Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 4

On Tuesday, May 27th, we drove to Newcastle, where we turned in the rental car. Alan picked us up and showed us around the city a bit before we went to his home a few miles away in Morpeth.

This picture is a little out of sequence...on Wednesday, Alan's niece, Ailie came by with her 3 kids...a 2 year old boy and 4 month old twins. We had a good visit, remembering those busy, busy days.

Inside St.Nicholas's Cathedral in Newcastle. The priest told us to look under the benches in the choir, where the monks would gather several times a day and in the middle of the night for prayers and services. Under the bench was a little shelf that a monk could lean against and make it look like he was still standing up.

The symphony hall. the Sage....beautiful and impressive inside as well as out.

Newcastle's Millenium Bridge that rotates sideways when boats need to pass through.

Our B&B for 9 days (Alan's house) in Morpeth.

Thursday we went out. One of the first stops was to see friends of Alan's further out in the country. They are turning old farm buildings into 2 homes, a bakery and a guest house.

Then we drove out to Holy Island. In the 680's, this was the home of St. Cuthbert, and the source of the
Lindisfarne Gospels, which are very highly decorated works of art as well as scriptures. To reach the island, you cross a causeway that is covered at high tide, so you have to time your visit. People do get stuck and have to be rescued, as this sign warns.

There was a raptor exhibit in the town, and Harris liked this fellow.

Inside the Parish Church of St. Mary's.

Walking along the beach, you pass boats that are used as storage huts by fishermen. Alan posed here with his little dog, Jessie.

After a picnic lunch, we drove to see Bamburgh castle. We walked the beach below and took many pictures..couldn't decide on our favorite, so included three. It is a huge and imposing sight.

When we returned to Morpeth, we went to have a delicious dinner with 2 of Alan's friends, Gordon and Lizzie. It was such an enjoyable evening, we didn't return until midnight!

Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 3

May 21st..off to the Cotswolds area. We drove to Cornwall in the morning, had lunch, then took off for the Cotswolds, eventually finding our first Airbnb bed in Highworth. The next day we drove through several small towns, including Burton-on-the-water, Stow-on-the- Wold, and Chipping Campden.

Burton-on-the-water was our favorite. It is also known as a Little Venice, because of the river through the town and the bridges over it.  It was very picturesque.

Harris took this picture just because he thought the price of the beef was so high!

On Friday we headed north to York.  This is just a picture of a small passageway between streets.

The inside of York minster, the largest Gothic church north of the Alps, built in the 1200's.  We arrived in time to attend an evensong service, sung by a choir of men and boys. Their beautiful voices echoed in this stone church to make an inspiring event.

The outside of the minster.

York has the National Railway Museum, so we had to go see it. This engine and its wheels seemed huge to us, so we took a picture with Harris just for the scale.

This is a picture of a street called the Shambles. The name comes from "shammell", a butcher's bench. The lane was once made up of butchers' shops. Further up the lane, the houses lean towards each other so much you could literally shake hands with your neighbor across the way.

After York, we drove to Kesswick in the Lake District. This is the first time we've seen real hills instead of gently rolling countryside. Since this was during the Spring Bank Holiday ( a long weekend, Monday off), the place was very crowded with tourists and people who come to hike in the hills.

We drove 9 miles out of town, which took about 30 minutes because of the small size of the road, and walked about 4 miles around Buttermere Lake.  It was a pretty level walk, except for one section that Harris climbed to try and find a geocache. Alas, his climbing efforts were for naught. The cache wasn't there. Next time, he says, he'll check the logs first before climbing!

A good pub sandwich after our walk. We had driven those same 9 miles back to Kesswick, and then decided to try and find a good tea place so Judy could have a "real" English tea meal. This place, about a mile from our B&B, was rated number one on Trip Advisor, so we walked there to give it a try. Alas, it was more of a pub/restaurant than a tea shop, in spite of their advertisement. There was no real "tea" meal, so we settled for a heartier meal.

Judy had a Toasted Portinscale Pockets

Warm filled flat breads all served with dressed Chalet salads

- Crispy bacon, brie, and cranberry sauce - Hot chicken, sage and onion stuffing and cranberry sauce

Harris ordered The fish larder board...

