Day 4 - Southeast of London

After spending the night in Horley, we were up early and headed east. Our first stop was Canterbury Cathedral. You could say that the following story of our visit is our Canterbury Tale, but that would be a terrible pun and I won't even consider doing it.

Once inside, we saw many interesting things and managed to make a new friend. This is Alex, he is one of the cats that live in and around Canterbury. He seemed quite nice (and bears a strong resemblance to a feline friend that we have left at home).

One of the most beautiful parts of the Cathedral (which was totally full of beautiful parts) was the Fan Ceiling which is the ceiling just under the bell portion of the bell tower. This is looking straight up from standing in the transcept. Lots of beauty in this cathedral.

After quite a bit of time in the Cathedral, we headed even further east. In fact, we went as far east as you can go without getting wet and needing to brush up on your French. It was time for our visit to Dover. This was definitely one of Denise's highest priority days in UK as both Canterbury and the White Cliffs were on her 'must-do' list. Dover did not disappoint. Our first stop was the cliffs and after reaching the car park, we hiked our way down a couple paths to find this view.

We then saw something that we have seen quite a few times during this trip. Sheep. Unlike most of the ones we have seen from a moving car, these were hanging out in the fields directly above the cliffs. Therefore, we headed down another path to stop for a visit. Margaret decided that she wanted to get a little more up close and personal with them and ended up a little bit trapped on the path.

After hiking back to the car, it was on to our second destination in Dover, the Castle.

While the awesome magnificence of the cliffs had been what nature could create, the castle showed some pretty exceptional examples of what man can create. The fortress itself is quite impressive and the restoration and upkeep of it is really amazing. We walked around the main castle area for quite some time, exploring different buildings, rooms, towers, and tunnels. It was quite impressive to see buildings still standing in good condition from multiple ages in British history. We had also decided to take a guided tour through the tunnels that are built right into the White Cliffs. In the picture above, these tunnels are to the left of the castle itself. The tour is through the area of tunnels that was used primarily during World War II. They had been really created during the Napoleonic Wars and used sporadically since then, but the tour was a description of Operation:Dynamo in which 300,000+ soldiers were rescued from eastern France as the Nazis pursued them. Very impressive and we highly recommend it. During the tour itself, you cannot take photographs, so I'm afraid no pics from there.

Once we had explored all we were going to explore (you really can't beat a site with a Roman era tower and 1980s Cold War bunkers within a few feet of each other), we headed a little further south for a visit to a nature preserve that has been built on the dirt that was excavated to make the Channel Tunnel that connects the UK to France. Although I haven't mentioned it yet, it was extremely windy on this day and basically that meant that after the cliffs and castle, standing outside was getting a bit too much for us (especially our younger team member). Thus, our visit tot he park was pretty short, but it was quite beautiful.

Upon leaving there, we were really in need of a good dinner somewhere, so Denise located a restaurant online that seemed to fit the bill - a family-friendly pub not too far off the M road that we were taking back to Horley for our second night in that B&B. The Pheasant was one of our best dinner experiences during the whole trip and we were quite glad to find it (even after the the Iphone Maps app sent us into a small neighborhood first and then the wrong direction from there - thankfully a very nice barmaid at another pub helped us find what we were looking for). Finally, we were back to Horley and very ready for sleep after a long day!

Day Three - Southwest of London Part Two

Now it is time to continue our tale of day 3 in the Southwest and South of England. After the early morning at Stonehenge, we had a large breakfast at the Amesbury Archer Harvester restaurant. Kind-of the UK equivalent to Bob Evans. Not exactly the same, but quite similar. We then headed to Salisbury for the cathedral there. Called the "single most beautiful structure in England" by Bill Bryson (my favorite writer), it certainly lived up to the billing.

On the left we see the sunlight coming through the stained glass in the quire.


On the right is the oldest working clock in England (and possibly the entire world) which dates from the late 1300's.

In addition, we got to one of the original copies of the Magna Carta that is celebrating it's 800th birthday this year. Amazing considering that I usually manage to lose important papers within a day or two.

The fine face pictured to the right was also found in the Salisbury Cathedral. I liked the looks of him, so here he is!

