Hello dear readers!! How happy you are that it is March? Hopefully some warm weather is on the way!
Mr. Bingley and I didn’t do any traveling last month like we did in December and January. At the moment we are taking a small break from traveling…because our next trip is going to be a big one! In April, Mr. Bingley is invited to go to another Minecraft-related gaming convention and I’m tagging along because it just so happens to fall during our local schools Spring Break! Where is Mr. Bingley taking me this time you ask?
We are going to England!!!!! AHHH! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!! WE ARE GOING TO ENGLAND!! 😀
We will be arriving into London Monday, April 14 and will have 4 days to sight-see, visit, and play! Mr. Bingley has already said we have to take a day trip and check out the Jane Austen House and Museum…so, that’s happening… 😉
If you live close enough and fancy getting together, let me know! I’m not sure how mobile we will be, but I’d be happy to see what we can work out! Maybe we could grab lunch, a cup of coffee, or meet at a fun spot!
This is our first trip to London so let us know if you have any suggestions for things to do and see and any awesome places to eat!
After that we will be heading to Ricoh Stadium in Coventry for Multiplay’s Insomnia 51 where…Mr. Bingley (a.k.a. Music By Pedro) will be taking part in the panels and festivities!)
Look! There’s Mr. Binngley on their Special Guests Page. I’m very proud of him, can’t you tell?
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Speaking of Jane Austen…Here is what’s on this month’s
Austenesque Agenda:
~ TO REVIEW ~
~ TO READ AND REVIEW ~
~ FEATURED AUTHORS VISITING THIS MONTH ~
Jan Hahn – March 10th
Mary Simonsen – March 19th
Nancy Kelley – March 26th
I’m super excited for this month, what about you?
What do you plan to read?
Yay and yay and wow!!!!!!!
This is just fabulous, I can’t stop grinning since I read your post!!!!!
I’d just LOVE to meet up, I’ll drop you an email and maybe we can fit something in.
Thanks, Meredith, this is just FAB news 😀
Oh, Joana!! You are such a dear! I’m sitting here smiling as I read your comment (and your email!) Will write back soon! 🙂 Thank you, Joana!
Squeeeee! How exciting! I am hoping to have an Austeny day in Bath this year, as it’s pretty close to home, but I’ve never been to the Jane Austen museum, so please let us know what you think.
As for reading, I like to read one Austenesque at a time so I don’t get confused between the stories and I am reading one that has broken my reading mojo. The style is good, but the content is just depressing. It’s an Emma sequel called Emma & Knightley by Rachel Billington and I was excited to read an Emma continuation, as I’ve never read one before, but I’m not sure I’ll try one again after this. It’s good enough that I don’t want to abandon it but I also don’t want to read it that much! I am in the last third, so on the home stretch. Once I have defeated this book I hope to read Joanna Trollope’s Sense and Sensibility, which I picked up at the library, and Alias Thomas Bennet 🙂
Thank you, Ceri!! Ooh! Bath looks like so much fun! Since we have only 4 days, I’m not sure how far we will venture away from London. But hopefully this won’t be our only trip to England!
Good plan about reading only one Austenesque at a time and I understand what you mean about Emma and Knightley. I read it back in 2008 (my mom bought it for me in honor of our wedding!). It isn’t the happily ever after I was wanting for Emma and Knightley…I don’t think I’ve read a Emma sequel since (except for The Intrigue at Highbury) which is wonderful!!
Hope you enjoy your next reads more!! 🙂
Oh wow, that sounds like a dream!! But it’s very real for you, how wonderful 😀 You must take loads of pictures to show us 😉
It is going to be a dream come true! I’ve always wanted to travel to Europe and now it is finally going to start happening! 🙂 Thank you! I promise to take lots of photos!! 🙂 You can be sure of that!
Fantastic! You are going to love England. Do make it a point to get outside of London, because the areas of England are all quite different from each other and worth a gander. I’ve heard Bath is still fun, but in terms of London we found even the touristy stuff to be great fun. It’s amazing to sit on a bench that’s older than your country, and watch how everyday it is for pedestrians in England. Have a great time!
