Where the History Comes From...

Today we visited the two most pomp and circumstance-ful sites I think we've seen on this trip so far. The first was Blenheim Palace, home of the Duke of Marlborough (relative of Winston Churchill). The second was Oxford. We didn't really know what we wanted to do when we woke up this morning. We've found as we've gone along that our sight-seeing plans get looser every day. In York we had lots of activities scheduled. Now we're just kind of going with the flow. We have a really Cotswoldy walk planned for most of the day tomorrow, so we decided today was a good day for a field trip. We're only about 30 miles from Oxford here in Chipping Campden, and Blenheim Palace is right outside of Oxford, so we hopped in the car and drove ourselves to the Palace about 99% stress freely. Let me just say, and pardon my language: damn ! Blenheim Palace is easily the most wealthy-looking residence I have ever seen, including the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, where the Quee...

View from our bedroom Another view from our bedroom- spectacular! View from our bathroom Just a few shots from our B&B, the Dragon House.

We are finally back in England (as opposed to Wales). We survived our first long-range journey in left-side driving. It definitely got easier as we went. I was quite worried this morning before we left - mostly about the roundabouts. They are easy to use, but if they are busy, and you aren't completely confident in what you are doing or where you are going, then it can be very harrowing indeed. But not to worry, we had no problems at all. The only hiccup was near Evesham where the directions on the AA Route Finder (AA=AAA) map that we had printed were quite weird and confusing and sent us in the wrong direction. We fixed it almost immediately however, and were back on track to Chipping Campden. All told, the trip took about four hours and we stayed on A roads the entire time (translation - US Highways and State Roads). Before we go any further, we really need to stop and say a really huge thank you to Andy and Sue for letting us stay in your flat. It was more than generous...

Fallen over tree on our Betws-Y-Coed hike This bird was not afraid of us at all. Cary at Llyn Elsi Swallow Falls The view from our flat - the Irish Sea Our car Caernarfon Castle, including dais where Prince Charles was invested St. Mary's Church, Betws-Y-Coed Little waterfall on our hike Today is our last day in Wales, and I have to say we've enjoyed ourselves very much. Yesterday was our favorite kind of day - full of nature. We drove about 40 minutes away to Betws-Y-Coed (pronounced BET-oos uh COYD), which is in Snowdonia National Park. The village is in a valley, surrounded by mountains and forest, and is a great jumping-off point for hikers and backpackers. We saw lots of both, as well as several outdoors stores while we were there. The village itself is adorable, almost Alpine. It reminded us a little bit of Interlaken, in Switzerland. It was kind of rainy when we got there, but we have learned that this is not a country where you can let a little rain stop you. We fou...

Good Morning from Wales! We had a really nice day yesterday. We visited Caernarfon to see their castle - also built by Edward I (Longshanks). It was the jewel in his Welsh crown of castles. You could definitely tell the difference between this castle and the one in Conwy. First, it was about twice as big. It was also extensively renovated by the Victorians, so you can get a bit more sense of what some of the rooms felt like. It was kind of eerie to go through all the small, dark hallways that wound around the many rooms. Just like at Holyrood House, you can get a sense of just how easy it was to sneak around and ambush people. Unfortunately, at Caernarfon, it would all be dreams, since the castle was never really finished. Apparently, good ole' Mel Gibson (i.e. William Wallace) intervened and Edward had to turn his attention to the North and never got back around to finishing his palace. However, his son was born in the castle, which gave rise to the tradition of the eldest son of ...

Enjoy some pictures of everything we've done since Friday! Attack of the ancient monuments! The Conwy Castle chapel, with a view of King Edward I's window. Learning Welsh from a wall in Conwy. Living room/dining room/kitchen/bathroom of Britain's smallest house. Smallest house - front yard. View from the Conwy city wall - you can see the castle in the background. View of Llandudno from the top of the Little Orme. The Great Orme is off in the distance. Us on the Little Orme. In the living room of the Llandudno flat with Andy and Sue Hutton Fireplace, floorless Great Hall, Conwy Castle The King's private loo in the castle - hence the grossed out look on my face. Yesterday was a fun day. We woke up relatively early, went to the library to go online, and then drove to Conwy (pronounced Conway - I am struggling to ''get'' Welsh) to spend the day. Cary is doing very well driving on the other side of the road and mastering a traffic system that is pretty ...

We're baaa-aack! Hello again - this time from Wales! As you know from our previous blog entry, we made it to Manchester and had a wonderful two days, thanks to our hosts - Andy and Sue Hutton. We arrived in Manchester on Thursday afternoon and after a cup of tea with Andy and his youngest son William, we went for a brisk walk through the moors with Andy and his two border collies - Bob and Tess - behind their house (which is actually in Stalybridge - on the east edge of Manchester). We met Sue when we came back from our walk at which point we had birthday cake for Emily and went to dinner at the Hare and Hounds - a charming pub on top of one of the hills surrounding the city. On Friday, the Huttons helped us pick up our rental car (or hired car as they say here). It turns out we have a Fiat Punto rather than a Volkswagen Lupo. It is pretty new and has a few more amenities than were listed, but according to Sue, Fiats are viewed over here similarly to how Americans might view a Kia....