Following the visit to the Cathedral we headed further south so that we could visit some other sites in the area and also enjoy the southern coast of England. Our next stop was Titchfield Abbey. Quite a challenge to get to (two wrong turns and a stop at a garden shop for directions), it began life as an Abbey, but following the move to the Anglican church, it was turned into a private residence. Not much of the original Abbey remains, but the remains to the residence (with small parts of the Abbey) is quite impressive. Because of the change in church, most remnants of the Catholicism were removed from any property in the possession of the crown, but some small bit remained.


Along the route to our next destination, we stopped to pick up some groceries at Waitrose so that we could have a picnic lunch. We decided that another welcoming face would make for a great picnic location, so we dined inside the outer walls of Portchester Castle.

 After our meal of bread, butter, cheese, grapes, and crisps, we toured the castle itself. This one had an excellent audio tour that we really enjoyed - it had a couple different characters and told the history of the castle along with somewhat personal stories. Very enjoyable. Here is the view from the first floor and below is the view from the room looking out on the church and the water within the outer walls.

After the tour of the castle, we walked the full perimeter of the outer wall. The outer wall itself is pretty impressive. Dating from the 3rd century, the Roman walls seem to have withstood the test of time better than the main portions of the castle which are between 700 and 1000 years younger! I particularly liked the idea of something very young which would likely only live for a few days in front of something that has seen close to 2000 years of life.

After the castle, it was simply the long drive to Horley, where we were staying at a bed and breakfast for the next two nights. The dinner in Horley was not altogether memorable, although the beverages enjoyed will be shared later! See you on the East Coast soon.

Day Three - Southwest of London Part One

I had to start with the picture of the sunrise before the tale of getting to it! And, no, that picture has not been altered in any way, it is purely the way nature and some ancient peoples of the British Isles intended. But, now to the tale...  most of our driving for this trip was Google mapped out a month ago followed up by tracking everything in a map book. So, the drive to Stonehenge from our room was listed as taking an hour and twenty minutes. So, promptly at 5:15am we were getting into the car and hitting the road. About 20 minutes into the drive, Denise pulled up the map on her phone. When she gasped, I was worried. From that point, her directions said it was still an hour and a half. This was not a good thing. We had booked the Stonehenge Stone Circle Access Pass as one of our first (and most important) activities and you HAD to be there by 6:45am, so we were looking to be almost half an hour short of time. Where was that tailwind from our flight?? Thankfully, there was almost no traffic heading that direction from London (except the one slow lorry we were stuck behind for 5 miles) and the speed limits on the M roads are more of a guideline than an actual rule... and Margaret has now experienced what 90 miles per hour feels like. At 6:45am we pulled into the parking area and we were extremely thankful that they held the bus for a minute to let us run to it.

And just let me say...worth every penny and every moment of stressful driving. In a group of 30 people, we were allowed full access to Stonehenge. We could walk amongst the stones, experience the stones and enjoy the stones up close and personal. It may just look like a bunch of rocks, but the magnificence is beyond that. For some perspective, here is Margaret standing amongst the stones. Of course, it was quite cold, but that didn't stop us from standing and taking it all in for about an hour before we had to take the shuttle bus back to the parking area. Once there (after a few minutes in the shop) we headed back to Amesbury for some much needed breakfast.

I know this was a short post, but since Denise and I were both awake at 5am this morning, I had a few minutes and just wanted to share some of the Stonehenge pictures! Salisbury Cathedral, Titchfield Abbey, and Portchester Castle will be coming soon.

Day Two in London

Our second day of this adventure began quite early. Everyone was awake well before any alarms went off, which meant we were set to start our day's activities. Knowing that the Tower of London would not be open until 10am, we took our leisurely time getting there. Sadly, the weather was quite uncooperative. Very grey with rain off and on and at times quite heavy. We dodged the drops to get some light breakfast before taking the tube to London Bridge station so that we could walk our way across Tower Bridge (I know, bridge confusion is difficult, but the fancy one is NOT London Bridge). Anyway, even with a little digital work, it is tough to get any contrast between grey stones and grey skies.

