Bonjour Paris

After coming to the end of our trip through the UK we were both excited to get on the train to Paris. We have had a busy few days since arriving but are loving every minute. We arrived late Saturday afternoon so decided to relax & take a walk along the river Seine before wandering through the shops in the Le Marais & having dinner at a typical french restaurant (snails & all). Yesterday was a long day but again we had a great time - we caught the train to Versailles & spent the day looking through the Kings Palace, apartments, gardens (including the fountain show) & then Marie-Antionette's House. After returning to Paris we visited the Eiffel Tower & although most people say its over rated we still enjoyed it & of course the views from the top are fantastic. Today we have been to the Louvre (& yes we saw the Mona Lisa) and then walked from the Louvre along Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe where once again the views over Paris were pretty cool. So far the plan for tonight is to visit Notre Dame & then head back to the Eiffel Tower to see it in all it's night time glory - by this time we should be ready for sleep!

Lakes District, Yorkshire, Cumbria & back to London

After leaving Edinburgh we thought we'd take a scenic route to Harrogate, Yorkshire, & go via the Lakes District to see Hill Top (the Beatrix Potter farm). Unfortunately the weather was MISERABLE & the area was packed with visitors for the long weekend so after a quick stopover and look through the Beatrix Potter Gallery we continued on our way to Harrogate. We had a great couple of nights in Harrogate staying with Nick & his family and from here we spent Monday looking around York. We both really loved York & had a fantastic day Monday visiting the York Minster, the Shambles & wandering around the streets & the shops. Before leaving Harrogate on Tuesday Nick showed us through his 'egg business' right from the chickens laying to the packaging & marketing which was really fascinating. From here we continued south (stopping in at the Wedgwood museum) to stay with Roger & his family. Again we had a great stay & really enjoyed being able to see the numerous ventures Roger & his boys are operating - gave us plenty to think about!! On the move again we headed back towards the Wales border to visit Aled who was kind enough to give up his time & let us tour his new chicken house (142,000 in a single shed - we didn't even see the other sheds) & processing/packaging facility. This was an incredible setup to see & I can honestly say I don't think we will ever see so many eggs again (packing well over 1 million eggs per day). From here we continued on to stay with Nick for the night before making our way back towards Cambridge for a full day of meetings & then back to London to finish the UK portion of our trip.

Edinburgh

Unfortunately Bruce was not very well for the Edinburgh leg of our trip & spent all of Saturday in bed. I on the other hand had a great time touring Edinburgh Castle (including the Crown Jewels), wandering around Princes St & climbing to the top of Scotts monument for fantastic views over Edinburgh. Since Bruce wasn't in tow I also managed to fill in my time with a bit of shopping! Thankfully Bruce was feeling a little better come Sunday so before leaving we went for another walk through the gardens beside Edinburgh Castle and then along the Royal Mile down to parliament & the Queen's Edinburgh residence.

Northern Ireland & into Scotland

The remainder of our time in Dublin was good fun. We had an amazing meal at a french restaurant Tuesday night & then spent Wednesday morning looking around Dublin. We managed to see Oscar Wilde's house & toured Trinity College including The Book of Kells. From Dublin we headed north to briefly stop in at Belfast to see some of the political murals & then onwards towards Ballymena. Thursday we had a fantastic day visiting the Giants Causeway, Carrick-a-rede ropebridge & driving the Glens of Antrim around the north east coast of Ireland. The coastline really was spectacular and in the morning before the rain set in again you could see all the way across to Scotland. Friday saw us catching the ferry from Larne to Cairnryan in Scotland. Thankfully this ferry ride was much quicker & much much smoother than the last. Once we had arrived in Scotland we followed the coastline north into Glasgow to visit George's square & then east to Edinburgh.

Over the sea & into Ireland

After the worst ferry trip of our lives (no exaggeration - I'll spare you the details) we arrived in Ireland. The weather was typically Irish - cold, wet & windy so we headed to The Lobster Pot, a local pub near the beach specialising in crab & lobster. After lunch & once our stomachs had settled from the ferry we headed south into Waterford to see the crystal manufacturing which has since closed & been shipped off shore so toured the showrooms instead. From Waterford we continued south west to Cork where we stayed with another Nuffield scholar & Bruce met with some of the agricultural guys from one of the banks. In the afternoon we decided to head north-west to Killarney (massive tourist trap full of Americans) and then continued on to drive the Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry was quite spectacular with some quaint little villages and amazing views over the west coast of Ireland although the rain didn't stay away for long & soon you were lucky to see even the railing beside you for rain & fog.

Today we have driven from Cork to Dublin stopping in at The Rock of Cashel along the way. The Rock of Cashel was good to see although I may regret to say that we are nearly all castle/cathedralled out! As I type this now I am waiting for Bruce to return from a meeting with the Irish Farm Journal before we take off again to check out the sites of Dublin.

