Just one more thing about England...

This little bugger is the bomb! There is no way we would have been able to drive where we did and saw what we saw with out it. There isn't place he can't find. My blog about England would not have been complete if I ddin't at least mention "Garmin" because we couldn't have done it without him!

Happy Anniversary...England style.

Salt Lake City Temple - April 25, 1992

Bath, Engalnd - April 25, 2009

Who would ever thought 17 years ago that we would be in Bath, England on our 17th wedding anniversary. Especially, since I spent my 10th in Home Depot. (I swore when I got married that no matter what, on milestone anniversaries we would do something neat regardless of our financial situations. That was before life with a mortgage.) Anyway, today was a huge surprise for me. The little reading that I had don't on this had me interested, but I didn’t quite know what to expect. We arrived in Bath, England a little later than planned, because we stayed in London late (1:30am late) and were too tired on Saturday morning to get up any earlier. Bath , the town, is very quaint and cute...as you can see from pictures it has narrow streets and cute buildings. It has more “regular shopping” than some of the other towns, which didn’t interest me at all, however. We first visited the main attraction, The Roman Bath…built in the first century. The Romans thought they had found a “God” given miracle bath that had healing powers. What of course we know today, is that hot springs have many minerals in it that help heal skin problems. At one point, I forgot what happened, the bath and temples were covered up and not discovered again until the 12th century. A town was built on top of it and after continual flooding they discovered the hot springs. It was used for some of the same reasons again for the next 6 centuries. Today it is just a tourist spot. It was crazy to walking around where people prayed, bathed and socialized back 2,000 years ago. The site has been somewhat restored so we can get a feel of what is was like. But, much of it is left in it’s original state. After that we walked the town, saw a Rugby game, ate a “pasty”, and saw a little of an organ concert in the Cathedral...or "Abby" as they call it.

Entrance sign to the Roman Baths


Up above Roman Baths...present day, street level


Healing baths in their "Temple"

Social Bath House

1st century hot spring drain...still used today. Orange color a product of the zinc in the water.

Steve testing the water...

The only rain we experienced, and it was only a sprinkle...pretty lucky for that time of the year.

Checking out a Rugby game. Bath's Rugby team is really good? The sport is a little confusing to me.

Steve's favorite find...Pasties. They are a pastry shell filled with anything from chicken and vegetable to ham and cheese to steak and potato to Thai. It didn't matter to Steve...he loved them all.

Taken in the main part of town with the "Abby" in the background.

Castle Comb Cotswold...he couldn't refuse seeing it again!

On our way out of Bath and back to London for the night...Steve took a little short cut through another Cotswold town called Castle Comb...which ended up being his favorite one.

Steve in the center of "The Street" Yes that's it name.

Cute bridge and about the 50th picture taken of the town.

The End.

England Day 3 &4

The next few days Steve had to work. I slept in, exercised and blogged while he was gone. The first day I used the local library's computers, but then one of Steve's colleges let me borrow her laptop during the day. It was nice for me to have some down time...I never do at home. Called the kids almost every day...and checked in with Aimee to see how things were going. I couldn't sleep much during the nights? So, I was pretty lazy during the day. It's Friday, and I am off to London for the afternoon and Steve will catch up with me after work to see the British Museum and shop at Leicester Square. I am so sad it almost over. Tomorrow we head to Bath, Blenhein Castle, and Oxford. We were told that this is an ambitious plan, but that's par for the course for Steve and I.

The Griffin...a very yummy and quaint pub we always go to.
Streets of Reading

Part of the Thames River that flows through London. If you can see the path on the side...that's where I would run.

England Day 2

Warwick Castle

Warwick was built in the 14th century and lived in by royalty up until the 19th century. Most of the showing was of the later day, but many of the dungeons and demonstrations told of the medieval day. I enjoyed finding out about the history and what went on, and Steve loved to see the castle itself. The climb to the top was great...and don't let the picture fool ya...it's high up there. The dungeon where all the prisoners went was a little much for me. We walked the whole grounds and did it all. This was one place we didn't rush through. The grounds were exceptional and the castle amazing. Alec would have really dug this!

Steve and I just inside the Warwick Castle Gate.
Me walking up into the center of court of the castle.

The gigantic catapult demonstration...so cool!

On top Guy's Tower...never found out who Guy is? It took 250 steps to get there however.

Oh, Steve and I both made it. Look over out shoulders at the countryside.

Can you spot the guy in the white shirt...halfway up? It's Steve on his way up.

Steve in one of the many gardens at Warwick.

Eagle demonstration that ended up being really cool. The eagles were a big part of medieval day because they help the people hunt for food. One of them almost hit Steve in the head as he flew by.

Peacocks everywhere!