Once across the bridge we headed to the Tower of London. Still early, but some time in queue is always a good thing, right? Denise went to visit a few Shawn the Sheep statues (more on those later) and eventually at 10am we headed in. Still dodging raindrops and a few downpours, we got in quickly to see the crown jewels. Sorry no pictures there - it is not allowed. But the display was very well done and we went through the main line twice plus a third time to read the descriptions of everything. They have moving walkways so you can't just stand and gawk. I think this is something that perhaps the Smithsonian might want to look at doing...
We then visited a few of the different towers and enjoyed the tales of prisoners and residents and some very nice reproductions. Of particular note to us was the WWI display which had some very nice photos of soldiers who had been stationed at the Tower and died in the war. We also enjoyed meeting with a couple of re-enactors who were portraying Sir Walter Raleigh (imprisoned for going against the king and after earning his freedom with a promise of El Dorado, ended up back out of the king's favor) and Anne Boleyn (getting ready for her wedding and excited about her pregnancy - a young boy, of course....).


Following the Tower, we caught the Thames Clipper commuter boat service back across (and up) the river to Bankside, right next to the Millenium Bridge and one of our top destinations, Shakespeare's Globe. While this isn't the original (burnt down) or the replacement (burnt down) or even in the right location (3 blocks away from a sad little plaque on a wall), it IS really amazing. Recreated quite faithfully and beautifully, the outdoor theatre is quite the spectacle. We were lucky enough to be there as final rehearsals were going on for a performance by local college drama students of scenes from numerous Shakespeare plays. No photos were allowed during the rehearsal, but it was quite good after they finished we got some pictures. Denise's panoramic shot of the stage and theatre takes the cake.

Upon departing the Globe, it was time to get some food (finally) as it was going on 2pm. We headed to the Mad Hatter (a Fuller's Pub) just a block away from the Globe. Margaret's first fish and chips of the visit, my first ever smoked fish pie, and Denise's long awaited Sunday Roast were all really enjoyable - as was the impromptu game of Jenga. And there might have been a couple of pints enjoyed by Denise and I as well (more on that later as well). Since it was late afternoon, we needed to pick up our luggage and head for the Tube back to Heathrow to get our rental car for the rest of the trip. Much to our dismay, the rain had finally decided to really get things going at this point and the 6 blocks back to the hotel were in a complete and utter downpour with strong winds. We all ended up quite soaked as we walked across Westminster Bridge back to the Tube station to say farewell to London.

Luckily once we had our bags, the rain did let up a bit as you can see at left. The ride back to Heathrow was uneventful, but quite crowded and I got to stand the whole way with each of the girls standing with me for some time. Back at Heathrow, we caught the bus to our rental car - an Ibiza (somewhere between a Ford Fiesta and Honda Civic) which had obviously had a horrible factory life as the drive controls were all backwards and on the wrong side of the car. Luckily, I am somewhat flexible and adapted to the situation quickly. Now, if I could just get the darn people here to drive on the right side of the road. We drove to our hotel for the night and after arrival, wished we had gotten there sooner (and in better weather) as the hotel and grounds were beautiful. As it was, we did a quick walk around followed by some late dinner and then to bed.

We had to get to sleep at least a little early as the morning of day 3 is going to start very early. See you soon.

Day One in London - Part 2

After completing our tour of Westminster Abbey, we walked to Buckingham Palace. Along the way, we stopped at St. James's Park, which despite the chill and wind was still quite nice.










At Buckingham Palace, we walked around the front and watched the guards for a bit. I found particular joy in some of the details.

And also the fact that the daffodils (a little sad from the weather) were in bloom.














We then started our walk up to the National Museum. Along the way we stopped and enjoyed the sights small and large. We included a short walk up Crown Passage, which looked to Margaret like something from Harry Potter (there's going to be a lot of that on this trip, methinks).

Once we arrived at the National Museum it was quickly to the Impressionists and the Pointillists. Both are favorites of the girls. Sadly, there is currently some kind of strike going on so the majority of the museum was closed - we did get to see Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Seurat, Renoir, and Van Gogh, so the girls were still quite happy. The view from the steps is quite nice as Nelson points his way down toward Parliament.

