Day 6: York

York is in the northern part of England and it's the same county (Yorkshire) James Herriot is from. People are a little more countryfied up there. To get there we drove through Nottinghamshire and Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood country.

This is Clifford Tower in the center of York.

Here's us on top of the tower. You can see the towers of York Minster behind us.


Here's inside York Minster. Most of the churches we went to didn't allow pictures inside so I've included these to show what the inside of a gothic church looks like since most look similar. They are layed out with a central circular area and then 4 branches off of that, 2 shorter than the others. This view is down the long side where people would sit. The heart shape at the top of the window is the "Heart of York." If you look up on the right side you'll see a dragon head coming out of one of the windows. They think this is a lever to open the baptismal font that was below it.


Here's the opposite side of the circular area, the other long end. The opening under the organ would lead you to the view above. This is the choir area and behind the photographer would be the altar. In some of the minsters, there were seats up around the edges behind the choir seats where knights sit. For example, Windsor is the home of the Order of the Knights of the Garter and a standard and helmet for each of them are at their seat. Famous people like Churchill, Norman Schwarzkopf, and the elder George Bush are members of this order, knighted by the queen.

The Shambles, one of the narrowest and oldests streets.

While in York we also saw the house of a Fairfax related to the Fairfax for which Fairfax, VA and county are named. This relative Fairfax was friends with George Washington. So many times during this trip we felt ties to these people. So many of our town and street names come from England. We asked a tour guide in this house what British people call the Revolutionary War and she said, "Well, it's really just our Civil War isn't it? Just like yours between the North and the South. And you're still fighting it a bit aren't you?" Hmmm . . .

Day 5: Sabbath at Newbold

The Newbold SDA church. Yes, that is grass growing on the roof.

Standing in front of Moor Close, one of the buildings, Tara lived here for awhile I think.

Walking in the woods around the school. So beautiful! Mom and I went off the beaten trail and had our first experience with stinging nettle. I just touched the leaves of a plant and felt like I had 20 bee stings on my legs complete with whelts! My fingertip was numb for a whole day afterwards.

Getting around in England

This part, getting around on the Underground, we had pretty well figured out but once you got out on the street... things got confusing...

Just in case you're from another country and forget, directions are at every intersection.

Here's a sign for a roundabout, a very simple one, sometimes they have 4 exits with streets "signposted". In case you can't read the sign on the left, it says diverted traffic, in other words, detoured traffic.


The navigator with her trusty AA (like our AAA) directions.

Coming up to a roundabout, about to the hit the rumble stips, meaning slow down. I've decided I like roundabouts actually. They keep traffic moving and seem much more efficient than stop lights.

These crooked lines mean no parking, but you rarely see them, people usually just park along the roads where they please.

Random strange sign. My question is: How do you not allow this? When a dog's got to go...

Day 4: The War Rooms & Windsor Castle & we learn how to drive

The room in the underground compound where Churchill planned with his war council during the bombings of WWII.


My tour guide and me. Not the statue, the thing I'm holding up to my ear.

The room Churchill used to phone President Roosevelt.

Windsor Castle: the weekend residence of the queen and the flag flying from that flag pole means that she was there while we were! This was the main residence of the monarchy in the 1600's.

The courtyard that leads to the queen's private residences on the right side. The arch on the left is the entrance into the state rooms where foreign dignitaries are taken to see the queen on visits.

Check out the transportation section to see how fun driving was...

Day 3: Buckingham Palace, Ben Franklin's, Kensington Palace, George Handel's, and the London Hilton

First stop: moving our stuff to the London Hilton, supposedly the Hilton's flagship for the entire world. Complete with beautiful wooden beds, marble bathrooms, terry cloth robes, free cookies for the eating, meals in the executive suite and views of the city from the 17th floor. We felt a little underdressed walking around; there was some kind of black tie thing in the ball room that night.

Buckingham Palace: the residence of the queen. The front porch is where the pictures of Charles and Diana were taken after their wedding. The place gets jam packed for the changing of the guard, but we ended up standing next to some people from Kentucky. You can pick out Americans easily; we all sound like we're mumbling hicks compared to the English.

They march in in two big groups, one on each side of the yard in front of the palace. Then they march around in there for 45 minutes, the band plays,

. . . and then they march back out. Doesn't it look a bit funny to see them looking so formal carrying guns like that? Seems like they ought to have sabres.

The house where Benjamin Franklin lived while in London. Felt like a little bit of home to see something paying tribute to a great American.


The view of Hyde Park from our hotel room. There are several parks this big in London where people come to hang out. Kensington Palace is on the other side of the park.

The side of Kensington Palace which houses apts for the royal family, extended royals that is. The queen's sister lived here as did Princess Diana. We saw an exhibition here of Princess Di's dresses and pictures from the last photo shoot she ever did.

The house where Handel wrote the Messiah.

Day 2: St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Globe, & British Museum

The day began with an early walk to St. Paul's Cathedral. This is where Princess Diana's wedding was held.

The Tower of London where prisoners and traitors were held. Several Americans were kept here during the Revolutionary War, Anne Boleyn, 2nd wife (of 6) of Henry VIII, was beheaded here and is buried in the chapel.


When the royalty were in residence here, this is where they lived in the center of the complex. The crown jewels are also kept here, crowns and jewelery in big cases that the queen wears for special occasions. I've never seen so many diamonds at once in my life. The largest diamond in the world is kept on a crown here. And you walk right by it in a case.


This suit of armor is registered in the Guiness book of world records for being the biggest ever found, over 7 feet tall.


Tower Bridge, built to complement the Tower of London. The bottom part of the bridge comes up for boats to pass thru.

A ride to the British Museum in a taxi cab.


Having fun with the Egyptian artifacts in the British Museum. That place is full of amazing things from other countries. Makes you realize how big the British empire used to be and how much they took.

We also went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and saw part of a play. One of the actors was Jeffrey the butler off of Fresh Prince! Needless to say, we walked a LOT this day and we were all VERY tired at the end of it.