in England. A few weeks ago, the class hosted a police constable from the Metropolitan Police Service (the Met or Scotland Yard) who works in the Notting Hill area. He told us all about what it’s like to be a policeman in London. Here’s a picture of Brandon with our new friend, Constable Kenrick.

We’ve made some good friends at church. Here’s a group photo with our dear new friends the Ossigournings.

Blenheim Palace & the Cotswolds

This week we spent a day at Blenheim Palace followed by an afternoon walking around two villages in the English countryside. Blenheim Palace is reported to be one of the largest homes in England; it is home to the 11th Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. The Duke wasn’t at home, though; one of the workers says he has homes in Florida and Switzerland, so he was probably either sunning or skiing.

The grounds at Blenheim are impressive, all 2,100 acres. We enjoyed the garden and a huge room that houses the library.

From the palace we journeyed to the Cotswolds, perhaps the most classic and picturesque representation of the English countryside. We arrived in Bourton-on-the-Water and then hiked to Lower Slaughter. As we began our hike, Christopher came across an acquaintance from his school in Orem, UT. The world grows smaller all the time.

The hike to Lower Slaughter took us across a pasture, through some woods, and along a small river. The village includes a couple of small shops, a manor house, and an old mill. The River Eye runs down the middle of the village. Lower Slaughter, despite its name, is, no doubt by definition, quaint. Here’s the winter 2008 semester-in-London faculty enjoying the stroll.

The kids threatened to dive into the river, although Christopher looks unconvinced.

Here’s the mill with its old waterwheel.

Have you got an extra $1,000,000 or so for a cottage in the Cotswolds?