Day 35 - Tuesday, May 29th

Today was a catch-up day with most of the time being spent buying groceries, washing clothes, and working on budget stuff....you still have to pay bills even when on vacation!!!!

We did make an uneventful trip to return the rental car, although we once again drove down a restricted area to do it!!!

I spent a couple of hours working on quilt blocks and greatly enjoying the time to be creative again.

Michael spent the day at the house, however he was working the entire time. He has started yet another book and has almost finished the first chapter.....I don’t know how he does it!!!

Day 34 - Monday, May 28th

Our last views of the Dales





















This sign means that the roads are really curvy.

















Maybe the "Cracked Pots" need this one (what do you think ladies)!!!!


















"HELP....what do we do here!!!!!"












Today is a holiday in England......Bank Holiday (the second “Bank Holiday” this month). I have finally figured out that they call EVERY holiday “Bank Holiday”, even if it is to celebrate another purpose. Unfortunately, the weather is cold and threatening to rain. The news is saying that it is 17 degrees C (30F) COLDER in London today than it was a week ago!!! The locals are amazed at how strange the weather has been this year.

We had planned to spend several hours in West Burton at their village festival that started at 1:00, and we were looking forward to seeing a Maypole, Falconry exhibition and Morris Dancers (men wearing bells and dancing with sticks). However, we realized that it was going to be REALLY cold, windy and possibly rainy, so we regretfully decided to head back to Oxford.

As we left our B&B, we spent a few minutes talking with our hosts (Steven & Julie) and also with Barbara and Larry, another couple that we had met at breakfasts each morning. Over the mornings, we had raved about the sausages that we had for breakfast, and to our surprise, Julie brought out a package of them for us to take home for dinner. It was so sweet of her to do that for us. When we drove out, we felt like we were leaving our family behind. It was a wonderful place to stay and we would highly recommend it to anyone traveling this direction.

We drove over the highlands one more time, stopping to take yet more photos, and then took as many small roads as we could find to get out of the Dales. It was a sad occasion when we finally met the M1 Expressway and had to join the throngs of people heading South.

The biggest difference that we found in Yorkshire, as opposed to the rest of England, is that the people there are friendly. They smile when they talk to you and they ALL want to talk and to learn where we are from and what we think of the Dales.

We loved the names of the pubs that we saw, including “The Green Dragon”, “The George & Dragon”, “The Hogshead”, “The Forrester’s Arms”, “The Bay Horse Inn” and, our favorite, “The Fox and Hounds”.

The town names were equally quaint, and it was fun looking at road signs showing mileage to Leyburn, Winksley, Ellingstring, Aysgarth, Newbiggin, Gammersgill, Askrigg, Ripon and Reeth.

Driving in Yorkshire was an experience as all of the MAJOR roads are only two lanes wide...one each direction. Then you get onto some of the minor roads and they can be only a narrow lane. We laughed at one road.... we were talking about how narrow it was and then we saw a warning sign that the road was about to narrow again....we didn’t see how it could get smaller, but it DID. When you met a car on these roads, you simply pulled as far to one side as possible and squeezed both cars thru the hole. On one of the roads, they had painted striped lines in the middle of the “single” lane thus making it a TWO lane road. There were many one lane bridges, some of which had stop lights and others just showed which traffic direction had the right of way. We also came across many walkers out on the roads along with horse riders and, of course, sheep. This whole area is part of the “Yorkshire Dales National Park”, so the property is open to the public, even though it is privately owned and is still being farmed. It was not unusual to have to slow down for sheep to cross the road ahead of you.

We saw an amazing array of warning signs, including ones with horses, cattle, tractors, and even “elderly people”. There were also some that simply had an exclamation point.....never did figure out what those were for, but I am sure that they were important!!!!

Stop lights were interesting because the yellow light shows twice during the light cycle. The first time is in the same manner as ours.....as a warning that the light is about to change to red. The second time it shows is when the red light is about to change to green, so you can go ahead and start if the way is clear.

Most of the villages had public car parking areas, but you had to “Pay and Display”..... buy a ticket and place it on the dashboard.

This Yorkshire trip has been a wonderful experience and the fulfillment of a dream for Michael and I that started when we first began reading the “All Creatures Great and Small” series of books. This has been a marvelous 5 days!!!

The drive back to Oxford was uneventful...which is a good thing!!! The only time that we got lost was coming into Oxford, but I saw a highway sign that mentioned a street that lead onto “High Street” ( by our house), so we simply followed that into town.

The roads here are named with the letters “A”, “B”, and “M”. The “M” indicates that it is a major divided expressway, with the A’s and B’s indicating smaller roads. The national speed limit on the Expressways is 70 mph, but most people were doing 80 to 90 mph.

They have “Services” areas about every 30 miles along the Expressways. We stopped at one and found it to be a very interesting place. There is normally a petrol (gas) station to one side, and a large building that contains bathrooms, a grocery-type store, a restaurant or two, an entertainment area (video games) and places to sit and relax. The parking lot was full and everyone seemed to be enjoying their rest stop.

We got back to our house about 3:00 and spent the rest of the day answering emails, posting the blog and washing clothes.

Day 33 - Sunday, May 27th

Brewing Vats at Black Sheep Brewery










A beautiful Church that we found along one road.













The sheep laden walk up to Jervaulx Abbey
















The beautiful Abbey ruins.
























We awoke this morning to rain and colder temperatures. We knew that this was predicted, so we had made some indoor plans for the day. After breakfast we headed to the town of Masham (pronounced Maasam), stopping along the road to take photos of rock walls, stone markers and churches. We were struck with the difference in the environment from yesterday, being in a valley area today. The steep inclines were replaced with rolling hills and much of our road followed a beautiful river called the Ure.

The clouds were ominous, so we headed to the Black Sheep Brewery. When we got inside, we found that the brewery tours were booked until the 2:00 tour, so we signed up for it and then headed back into the town itself. We walked around the town a bit and visited a Chocolate Shop and a Glass Blowing shop. There were some beautiful pieces, but we knew better than to try to get them home safely.

It started raining again, so we drove back to the Brewery and went inside to the restaurant for morning tea. Michael had a scone and coffee and I had a luscious slice of Lemon Meringue pie. Many of the locals were there for a typical Sunday lunch of roasted meat (mostly beef or lamb), Yorkshire Puddings, roasted potatoes, boiled vegetables (carrots, broccoli and cauliflower) and pudding. “Pudding” is the name given to everything eaten after the meal, much as we use the term dessert. It all looked wonderful, but we were still too full from our “Cooked English Breakfast” to eat it.

