Vacation: The Lake District

On a cold, drizzly, windy day we drove over narrow, twisty, hilly roads to the Lake District. We stopped briefly at Lake Ullswater

before moving on down the road past miles of stone walls. They were built up the sides of hills.

I have no idea how much effort that took, but I can't imagine being the poor soul who had to haul the stones up there and build a fence.

Then we took the world's narrowest two-lane road

to Ambleside where we road a boat across Lake Windermere, caught a water taxi and then a bus to Hill Top Farm.

Hill Top Farm was Beatrix Potter's home. Pictures weren't allowed inside, but we could caught a glimpse of Peter Rabbit in the garden.

It was a cold, dreary day, and we were glad to return to our bed and breakfast.

Hadrian's Wall

We left Scotland and headed south into England to see Hadrian's Wall. Construction on the wall began in 122. Upon its completion, the wall was almost 80 miles long and stretched across northern England.

It was so cold and so windy.

But seeing the wall and parts of structures that are still standing after almost 2 millennia was worth the poor weather.

Mom loves Roman history, and this part of the trip was a highlight for her. Look at her smile!

Heading Out

It's vacation time again. This time our travels will take us to Scotland, Hadrian's Wall and Bruges, Belgium. We're going to take an overnight train from London to Edinburgh and a ferry across the North Sea from England to Belgium.

We're going to Scotland for no reason in particular, except to see castles, abbeys, cathedrals and dramatic scenery.

We're going to Bruges because we saw Martin McDonagh's movie In Bruges several years ago and found the locations beautiful (and the movie is wonderful, too). We've wanted to go there ever since. I fully intend to take advantage of this quote (couldn't embed the clip, sorry!).

Anyway, it promises to be a wonderful trip.

Vacation: London, England Day 5

The last vacation entry. Finally!

Our last day we went to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Neither Mom nor I were really sure what, exactly, we were seeing. And I certainly don't know why the band (the band?) was playing Elton John, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean music!

The ceremony was impressive because traffic was halted about five times. But the biggest shock was that everything took place behind the fence! I thought they stood out in front of the gates. They do in all the movies ... which lie to me.

Once that ended, we went to the National Gallery. We also went to the National Portrait Gallery.

Then we checked out of our hotel and took a taxi to Harmondsworth Village near Heathrow. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book and now is threatened by the planned expansion of Heathrow Airport.

We stayed at Harmondsworth Hall Guest House. Our room was a good size, and we ate at a nearby pub. The pub wasn't that great, so we bought some snacks at a little shop.

And the next day, we flew home.

Whew! I finally got it all typed up. Thanks for reading along with me.

Vacation: London, England Day 4

We started the day thinking we would buy tickets to see "Dirty Dancing" in the West End. But we decided leaving the theater late at night with several blocks to walk to a Tube station might be iffy.

So, we went to King's Cross Station. Mom waited while I looked for Platform 9¾.

Then, we went to the British Museum. The building is huge, but somehow we had trouble finding it. I think we asked three people - who each gave us different directions - before we found the place. Mom's knees were screaming at her to sit down, so we ate lunch before perusing the exhibits.

Once in the exhibit halls, we saw the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone and Assyrian Winged Bulls. Mom was enthralled. She loves ancient Egypt and Greece and Rome, so this was a highlight for her. She took lots of pictures.

You can, apparently, take photos in the museum. I only took one. A forlorn-looking statue in the Greek and Roman statue room.

Naturally, I also had to see the exhibit about the Americas.

We also took the world's slowest and smallest elevator up to the top floor to see the Samurai exhibit. I'm not normally claustrophobic but that elevator was about the size of a typical American shower (with bathtub). At one point there were about six or seven of us in there when it stopped at a floor. And then this very loud Englishwoman and her THREE friends climbed onboard the already-crowded elevator! I couldn't believe it.

After we left the museum, Mom and I went back to St. Paul's Cathedral and went to the Evensong service. We waited in seats in the nave and then a group of visitors were led up to sit in the choir seats. The service, which was mostly sung by a boy's choir, was interesting. We had a book and a piece of paper to guide us through the service.

Not being Anglican, I'm not really sure what all was going on, but it was quite nice.

At first, the choir stood behind the high altar and couldn't be seen. Then they sang, and their voices sounded eerie and beautiful floating down the nave of the cathedral in that disembodied manner.

We returned to our hotel after Evensong.

Vacation: London, England Day 3

We took a bit more of the bus tour around London before taking off at Piccadilly Circus. From there we rode the Tube and the train to Hampton Court Palace.