New South Welshmen in Wales

We arrived in Cardiff, Wales, on Thursday & spent the day looking around Cardiff Castle (not much to see) & Millennium Stadium. The tour of Millennium stadium was good although a little disappointing as they had the turf up & were setting up for the U2 concert Saturday night so was a little hard to picture it in its full rugby glory. Later in the afternoon we headed to Cardiff Bay for a coffee - once again it was nice but not fantastic. I guess it comes down to the fact that despite being a capital city it's still relatively small & you really can't compare it to the likes of Sydney or London.

Friday we headed across to the west coast of Wales, stopping in at Caerphilly Castle and then Tenby along the way. Tenby was pretty although one of the biggest tourist traps we saw in Wales. Set on the hill overlooking the beach & ocean it was so packed with tourists they actually shut off the town centre to traffic during the day to allow the tourists to spill onto the streets. The view was pretty although the wind was freezing (seems it was just us who thought so - the Welsh were walking around in shorts & thongs, and still swimming in the water - for us it was like the middle of winter!).

Friday night we spent with a farmer near Pembroke & had a great look around his farm which included everything from cropping, dairy, potatoes, lamb fattening & a little bit of real estate. They had just started digging potatoes they day we arrived & were about halfway through the wheat harvest (averaging 70bags - really quite depressing). The wheat harvesting didn't quite seem the same as at home - it was so wet the header & chaser bin were leaving 10inch ruts in the ground and there was no dust to be seen. Before leaving Saturday we also managed to touring their local potato processing/packing plant which was great to see.

Saturday night we headed a little further north to stay with another scholar & really enjoyed our time looking around his sheep and national trust property. The views here were just spectacular - lush green hills dotted with sheep - its amazing what 80inches of rainfall a year can do!

Oxford to Exeter via Stonehenge & Onwards to Bath

Kirsty please note the inclusion of this photo!

After leaving the Oxford area we headed south west towards Exeter stopping in at Stonehenge along the way. Stonehenge was packed with tourists & great to see although the day itself was fairly cold and miserable. From Stonehenge we went back into Salisbury to see the Salisbury Cathedral, noted as having the tallest spiral in England, & its pillars have even buckled under the weight giving it a permanent lean. From Salisbury we continued on to Exeter and had lots of fun staying with Michael Dart (Nuffield scholar) & checking out his 'farm shop'. The shop was absolutely incredible & gave us both a lot of food for thought - I even helped out the business side of things by doing a little shopping myself!

After Exeter we headed north to Bridgewater for more meetings organised by Ian Tremain (Nuffield scholar) & continued on to near Weston to stay with another scholar & his family, Alistair House.
From Weston we drove via Blagdon on to Bath - the drive itself was quite pretty if not a little hairy at times through the tiny narrow country laneways. We were both excited to arrive in Bath although our excitement soon faded once we queued for an hour and 20 minutes for a car park (who would ever go travelling in peak tourist season??!!). Once finally parked, we spent the afternoon wandering the streets & touring the original Roman Baths & Pump Room as well as checking out the old Georgian houses along Royal Crescent & The Circus.

Our last night before heading to Wales we had a great time with Simon Ball (Nuffield scholar) & his family, touring the family & checking out their farm shop.

Cambridge, Oxford & surrounds

After leaving London on Friday we headed towards Cambridge for Bruce to have more meetings. We spent a little bit of time wandering the streets of Cambridge although given it is summer holidays a lot of the colleges were closed to tourists and the famous Kings College Chapel was closed for renovations. Despite not being able to get inside a lot of the buildings, Cambridge is still an amazing place to visit with very quaint narrow streets & an enormous amount of history & architecture.

We spent the next few nights staying with David (Nuffield Scholar) & his wife Katie whilst we had a busy few days touring the country side meeting with past scholars, farmers, businessmen & president of the NFU (National Farmers Union).

After leaving Cambridgeshire we headed to Oxford & again spent some time wandering around the city taking in the sights and endless old buildings (including the Corpus Chrisi College where parts of the Harry Potter movies have been set).

London at long last

After a fantastic time travelling through the US we arrived in London on Monday after another crappy flight with United (don't get me started again!). Once we arrived we were straight to The Farmers Club to check in & then off again for Bruce to meet with Macquarie. That night we managed to catch up with Steph for dinner in Notting Hill which was great to be able to see her again.