Thank you! I definitely plan on venturing into Hampshire! 😉 and I think we will be traveling by train into Coventry. So hopefully we will get to see some beautiful country-side as well as cities. 🙂 One day, I hope to travel to beauty spots like the Peak and Lake Districts. 🙂
Oh meredith that is so very exciting! Don’t I wish I could go with you! I am so very happy for you. What an exciting adventure. Give mr bingley our best. I am so happy for him too. He’s really getting around 😉
Thank you, sweet friend! Would love for you to come with me! I’m so happy for Mr. Bingley (and incredibly proud!) I hope his work continues to bring him such happiness and success!
I am so jealooooooooluusssssss! I think it’s fab that you and Mr Bingley are able to travel together so frequently. Can’t wait to see your photos from the trip and of course your reviews for this month.
LOL! Thank you, Monica! Mr. Bingley is very blessed that his work takes him all these places and I am very blessed that I can leave my job and join him! What an adventure life has taken us on these last two years! 🙂 Thank you for all the kind words! I was so excited to share this with all the readers of this blog!
Now that’s a trip worth getting excited about. Look forward to hearing how it went. And your list of reading and special guests for the month looks great.
LOL! Indeed it is! I’m super excited about the reads and the authors this month! 🙂
How exciting to go to England! I hope you have a wonderful trip! How could you not, being a Janeite and all. I’m a bit jealous!
Catherine Commons
Thank you, Catherine! It will be amazing to travel to a country that has birthed so many things I adore! I know there are tons of Austen-y things to see, should be a lot of fun! 🙂
WOW! I am so happy for you! I just spent one day in London two weeks ago during a stop over on my way to Israel. We walked all day and everything we saw was fantastic. It is an amazing city and I am sure you will love it. I hope you make it to Bath, it is high on my list of places I hope to visit one day. If you go, make sure to take pictures to share with us all!
i just re-read Rainy Days as it is one of my favorites so I though it would be good for the airplane. I am also reading Darcy’s Tale II. I think my next book will be His Uncle’s Favorite.
Thank you, Joy! How was your trip to Israel? You went there to visit your son, right? That must’ve been a lot of fun! And what a great choice of reads for the plane! 🙂 I love Lory Lilian’s novels (my review of His Uncle’s Favorite goes up Wed.)
Yes- I went to visit my son- thank you for remembering! It was a wonderful trip and I am so glad I had the one day in London. Each time I saw Grosvenor Square on the map of the underground I imagined Darcy’s London home!!! I am sure you will have a fabulous trip and look forward to hearing all about it.
What a wonderful news! Meredith in England 🙂
I was in London a few years ago, I enjoyed a lot and I wish the same to you two. Here you have my suggestions:
If you like going for a walk, you should go to Hyde Park, a beautiful big garden with a serpentine pond and the Peter Pan statue. If you like bookshops you should go to Charing Cross, one of the most famous streets in London, it´s very popular and has many bookshops. If you want to see a museum, you should go the Tate Gallery because it has a beautiful collection of Victorian paintings. And, the theme of food: there are many italian restaurants and when I was there, there was a place called “Pattiserie Valerie”, near Harrods, that it´s a coffe shop with delicious cakes, you must eat them!.
I hope this short list will be useful.
PS: the March agenda sounds really good!
Thank you, Teresa!! I greatly appreciate your suggestions!! Those all sound like things I’d enjoy! Very useful, indeed! Thank you! I love the sound of Hyde Park! 🙂
Oh, Meredith! I’m so happy for you!! I went to England last year and it was a wonderful experience 🙂 Unfortunately, I couldn’t visit Chawton Cottage but I went to Winchester, and it was really touching! It is a lovely place 🙂 I hope someday to go to Bath, too and visit the “Jane Austen Centre”. Have a great time! 😉
This month I plan on reading “Cotillion” by Georgette Heyer, “Mr. Darcy’s promise” by Jeanna Ellsworth and “Stealing the preacher” by Karen Witemeyer 🙂 I’m currently reading another Heyer’s novel “These old shades” and I’m enjoying it a lot! 😀
Thank you, Maria! There are so many places in England to find Jane, right? My main dream for the trip is to see Chawton cottage, any other sites we will see will just be wonderful bonuses!