We arrived at the palace on Henry VIII's wedding day to Catherine Parr. We saw them wandering around the halls and grounds throughout the day, and I even managed to attend his "bachelor party."

Inside the palace we toured Henry VIII's apartments and saw his Abraham tapestries.

The tapestries were commissioned in the 1500s and have, of course, faded considerably over time. In one room they had a "Lighting of the Tapestry" display where, using a computer projection, one tapestry is lit to show the bright, vibrant, original colors of the work. With those bright colors, you could really see how tapestries on the wall could help light a room.

We also went through an exhibit about the women in Henry's life. We also saw another exhibit about his younger days when he was married to Katherine of Aragon and friends with Cardinal Wolsey (the original owner of Hampton Court).

Part of Hampton Court Palace was remodeled by Christopher Wren, so the building is almost like two palaces pushed together. Wren planned to tear down the entire Tudor structure and rebuild but, thankfully, was unable to do so. Mom and I preferred the Tudor side. I was fascinated with the chimney designs. Each stack was different.

In the gardens at the palace, we saw two swans swimming in the fountain. People were walking and standing awfully close to those birds. They were eating, and since swans can be quite aggressive, I kept waiting for one of them to attack a visitor. But neither one did.

Then we went to the Maze. I made it all the way to the center without ever getting lost on the way in and on the way out. Yay, me! Mom did not go in the Maze.

We ate lunch in the Tiltyard Cafe at the palace. I had Georgian Spring Soup (kind of like vegetable) and bread. Mom had King's Pie, which she didn't particularly care for.

Our final stop was the Tudor kitchens. Unfortunately, no one was cooking in them that day, but they had fake foods sitting out, so we could see how meals were prepared.

Then we returned to London on the train.

Vacation: London, England Day 2

Day 2 of our time in London began on a bit of a sour note when we discovered that part of the Tube was shut down for weekend maintenance. So, instead of heading directly to the Tower of London, we made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral.

Pictures weren't allowed inside St. Paul's (and the staff made sure people put their cameras in bags), but the cathedral was magnificent. The dome, the memorials on the walls, the statues - all quite stunning. Inside the crypt there were even more graves, including Florence Nightingale. I wish I could have taken a picture of that tomb. She's one of my favorite people.

There was some sort of christening or other ceremony happening in the chapel in the crypt. Because of that, we were unable to see Christopher Wren's tomb.

From St. Paul's, we managed to find a hop-on hop-off tour bus which took us to the Tower of London. This was a highlight for me. I've always wanted to see the Tower. I never really had any interest in seeing the Crown jewels; I was interested in the prison aspect of the Tower's history.

After we walked into the Tower grounds, one of the first things we saw was Traitor's Gate. Amazing!

How many people have come through that gate over the centuries? Can you imagine how terrifying it must have been to see that? To know that you may never walk as a free person again?

The carved graffiti on the walls in some of the prison towers were a powerful reminder of all the people who have been held there over the years. Some prisoners were even able to hire professionals to carve in the plaster for those prisoners - which, admittedly, doesn't seem as though the prisoners were really being punished.

One of the carvings is reputedly that of Lady Jane Grey.

We did go see the Crown jewels, too. They were impressive, but not as impressive as the Romanov jewels I saw several years ago in an exhibit in Houston.

We also saw the famous ravens of the Tower.

And we never had to wait in long lines. We were surprised and thrilled by that.

From the Tower, we went to the dock and rode a tour boat down the Thames to Westminster (included in the bus ticket).

We managed to make it to Westminster just in time to hear Big Ben chime. We called my grandmother, so she could hear the bells, too. Then we went inside Westminster Abbey.

Once again, no photos were allowed inside. And they were having a flower show inside the church - really weird flower displays. Not terribly attractive displays, either.

But Poet's Corner more than made up for the ugly flowers.

After a busy day, we returned to our hotel.

Vacation: London, England Day 1

We arrived by train at Paddington Station. I did not see Paddington Bear, but I forgot to look for him. We grabbed a taxi and headed to our hotel, the Millennium Bailey's.

The room was quite spacious, which was a nice surprise because we thought the room would be tiny. And the hotel was right across the street from a tube station! Really an excellent location and a nice hotel.

Once we dumped our luggage in our room, we hit the tube station to figure out how that was going to work. We put money on an oyster card and climbed on the train to Westminster station.

After arriving at Westminster and walking out of the station, we found ourselves across the street from the Houses of Parliament

and Big Ben.

We also found ourselves in a teeming mass of humanity. I have never heard so many languages spoken in one place in my life, and that includes the United Nations! So many people were there, and it wasn't even the high tourist season yet. I cannot imagine London in July.

We walked across the bridge to the London Eye.