After the museum, we headed back toward the Thames with a stop off at the Red Lion Pub for a couple of drinks. Then we visited the Queen's Walk right in front of and next to our hotel where Margaret and I enjoyed some fish and chips and Denise had a steak pie. We know the shop was a chain, but the employees were really delightful. We did a bit more walking along the river, but were quite tired by this point so it was about time to head back to the room. A wonderful first day in London complete.

Day One in London - Part 1

Hello from the UK (I can't really say sunny, because, well....that hasn't happened too much). I know I am behind by a couple of days with the blog, but I will do my best to get caught up these next few days and share all our adventures with you.

Away we go - ready for our flight at BWI.

We were quite ready to be rather sad when our flight was delayed about 45 minutes. But some mysterious force (also known as a tail wind) got us to arrive at Heathrow still almost 25 minutes early. Upon arrival, our trip through border control and customs was quick and easy. We headed down to the tube, with Oyster Cards in hand and started the ride into London. Along the way, we had an extensive tour of Acton Town. Here it is. 

Perhaps there was a little jet lag going on already. Rumor has it that there is more to town than the Tube station where we transferred from the Picadilly Line to the District Line, but we didn't get to see any proof. And, in case you need some good entertainment some time, ask Margaret to sing her Picadilly song.

Once we arrived at Westminster Station, Margaret got her first real glimpse of the UK (by the way, that's our hotel in the background).

As you can likely tell from the picture, it was pretty grey out - quite windy and only about 50 degrees. A few light showers would pass through later, but most of the day was just chilly and a little dark. First stop was the hotel, where we checked in and to our great joy, our room was ready. 

Yes, at 9:30am, we were in our room with a little time to relax before we head out for touring. The view from the room was pretty darn nice - the London Eye and Waterloo Bridge!

At 11am, with a little more energy, it was time to head out. First stop was Elizabeth Tower for quite a few pictures. You likely are more familiar with this site via the name of its famous bell, Big Ben. About this time, the first 'issue' of the week really became apparent. Somehow, when packing, I grabbed the wrong Nikon digital SLR. Yes, I have two, and yes, the one I have with me is very nice. But, not as nice as the new one that is sitting at home on the counter. The reason it became an 'issue' is the lack of a wide angle lens. Which means, not quite all of the things we see make it into the picture. But, the picture still is worth a good 850 words.

From there, we headed to Westminster Abbey, where we saw the most dreaded thing you can see while travelling - a huge line. Much to our surprise (twice in one day already), the line moved very quickly and we got inside within 20 minutes. No pictures are allowed inside, so no details there. Margaret did complete the kids activity booklet (scavenger hunt) and Denise and I did the full audio tour. In addition to all the amazing things in terms of decor and architecture, Denise was particularly reverent in the Poet's Corner and I was in awe of the composers tombs.

It is about time for us to get some sleep, so I will complete Day 1 when I have time. Thanks for traveling along with us.

Almost There!

Today is the day that we leave for the UK. Plans are all in place (or close to it) and there are just a couple of additions as we have figured things out for the last two days...so, here are those plans.

Day 8 will start with us waking up at Melville Castle and driving a little bit north to Lochleven Castle. It is on an island, so we will take a ferry (motorboat) out to the castle itself to see where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned for a short while. Then we will start the drive north and stop off at Dunnottar Castle on the North Sea coast. This is one I remember from my youth and was a 'must-do' for us. We will then continue to head north because we will be going to the Aberdeen v Partick Thistle football (yes, soccer for the heathen) match. After the match we'll grab some dinner in Aberdeen and then head back south to our hotel in Glenrothes.

Easter Sunday is Day 9 and we will spend most of the day in Stirling at the castle and in the town. We will also get to visit with some friends of the family from back in 1982 when we were in Aberdeen. There are some interesting activities at Stirling Castle for the holiday and we are really looking forward to them. Later in the afternoon we will head back to Glenrothes with a stop in Dollar to visit Castle Campbell, and (depending on the time) possibly a little hiking around the castle area.

We are all quite excited to be on our way. See you in the UK!