July 9th. Running. Walking and Circus

I went for a run this morning to Richmond. First I decided to cut through the shortcut route so it would only be 3 miles as the sign had advertised. However that path had ended after a short while. I’ve spent some time trying to get back on the path that runs along the river. Sleepy residential developments on the way did not seem to provide access to the river path. Finally I saw a trail in high grasses running in the right direction that a man had emerged from with a dog. I figured this is it and headed for the trail.

Pretty soon it started to feel like I was Alice in Wonderland – high trees had converged and trail had split into many directions. While it was awesome to relocate in spirit I had no idea where to go and caterpillar was nowhere to be seen. So I ran around for a few minutes but ultimately had found the river path. It was a bit scary. Those must be awesome bike trails though. Richmond turned out to be farther that I thought :) All in all it was about a 10 mile run. Pretty exciting !

Kingston youth festival is on and so in the afternoon Irina, kids and I went to the AllSaintsChurch. Surbirbia Youth Circus had set up circus training workshop on the lawn. There were various circus thingies: one wheel bikes, juggling equipment and such. Kids got to try almost everything. They really loved it. This organization trains children aged 10+ in circus arts and they perform. As Dan said: giving your kids a useful skill to earn living with in case they skip home early :).

We also signed up at Kingston library. There is a separate children’s library in the same building. When we went there we were disappointed – it was just a one large room filled with not tremendous amount of books. But librarian explained that this is one of seven libraries in town that we can use – and a small one at that. In the middle of the room they have bins with foreign books – they even had some in Lithuanian. Georgia got herself a book in Russian. Wish we’d seen it before going on a shopping spree at Waterstone.

In the evening we all crossed the bridge onto Hampton side and walked towards Teddington lock and over the bridge and back. Stopped on the way to try out different playgrounds and sample sour cherries. There are also lots of apples trees on the way – a few more weeks before we can sample those J. That was another 4.5 miles – this is approximate map, there is actually a path along the river on our side. We all enjoyed it. Isabella was able to walk most of it on her own. When we got to Teddington lock there was a large restaurant, the Anglers, with a giant playground and outdoor seating – coming back here on Saturday.

The same swan viciously chased other

swans away so its young and mate

could enjoy some bread in peace

Picture perfect swan :)

Dan dragged me out in the evening to for the final walk to find a good local bar. Instead, we walked around some more and saw that we live at the epicenter of even more food places that we had thought, including an ice-cream place that closes past 6pm!

With our stomachs light and airy we returned back home and finished the day with some red wine and cheese watching the remnants of sunset on the river.  

It is almost a week since we arrived. It is really awesome here but we miss our loved ones and our home. Thank you for your comments! And we are all set for the visitors!!!