After tea, Michael walked around some in the town and took photos while I retreated to the car and spent about 45 minutes reading. He took some nice pictures of the local houses, churches and businesses. When he returned, we took the tour of the Black Sheep Brewery. The building was about 180 years old and had housed a brewery before this one. We saw all of the different stages of brewing the beer, including seeing what hops looked like (it is a green leafy flower). We also tasted some of the roasted barley, one of which had a distinct coffee flavor. I would like to coat it with chocolate....it would be wonderful!!!! This brewery uses only components and supplies that are produced in England and they are very proud of that fact. The current vats are round and made of stainless steel, but the original ones were made from 4 ft by 8 ft pieces of slate and bolted together into a square. One of the newest brews was made specifically for the 30 year anniversary of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. It is named “Monty Python and the Holy (Gr)Ail....the (Gr) is crossed out, and claims that it is “tempered over burning witches”. Michael bought a bottle that had been flattened and plans to put it in his office!!!

We left Masham and headed to Middleham to visit yet another castle, but when we got there it was raining quite hard and the castle didn’t look all that interesting. So, we turned back around and went back to an Abbey that we had seen earlier in the day. It was called “Jervaulx Abbey” and was built in the 12th century. It currently sits on private property, but visitors are welcome to explore. They have an “Honesty Box” and request that visitors donate 2 pounds to the upkeep of the grounds. The walk up to the Abbey was populated with sheep although they were fenced out of the Abbey ruins. The ruins were absolutely beautiful and we were able to find many of the landmarks described I the brochure that we bought. We found crosses that were carved on the altar, a stone effigy of a knight who was buried there and several other tombs that were marked with flat stone slabs inscribed with crosses and chalices. It was a beautiful area and we had a wonderful time taking photos, even though it was raining for a good portion of the time that we were there. It finally started pouring so we sprinted to our car and turned the heater on high to warm our cold hands and feet.

We were starting to feel hungry so we headed back to West Burton and our favorite pub. Tonight we continued in the “pub fare” vein and Michael had “Pub Curry” with rice, papadam and chips (nice combination!!!). I had a Vegetable Quiche with chips and salad.

Some of the men from the pub were playing “Quoits” out on the village green. It is much like Horsehoes, but the “shoes” are a circle and not open on one end. There was also the usual dart board on the wall of the pub and the bartender and waiters were wearing tee shirts that boasted the dart teams that were sponsored by the “Fox and Hounds”.

We once again returned to our B&B and looked out our window at the beautiful Dales, but this time with a blowing rain in between us and the hills. We are hoping for sun tomorrow for our trip back to Oxford.

Day 32 - Saturday, May 26th

A view of the town of Hawes
























Castle Bolton

























We started the morning (just as yesterday) with a “Full English Breakfast” of fried egg on fried bread, fried tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, ham, sausage, rack of toast, fresh fruit, fruit juice and coffee and tea. No wonder we didn’t eat again until after 6:00 pm!!!

After rolling ourselves away from the breakfast table, we hopped in our car and headed for the town of Hawes, only making one mis-turn in the whole trip. Of course, the trip was on 15 miles, so I guess that isn’t so good after all.

We found a public car park and walked into Hawes looking for an internet café that we had been told about. But, when I asked, I was told that it was only open on Monday thru Friday, so we were out of luck for checking email and posting onto the blog. On the way back to the car to get rid of the computer, we stopped in at a local craft fair. Michael went into the used book room and I headed straight for the arts and crafts. I had wonderful chats with 5 or 6 of the merchants in the rooms and ended up buying some jewelry, a folded paper greeting card, and 4 photo note cards. Michael found 2 books that he couldn’t live without, so we carried all of our treasures back to the car.

We walked up the road to the Wensleydale Creamery and cheese factory, where we took a short tour of the history of cheese in this area and then into the working part of the factory. There were 6 large vats that were in the various stages of making cheese. The first vat started with the milk which is heated to a certain temperature to pasteurize it. Then several ingredients are added to help the cheese to form. Large paddles keep the mixture constantly moving during this process. After the cheese granules have formed , the whey is drained off, leaving the cheese in the bottom of the tub. It is then cut into smaller and smaller pieces, allowing more of the whey to drain off. Once it is mostly dry, it is packed into molds which are then pressed to condense the cheese and remove any last whey. I tried a few samples and found it to be a very creamy cheese with a wonderful light flavor.

We then continued our walk thru the town of Hawes, stopping at the Yorkshire Dales Museum and also going into a local pottery. We visited a rope maker, but were not able to see him making ropes by hand. However, we did get to see the machines that are used to make the nylon ropes. It was amazing to see how the ropes wound from 15 to 20 strands of nylon. There are 5 or 6 cones of nylon cord on rotating disks that circle around to weave a part of the rope. Then those woven strands pass thru another opening where they are woven into the final rope. There was one machine that was making a larger rope with a core of several large nylon strands and then being covered with a design formed by the smaller colored cords.

We got back in our car and drove to Castle Bolton, which is where Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner. The castle was built in 1379 and didn’t look all that big and impressive when we were driving up, but it was amazing once we got inside. Much of it is in ruins now, but you could still see the architecture and design that went into it. We spent quite a bit of time taking photos from inside the castle, and then a bunch more at the top of the castle. The Castle gardens were also interesting with a large herb garden (Michael and I kept rubbing the leaves on our fingers and then smelling to confirm which herb it was). There was also a maze built from low hedges and it was fun to watch people trying to wind their way thru it.

We were starting to get hungry at this point, so we made our way to the “Fox and Hounds” pub in West Burton. We had greatly enjoyed our lunch from yesterday, and decided to check out their dinner menu. We arrived at 5:00 to find out that they don’t start serving dinner until 6:00, so we had a pint of ale and spent some time talking to Donna, who was behind the bar. We both decided to have typical “pub fare”, so Michael had “Fish and Chips”, and I had something called a “Cumberland Curl”. This was a sausage (about 12 inches long) curled in a spiral and placed inside the cavity of a giant Yorkshire Pudding. The whole thing was covered with brown gravy and was served with Chips and Peas. It was a wonderful meal, even if I did end up leaving some of it!!!!

We returned to our B&B, watched a movie and proceeded to stare out our window at the beautiful dales.








Cumberland Curl

Day 31 - Friday, May 25th

The sheep speckled upper moorlands.















A good looking guy, a really cool fence and a beautiful view beyond.
















Sheep Rustling!!!!












One of the many NARROW gates that we had to negotiate.

