Prepared to wait in a long line, we were amazed that we managed to miss the line. We climbed on and were rewarded with stunning views of London, especially St. Paul's

and Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

After our flight in the Eye, we walked past some protesters in front of Parliament. They wanted to the government to do something about the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

We walked down the street past No. 10 Downing Street

toward Trafalgar Square and Lord Nelson's Column.

After that we went to the hotel and ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don't understand why KFC doesn't have mashed potatoes outside the United States. I learned this on a vacation in Canada a few years ago. It just doesn't make any sense. I'd understand it in Asia where the potato is not a staple food, but Canada? England? Ridiculous! So, I ate the French fries.

Vacation: Bath, England

When we arrived in Bath, we promptly got lost. We found ourselves in the wrong lane or heading in the wrong direction. Finally we found a place to pull over (not easy to do on such narrow roads) and called the bed & breakfast.

Wolfgang, one of the owners of Athole Guest House, came and found us. We followed him to the house, and he even parked our car in a snug little parking spot for us. He was wonderful. Very hospitable. He drove us into town and showed us some places to eat and even drove us to the rental car place when we dropped off the car.

Breakfast at Athole was fabulous. After the sketchy eggs in Salisbury, I was a little nervous about food. But the pancakes were heavenly. He also made fresh bread every morning, and it was divine, too.

And the resident cat, Moth, was just a sweetheart. He climbed in my lap and let me pet him. It made me miss my cat even though Moth was much friendlier.

Our first stop in Bath was the Roman Baths. Mom loves Ancient Rome, so this was wonderful for her.

They had a costumed interpreter beside the Great Bath. At one point, he began a prayer to the gods. The manner in which he recited this prayer reminded Mom and me of a Southern Baptist preacher. We decided he was from "south Rome."

We also went inside Bath Abbey.

This abbey (or, more accurately, this site's previous abbey building) was where the first King of England was crowned in 973.

The ceiling inside Bath Abbey was breathtaking.

Even an American Senator is buried there.

We stopped at Sally Lunn's to eat one of her famous buns. Sally Lunn's is a teashop that is located in the oldest house in Bath. She came to England from France more than 300 years ago. The house was 200 years old when Sally moved into it.

The bun was scrumptious! It looks like a hamburger bun, but it's softer and sweeter and bigger. Mom got half a toasted bun with chocolate sauce on top and hot chocolate. I got half a toasted bun with butter and strawberry jam and tea. The tea was excellent, as well. We bought a box in the gift shop.

There is a gift shop and museum downstairs. The museum shows off the original foundations of the house and the faggot oven used by Sally Lunn.

The food was so good we tried returning for supper, but they were full.

After our refreshing lunch, we hit the Assembly Rooms. Part of the Assembly Rooms are now a fashion museum, which we toured. I even got to try on a crinoline! The corset, sadly, would not fit.

It was easy to imagine genteel ladies and gentlemen dancing in the Assembly Rooms.

We also walked over to see the Circus. I would love to have been able to look inside one of these homes, but we weren't able.

Finally, we went to the current Bath spa. It's expensive, but you get to spend two hours inside. We went to the roof and enjoyed the view from that pool. Then we hit the saunas. The perfumed air inside the different rooms was overpowering. The perfume made it harder to breathe than the heat did. Our last stop was the indoor pool. The water temperature was about that of a warm bath. I enjoyed it (except for the price), but Mom wasn't that impressed.

Nevertheless, we can now say we've enjoyed the waters at Bath. And Mom's legs didn't hurt the next day, so I guess there's some truth to the water's restorative powers!

When we left, Wolfgang drove us to the train station where we caught our train to Cardiff.

Vacation: Lacock, Cherhill & Avebury

After leaving Salisbury, we traveled to Bath. Once in Bath, we had the rental for one more day before returning it. So, we drove through the surrounding countryside.

Our first stop was Lacock Village. This is a little town that does not allow cars in it except for the people who live there. We parked in a lot that was a short walk from the village center.

The town is used in lots of films – from Jane Austen adaptations to Harry Potter.

They have an old abbey in the town. The abbey itself was closed that day, but the cloister was open.

We returned to the village to have a cup of tea (me) and hot chocolate (Mom) at The George Inn, the oldest pub in Lacock. It was established in 1361.

From Lacock we drove through the town of Cherhill. The whole economy of the town seems to based on the fact that a giant horse was carved into the hillside in 1780.

Avebury is where another stone circle was built in ancient times. This circle, unlike Stonehenge, is right in the middle of the town. We parked and walked around some of the stones. 

We not only saw white sheep, but there were also black sheep wandering among the giant rocks with the tourists.