Ohh! What wonderful reads, Maria! I loved Cotillion! I have These Old Shades on my TBR if I ever get to it! Happy reading, Maria!
Meredith you must go to Bath and see the Jane Austen Centre – you will love it and you will love London. I think you would like the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace etc., all the historical sites. Have fun xx
Thank you, Michelle! Hopefully one day we will get to Bath! It looks like it might be a little far from London for this trip, but I definitely look forward to one day spending more than I should at the Jane Austen Centre! Thank you for the wonderful suggestions! So much to do! 🙂
Oh my!!! ENGLAND!!?!?! That is SO awesome!! Very cool that you’ll be seeing the Jane Austen House & museum!! Very excited for you!
Thank you, Valerie! It is the one Jane Austen site I want to see most! Will take a ton of pictures!
Meredith-
I’m so excited for you! I know you will love it! I’ve been so incredibly blessed to go to London & surrounding areas & everything I did was wonderful. I’m sorry I don’t know you better so I could feel more comfortable telling you what you should see, but I’d be afraid my faves might not be yours. I will say I dearly loved Westminster Abbey, the Tower, Kensington Palace (esp. the Victoria Revealed exhibit), etc., etc. 🙂 🙂 but don’t know which you might find most interesting. My best advice would be to read up a little on the places and see what sounds the best to you. My own experience is that if it sounds like something you would like, 99% of the time, it will meet or usually exceed your expectations. Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle are well worth the short train rides from London (there are even some day trips that do both the same day, but we just got the train on our own & took a day for each), but since you are travelling to the Jane Austen House, you might rather stay in London itself. A few things I know you might love for sure & that, if memory serves, are free are: hearing Big Ben chime the hour, seeing a Jane Austen manuscript in the British Library (they had the Juvenilia piece Catharine or the Bower out when I was there), and seeing Cassandra’s portrait of Jane in the National Portrait Gallery. Also, since I think I’ve read that you like tea, you must take afternoon tea. There is nothing like it; I especially love the clotted cream. Sorry this is so very long. Can you tell I love talking about this subject? 🙂 Whatever you choose, I know you will love it & can’t wait to see the promised pictures.
Thank you, Amy! You are so sweet! Your advice and suggestions are wonderful, thank you!! Sounds like you had some lovely visits to London! I am doing exactly what you said – compiling a list, researching, and then probably narrowing it down to what is top priority and most feasible. Hopefully I will be like you and travel to London more than once! I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts, thank you!!!
Hi Meredith, I am so excited for you both 😀 where do I start! Restaurant suggestions – Wahaca on Wardour Street is good, they also have a branch in the One New Change shopping centre which is next to St Pauls Cathedral and the shopping centre also has a roof terrace with views of London ( check out One New Change website). Also on Wardour st is another restaurant called Banana Tree and another called Inamo which has touch screens in the table to order your food (a digital experience). The Icebar on Heddon st is an experience everything is made out of Ice ( might need to book). Heron tower has Britain’s largest fish tank it also has a great restaurant called SushiSamba on the top floor with great views of London. Hakkasan on Tottenham court rd is good (but a little pricey), Thai Square restaurant in Soho is good and near China town plus it is not too far from Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury avenue which Mr Bingley will love with all the Minecraft/ league of Legends ect stuff. I could go on and on you have probably researched all the places to go and I probably need not tell you about Austen lol. lastly I told my brother about you coming as he is in the gaming industry so to speak. He said to let him know the dates you are coming and he will see, if you are about of course whether he can arrange for you and Bingley to get a sneak peak of new games that are coming out or maybe take you to Sega head office or something!
Whatever you do enjoy yourselves!!