A view of the fields from one of the steep trails.









The good news for the day is that we didn’t use much petrol, which, by the way is 97p per litre. That translates to $7.37 per gallon!!!! The bad news is that we went on a 10 mile hike that you had to walk 1.2 miles on an approach to get to the start of the 10 miles, so that meant that we hiked around 12 or 13 miles today!!!

Julie (our host) gave us a newspaper article about a walk that goes around Penhill, through a couple of small villages and then back to West Close Farm (our B&B). We started out on a paved segment that was heading steadily upward, all the while wondering if we were going the right way. After about a mile, we realized that we had JUST reached the start of the walk, but were very relieved to finally know where we were. Our walk started at Penhill Farm which is a horse barn that keeps famous horses, including some that belong to the Royals.

As we walked along, we moved through several different environments, from river bottom, to classic Yorkshire Dales, and into the Moors. We saw sheep in every field, along with small groups of cattle. There were constant birds calling, with Pheasant and Partridge feeding in many of the paddocks. Rabbits were thick....some hillsides seeming alive with them.

Dry stoned walls laced the landscape, dividing the pastures and farms. These walls are made entirely of stones, with no mortar holding them in place. There is a layer of large stones at the base of the wall, with a layer of wide stones (called “thru stones) that go all the way thru the wall to give it stability. Then another layer of smaller stones is added, another layer of thin “thru stones” and the wall is topped with stones placed at a slant on the top. They are truly amazing to look at and to realize how old they are.

Ancient stone barns, some in ruins and some still in use, were scattered in many fields. It was fun seeing the sheep and cattle sheltering in front of them.

At one point we came across a group of sheep in one of the walled paths and they started walking in front of us as if we were herding them along. It was fun to see them all walking in a single file line, although we were concerned about the fact that we were herding them away from their paddock. We were eventually able to walk up beside them and they turned back again.

The weather was gorgeous, with a deep blue sky, interlaced with fluffy white clouds. We started off with lightweight jackets, but took them off almost immediately. At the tops of the moors, the wind was overpowering, but would drop in intensity as we headed lower down the slopes.

The foot path signs (labeled F.P.) were prolific, but it wasn’t always clear exactly where the paths were headed to or whether or not it was one that we wanted. We spent much of our time wondering whether we were going in the right direction, although the written instructions of the walk said that the path was “easily discernable”.....we grew to hate those words!!!! Fortunately, we met numerous extremely nice individuals who would point us in the right direction, however, we often went for several miles without seeing any one at all.

We dropped off of the moor (along a VERY steep section of the path) into the town of West Burton and stopped for lunch at the “Fox and Hounds”, a local pub. We both had toasted cheese & tomato sandwiches and then went next door to the shop and bought ice cream bars for dessert. We spent a few minutes sitting in the center of the village green and then started our walk again. We climbed again along a steep, rocky farm path and across “Thupton Gill”, an area filled with more pastures and heath. Heath is a cedar-looking plant that grows about 2 feet tall, with thin woody stems. It is apparently a good habitat for the Moor Grouse that the locals like to hunt.

After a LONG hiking segment, we walked back down in to the town of Carlton where the “Forrester’s Arms” is located. They were closed at the time, so we continued on down the road and back up another footpath onto Melmerby Moor. It was a wonderful sight to see the pavement road again and start our 1.2 mile trip back down to the B&B. We arrived at 5:30, making the entire trip about 7 hours. We chose NOT to walk to dinner, but instead drove back to the pub and had a wonderful haute cuisine meal (not exactly Pub Food!!!!).

Day 30 - Thursday, May 24th

OUR FIRST VIEWS OF THE YORKSHIRE DALES






























We were awakened a little after 4:00 this morning by the street cleaners who were trying to clean up the debris left from yesterday’s celebrations. We finally got up and started getting packed for our Yorkshire trip. With much trepidation we entered the streets of Oxford and our fears were soon realized!!! We were following Yahoo driving directions and, although they were correct, they were confusing when it came to traveling around the round-abouts. Instead of telling you to enter the round-about and take the 3rd exit, it would tell you to go 10 yards on one street, 7 yards on another street and then continue on the street that you were actually trying to get to. At one point we finally had to stop the car and basically draw out the round-about to figure out where we were supposed to be.

Once we got out of Oxford it was a bit easier, but we were worried when we missed our first major intersection between highways. We were expecting a round-about and instead were supposed to exit on a normal highway exit. There was no place to turn around for 8 miles, but we were able to find a cross road that took us back to our missed road. We also could not figure out what the speed limit was.....the map book that I bought simply said that it was the “national” limit, so Michael called one of his colleagues who laughingly told us about the speed limits. We had sort of figured it out by noting the speed that drivers were going when there were “speed cameras” present. Apparently these cameras used to be hidden, but people filed suits against the government saying it was a breach of privacy so now the cameras are marked.....even on the maps!!! I was also told that many of them don’t have film, but you never know!!

We made the rest of the trip with very few problems, although we did call the B&B owner twice to confirm that we were going correctly. He graciously answered our questions and gave us additional directions as we went. We arrived at West Close Farm at 12:30 and were met outside by Steven & Julie Thompson, our hosts for the next few days. Julie made a pot of tea and they sat and talked to us about the area and made suggestions of things we must do, including a 10 mile walk thru the Dales which we will try tomorrow.

They told us of a pub about ½ mile down the road where we could get lunch, but they closed at 2:00 so we needed to hurry. I misunderstood the instructions and we ended up walking about 1/4 of a mile the wrong way and then figuring out where we were supposed to be. We hurried the rest of the way and had a wonderful meal at “The Forresters Arms”. Michael had Sausages and mashed potatoes, served with a hot salad of greens and brown gravy and I had a Parmesan Quiche with chips and salad. It was such fun to sit in the small back room that contained a mixture of tables, chairs, benches and even two overstuffed chairs!!

We strolled back to our B&B taking almost 100 photos on the way. The scenery is magnificent, as are the trees, paddocks, stone walls, cows and sheep. It was also fun to read the names of the houses along the way, including “Low Barn”, “Thistle Cottage”, “Ivy Cottage”, “Falshaw House”, “Gable Inn” and “Town Foot Farm”.

Our room at the B&B is wonderfully furnished and has a gorgeous view of the Dales from the window. We were both tired so we spent the rest of the day napping, eating junk food and watching tv, ending the night with an episode of “The Last Detective”.

