Last Posting from Britain (assuming I'm allowed back in US)

We are finishing our last day in Britain. We did a number of things in London over the last couple of days, but if he'd had more endurance, more time and more money we could do so much more. Where we are staying is amongst the museums and since it is July and the museums are free, they are filled with school kids from their last days at school or with their parents/nannies/playgroup. We visited the Museum of Natural History which has too much to do in one day, but made sure we saw the dinosaurs, such as the plesiosaur below.



We also visited some fictional monsters at the Doctor Who Exhibit at Earl's Court. The Dalek below missed us every time.



That was all in Kensington. Today was the center of London with a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral...



A view of London Tower (with its pretend bowman below) and a walk up to London Bridge. No tour of the tower to save money and our tired feet.



We did take a short cruise up part of the Thames where I got this shot of Parliament. We had visited there first but couldn't get in. Only the House of Lords was in session and the line was so long they had stopped letting anyone else "queue up" for awhile. That was okay with me. I wasn't up for waiting to listen to the gentry debate on bills they could only stall anyway.



We took the Undergound back to Kensington and have begun to prepare for British security at Heathrow Airport and US Customs back in the States. We leave for the airport about 7 am tomorrow morning but our plane doesn't leave until 10:25 local time (assuming we go on time). We are back in Chicago about 1 pm CDT. Then we deal with the joys which is the GWB's Dept. of Homeland Security US Customs and Border Protection Agency. I'll be on my best behavior so they'll let me back in the country. I'll only think awful things about the current failure of a president.

Hope you have enjoyed my trip blogging. Add a comment please and tell me. Who knows when I'll blog again, but it won't be from nearly as interesting a spot as I've had the great pleasure of enjoying in the UK.

One last picture from the Tower of London just for fun.

Photos Take Two


These are a few photos from our trip so far. Could post lots more, but those with dial-up will have to wait long enough as it is.


Shakespeare's Home in Stratford-on-Avon (July 13, 2008)






From the Battle Proms (July 12, 2008)

A Spitfire buzzes the field.



Napoleonic era cavalry walk about.




All of the action is held on a field at Burghley House.





Lincoln Cathedral taken from the top of the wall at Lincoln Castle (July 11, 2008)



I didn't take as many pictures in Bath, but I bought more stuff. Janet went Jane Austen crazy and we all had a marvelous time. We stopped at Stonehenge for a "photo op" on the way to Salisbury Cathedral and the last choir concert. We are now in our Imperial College dorm rooms in the Kensington section of London. We are literally down the street from the British National Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. After arriving and getting checked in, almost a dozen folks trusted me to correctly read my street map toward Harrod's. I got everyone there and back. It was very easy once I correctly figured out where we were starting from. Now people think I know my way around. Very frightening.

Tomorrow Janet and I are off to a Doctor Who exhibition (our geekiness must be fed after all those cathedrals) and probably some of the nearby museums (which are free) and a bit of Hyde Park as well if it's not raining. Friday we have St. Paul's, Westminister and the London Tower all on the list of places we want to see. We'll get as much as we can in before heading to the airport very early Saturday morning. Not nearly enough time for anything more than a touch of London, but with so much else done we can't complain much.

I have the best sister, ever! by Janet

Tuesday in, as the British say, Baaath. All day to do anything thing we want and what I wanted to do was anything Jane Austen related and Barb is letting me. That is why she is the BEST SISTER EVER!

Barb had scouted out things yesterday while the group went to Bristol to see the Charles Wesley home and the "New House," what is considered the first Methodist Church. Then we "dipped our toes" in Wales and thanks to my step-sister, Becky, I am bring a special present back from there. (more details on that when I get back to the States.)

This morning Barb and I walked around Bath using the book she had bought me, "Jane Austen's Bath" to locate places Jane would have seen and gone. (We did take two side trips. We had tea and a bun at "Sally Lunn's" and a side trip to the "House of Bears." Barb and I each picked one up.

My bear came with the name "Lilly" and her eyes seem to follow you. I hope two thing when I add her to my collection, that I can put her high enough that the cats will not get to her and that some morning I don't find her next to me in my bed; I hope that I do not find she had the ablity to walk around by herself, she seems so life-like.

