A Huge Thank You!

We would like to take a moment to thank all of the people who made this trip possible for Carol Jean, Janet, Ellen, and Heide:  the husbands, the children, the parents, the friends, the child watchers, the car pool drivers, the farm caretakers and the bosses.  We are very aware that without your willingness to take care of things back home, this trip would never have happened.  We are very grateful and extend our heartfelt thanks!

Much love-
The Four Ladies Who Crossed The Pond

Day Eleven - Four Ladies Cross The Pond Home

The One That Got Away

On the list of things Carol Jean wanted to do was ride in a traditional black London taxi.  With the tube strike it looked like this was going to happen.  Having scheduled a 6:30 am pickup at the hotel, we walked outside to see a Mercedes minivan - not exactly what she was hoping for but it made for a comfortable ride to Heathrow.  Our driver was busy checking his lottery numbers when we came out of the hotel.  He assured us if he won, he would still drive us to the airport but we would be his last passengers.  He didn't win and we assume we were not his last passengers.



Ellen, Carol Jean and Heide got out at Terminal 1 where they would catch their AerLingus flight to Dublin and then another to Chicago.  Janet continued on to Termianl 5, the British Airways terminal, to catch her non-stop to Washington.  After hugs good-bye we were on our way home.  It was so long ago when we first discussed a trip to Enland for three sisters and one cousin.  Now our trip was finished and we were headed back home across the pond with memories for a lifetime.

Day Ten - The Queen, Shopping and A Good Bye London Dinner

Months ago we had purchased tickets to Buckingham Palace.  We are visiting during the two months the Queen is in Scotland and opens the Palace to visitors.  Our tickets are for 9:45am but we arrive early hoping to get in early.  We find ourselves first in line to enter.  We clear security and head through the doors of the Palace.  It was easy being all alone to pretend we are guests and not tourists.  It was so fun to enter the grand entrance and move up the gorgeous staircase all by ourselves. Though the palace is open when the Queen is scheduled to be out of town, the flag was flying signaling she was in residence.  We crossed our fingers that her path might just cross ours, but no luck.

The tourist flow had slowed as school was beginning in a week.  Most of the English seem to have been off buying school supplies and new Wellies and not sight seeing.  We took our time through the palace listening to all the information our audio guide had to offer.  It was quite quiet in the rooms as everyone else was listening to their audio guides as well.  It was a beautiful palace with grand rooms and a remarkable art collection.  There was a great special display showcasing "The Queen's Year".  It was very interesting to see all the events Queen Elizabeth participates in throughout the year.  She may be in her 80's but she has a schedule that would exhaust someone in her 30's!

After touring the palace we split up.  Ellen and Carol Jean made a beeline for the Changing of the Guard while Heide and Janet made a beeline for the shops.  There were still souvenirs to secure!  Ellen and Carol Jean did not have much luck getting a look at the Changing of the Guard and headed off discouraged only to find themselves with a front row position to see the leaving guards and band march by.

Heide and Janet made a stop at the National Trust shop and then headed to the V&A gift shop.  While there they realized there was a brand new Beatrix Potter exhibit.  They grabbed a map and with a few instructions from the information desk headed upstairs to see it.  It focused on Beatrix's first book about Benjamin Bunny and was quite adorable.  We then were off to meet Ellen & Carol Jean at Harrods.  We met them by the tube stop and Carol Jean showed us her longed for Harrods bag now safely in her possession.  Heide and I made a run inside taking, of course, the Egyptian escalator to a quick tour of the food halls, the Princess Diana and Dodi Memorial, and the "football" department - the true English tour.

Westminster Abbey

We rejoined Ellen and Carol Jean and headed for Westminister Abbey.  We arrived at 3:40 - ten minutes after the last allowed entrance.  Major bummer.  Our guide book had said last entrance at 4, obviously wrong.  Very disappointed, we turned away.  Carol Jean decided to return to the hotel to rest her aching feet while Ellen, Heide and Janet took the tube to Oxford Street before the 5 o'clock tube strike was to begin.  We are on a mission for football jerseys.  It was not an easy mission.  Who knew in football crazed London it would be hard to find gear from any team?  Thanks to Sports Direct she was victorious in securing the desired teams, well the second choice teams, (apparently the London team Fulham had fallen out of favor and their gear was no where to be found), but victorious none the lest.  We continued our walk home.  It began to rain - how appropriate, we began our trip in rain and now would end our trip with rain.  But we had 8 1/2 glorious days of sunshine in between!