By the way, daylight breaks about 4:00am and dusk is around 9:30, but it never gets a “night-time” dark. It makes for a LONG day. The comment from one person was “we pay for it in the winter because it is dark until about 9:00 am and then again at 3:00 pm”.

Day 29 - Wednesday, May 23rd

This was our day to get ready for our Yorkshire trip so we spent much of the time washing clothes, buying supplies and picking up our rental car. We walked to the rental company to pick up the car (a Toyota RAV 4) and thought that we had planned out how to get back to Merton Street. There are MANY, MANY one way streets in Oxford and it is very hard to drive there. After repeating our mantra....stay to the left....stay to the left, we headed onto the street with Michael driving and me navigating. Even with out planning, we still had to guess where a couple of the intersections were as the street names change almost every block. We thought that we were home free when we turned onto High street, just about 3 blocks from Merton Street. However, we saw a sign that said “ROAD RESTRICTION” (only buses and taxis were allowed on the road during certain times of the day). Since we didn’t see it until the last minute and since we weren’t really sure what the restrictions were, we just kept on going (with the buses and taxis) and decided to play dumb if we got caught. Actually, we would not have had to play!!! We were very happy to park the car in our Merton parking lot and leave it there for the rest of the day. I immediately walked to a local bookstore and bought a detailed Britain map to help us on our longer trip.

As I was walking back from the shops, I kept seeing people carrying helium balloons, so I asked one of the girls what was up. She said that the English final year students were currently taking their last exams and that the celebration was for them. For about the next hour we heard cheering, clapping and laughing as each of the students emerged from their exam session. Various groups of students would walk past our window with one of them wearing their gown (which they have to wear for exams), leis around their necks, crowns, fuzzy animal ears, wings, halos and other crazy things. Most were either drinking or being sprayed with Champaign and some were sporting silly string, spray whipped cream or flour.

Michael was scheduled to give his talk to the Merton College scientists at 5:00 pm so we got dressed up and headed over for the evening. After his wonderful talk, we sipped wine and then dined at Head Table. The meal was much more simple than the ones served on Sunday nights. We had Garlic and Ginger Scallops for the appetizer and roast beef with mushrooms, rice pilaf and asparagus for the main course. Dessert was fresh fruit salad with cream. After dinner, we walked to the Warden’s house and had coffee with she and 7 other scientists. It was a fun time but we were glad to get back to our house that night.

Day 28 - Tuesday, May 22nd

Mike & Mark's beautiful flower garden




















One of the wonderful greenhouses at Kew Gardens











A view from the top of the tropical house











One of the MANY cases displaying needlework in the V&A museum.....each of those vertical drawers contains specimens.
















A favorite piece of Iron Work!!!!










After a wonderful breakfast with Mark and Mike which included some of Mike’s prize winning jam, we headed back to Kew Gardens. The scientists entered through the “research” gate and I was going to walk to the main gate and enter the gardens when they opened about 30 minutes later. Mark and Mike told me that I could go in early using the back entrance, so I had about an hour in the gardens before I ever saw another tourist. I had a delightful time walking through several of the greenhouses and taking tons of photos of the beautiful flowers and foliage. As I made my way to the main entrance area, I saw at least 15 school groups coming in the front gate, so I decided that it was time to go elsewhere. I know that I only saw about 20 percent of the gardens but hopefully I can return soon.

I phoned the V&A museum and confirmed that the Fiber and Ironworks galleries were open and then made my way there. Since I had already seen most of the V&A, I made my way straight to the Fiber gallery. It was an amazing mix of weaving, crochet, tatting and embroidery. Besides the items that were displayed in the large showcases, there were 15 or 20 large cabinets that were filled with pull-out vertical drawers that contained many, many more examples of the fiber arts. There were only a couple of quilted pieces....both were forms of white work and were very small. There were tables along the wall of this gallery where you could stand up one of these drawers and spend time examining the work. The Embroider’s Guild in England has a huge influence in the arts community and this was evident by the size of this display.

I then moved into the Musical Instrument gallery and enjoyed seeing many examples of instruments, both old and new. I saw two “Hurdy Gurdy’s” but am still not exactly sure how they work. They also had pull-out vertical drawers, but these were huge (from floor to ceiling). They contained additional instruments that you could examine.

The final gallery that I viewed was Metal Work. It was full of examples of wrought iron, from practical stair railings and “locks and keys” to some magnificent works of art. I think that some of these designs may work their way into my quilts.

I crossed the street and looked briefly at the Science Museum, but was really too pooped to enjoy it much, so I found my way back to the tube and to the Kew Garden station. I found a small café to eat a late lunch and waited for Michael to arrive at the station after his talk. We both fell into our train seats and relaxed for the trip back to Oxford. When we got there we splurged on a taxi to our house rather than a 1 mile walk!!!!

Day 27 - Monday, May 21st

Saying Goodbye to Jenny & Jimmy... obviously they were dressed for Georgia weather!!!












St. Paul's Cathedral



















My favorite pastime....waiting for trains!!












The door into Mark & Mike's home.



We had an early start this morning, as Jenny and Jimmy had to be at the bus stop by 6:15. We waved goodbye to them and then ran back to our house to pack for our next outing.....another trip to London. Michael was speaking at Kew on Tuesday, and the head of the research at Kew and his partner invited us to stay with them on Monday night, so we went up a day early. Michael spent the day meeting with scientists at Kew while I hopped on a train and headed into London for another day of play!!!

I started out at St. Paul’s Cathedral and greatly enjoyed my time there. Unfortunately, you could not take photos inside, so I took copious notes to help me remember what I saw. I entered through one of the back areas and started my tour in the Crypt area in the basement. One of the first monuments that I saw was to Winston Churchill and the second to Lawrence of Arabia (two of Michael’s favorite historical characters). Also in this area, I found a wonderful bronze memorial to the Special Correspondents in Soudan in 1883 thru 1885. What captured my eye was a wonderful area on the plaque that had a beautiful design with fern leaves. I wished that I could have done a rubbing of it, but instead tried to draw it to help me remember. I passed one open door that was apparently a robing room for the chaplains. It was very interesting to see the colorful and ornate robes that they wear for different occasions. I also passed the Choir Practice Room and saw a memorial to one of their former choir members who had died on September 11th.

I went into the main part of the cathedral and sat for several minutes just looking at the dome above me and all of the mosaics and statues around me. Some of the mosaic pieces looked as if they had light shining through them, but I heard a tour guide say that they are simply placed at an angle (rather than flat) so that the lights bounce off of them and give the appearance of stained glass.