Prawn marie rose pot, smoked mackerel with horseradish fresh dill dressing, smoked salmon and lemon pate, gravadlax salmon with brown bread and butter served with a chalet salad bowl

They both said it was terrific! In the morning of the 27th, we drove to Newcastle to return the car. Judy heaved a big sigh of relief. Our driving will be taken over by Allan.

Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 2

On Monday, May 19th, we rented a car and left London. Driving on the wrong side of the road is hard! But Harris managed beautifully. Judy got better as the week went on...at not squeaking every time we turned a corner, or had to go through the millions of roundabouts. (Look right!) We were very grateful (mostly) for our little sat navigator, tom-tom. Sometimes it told us the shortest way to a destination was via VERY small roads, instead of the major roads that were much easier to drive on. After we figured this out, and looked for a few alternative routes, we did much better.

Our first stop was at Salisbury Cathedral. Gorgeous, as all these cathedrals are.

Stonehenge was nearby. A shuttle bus takes you from the visitor center to the actual site, and a roped off area keeps you from getting too close, but it was still worth the visit. This is the only stone circle with horizontal stones still there.

We parked outside of the city of Bath, and walked about 10 minutes into the actual city.

Bath Abbey, next to the Roman Baths. When it started to pour, we went in for a short evening service.

The Royal Crescent that is seen in many British Jane Austen movies.

After a large `pub' lunch, we weren't that hungry for dinner, so we found this little Crepe place (three tables) and had a wonderful light dinner.

The Royal Theater in Bath sells cheap tickets at noon, so we got £6 tickets to the show Jersey Nights. It wasn't Jersey Boys, but more of a concert highlighting the songs of the Four Seasons. It was fun to hear the lads sing in American accents, then talk in their usual Brit accents in between numbers. The £6 tickets let you sit way in the back of the third balcony, but since the show wasn't sold out, we were moved to the third row from the front!

On Wednesday we drove from Trowbridge (where we were staying outside of Bath) to Port Isaac on the Cornish coast where the series Doc Martin is filmed.

The roads got smaller and smaller and smaller....difficult to navigate, but everyone does it. People pull over to let oncoming traffic by, since these roads get down to one narrow lane.
We parked at a lot at the top of the hill...good thing! The roads into the town seem less than one lane wide to us, but cars managed. People walking on the road duck into doorways to let the cars pass. When we were eating our pasties by the bay, we saw a Fed Ex truck try to go up the hill and out of town. He backed down the lane 5 times to let other cars in, and finally, he just blew his horn and gunned it up the hill. He didn't come back down this time, so it must have worked!

We walked through the small town, saw some of the places where exterior shots are done, then walked on the other side of the bay to climb a hill for more lovely views.

The beach where fishermen still come to bring their daily catch. The smaller brown house on the hill below the big brown house is Doc Martin's house.

Off to the UK w/o Howie pt 1

May 10, 2014...off to England!
(this pic is actually of Chicago, our first layover..and where Tasha and Ewan used to live)

But first, we had to stop in Florida to see some very important people.

River, 10 months old.

We left Florida on Wednesday, May 14th, and arrived in London early in the morning on Thursday the 15th. Our kids, who are experts at this travel business. told us not to give in to the temptation to sleep until the sun went down. So, although we were very tired from the all night flight, we checked into the hotel, left our bags, and went walkabout in London town. The city is full of beautiful architecture, both old and new. We particularly enjoyed the older, beautifully decorated buildings..and the history was everywhere. London struck us as very big, very cosmopolitan, and full of people of all nationalities.
(a cautionary note we saw everywhere and appreciated, and needed! ..the markings on the ground at crosswalks that said, "Look right...or look left" as we automatically did the opposite. People here just drive on the wrong side of the road!)

Over the next four days, the weather was sunny and gorgeous (and very unusual). We did several touristy things, but left ourselves plenty of sights to come back to in the future.

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Big Ben

A view from an observation deck close to the top of St Paul's Cathedral. Judy climbed part way up, and Harris did the whole climb and paid for it the next three days.

Outside St. Paul's Cathedral

The Tower of London.
We obviously didn't take enough pictures...because we also visited Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, the National Gallery, and the Olympic stadium. We got quite good at riding the "tube" and only got turned around once. We downloaded 3 of Rick Steves's audio tours before we left and used them on walking tours of 'the City', 'Westminster area' and the British Museum.