Stratford-upon-Avon

Why that is called that I do not know...it's crazy around here. Anyway, this better known as Shakespeare's Birthplace. Even though I don't know much about Shakespeare, you got admit, he is a little famous. Even though the his birthplace is surrounded by shops and stores...it still was his original house. It was a little disappointing because we arrived just as a school class from, I think France, arrived. Up until then Steve and I had enjoyed almost solitary sight seeing. It was a little crowded, but very doable. Since our time again was running out he headed right over to where Anne Hathaway grew up. If you didn't know...and I didn't...she married Shakespeare. It was so cute...the garden, huge garden that went for acres. My mom could have spent the day there...and we could have too, if only there was more time.

Outside Shakespeare's Birthplace

Steve and I at Anne Hathaway's Cottage...super cute!

Steve and I under what would be a rose trellis in July.

Absolutely the most darling tulip garden I have ever seen.

The Cotswold Hills

The Cotswolds are a bunch of "enchanted" villages along the England countryside. The background is wool was a huge industry in Medieval England and here is where you would fine the best wool in England. The area prospered and the finest homes and town were built here. When the rise of cotton came and the Industrial Revolution...the wool industry collapsed. And the Cotswold went into a depressed time warp. Now, tourist and visitors love seeing these darling towns where not much has changed. The ones we visited were Chipping Camden, Stow-on-the-Wold, Snowhill, and Broadway. I was stupid, tired by this time and dozed every time I blinked while Steve drove from town to town. Steve, basically drove solo all the to Reading with a snoring copilot. Remember that picture of the single lane roads...I am sure he need help at times. Oh well, we made it safe and sound to Reading.

Me next to someones house. They don't have address here...you just post your "sir" name on the outside of your house.

Steve under the "Chipping Camden" town sign.

Just someones cute side yard!!

Running late on our schedule, so this was our dinner for the night. Nothing wrong with pringles and a diet coke for dinner...right?

Just one of the darling thatched roofed homes in The Cotswold.

Here are the famous hillsides of sheep that you find all over The Cotswold.

England Day 1

Since Steve and I have been to England before and did the whole "London" thing...this trip we decided to rent a car and hit the countryside. After renting the car and turning on the Garmin (GPS) we were on a way to Canterbury. Canterbury is one of England's most important religious destination. The Canterbury Cathedral is one of the most important churches in England. The original ground breaking happened in 597...that's old!! In 1100 and something it became a world famous because of the murder of the archbishop, Thomas Becket. It was amazing to look at and tour inside. You will never find something like this in the states. It made me think a little of my tour of Notre Dame in Paris. Canterbury is a cute town, heavily populated with students. We were happy to come upon a Subway for lunch. After walking around a little we headed to Dover Castle.

Steve outside Canterbury Cathedral
Trisha inside the Cathedral

Walking down the streets in Canterbury to the entrance of the Cathedral Grounds.


Steve and I were really excited to see Dover Castle...Steve loves Castles! I had heard of the "White Cliff's of Dover" and the Secret War Tunnels, but that was it. It was all that and more. The castle sits on top of the Cliffs looking over the English Channel. On a clear day...which it was mostly...you can make out France only 20 miles away. I, of course, became nostalgic for Paris. We first toured the Secret War Tunnels which were really interesting. After which we toured the grounds...practically by ourselves. Seriously, at time Steve and I swore we were there all by our lonesome. The medieval tunnels gave me the creeps...seriously it was scary being the only ones down there. The caste, the green grass land, the sea of in the distance...it was awesome.

The side of Dover Castle...the flag flies over Henry II's Great Tower.

Steve and I outside Contstable's Gate...thanks to the tripod we got more pictures together!

Us sitting on the Dover wall with Peverell's Gate in the background.

Me climbing down into the Medieval Tunnels...ssscccaaarrryyy!

Steve in the Medieval Tunnels. It was very cold and camp down there. I can't imagine how cold it would have been back in the 1100's in the winter after the sun hadn't been out for days, maybe months.

Steve driving down a very common side road in England. Just enough for 1 car...but we had pull over for a several second cars...crazy, but isn't the road so cute. Notice Steve is on the other side of the car.

We would see these fields everywhere as we drove in country. They're fields of, unfortunately, rape seed. The farmers did it more for the beauty of it, then need for actual seeds. In the summer many of the country side is blooming with Lavender. Can you just image how that would smell?!

We had hoped to see Leed's Castle on our way back to London for the night. However, all the Castles close at 6 and we simple ran out of time. The guardsman was nice enough to give us directions down the road to a point where we could see the castle from a distance. We couldn't see...and of course the photo couldn't capture, the mote that encircles the castle.

P.S.

Can you see me? I am peering over the side of the wall.