The dome at St. Paul’s is the second largest in the world, with the first being at St. Peter’s in Rome. It is actually designed as a dome within a dome which gives it greater stability. I could see people walking around on one of the upper levels of the dome so I wandered around until I discovered how they got up there. It is 163 steps up to the first level which is called the Whispering Gallery. You can stand on one side of the dome and whisper into the wall and the people on the opposite side can hear you. I didn’t have anyone to whisper to, but it was fun to listen to others talking all around me. It was also interesting to look into the arches that you could see from the floor and to find that the alcoves contained all sorts of lighting equipment. Quite a mixture of old and new. The view of the cathedral floor was magnificent and I enjoyed the patterns made by the tiles and also by the chairs that were placed there for worship.

While walking up this first set of winding stairs, it was interesting to see the tops of the lower domes. There was a plaque beside one of the domes indicating that a bomb had crashed through it in 1940 and destroyed the altar below.

I then climbed 119 more steps to the “Stone Gallery” which is the first of the walkways around the outside of the dome. Of course, it was raining when I got out there, so I didn’t spend much time looking, but instead found the next set of 152 steps that took me to the narrow walkway almost at the top of the dome (called the “Golden Gallery”). The view of the London skyline was less than inspiring. I expected to see cathedrals or interesting buildings, but there wasn’t much of that. I did enjoy taking a photo of a Japanese couple with the city in the background of the photo....they were so appreciative and kept bowing and saying thank you.

The trip down was fun because of the construction of the stairs. They were steep, stone, narrow (I could barely go down without turning sideways), and short. I started out (by accident) leaning backwards but found it impossible to go down the steps in that manner, so I moved to leaning forward and that worked much better. The stairs would wind clockwise first and then the next set would go counter clockwise. I kept having to move my bag from left to right so that I could grip the handrails better. Every so often there were tiny windows cut into the 3 foot thick walls. The opening was quite large on the stairs, but angled back to a slit about 3 inches wide and 12 inches long. The ceilings were really low in some places....one spot even had black and yellow foam bumpers on the ridges to keep you from hurting your head.

When I got back into the main chamber, I realized that they were about to start a service so I decided to stay for it. It was very moving to worship and take communion in this beautiful cathedral.....not an experience that I will soon forget!!!!

As I left the cathedral, I was starving and saw a small café called “Pauls” so I decided to eat there. It was raining really hard and there was no room to sit inside, so I decided to get my food to go, however, as I was leaving I saw a table and chair under one of the big outside umbrellas so I ate out there instead. I had a wonderful individual Quiche Lorraine and a dessert called Millefeuille, which is a type of Vanilla Slice (which I LOVED in Australia). It had a thin flaky crust, a 1 inch thick layer of dark chocolate custard, more layers of puff pastry crust and topped with a thin layer of chocolate glaze. It was MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!!

After lunch I walked along the “Millenium Walkway” across the Thames River to the Tate Museum of Modern Art (Brits call it the “Tate Modern”). There was a wonderful display called “States of Flux” that explored many different areas of art (Amber, I needed you with me!!!). The first gallery that I walked into was a study of “Cubism, Futurism and Vorticism”, and the first paintings that I saw were Picasso’s. I really like much of his work, probably because I sometimes see quilts in them. There were one or two abstract pieces that I liked....again because they reminded me of quilts. The first was “Abstract Composition” by Jessica Dismorr and the second was called “Bursting Shell” by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson. I also enjoyed “Windows Open Simultaneously” by Robert Delannay. I want to look all of these up and see if I can find information on the internet about them.

The next gallery was “Abstract” art and contained 7 or 8 works by Gerhard Richter. I didn’t think that I really liked abstract work, but his stuff was wonderful.

In the next gallery, there was another full size “The Kiss” by Rodin. Apparently there are 3 full size versions of this sculpture. I have now seen two of them and need to find out where the third one is (we think that it is in Copenhagen). I enjoyed Rodin’s quote about this piece. He called it “a large sculpted knick-knack following the usual formula”!!!! I also enjoyed several pieces by Henri Matisse.

The next gallery contained pieces from “The Machine Eye”....ie the camera. My favorite pieces were by Dorothea Lange who did a photo documentary of the Great Depression.

In the “Pop” Gallery I saw work by Andy Warhol including one of his “Marilyn” series and also his “Two Elvis” print. It also contained a giant 3-way plug suspended from the ceiling....am not sure what that was all about.

They had an area devoted to Steve McQueen.... not the actor!!! He is a British film maker who uses innovative techniques to make his films. The one that was presented was called “Drumroll”. It was made by fitting an oil drum with cameras which were rolled through the streets of Manhattan with circular images relaying the journey along its route. The film was shown on a long wall with three circular scenes being shown at the same time. These were what the cameras were seeing from both sides as well as straight on. It took a few minutes to get used to the rolling, but was very interesting to watch once you figured out what was going on.

I enjoyed seeing prints from Deiter Roth who is a German artist who studies the “possibilities of perception”. There was one set of prints that were all based on the same postcard of the Piccadilly Circus area. It was interesting to see the different ways that he interpreted the same scene.

The “Optical Illusion” area included Kinetic Art which uses magnets to keep items in perpetual motion. In one area of this section there was a room that was painted completely black with white pinstripes. It had various shapes painted on the walls and ceiling with the stripes going in different directions. It was not an easy room to stand in for long!!!

I moved through the “Minimalism” gallery pretty quickly......after all, there wasn’t much to look at!! The same with the “Surrealism and Beyond”......it was surrealistic and it was beyond me!!!

There were two other exhibits that I really enjoyed. The first was a room lighted with floodlights and a bunch of latticework screens hung from the ceilings. Only 5 people could go in at a time, but it was a lot of fun to walk thru the screens and watch the emerging light and shadows.

The last of my favorites was a nature movie....sort of!!! Someone had taken some sort of food and cut it into thin round disks which had been painted with bright shiny colors. The disks had been placed in an ant bed and then they had filmed the ants picking up these disks and moving them. The color and glitter of the disks made for interesting patterns and an interesting movie.

I caught my trains back to Kew which took over an hour. The reason for the length of the trip was that one of the lines had been closed due to some “incident”....never did hear what had happened.

We took the bus to the home of Mark Chase and Mike Fay. Their house is approximately100 years old and they are in the process of renovating it. It had a gorgeous stain glass entry way and a fantastic back garden of flowers. Of course, since they are both at Kew Gardens, you would expect that. We had a wonderful dinner at their home, along with 4 other scientists.

Sorry for not posting

Hi to all who are reading.