Back at the hotel we packed and repacked.  Blast those luggage restrictions!  Who can be expected to bring home a suitcase under 33 kg when you travel to England!  We are finally all convinced we have them packed just the right way so as not to encur any overage charges.  We head across the street to Villandry's Kitchen for our farewell to England dinner.  We had a delicious dinner filled with reminiscences about our wonderful but ending trip.  It was early to bed for a change because tomorrow it will be an early morning.

Day Nine - London

The Tower of London

Guarding the Queens Jewels and
Posing With Tourists

Today we headed first to the Tower of London.   This time was to tour the grounds.  Our first stop was the tower with the Crown Jewels.  Those are some amazing gems!  On each side of the display cabinets are moving sidewalks.  We stood on them as we slowly moved by the crowns, the rings and the septers.  They were truly beautiful and it was fun to see them close up.  Somewhere in the tower we lost Ellen.  Janet, Heide, and Carol Jean waited and searched the tower but no Ellen.  We went outside and searched some more, but no Ellen.  Janet sat on a bench in the center court while Heide and Carol Jean checked out more of the Tower grounds.  When Janet was just about to ask to put out an alert, a voice said, "Can you take my photo?"  It was Ellen.  Great relief.  It would not be good to go with your sister/cousin to England and then lose her there!  While we waited inside, she waited outside.  When we finally came out, she had moved on to another section of the Tower.  Ugh...We wasted no more time and all went to see some of the other parts of the Tower.


We then headed back to the hotel to change.  Sunday was the day we were going to Afternoon High Tea at Grosvenor's House, an English Tea Council award winner, thanks to Carol Jean's generosity.  We took the tube the closest stop and headed up Park Lane to the hotel.  The Park Room was a creamy confection all by itself.  Beautiful pale green walls set a soothing tone.  Comfy upholstered chairs and sofas made us feel we were dining in an English manor.  The piano player was just frosting on the cake.  We each ordered Anna's Afternoon Tea.  The server brought us two beautiful silver three tier cake plates with several delicious kinds of tea sandwiches, two different types of scones, and then, on top, several scrumptious desserts.  All this served with your own pot of tea.  Yum!  We started with the sandwiches munching while drinking the delicious tea.  We then moved on to the scones with our favorite jam and clotted cream.  Finally, we moved to the top tier of desserts.  Everything was fabulous.  Beautiful setting, fabulous food, great room and sitting for two straight hours - heaven!  When we had finished, we rolled out and onto the street knowing we would not need dinner this evening!

Back to the hotel and another change of clothing.  Tonight we are going to an outdoor concert in Regent's Park.  Several months ago when checking online what would be happening during the time we were visiting London, the Seth Lakeman concert was listed.  After visiting his website, www.sethlakeman.com, we decided listening to his music in a park would make a great evening out -  though we did think it would be much warmer!  Instead it was quite chilly so we dress in several layers.  We catch the tube and walk through the park to the theater.  Small Christmas lights gave the entrance a festive look.  We found our seats, wishing we had a thermos of hot tea or hot chocolate.  Most of our seatmates came prepared.  Got to love the English's love of picnics!

John Smith at Regent's Park Theater

The warm up act was John Smith who played accoustic guitar and sang.  His music was good and his sense of humor even better.  It was a great beginning.  Soon Seth and the band took the stage and the tempo picked up.  He began the concert with the lead song on his new album, a fun up tempo folk song.  He played the violin and man, could he play.  This was one talented musician and it was obvious this was going to be a great concert!  The evening ended too soon and left us dashing for the CD line to bring home a souvenir of our trip.  Once secured we headed back to the hotel.  Another late night but we can't sleep in too late for tomorrow we have tickets to Buckingham Palace!