Tuesday we began our onslaught of the tourist sites: in two days we visited Downing St, changing of the Horse Guards, Buckingham Palace changing of the guards, Buckingham Palace summer opening of the state rooms, Trafalgar square, National Gallery, Banquet house (where Charles I was killed), Churchill Museum & Cabinet war rooms, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament (including house of commons & house of lords), Big Ben, Brick Lane (known for its Indian restaurants), St Paul's Cathedral (climbed all 580 or so steps to the top & back down again), Globe Theatre, Tower Bridge, London Tower, London Eye, & Lords cricket ground. We also managed to fit in some time for shopping at Harrods & along Portobello Rd before heading to the West End Thursday night to see Jersey Boys which was fantastic.

The weather in London was fairly typical during our stay - we had everything from hot and sunny to freezing cold winds & miserable rain!! Despite hardly stopping to take a breath while we were there, we both had a great time in London & have definitely added it to the list of places to see again.

Washington DC

We arrived in Washington DC late Tuesday & had a great time staying with Hutch & Gemma. Wednesday was taken up with meetings with USDA and National Cattlemans Association but the rest of our stay we spent checking out the sites. We had a big day Thursday - we hired bikes from Thompson Boat Centre and road along the river to the National Mall. We then spent the day visiting the Washington Monument (tallest building in Washington at 555ft), the Postal Museum, Capitol Building (ask Bruce about his brush with the US police), the Lincoln Memorial, the National Library, and the Natural History Museum which houses the original American flag. Thursday night we also managed to catch up with another of Bruce's friends from school. Friday was a little less hectic - we hired bikes again and rode to Arlington Cemetery (American War Memorial) where we saw the Kennedy's grave, Arlington house, and tomb of the unknown soldier.

We had a great end to the US leg of our trip with our time spent with Gemma & Hutch. Saturday they took us for a drive over the Bay Bridge & we then spent some time looking around Annapolis - a cute little area set on the river/bay. Our very last day in the states was a stinker -(close to, if not more than 40degrees) although we had a great time watching the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamond Backs, luckily our seats were in the shade.

The corn fields of Iowa

On our travels from Sioux Falls we were lucky enough to visit & tour the Louis Dreyfus Ethanol Plant at Grand Junction. This plant has been open only a few months & we were treated to a personal tour of their facility which was fascinating.

The past four days we have been in the areas surrounding Waterloo, Iowa meeting with farmers who are passionate about their industry. We enjoyed our day Friday with Clay Mitchell (a real technology buff) and then with Ben Riensche touring parts of his farm. Ben & his family welcomed us into their home for dinner and it was really nice to have a home cooked meal and spend some time with a family again.

Saturday we took a break from farming and drove to Hazelton to see the Amish villages, and then onto Amana which was an original German colony which now is designed for the tourists with lots of gift shops, cheese & wine tasting, a brewery and restaurants.

Sunday we had another fantastic day enjoying another meal with Ben & his family before visiting another farm operation at Hudson. Alan & his wife Sarah, along with his business partner Ted & wife Lynda hosted us for drinks around the camp fire & dinner with all food (excluding meat) coming fresh from Sarah's amazing vegetable garden - something to strive for at home!

Just a small detour!!!!

Some may think we're crazy (and for a brief moment we would agree with you) but after finishing off with some meetings earlier than expected we found we had a couple of spare days so decided to take a 1000 mile (1600km) detour to the opposite side of South Dakota to Mt Rushmore National Memorial. On the way we stooped off in Wall, to visit Wall Drug (it had been advertised about every half mile for the last 50 miles so we figured it was a must see) - it was a tourist trap but still a must see as a pharmacist. Wall Drug covered the block (& really was the only thing in town) and had everything from a small dispensary, kids toys, clothing (including cowboy boots & belt buckles), cafe, ice creamery, souvenirs, photo shop, jewelry, newsagency & believe it or not it had its own chapel!! I find it really hard explaining to the people we meet that I'm a pharmacist but I don't stand behind a glass screen & pass pills through a slot. It really makes you appreciate the situation we have in Australia with pharmacist ownership.

Bruce & I both enjoyed our time at Keystone visiting the Mt Rushmore National Memorial although we both agreed that it was by no means as spectacular as Yosemite National Park or the Grand Canyon (maybe it has something to do with the man made thing I'm not sure). Heading back east from Mt Rushmore we drove the Iron Mountain Rd which winds around through a series of tunnels, each tunnel framing the memorial, which was quite pretty. We also drove the Wildlife loop through Custer State Park and managed to see burros (similar to a mule or donkey), wild turkeys, bison buffalo & plenty of deer. Our last detour for this trip was through the Badlands State Park - a very unique landscape for South Dakota - almost like a mini grand canyon with sand stone instead of the red rock & then opening out into wide open grass plains.

Our last stop on our big detour across the state was in Mitchell to see the International Corn Palace. Again this was a bit of a tourist trap but interesting none the less. Essentially a big building with murals made from cobs of corn (murals being redesigned and replaced each year).

Finally we arrived in Sioux Falls Wednesday night.