I apologize for not posting much in the last few days.....things have been a bit hectic and we are leaving in the morning for Yorkshire (wait till you hear about our first driving experience). I am not sure what kind of internet service we will have while there, but promise to get caught up
as soon as we get back on Monday.

Thanks for reading!!!


Frances

Day 26 - Sunday, May 20th

Today was Michael and my 30th wedding anniversary!!!! We celebrated it in English style with a day at Lord’s Cricket Ground watching England and the West Indies.

We had bought our tickets many months ago, but Jenny and Jimmy had been watching the highlights of the first 3 days of play and decided that they wanted to go too. Fortunately, they were able to buy two tickets from someone outside the grounds and got into the match.

The first problem of the day was how to get there!!!! We knew that there was a train from Oxford to London Paddington station at 8:38am, so we headed out about 7:45 to walk to the station. When we got there, we found out that the schedules had changed effective TODAY and that the next train wasn’t until 9:05. Then, the ticket seller told us that there was a problem on the line between Oxford and Didcot Parkway (the next stop), but that a bus would be arriving at Oxford at 8:20 to take us there. We would then be able to continue our journey by train. When we first went out to the bus area there were only 5 or 6 people waiting with us, but there was no bus. Then the number grew to 20 to 25 people, but no bus. Then, 30 - 40 people, but still no bus. Finally, about 8:30 the station master came out and started hiring taxi’s to take us to the next station. Fortunately, we were able to get into the 3rd taxi that arrived and we had a very FAST journey to the station. We jumped out of the taxi and ran into the station, seeing that there was a train to Paddington on Platform 2....leaving immediately. We sprinted up the stairs and onto the platform. Just as we got to the train, the doors closed, so we all started to turn around, but then the doors opened again and Michael and Jenny jumped in on one end and Jimmy and I jumped in on the other end of the carriage. After we made sure that all 4 of us were on the train, we started wondering “were we really on the right train?” Fortunately we were and the rest of the trip was mostly uneventful.

We arrived a t the Lord Cricket Ground, which is the home of cricket. It is an interesting stadium that holds about 40,000 people. At one end stands the castle type building that was the original clubhouse, while the other end has a raised “football-shaped” silver pavilion that houses box seats. You can tell that seating has been added over the years because each section of seats looks different. We were on the 5th row from the ground and were almost in the middle of the field....just slightly toward the clubhouse end of the wicket (where the bowling and batting takes place). Cricket is a civilized game which can be fairly slow at times. They take breaks for drinks, and stop for lunch and tea. The game that we saw was part of a 5 day test match between England and the West Indies, with us seeing the 4th day of play. By the way, the test match ended up in a draw!!! The crowd seldom yells, but clap politely...even when the other team makes a good play. One of our favorite things was listening to the crowd around us. Our favorite comment came when one of the England players mishandled a ball. The comment was “oh, he fluffed it”!!!

We had a “square pie” for lunch which was made with a flaky crust and had steak and cheese inside. It was wonderful. Of course, it had to be consumed with a glass of Fosters beer!! Alcohol was flowing all around us. You could take 750 mls of alcohol in with you, but then could purchase it while in the stadium. At one place they had an oyster and champagne bar and another had places to buy bottles of wine. The crowd became a bit louder and rowdier as the day went on.
Even though the match didn’t end until 6:00, we left about 4:30, knowing that it would take about 2 hours to get back to Oxford. Jimmy and Jenny were sitting in the sun the whole day, so they left about 3:00. We met up with them in Oxford and had a nice dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

Although not traditional, it was wonderful way to celebrate 30 years of marriage!!!!!

Day 25 - Saturday, May 19th

A favorite Gargoyle














Christchurch College
















The famous Staircase




Today was a day to see Oxford with Jenny & Jimmy, and of course, we started with the stores!! Jenny and I spent a few hours at some of the local clothing shops. Jenny’s comment was “this store is NOT good for me”.

We walked back to the house and picked up Michael and Jimmy and headed to Christchurch College. It is one of the largest colleges at Oxford and is the building that Hogwarts (from Harry Potter) was based on and partially filmed at. I asked one of the porters which locations were used and he said “you are standing on it”. We were at the base of the stone staircase that Harry and the other first years use to enter Hogwarts for the first time. He also told us that we could tour the dining hall, which was the basis for the Hogwarts dining hall, but that the students were currently eating lunch. Michael and I went back at 2:30, but there were so many people that we didn’t spend a lot of time there. Michael (as a Fellow of Merton College) can come back anytime, so we will return when it is not so busy and touristy. When we first arrived at the college, we found we were trying to enter through the exit area and were told where the entrance was. Once the porter found out that Michael was a Fellow, we were told that “in that case, you CAN enter thru the exit!!!”.

We visited the Chapel at Christchurch. Don’t let the name fool you, it is NOT a small church. It contained beautiful stained glass and many tombs with stone portraits on the top of them. We found a plaque that Charles and John Wesley were both ordained there. I had not realized that they had both gone to Oxford.

We also walked to the Bodlean Library, but just looked around outside.

We then bought smoothies at “Boost” (something that J&J had found last year in Australia), and hurried home to watch the FA Cup Final on TV. We sat for several hours, ate lots of junk food and enjoyed the ceremony of the final soccer game of the “premier” (professional) season.

After the game, we went for a walk around Christchurch meadow, enjoying the sunny weather and the beautiful scenery. We had a look at our baby geese (from the first week we were here) and were amazed at how much they had grown. They still had the downy feathers, but had increased in size by 4 or 5 times.

Finally, we walked around Merton College and looked at a swarm of honey bees that had landed in one of the courtyards. The porters had put up a sign in the entrance to be on the watch for the bees and had placed orange traffic cones in the area so that people wouldn’t try to walk there and either hurt or get stung by the bees.

There was a sundial in the courtyard that gave the time as 5:30 when it was actually 6:30. We laughed that they didn’t change it for Daylight Savings Time!!!

I had fun taking pictures of the gargoyles on the Merton buildings.....some of them are really interesting characters. Hopefully I can find a day to walk around and take photos of all of them!!

This was graduation day for some of the colleges, and we were constantly confronted by kids in black gowns (trimmed with white fur), and parents with proud expressions on their faces!!!

We ended the day by watching “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (of course) and comparing the scenes with the photos that we had taken for the day.

Day 24 - Friday, May 18th

Today we all went our own directions......Michael worked in the morning and then had lunch with a colleague, Jenny & Jimmy went into London again and I went to a QUILT SHOW!!!!!