We ended our morning tour with, what else, tea at the Jane Austen Center. (and of course spending money at the gift shop.) 18 months ago when I started talking to Barb about the trip, I told her that I would follow her around and do anything thing that she wanted me to do while we are in Britain but, she HAD to come with me for high tea at the Jane Austen Center and I would "play Mum" or pour the tea.

We had the "Tea with Mr. Darcy" selection and the Jane Austen Tea. Finger sandwiches, scones and two kinds of cake. I only had to tell Barb once to keep her elbows off the table but I now how a big food stain on my top (silly Americans) but all in all I am having a great time and am so glad that I "jumped the pond."

Sorry No Photos

I think I need a better connection than the Wifi offers me here to upload photos. I promise to get something to you when I can.

Now for some random thoughts on Britain and the British.

The countryside is gorgeous. The green rolling hills of England in summer are beautiful. We've not hit any cities since leaving Manchester airport and gotten a great view of the beauty of the country. If the photo upload would work, I'd show you.

Britons are as nice and friendly as their Canadian cousins. So far everyone has been very kind and friendly to us. This is true even when we are a hoard of 67 Americans heading off somewhere all at once. I even got my first "cheers" today from the fellow at the "newsagent" shop when I picked up a newspaper. As the Brits say, "Everything is lovely."

The British need to settle on a unit of measure system. They mix up their measurements and I'm not talking about keeping the pint for beer. Liquid is routinely down in metric. You see it on bottles and we've been trying to correctly calculate the price of gas into American dollars and gallons from about 1 pound 20 a liter. Our best guess is somewhere between 9 and 11 dollars a gallon. Distance, however, is in miles and yards on road signs. Speed limits are in MPH. Then there is weight. On the tour of Burghley House the tour guide was trying to tell us the weight of a giant silver piece and had to convert from the Old English measure of stones into pounds.

All together that makes 3 different systems in one country. I don't know why, but maybe after giving up farthings and shillings in their money to go on a decimal system they resisted any further conformity.

Finally, even if the dollar hadn't been decimated by W's continuing failures, it would be expensive here. Janet and I have have tried to not do automatic conversions every time. We try to save it for things we are debating purchasing. For example, I didn't even ask for the price on my single malt scotch at last night's dinner. I was going to have it and I didn't care about the price. For Janet, that applies to many of the Jane Austen items we will be seeing tomorrow.

Time to go. Hopefully more tomorrow.

So Much Too Say...

I don't think it is possible to tell you all about the last 3 days. We are in Bath now where the wifi is more reasonable and I can post more. Among the sites we have seen in detail besides the Lincoln Cathedral I mentioned previously, was the Lincoln Castle which is on the opposite side of the square from the cathedral. (Sorry, no great links to that one for you.) There you see remnants of a castle begun during Norman times and later turned into a gaol (jail) for male and female prisoners and for public executions. Plus, the castle contains Lincolnshire's copy of the Magna Carta. One of four of the first copies made and sedt around the country. Appropriately it is housed in the old gaol. I was a bit confused by another copy in the cathedral that didn't get much attention from our tour guide or anyone else. Turns out that is a "facsimile on leather." Don't know how old it is, but it is not the official copy for Lincolnshire. I walked the walls of the castle and saw why the location was a militarily strategic spot. You can see for miles and miles. I've got great shots of the countryside and the cathedral from the walls and an observatory tower that one of the prison administrators built for his telescope in the 19th Century. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow when I have more time.

Also did some shopping and eating on the High Street in Lincoln which also hooks into Steep Street up toward the Castle Hill. This street earns it nickname of "Heart Attack Hill." The shopping close to the castle square was particularly good as it was all local independent shops and not chain stores. I've already seen enough McDonald's, KFC, Gap, and Starbucks. We even found one called Hillbilly's Country Store. The clothes inside didn't seem to really be hillbilly clothes by Ozark standards, but I took a picture of the shop sign any way.

We did much of one day in Lincoln in the rain, but yesterday we got wonderful weather to visit Burghley House which was built by Elizabeth I's key advisor Lord Burghley (William Cecil). The house is now in a trust, but the Cecil family is still connected to it. We saw much of the first floor rooms with all the ornateness and collections of the landed gentry from Elizabethian times into the 20th Century. The artwork was marvelous, the furnishings often lavish and the craftsmanship of the builders as magnificent as at the Lincoln Cathedral. For my overly political mind, it was all too much and a clear example that Americans have no real sense of class divisions of this sort or the kind of fuedal societies that created both structures.