Just a very quick update to let everyone know we're in Manchester now, being taken care of and entertained by the lovely Hutton family. The journey here was easy, and we're headed to Wales with them to climb Mt. Snowdon. I had a great birthday, thanks for all the warm wishes. We'll try to update in Wales, but internet access will be a little more sporadic, so just stay posted. We love you all, and we'll update again soon! -Emily

A view of the Queen's Gardens behind the Palace of Holyroodhouse. A view of the same garden from the back - pretty tricky disguising the wall! Emily on top of the Salisbury Crags looking over Edinburgh Cary in front of Adam Smith's grave....this picture is particularly for Les and Richard. The inside of Canongate Church...so much blue. The kitchen of the Georgian House (a pic from the web since we couldn't take pictures inside). A picture of the last room added to Gladstone's land - same deal as above with the picture. The inner courtyard of Holyroodhouse Wow! What a day. Sadly our time in Edinburgh is complete – except one more excellent breakfast tomorrow morning. We had five items on our agenda today and we were able to complete all of them before dinner. We started the morning by riding the Lothian bus #30 all the way to the end of Princes Street and went into the New Town. We went to one of the original squares on the end of the New Town – Charlotte Square....

Cary on the royal deck of the HMY Britannia. The Drawing Room of the Britannia. Note the lack of opulence - apparently the first draft was too "fussy" for the Queen, and she had a new architect design it more to her tastes. Cary in front of the Scott Memorial. It is kind of odd - it isn't "bigger" than memorials in DC (i.e. Lincoln, Washington, etc.) but it has a much more imposing feel due to the ornateness. Emily in front of the crib where James I of England was rocked as a baby. It is odd to think of kings and queens as babies. The replica tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots as seen in the National Museum of Scotland. Today we took it a little slower than yesterday, although we still managed to do quite a bit. We got about eight hours of sleep last night, but yesterday was such a busy day that we were still pretty wiped out when we woke up this morning. We had another outstanding breakfast from the outstanding Colin – Cary went with the traditional breakfast agai...

John Knox's burial site outside St. Giles Cathedral. You can see the marker above the number 23. It doesn't say anything, it is just a marker. Protestant austerity in the extreme! Princes Street Gardens looking up at Edinburgh Castle. You can see why someone coming from this direction wouldn't be very successful getting in. Emily dancing the Dream Weaver dance with some very helpful Scots. Me in front of the Scottish War Memorial (this is actually the back of the building). Emily in front of one of her favorite movie heroes - William Wallace. Emily enjoying her Brie and Bacon pizza at the Elephant House - who knows, maybe Harry Potter was born right there in the seat where she is sitting. An entire parking lot of matchbox cars - yay! I was very envious of the town they had built to display them. A tiny box pew at St. Giles. There is actually a pew complete with a cushion between the green wall and the stone pillar - not sure who was supposed to sit there - it was ev...

Here is the video of Emily doing some traditional Scottish Country Dancing. It was a lot of fun - I had fun watching, she had fun dancing!

Cary wanted to include this picture for everyone who worked with him at Camp Weed and had to sing a song about emergency train stop handles. Here I am, reading the newspaper while we wait for our clothes to dry. Arthur's Seat, the volcano which produced the rock Edinburgh sits on. St. Giles Cathedral, Royal Mile Defiant bagpiper. Edinburgh is a fantastic city! We left York just after breakfast this morning and caught the 10:06 train to Edinburgh Waverly Station. We really liked York, but we were ready to see something new, so we were excited to be on our way. The train trip took a little over 2 1/2 hours, and we got to see some amazing scenery on the way up - more northern English countryside, and then all of a sudden, the North Sea coast! It was really beautiful - we were basically riding along the edge of a cliff or close to it, looking down into the sea. And then after that - mountains! For two native Floridians a mountain is a pretty big deal, and the Scottish mountains are eve...

After an afternoon rest, we decided to go for an easy dinner at Pizza Hut. We figure it is a cultural experience to see how Pizza Hut differs in the UK – that is our story and we are sticking to it. Frank will just have to sigh at our lack of cultural adventure :-). We then decided to come back to the B&B and pack for tomorrow morning. To clarify our Pizza Hut experience, we must say that, although the pizza itself tasted much the same as the American version, our service was by far the best we've gotten at a Pizza Hut in a long while - at least way better than anything in Gainesville. So that was certainly a cultural experience! Another cultural difference - in the UK, when you ask for Coke and they only serve Pepsi products (i.e. Pizza Hut, and Caesar's Italian Restaurant on Friday night), they just bring a cola. They don't feel the need to say "Is Pepsi okay?" like they do at home. We've just had our last breakfast here in York and we are on our w...

These are the remains of St. Mary's Abbey. The wall in the middle perpendicular to the longer wall on the side was where the central tower stood, just as high as the one we climbed in the Minster. Emily kneeling behind one of the Roman coffins littered throughout the Museum Gardens. Emily standing under the reconstructed arch that lead to the Chapter House of the Abbey. The column on the left was mostly original, while the one on the right was entirely reconstructed. If you enlarge the picture you can pick out the older stones that were used to model the rest. Emily standing beside the statue of St. John the Evangelist that was part of one of the columns in the Chapter House. Cary standing on the edge of the wall on the South end of town. You can see the Minster towers in the background. We could tell why York was the number two city of England - it was huge for a medieval city. Emily cautiously standing under the drain for the toilet on the Fishergate Bar. Emily posing in a p...