Seth Lakeman Concert Regent's Park, London from Janet Sheldon on Vimeo.

Day Eight - Cambridge & A Return To London

We were up early and on our way by 7am.  We were driving back to London today in time to catch a few sights there before they closed.  We were also planning on spending a couple of hours in Cambridge.  The roads were actually quite busy for so early.

It was another beautiful day.  We arrived in Cambridge just before 10am.  Perfect timing as everything opens at 10am.   Many of the city roads had become pedestrian streets for the weekend.  Fortunately we found a parking garage, parked and headed into the downtown.  Our aim was for the chapel of King's College as well as feel for the city.  It was a very pretty city with numerous colleges.  We passed a couple of different ones on our way to King's College.  The entrance was still quite quiet as we bought our tickets and headed into the church.

King's College Chapel

The church was gorgeous. It was Gothic style with a soaring ceiling over the nave.  It is known for it Peter Paul Ruben's Altarpiece which was full of color and incredibly beautiful.  We enjoyed our visit but felt especially happy to have been able to absorb its beauty without the crowds of tourists who were entering as we were leaving.  We then walked through the main campus of the school which was also very pretty.  What a wonderful place to go to school!

Cambridge

We made some stops in some shops on our way back to the car as well as a M&S to pick up some sandwiches for lunch.  We retrieved our car from the garage and headed back on the road toward London. We soon came upon a long line of traffic headed for an airshow.  As we passed the line in the right lane, jets screamed across the sky leaving red, white, and blue trails behind.  They flew in formation only to break away in opposite directions mimicking fireworks.  It was awesome!  And we didn't even have to join the que to see it! 

As we approached the London ring road, we were on the lookout for gas stations as we had to bring the car back full.  Where are those roadside service stations when you need one?  Janet decided to take an exit and go to the closest town.  Bad idea.  There was no town off that exit but there was a flea market with numerous cars also returning to the highway.  Ugh.  Twenty minutes wasted.  We continued on the highway until we saw a services sign.  Again we exited but this time, there were tricky round abouts and finally, a gas station.  After filling the tank, we headed for the Eurocar return lot at Heathrow airport.  We rejoiced in paying for full coverage insurance, dropped off the battered and bruised Modeo, and headed for the terminal and the tube.  

These kinds of transfers always take more time than planned and this time was no exception.  We finally arrived at our hotel past four.  All our planned activities for the afternoon had closed or were closing.  Bummer.  We decided to take a short rest before heading out for our scheduled evening activities.  We tubed and then took the Millenium Pedestrian Bridge to the Tate Modern, open late on Saturdays.  Most of the modern art left us unimpressed though there was a few we liked and two really good photography exhibitions.  One was portraits of the average German after WWII and another of New York subway riders in the 80s.  

The Millenium Bridge - Pedestrians Only

We recrossed the Millenium Bridge looking for food.   We found Gourmet Burger who packed us burgers and chicken sandwiches to go.  We were headed for the Tower of London where we had tickets to see the Ceremony of the Keys.  Months ago we had sent a request for four tickets, a self addressed return envelope and two international reply coupons to the ticket office and had received four tickets for tonight in return.  We caught a bus and arrived at around 9pm and ate our dinners in the square in front of the entrance.  The tickets were quite specific.  The doors would open at 9:30pm sharp and no late comers would be admitted.

The Tower of London at Night

At 9:30 we were admitted to witness the longest running ceremony in the world or so the Beefeater said, the locking up of the Tower of London, practiced exactly the same way for 800 years!  The Beefeater explained the process and then we were witness to the pomp and circumstance that accompanies the locking of the Tower.  Very cool.  There were no photos or video allowed so you will just have to write for your own tickets and come to London to witness it yourself!

We then tubed back to our hotel and fell into bed for a good night's sleep to be ready for tomorrow's adventures.

