Day - 6

We started out with a drive into the Lake Country; then a steam train ride and a cruise down Lake Windermere. It was raining lightly when we arrived at the train depot but I got a photo of the engine.

At the end of the steam train ride we transferred to a boat that took us down the Lake. Riding along the shoreline of a lake in England’s Lake Country is similar to riding along the shoreline of a lake in the Adirondacks. All of the homes along the shoreline were built and still owned by people who can afford some of the most expensive real estate in the country.

Later we stopped for lunch in Skipton. Like the rest of the old mill towns, the mills have long been converted to shops or housing.

For the past couple of years Trafalgar tours has introduced what they call “Be my guest” The stately old manor houses are expensive to maintain and many of the current owners accept dinner guests in their homes to augment their income. The home we dined in tonight is a gorgeous home with a magnificent view.

On the ride back to the hotel we even had a good sunset.

Tom

Day - 5

Today we started out at Shakespeare’s birthplace again. As Carol and I have done that once we ducked out early and went to the bank for the ATM. We aren’t spending a lot of money but we do get at least one meal a day and you can run through 200 pounds ($300) pretty quickly.

Our first stop was at Chester. Chester, like Bath dates from Roman times. This was a walled city and the city walls still stand. It is about a mile around if you walk them but we chose not to. We did walk along them far enough to get this shot of the Cathedral from the wall.

The shops here date from Elizabethan times and they are on two levels. You can walk the street level or climb a set of stairs and walk along a covered mezzanine level. Some of the shops can be accessed from either level but some are different.

When we got to Liverpool a local guide took us around that city. As this is the town of the Beatles she took us on a Beatles walking tour around the music district where the Beatles played when they still lived here.

In these entries I’ve often included photos of local Cathedrals, most of them old. Here is the Liverpool Catholic Cathedral; definitely not old…

Tom

Day - 04

Today we had two visits, the ruins of Glastonbury Abby and the old Roman baths at Bath. While we drive through the countryside I can occasionally get decent photos out the bus window.

English countryside.

Glastonbury Abbey was razed in 1539 by Henry VIII when he set out to break the power of the Catholic church and establish a Protestant religion in the land. He left the Churches pretty much alone as the Abbeys controlled the property owned by the church he destroyed the Abbeys and confiscated the property.

Glastonbury Abbey

At bath we walked through the old Roman Baths. While much of the baths do date from Roman times, the larger buildings are reconstructions. The baths were built around a hot mineral spring and were said to have curative power.

In the evening we had supper in a local pub. The oldest portion of the building dates from the 1600s. Not only is the food good but the atmosphere was warm and friendly. A few of the local people had brought their dogs with them.

Tom

Day - 3

Last night we stayed in a hotel in Plymouth, home to the Royal Navy shipyards. Because of the yards, Plymouth was heavily bombed during WW II. Across the street from our hotel was a bombed out church which was left unreconstructed as a memorial.

Our first activity was an optional cruise through Plymouth harbour and past the naval yards. No fan of C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower could resist such an opportunity so we were right there.

Naval yard.

Here is one of the destroyers currently in port.

HMS Edinburgh

In the afternoon we visited Clovelly, an old fishing village built upon a very steep hillside.

The harbor at Clovelly.

Tom

Scenic England trip–Day - 2

A bit about my numbering. This is our first day on the tour bus which will ferry us about England but according to the tour company it is the third day of the tour as they count door to door. Day two is consistent with my file numbering convention so if it seems illogical it’s all my doing… 

Our first stop today was Windsor town and Windsor castle. We didn’t get to enter the castle but we walked through the town and got photos of the castle at least.

Windsor Castle

From Windsor we went to the plains of Salisbury where we stopped, of course, at Stonehenge. Stonehenge seemed to want a somewhat moody treatment.

We also visited the Salisbury Cathedral. Salisbury has the tallest spire of any church in England. The taller the spire the closer to God and the better chance of getting to heaven.

Tom

London Tour

Very sorry about the gap in getting these out! We’ve been busy and the hotels we’ve been in have either charged for wifi or it’s not been working. Bummer! This covers our second day in London; tomorrow we will join our “Scenic England” tour but today we are still on our own. Today we took a “hop on, hop off” tour of London. This tour company runs a shuttle from the hotel we’re staying at so we got on the bus right across the street and it dropped us in front of our hotel when we were done. We started at 8:30 AM and were back at 4:30 PM so were out about 8 hours. A full day.

The tour includes a one way boat trip on the Thames River and we chose to take it back towards the beginning so we got part of the bus tour twice.

London is a city of contrasts. Here an old building is reflected in a new glass faced high rise.

Tower bridge with the Olympic rings. You’ll see a lot of similar photos when the Olympic games arrive in 4 weeks or so.

The Parliament buildings and Big Ben across the Thames. I consider this the iconic shot from London.

Statues everywhere in London! This is one of my favorites. It depicts the Celtic queen Boudica who fought against the Romans when they invaded Britain. Here she is in her war chariot accompanied by her daughters.

Tom

London Museums

We reached the museums by riding the tube. Riding the London tube is a lot like riding MAX except the trains are a LOT longer and run a **LOT** more frequently. The longest wait for a train I ever saw on one of their reader boards was 3 minutes and when Carol and I were coming back from Victoria and Albert Museum the train was really crowded so we waited for the next one and it pulled in almost before the last one exited the station.

Our first destination was the Museum of childhood. When we got there a school group was also arriving.

As befitting a museum of childhood there were lots of toys such as the vintage doll house containing this room.

isplays.

There are also interactive displays. This girl is doing a computer driven dance game. The squares under her feet provide feedback to the program.

There was also this thought provoking sign

Our next stop was the Victoria and Albert Museum or simply the V&A. The museum is connected to the nearby tube stop through a tunnel so off the tube, through the tunnel and directly into the museum. You enter through the sculpture gallery

Dianna the Huntress

This is far and away the largest and most comprehensive museum I’ve ever visited. We were there a few hours and didn’t hardly scratch the surface. The museum is in the shape of an open square with a wading pool in the center courtyard. This photo is of the museum from the courtyard.

Tom