That night the Burghley House hosted what is likely to be our most unique event during our stay here. We saw a Battle Prom. The Battle Proms are concerts held each summer in several places across the country. They are a mix of great music and patriotism. We saw reenactors in Napoleanic era infantry and calvary dress. There was a Spitfire buzzing the field. There was fireworks and British patriotic songs as well as more classical numbers. There were thousands of British folks waving Union Jacks and the English flag and having a great time. It got very cool as the night war on and when the fellow in the Scot Highlander outfit walked by we did discuss if he was "going traditional" under his kilt and how cold that must be. It made a long day, but a glorious one.

This morning we drove out of Lincoln for two brief stops in Stratford-on-Avon and Oxford. We had only a couple of hours at Stratford to see the Shakespeare sites, but Janet and I did make it through the small museum next to his home and saw a First Folio. The next person who sees Miss Wall should mention that part of the trip to her. She told us in high school it was something we should do. I also found my first English Christmas shop in Stratford and bought an adorable music box with teddy bears spinning around as "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" plays.

The trip to Oxford was also very short. We got a speed tour of Christchurch College at Oxford where John and Charles Wesley attended. Didn't get any time to explore or shop. Only time for a hurried tour to see the banquet hall (used by the Harry Potter movie makers for a model of Hogwart's Great Hall), the cathedral (took a picture of a memorial to John Locke and more stained glass), and head a number of stories of the connection between the little girl who Lewis Carrol used for Alice in Wonderland and the college. For a lifelong lover of universities, it was a frustrating stop. Maybe another time I'll wonder about for days in Oxford.

Now we are in Bath and tomorrow the choir is off to sing in the world's oldest Methodist Church in Bristol and then "dip their toes in Wales" afterwards. Janet is going along for that while I'll stay here and explore Bath a bit on my own. On Tuesday Janet gets her Jane Austen exploration and we'll check out the Roman Baths. I'll just see what I can find beyond those things tomorrow and also blog some more. Hopefully with pictures next time.

Briefly from Lincoln, UK

The internet connection is a bit expensive here so I probably won't get as much up as I planned unless I can get the free wifi around here to work. But here it is so far...

We got off the ground in Chicago only after over an 1 1/2 hour delay due to fuel miscalculations. In other words, we needed more fuel than first calculated and it took them two trucks and a visit from a supervisor to get it done. Weary, but excited after a 7 hour flight, we arrived in Manchester about 8 am local time. The trip through customs was long only because of our numbers on the plane. Once the Brits figured out we had 65 on the plane in the same group they got us through quickly. Then it was onto our doubledecker bus and off into the countryside. We took the more scenic route into the Peak National Park which includes the town of Bakewell. The scenery was gorgeous and the stop in Bakewell too brief to really get to see the place, but we did pick up some treats to fortify ourselves along the way.

Our next stop was Nottingham for a brief look at Robin Hood's legendary home. We walked up to the Nottingham castle and saw the statue and a bit of the grounds, but didn't have time for enjoy the tour. Instead, we hit the Castle pub across the street for some very good food and then walked about the shops nearby. I didn't find any trinkets worth my British pounds, but Janet picked up a few things, particularly postcards. Nottingham near the Robin Hood tourist area has the look and feel of a city still working on the transition away from its manufacturing past. We had little time to really see the place because it was back on the bus and on to Lincoln.

Lincoln is our spot for the next three days, but tonight we are just trying to catch up on the sleep we lost flying over here. Haven't looked around at all yet. I was more interested in a bath and a rest. We may have some tea before bed or we may just go to sleep. Tomorrow we tour the massive Lincoln Cathedral before the choir's first concert. It promises to be a big day.

Now I got to rest.

Watch This Space

I travel to Britain for the first time on July 9th. I intend to update my travels here. I'll be visiting Lincoln, Nottingham, Bath, Stonehenge, Oxford, Salisbury and London. About half of those stops will be brief and some unplanned exploring or just hanging out with Brits is hoped for as well. Physically I'll need some set rest time so that will give me time for blogging and I've already checked and where we are staying will have internet connections available.