J&J visited the Tower of London, London Bridge, Wimbledon and the Chelsea Football Pavilion. Apparently they spent much of their day on the tube and walking around looking for these places.

I met Jean Pearce (a quilter from the Oxford Quilt Group), at the McDonald’s next to the Botley Road “Park & Ride”. I had to take a bus to the Park and Ride and asked the bus driver if he knew where the McDonald’s was. He told me where to go, but then added “but the food is nasty”. I assured him that I was not gong there to eat, but just to meet someone!!!!

While I was walking I saw a Swan nesting on a bale of hay by a river. It reminded me that we were told that the Swans on the Thames River were all owned by the Queen and could not be disturbed or killed.

Jean and I drove to the “Three Counties Showground” near Malvern. It should have taken about an hour, but we got lost TWICE in one of the cities that we had to go through. It was interesting to be driving on the English roads and makes me wonder what our trip to Yorkshire is going to be like!!!! I learned a bit about how to read the road signs and other bits of information that should help when we are traveling by ourselves.

While we were driving, we ran across horses and wagons parked alongside the road. I asked, and Jean confirmed that they were gypsies....just like the ones we had seen on “Midsomer Murders”. Jean said that it was very unusual to see them on the roads anymore.

We arrived at the Show Ground and had to park well away from the quilt pavilion. We were walking on grass and mud so it was good that it wasn’t raining at that point. There were a lot of buses moving into the parking lot, all filled with expectant women. The first thing that we came on was the “food court”. It was made up of several trailers that served sandwiches, hamburgers, drinks and donuts and ice cream. The tables and chairs were outside under two HUGE umbrellas.

We passed through the food and headed into the show. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!! They displayed approximately 275 quilts and had 109 Vendor booths. This Show is exciting for British quilters because it marks the beginning of the “Quilt Show” season, with several national shows happening in the next 6 months. Many of the quilts were the same as those seen in the US, but there were also some spectacular quilts that were very different from ours, both in design and in technique. Most of the vendors carried things that were easily found in the US, but I was able to find some British fabric, some Indian rayon thread and some wonderful British magazines.

I was reminded of my guild’s first quilt show when a set of the PVC frames started creaking and swaying. Everyone grabbed a vertical pole as all of the horizontal bracing poles started to pull loose. The show is run by a professional company and they hurried to fix the frames. A little swaying didn’t deter the quilt gazers....we all just walked around the ladders and kept on going!!

Jean returned me to Oxford and I arrived at the house about 20 minutes before Jenny & Jimmy. We fixed dinner and settled down to relax for the evening.

All of us had seen groups of young people who were really dressed up and were obviously ready to celebrate. The reason was that the 3rd year (final year) students were taking their last exams and we ready to relax. I saw two this morning that were dressed in dinner jackets (tuxedos) with red carnations in their lapels. Michael found out that as the week of exams start, they wear a white carnation. As the week progresses, they dip the carnation in red dye so that it turns pink toward the middle of the exam period and then red as the last of the exams approach.

Day 23 - Thursday, May 17th

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace


















Jenny & Frances in front of the Palace...a long time dream for both of us.

















Westminster Abbey



















Jenny and her "special" friend












Jimmy & Jenny make a phone call in a smelly phone box.










While poor Michael stayed home and worked, Jenny, Jimmy and I caught the train to London and spent the day touring around the sights. We got to the Oxford station and Jimmy decided to get a smoothie for breakfast. Jenny and I laughed at the names of the drinks, including “Brekkie on the GoGo” and “Flu Fighter”.

The first excitement for the day came when we pulled into Reading Station, about halfway between Oxford and London. We sat at the station for a few minutes when the conductor came on the speaker and said that this train was being delayed and that we might want to “nip across” to the other side of the station and catch the train that was currently waiting to leave for London. We all grabbed our stuff and ran to the other track. When we got on, there was no place to sit, so we stood for the last 30 minutes of our trip. We were standing in the passageway that connects the two train cars....it was very loud and bumpy, but we made it to London faster!!!

The first priority for the day was to find Buckingham Palace. As we walked through Green Park, heading to the Palace, we noticed tons of people lined up along the Palace fence and saw a flash of red and black inside the Palace grounds. Realizing that the “Changing of the Guards” was going on, we RAN to join the crowds. We were originally at the back of the crowd, but people kept leaving so we were able to move closer to the fence. The atmosphere was wonderful as the band played selections from James Bond movies and the various guards moved into their positions. It was a LOT of pomp and circumstance and we really have no idea what was going on, but it was great fun to watch. At one point a young girl pushed through the crowd trying to get to the fence. She scared Jenny to death as she pushed past her legs....she said that it felt like an animal!! As the guards left the Palace grounds, all of the people moved away from the fence and we moved into place to take photos of the Palace. I reminisced about how many times I had seen photos of people standing at these bars and looking into the Palace, and now we were one of them!!!! As we walked away from the Palace and past the guarded gate, Jenny suggested “you tackle the guard and I will run!!!”

We then walked through St. James Park headed to St. Margaret’s Church, also known as Westminster Abbey. Jimmy pointed out that more of the guards were moving from the Palace into the guard house. We, along with everyone else, ran over to take photos. There was one family of three kids who were running at full tilt to get in front of the guards, with Dad following close behind with a camera. They ran into position, and then the kids posed quickly in front of the incoming guards. We were amazed that they could position themselves so quickly!!! It was fun to see Big Ben in the distance, along with the London Eye (a huge Ferris Wheel).

Westminster Abbey was gorgeous although a bit daunting to look at. There were hundreds of tombs of people that we didn’t know, so we just looked at the architecture and kept on walking. As we looked at the ornate tombs, I reminded Jenny that our Will says that Michael and I were to be buried in a manner in accordance with our station in life, and personally, I wanted a huge tomb!!!! We spent most of our time trying to figure out which area of the Abbey was where they held all of the televised functions. We did finally find the larger hall, complete with a “Quire” loft. We lit prayer candles and put them in place, alongside hundreds more. The funny thing was that there was a fire blanket at the end of each of the candle stands.

We left the Abbey and wandered down Parliament Street headed to Trafalgar Square. At one point we passed many guards and gates and realized that we were at 10 Downing Street. In another area, we ran into guards on horseback....who knows what they were guarding.

We stopped for lunch just outside of the Square, and had a contest to see who could eat the most and whether we could leave with NO leftovers. We came close, but still left a small amount of food.

As we were eating, we realized that we hadn’t been able to see a Palace guard up close, so I retraced my steps from last week and we ended up at the back of St. James Palace where two guards were standing. Jenny and Jimmy took turns taking photos with the unresponsive guard....Jenny told him “thank you” after the photo session.