Day Four - Deep In The Cotswolds

Our day at the B & B began with a full English breakfast: one egg, two slices English bacon, one sausage, mushrooms and a grilled tomato. It is a good thing we are doing a lot of walking! Our host Mervin was preparing for retirement - this was his last week in the B & B business. His daughter was taking over and he was off to go fishing. We wished him the best of luck - both in his new life and with his fishing and we were off.

Hidcote Garden

Today we head directly for Hidcote Garden. It is considered one of the best gardens in the world and a perfect example of English gardens. Only it's creator, Lawrence Johnston, was an American! It is a gorgeous garden. He created rooms of hedges each filled with different personalities.t is quite a maze to wander through all the rooms but you really don't mind being happily lost when every room is so gorgeous!

Our cameras were snapping constantly as we wandered the many paths. We came out to a croquet lawn and decided to play a game. We read the rules and began. A docent came by to say we were holding the mallets wrong. You don't hold them like a golf club but you swing the mallet between your legs. Hmmmm.....that took a little getting used to. It was a gorgeous day to be playing croquet on one of the great estates in England. Perfect.

Coughton Court
(Pronounced like "Coat On")

Today we head for the Lake District which will take several hours. By the time we get ther it will be too late to visit anything there so we pull out our National Trust book. We choose a property on the way, Coughton Court. It is the ancestral home of the Throckmortan Family. They were a Catholic family during the time of Henry VIII who had to practice their religion in secret. Because of this the house was one of secrets as well - secret hiding places for priests and worship items. It was interesting to see how they coped with persecution. Plus it was a gorgeous manor with so many interesting things. It was fun too because the family still lives there so there were many homey touches.

The Dining Room - Just Like Home

One Of The Two Churches

We then went to visit two churches next door. Both were from the 1100s. It is amazing they are still standing after all this time. We were hoping to go into the walled garden which was redesigned by the owner's daughter recently but it was closed by the time we arrived. So we wandered the grounds a little more and headed for the car. It was quite late so I turned on my I-pad to send the B & B owner we were staying with tonight ante to expect a late arrival. We were all releived when it went through as the i-pad was on very low battery.

We then climbed into the car. We headed out on the road for Keswick, our next stop. It was a beautiful drive until it got dark. We finally arrived at our next home at 10 pm where Lyn our host greeted us. Once again we all just fell into bed. Tomorrow will be another busy day.

Day Seven - York

We are staying at the York Marriott just outside of the walls of York. There are no cars allowed on most streets in York so we are staying in a perfect location with a bus stop just across the street. Afterbreakfast we head out to catch the bus and spend a day in York. After checking out Rick Steves book, we head to the Castle Museum. It is billed as a walk through York history. Maybe it as just the wrong day, but it was a really cheesy museum which we all tired of rather quickly. Unfortunately it was a one way path that went on and on and on.....we came in with high expectations as Rick Steves had given it three stars, his highest rating. The same rating as Westminster Abbey, Stonehenge, The National Gallery of Art. He must have been delusional the day he visited.

The York Shambles

When we finally escaped, we wandered the streets of the shambles - narrow streets with midevial house leaning into the streets and on each other. Very cool. On a recommendation from a shopkeeper, we stopped at a small cafe for afternoon tea. We climbed up the narrow stairs to the third floor where we had some delicious scones with clotted cream and jam, served of course with a delicious pot of tea. A perfect pick me up! We then visited the Yorkshire Museum which covered the early history of the area - the Romans, Vikings, etc. It was much better.

York Minster

We Attended Evensong With These Saints

We then returned to the York Minster which we had passed on our walks. It was time for the evensong. It was a beautiful service with beautiful music in an awesome setting. Upon leaving the church we headed for the walls. We walked the top of the wall halfway around the town, getting a glimpse of life lived in York. It was a pretty evening and an enjoyable walk. On our way back to the bus stop we stopped at a carvery for dinner. Carol Jean had a chance to try real Yorkshire Pudding in York! We hopped on the bus and went back to the Marriott. We walked right to the bar and each ordered two scoops of the Elderberry sorbet to cap off our day! Tomorrow it is back to London.

A View From The Wall

On The Walls Of York