The Tube

So one of the things I love lots about London was its transportation system. I've lived in a couple of different places with public transit. A couple of big cities in Germany and Chicago.

To me London is all of those cities in one. Perfect. I loved the tube and wish that they would have better transit all over.

The stations and lines are set up so well. All of the Trains are color coded and named. There are signs all over the stations with the stops. It makes it really easy and convienent to find where you need to be. In this way in reminded me of Chicago.

The best part was how timely and often they ran. It made it easy to get where we needed to be and not have to worry if our train would be on time. We had a slow down one night and there was some construction on the weekends that closed some lines, that part reminded me of Chicago, but besides that it was great.
I loved how these signs were everywhere and they had speakers announcing to mind the gap. I only saw one gap that was big enough to fall in the entire time there, but it was pretty funny.

I did loose mom once. Thank goodness it was the third day instead of the first. It was during rush hour and everyone was of course in a rush. I got on the train and couldn't get off when I saw that she didn't get on. I mouthed through the window our stop, she nodded and came a couple minutes later on the next train. It made for good laughs later.

The state of the trains were also very good. In Germany the trains were all full of graffiti and in Chicago the more often than not smelled of urine, but in London the trains were clean and had very comfortable seats. The only thing I would complain about was the rush of the people. Everyone was running everywhere and I felt in the way very often.

Jaunt to East Anglia

I have a friend, Pam, that I grew up with that is living in England right now. She is in a town called Thetford, which is a little east of Cambridge. Mom and I just had to go visit.

We jumped on a train and sped up north to Cambridge. The weather wasn't the happiest that day, but Pam, Mom and I walked around and explored anyway.

It was really beautiful. We saw many of the different Colleges such as Kings College and St. John's College.

I wish we would have paid to go inside St. John's College. I tried every way to sneak into the grounds, but was thwarted at every entrance. Oh well.

We then went back to Pam's and Hung out with her cute little family, before heading off the next day to a town called Lavenham.

The town is famous for a couple things. One are all the crooked houses that line its streets. A popular fairytale was penned because of this crooked little town. It's called the Crooked House. Here it is to jog memories.

There was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile,
he found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile,
he bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
and they all lived together in a little crooked house.

One other thing this town was famous for is it is where Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was penned. We were able to see the house and the window where Jane Taylor wrote it from.

Soon after this visit we went up the road to Bury St Edmund and saw the extensive ruins of the abbey there.

It was crumbling away and you could walk all throughout them and climb on them.

One of my favorite things about these places were all the fun little markets.
They were all in the town squares and reminded me so much of Germany. I loved it and was sad it went by so quickly.

Off to Warwick, Stratford upon Avon and Oxford

Well we started off this day as we did one other. Waiting for a tour bus to take us out and about to area's outside of London.

On this particular day we set off first to the town of Warwick and its medieval castle that was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068, rebuild many times and turned into a residence in the 17oo's.

Because the insides of this castle were changed it had a much warmer feel to it. It actually felt like a home instead of cold inside.

The grounds were really large and the view from the river Avon was wonderful.

We loved going through and exploring all the little rooms in this castle. There was so much to look at and not many people around, which kind of led my mother to get into a little mischief..evidence below...she said there were just books in the cabinets

After the Castle we hurried on down the road 20 minutes to the town of Stratford upon Avon. This town is the birth place of William Shakespeare. He also died in this town and was buried here.

I was only about to see the tops of the spires of the Holy Trinity Church. We didn't have time to visit. We did however get to see many of the Tudor style building that William Shakespeare occupied during his lifetime. We were able to walk past a school where he attended.

We also saw the grounds of where his last house used to be, or the house in which he died. In the 1700's its owner was annoyed by tourists and he burned the house to the ground. There is now only a garden and the houses foundations left.

After we ate a wonderful lunch for me of Cottage Pie, one of my new favorite dishes, we walked through the streets over to the house where Shakespeare was born. It was larger than I had thought.

We were able to walk through it and see what it might have been like when he was alive. His father’s workshop was also in the house. It was a fun experience.

We then were off to the town of Oxford. We were able to tour Christ Church, where some of the Harry Potter films were made.

We then took a tour of the City and wonder around the towns beautiful streets investigating the different colleges and marveling in the architecture that make up Oxford University. I didn't think I would like this town so much.


I actually like it better than The other college AKA Cambridge.

It was also fun to see a window, 2nd to the left on the top, where Lewis Carroll penned some of his famous works. Oxford was actually one of my favorite places to stop on this day.

We had fun adventures. Here is a pic of one of our tour buses. This was actually taken in Bath, but though I’d tack it on the end.