We walked to Piccadilly Circus and looked briefly around the square. The area is lit with many large video boards, mostly advertising US companies!!!! We then caught the tube to Kings Cross with the idea of finding Platform 9-3/4 (from Harry Potter). We found platforms 1 through 5, but gave up and headed back to Paddington Station and caught our train for home.

For dinner, Jimmy and Jenny walked to High Street and bought Kebabs from a street vendor and brought them home. We enjoyed eating them and then watched a new episode of “The Last Detective”, a very low-key British detective show.

Day 22 - Wednesday, May 16th

Today was a house cleaning day .....yuck!!! Actually, it didn't take very long and I spent a good bit of the day shopping and just relaxing around the house. Michael took the bus to Heathrow Airport to pick up Jenny and Jimmy (her boyfriend). They arrived at our house about 9:00.....tired and starved!!!

The story of the day is from a local newspaper.....

“Mobile phone users in East Prawle, Devon’s most southerly village, are to get a special “mounting block” to enable them to make calls from the only spot where they can get a signal – 2 feet off the ground. Until now, they have been clambering on a wooden bench – which is showing signs of wear and tear from so much use.”

The weather announcers proclaimed today to be “Damp and Dull” and they hit the mark. We are amazed at how quickly the weather changes here. One minute it is sunny and warm, then rainy and cold, then windy and warm and then back to rainy.....and that is all within a 15 minute period!!!! I guess that it has to do with the fact that they are a fairly small island and the winds from the oceans blow strange weather in. The basis lesson to learn here is that if you waited for the weather to be perfect, you would never do anything, so just take a raincoat and umbrella and get out there!!!

Day 21 - Tuesday, May 15th

Merton College main quadrangle









Michael enjoying a pint at the Eagle and Child










Smushy peas








Street between Merton College and our house.




Today, Michael went to work and then had lunch with one of his colleagues. I met one of my online quilter friends and had a wonderful few hours with her. Ros Crouch was one of the contacts that I had been given for Oxford and I found out at the meeting on Monday that she was actually the head of the committee for the Oxford guild. We met at 11:00 at the Ashmolean Museum and had coffee and talked QUILTING!!!! I showed her photos of my recent quilts and she produced some quilted post cards that she had made to represent a trip to the Isle of Wight. She is a very talented art quilter and her work is fantastic. After talking for over an hour, she gave me a brief tour of the museum, pointing out her favorite pieces. The Ashmolean is the oldest public museum in England and contains a huge collection. They are in the process of renovating the inside of the building, so they have moved the best pieces into one collection (called “Treasures”) so we were able to easily enjoy the best that the museum had to offer. I particularly enjoyed Ros’ knowledge about the area and about the items that we were seeing. Since the rain had stopped, she suggested that we take a walking tour of Oxford. She grew up in Oxford, but lives about 15 miles away now, but she knew every little lane and building and showed me some wonderful sights. If she had left me at any point in time, I would still be trying to find my way out. We then stopped for lunch at a local café and talked yet more about quilting, family and life in general. We then went to a building that had originally been a castle and then turned into a jail. Now it is open to the public and is a wonderful architectural experience. She was wanting to take photos of bars to use in a journal quilt that she is making with the idea being one of bondage. Many photos later, we said goodbye.....it was a wonderful day and I am most grateful to her for being willing to spend the day with me!!!!

She answered several of the questions that we had. The first was about people who stand on many corners selling a magazine called the “Big Book”. We had noticed that there was quite a variety of people selling these and had wondered about this. Ros told me that this was a business set up to help the homeless and other charitable groups. The vendors buy the magazines for 75 pence and then sell them for 1.50 pounds. The profits are theirs to keep. The British government sees this as a way to give these people a viable employment and keep them from begging.

Also, when we were visiting the Crown Jewels, we noticed LARGE gold containers that were labeled simply as “salt”. We were not sure what these were for, but were sure that they didn’t hold salt. We were wrong!!! Ros said that the size and construction of the salt container represented your status in society. Apparently salt was not as available as it is today so only those in the upper class had access to it. She said that there is a saying of someone being “below the salt”, meaning that they are not as worthy as others.

She also told me of the origin of the “Town and Gown” term. It was due to the fighting between the town people of Oxford and gowned students and professors at Oxford University. This is NOT what I had thought it meant.

After leaving Ros, I walked to the train station to see about rail passes for Jenny and Jimmy and was pleased to find out that there is a pass for 20 pounds per day that will take them to London and also allow them access to the tube and other public transport while there. That is VERY cheap. The only caveat is that they cant travel prior to 9:00 am, but somehow I don’t think that will be much of a problem. After all they are young!!!!!!

I returned to our house and Michael and I took off to the Eagle and Child Pub (also called The Bird and Baby). This building has been a public house since 1650 and is one of the places that J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to visit often. There is a note on the wall that was written by them in 1949 that states that the have drunk to the proprietor’s health. We were sitting in the back room of the pub which used to be a pony yard. The floor was covered with large flagstones and the ceiling was made up of glass panels and windows. There was a loud thunderstorm while we sitting there and a very large leak developed in the middle of the room. This was not a drip, it was a stream!!!! The proprietor laughed with us about it and said that in most places we would have to pay extra for a “water feature”. One of the walls had photos of Tolkien and Lewis as well as a bit of biography information about each of them. Along the top of the walls were framed covers from many of their books.

We had not planned to eat, but decided to split a plate of fish and chips to go with our beer. The plate came with a small blob of “mushy peas” (that is really what they call them). My problem is that it looks like guacamole so I expect it to taste the same way, but obviously it doesn’t. Our first order came with a pint of English Ale for Michael and a Half-pint of Staropramen for me. This is a pale ale that is produced in the Czech Republic. I am not a big fan of beer, but this one was very nice. I have heard that you should always trust the bartenders suggestions and that proved true this time. As Michael had another glass of Staropramen, I order Chocolate Fudge Cake and a cup of Tea. This was the biggest piece of cake that I have seen in a long time. I ate and ate and ate and finally left some, which is not a normal occurrence for me.

We strolled back to our house, stopping in many places to take photos. When we arrived at Merton College we decided to go in and take photos of the grounds as well. The architecture is beautiful as are the many flower gardens and green areas. We were reminded again how fortunate we are to be living here.

My main impression for this day is that we really need to get out and SEE Oxford. It is so easy to stay in the house when we are here, but we MUST get out more.