Switzerland and Paris

 From Kampala to London to Katunguru and Back 

Much has happened since our last post.  Zalina’s school break started a week earlier than expected on December 2nd, as the government continued to ensure the Ebola outbreak was under control. That, along with other measures, seems to have worked as there have not been any recorded cases recently.   
 
We had planned to take a mystery trip to London before Christmas, a tradition we started last year with a surprise trip for Zalina to Washington, DC.  We wanted to provide Zalina with some winter weather, since she was missing the snow and cold, and everything else about the holidays at home in Michigan.  It was unusually cold for London, we mostly had highs in the low 30s and it even snowed once while we were there.

                                                                                                   The snowy view from our hotel window

                                Lots of London Underground trips...                                                         Uganda House

Trafalgar Square and the National Museum were just steps from our hotel

Z and Shannon in the snow, in Camden and next to our hotel

We stayed at a Hotel in Charing Cross and really enjoyed walking around the area, by Big Ben, through Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Soho, and along the Thames.  

Our hotel and the Christmas tree outside the front door

Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament (and the Thames)

Piccadilly Circus

                     Big Ben and the Trafalgar lions                                      The London Eye                                  

Covent Garden

 

The lobby of our hotel

We went ice skating in Hyde Park, attended the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, saw a Sherlock Carol (a mashup of Sherlock Holmes and a Christmas Carol), shopped at Camden Market, took a bus tour of Christmas lights, visited the National Gallery, and went to a number of pubs.  We had steak and ale pie, fish n’ chips, pigs in a blanket (some of us were disappointed in them, as the blanket was bacon instead of the pastry blanket we're used to at home), banoffee pie, got our Starbuck’s fix, and enjoyed the mulled wine (along with English beer of course).

Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland

Ice Skating in Hyde Park

Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard

                                                                                                   A Sherlock Carol at the Marylebone Theatre

  

  221 Baker Street                                                         Camden Town 

Camden Market

Christmas lights bus tour

 

The National Gallery

 

  Shannon's favorite, Banoffee Pie                      Satisfying our Starbucks craving  

We also hoped to catch the England/France World Cup Quarterfinal in a pub with English fans and had to walk around quite a bit to find one.  Along the way we walked by the Tower of London and encountered a parade of English fans dressed up as Santa, most of whom had clearly been celebrating/preparing for the game for quite a while.  We finally found a pub with barely enough room for the three of us and happily squeezed into some standing room to watch the Portugal/Morocco game.  Once that game ended, we scored a table vacated by a group of departing and disappointed Portugal fans.  Just as we sat down, a bouncer told us we couldn’t stay, as no kids were allowed in the pub, I guess because things might get rowdy for the England game.  We then went back and watched in our hotel room, which ended up being fine, as England lost and the pub wouldn’t have been the joyous celebration I had hoped for.  

 

                                                              Lego Hagrid at Hamleys Toy Store                                     

 

Santas/England Fans the morning of the World Cup Quarterfinal

        Tower Bridge                                                                The Tower of London

On our ‘last’ day in London, we did some shopping, walked by St. Paul’s Cathedral, and had lunch in the Bishop’s Finger pub, where I bartended for a summer in 1996. The bartender that served us lives in the same room over the pub I did over 27 years ago.  

St. Paul's Cathedral

 

A church from Four Weddings and a Funeral and the Bishop's Finger pub, West Smithfield

Then we headed for the airport, where we found out our flight was cancelled, so it didn't end up being our last day after all.  We were eventually given a hotel room close to Heathrow, where we ended up staying for four more nights, as that’s how long it took them to re-book us (not the best experience, flying Rwandair).  It was a bit of a pain, but we ended up making the most of it. We spent one day trying to rebook our flight while lazing about watching crime shows. The next we took a bus to the town of Windsor to see the castle and enjoy yet another festive pub with mulled wine. Finally, we headed back into central London to see Buckingham palace with fewer people around, Big Ben at night, and then dinner in Notting Hill. We had an evening flight, so the final day we....you guessed it, went for one final pub meal.  

 

Birds in St. James Park

One of our favorite pubs, in Windsor

   Windsor Castle and town

 Heathrow hotel bar with World Cup flags         Our final meal at a pub next to the airport

We finally made it back to Kampala on December 17th and enjoyed some time at home before Christmas, including a nice dinner with friends who made us a traditional meal from Northern Uganda. On Christmas, we opened presents, went for a walk, and spent time as a family, although it definitely felt a little different than Christmas at home in Michigan.  We missed seeing family and our dog Migo but enjoyed being able to swim outside on Christmas.  

The day after Christmas, or Boxing Day here, we drove to Queen Elizabeth National Park for a 4-day safari, staying at the Buffalo Safari Lodge.  On the way down, we stopped at the Equator for the obligatory photo of one leg in each hemisphere and a snack.  

 

Queen Elizabeth was a great experience with a boat tour of the Kazinga Channel where we saw hippo, elephant, crocodile, water buffalo, antelope, and many birds.  

The next day we took an early morning game drive, seeing more elephant, buffalo, antelope, bush buck, and hippo. None of the big cats turned up that morning, so we decided to do a night game drive, a new experience for all of us, and were rewarded with some up close and personal views of several lions.  There was a pair of sister lions, who were dining on a water buffalo, and then later we saw a pair of brothers who were feeding on an antelope.  

Sunrise on the game drive                                                                                              

A salt lake

Sunset on the way to our evening game drive

 

We also enjoyed seeing and hearing elephants almost daily at a pond just beyond the Buffalo Safari Lodge (we hinted they might consider re-naming) and had a VERY close encounter with one elephant in particular at the pool.  S/he rambled right up while Noah and Z were swimming and Shannon was filming and advising Noah and Z to keep their distance. S/he dipped the snout into the pool, gave Shannon a good fright, and provided amazing selfies for Noah and Z.

 

There were also baboons, birds, and other animals roaming along the lodge paths, including a pack of mongooses who would scurry about, but we could only catch a photo of a lone one

We came home by a different route, which provided incredible scenery while driving from Katunguru through Kasese and to Fort Portal, a small city in the far West of Uganda at the base of the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon). However, as we headed East towards Kampala, the road from Fort Portal disappeared at various points as Noah drove us home, trying his best to avoid all the potholes and construction on the road, which added over an hour or two to our trip.

Finally, for the last day of 2022 on New Year’s Eve, we walked up to the Skyz Hotel, which is a newer hotel that sits high on the hill above our apartment with amazing views of the city.  We enjoyed the buffet of Ugandan food, being serenaded by a strolling saxophonist, and both fireworks and happy applause and appreciation for the fireworks at midnight.   

All dressed up for New Years Eve

View of the city and our apartment (big building on the right)          

Last week, Zalina grudgingly went back to school and life is returning to "Kampala normal" for us.  Time is moving at odd speeds, both slowly and quickly at the same time and we are taking stock as we almost reach the halfway mark of our great adventure here. We will keep you posted on what comes next!