A Day at Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath

I wish that I could say I spent a day at each, but no I spent a day in a bus quickly jumping from place to place. If you want to see as much as you can for not much money, I say, a tour is the way to go. It leaves you wishing that you would have had more time in each place, but I’d do it over again in a flash.

Our tour first took us to Windsor Castle. Which is the largest inhabited castle in the world and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror is the oldest continuous lived in as well. We were able to tour the grounds and see Queen Mary’s Doll house.

Sadly we weren’t able to see inside because it was closed to the public that day. It’s ok though. I still got to see St Georges chapel there where King Henry VIII and many other modern monarchs are buried.

I snuck a couple of pictures here, even though I wasn’t supposed to. The grounds of this castle were beautiful. I wish I could have done some more exploration. We even got to see a group of sentries marching through the lower.

Stonehenge was another item on my list to see. Again it wasn’t what I expected. I was shocked as our tour bus pulled up and we drove right next to it. I thought you had to walk a ways in to see it. It was surrounded in green fields with grazing sheep. There were paths that encircled it. Some very close, which I was grateful for.

We also got little head sets to learn about it, but sadly didn’t have lots of time to listen, I spent too much time trying to take the perfect picture with a dysfunctional camera.

It was a lot smaller than I had pictured, but I loved it and would see it again. I’d take more time to listen to its history. The main thing to know about this is, they don’t know what it was used for, but there are lots of theories.

We then got to see some of the picturesque English countryside. Wow was it pretty. The rolling hills with hedge rows blanketed the countryside as it gently folded its way down into the valleys were the city of Bath is located. Bath sits as many cities’ I saw in this trip do, upon the river Avon. It’s a wonderful city that’s buildings were rebuilt with limestone in the 1700’s.

The main reason for our visit to Bath was for the Roman Baths. They were used before the Romans, but the Romans built the temple and a bath around the hot springs in around 70 AD and were used by them until they left in the 5th century.

I loved visiting the Baths. It was kind of like a step back in time. There were people sitting in Roman style clothing and if you imaged hard enough, you could picture what it must have been like. Not many people were at the bath on this rainy day.
Sadly the top area was closed due to inclement weather. We got to take a head set and learn as we walked around the bath and the museum around it. Again I wish I would have had more time to learn about it, walk the streets of Bath and See inside the Abbey, But at least I was given the chance to see it and walk those streets.

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey was another mark in my book. It well worth the 12 or so pounds I paid to get in. There is so much history in the Abbey. The statues, carvings and architecture is beautiful.

I loved how many of the old Monarchs were buried here. My favorite being Elizabeth I. My mother thought the place felt more like a crypt. I thought It was nice that they paused once an hour to say a prayer of the loud speakers and have everyone stop to pray or reflect.

I just loved being where so many people that had such an impact on history had been or were buried. To me, being seeing where they are buried is kind of like meeting them. Anyway, It was amazing. All of the Kings and Queens since William the Conqueror in 1066 had been crowned there. Wish I could have taken pictures inside. Oh well that’s what books are for.

501 Pictures of Big Ben

So I recently took a wonderful trip to England with my mother. I’ve been waiting for this trip for a long time. There are so many things I want to see in this world. I actually have a list of them.

One item on that list was to see England’s Parliament and Big Ben. I am now proud to say that I have accomplished that task and can check off a couple items on my list of things to do before I die and I have 1001 pictures to prove it.

I also found out something interesting about the Clock Tower. Its name isn’t Big Ben. Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the clock tower, which has a beautiful deep ring if I do say so myself.

My first view of the tower was not what I had expected. I thought I would see it from afar and be awestruck as I wound through the streets till I found the expansive gothic structures that seemed to fallow behind the clock tower.

What really happened was my mother and I wandered out of the tube station kind of lost and confused. There were many different ways to exit and I all I could do was stare up at the signs telling the direction for points of interest. We started up the steps and I first remember looking at the base of a very beautiful building. The first thing that came to mind was wow they have tons of pretty buildings here, but then it clicked in my head to look up and at that moment I saw it, The Gigantic Clock Tower that I knew as Big Ben.

I couldn’t believe it at first. I thought that there must have been another big tower, but after a little looking and staring I figured how could there be another big clock tower on a building and me not know about it. Anyway It was amazing to me.

The Tower was so beautiful. I loved the gold around the face and the detail. It was staggering to me. Much better than the Eifel tower. First time I saw it I thought it was just a big piece of rusted metal, but this was a masterpiece. Ok I might be weird but I loved it.