Trip to England - 2002

It was spring along the Thames river, with the flowers starting to come out. See more spring pictures.

We visited the Tate Britain art museum (not the Tate Modern - Jenny says we generally prefer dead composers and artists). Charlie was glad to visit a heated building.

Farther along the Thames we passed the houses of Parliament

And of course, Big Ben. It had a face lift (no pun intended) since we last saw it.

Which is near Westminster Abbey. Over one of the entrances they have recently honored 10 "20th Century Christian Martyrs" such as Martin Luther King, the 5th from the left. Click here for more pictures and description of the martyrs.

Our hotel was near the judicial and business district, so there were many court buildings. We saw barristers in their long coats and tab collars, but nobody wears their wigs on the streets (some cost $5,000 or more). Jenny thought a lawyer's wig would be a good start to a costume, until she found an old tiny used wig for merely $500.

The Royal Courts of Justice was a grand building in the area - one of the principal courts of the UK.

Jenny even did some factory outlet shopping - at the Twining Tea Store. You probably didn't get any from her because she fell in love with all of them.

Parking in London is almost impossible. Tiny cars like this are starting to be popular. Some are made by Mercedes Benz, with interior design by Swatch (the watch people). Reportedly the car panels are removable and can be replaced by the owner with panels of different colors, or even custom painted panels, and the interior can also be customized by the owner.

Now compare that little car with this monster Fiat that we drove through the streets and country lanes of England. It barely fit on some of the smaller country lanes - which were NOT one-way!

Incidentally, it's 1.2 liter engine had no trouble keeping up with 90 mph traffic on the motorway. And the fast lane is on the right, passing is called overtaking (on the right) and undertaking (on the left - highly illegal). We drove almost 500 miles in 3 days, without an incident, although when our weekend hostess met another car, coming around the corner, she said "Oh, oh, a Charlie maneuver."

From London we drove North in our rental car. The first stop was St. Albans, an old Roman village. This is really a two way street, with the white van parked on the "wrong" side of the street. Charlie drove down this street, in traffic. At one point there were trucks parked on both sides of the road, almost opposite each other. Jenny prayed as Charlie drove (or at least Jenny's eyes were closed and she was making soft muttering sounds). Both were successful.

St. Alban's Church (now Cathedral) is extremely old, and has the longest nave of any church in England.

The outside of St. Alban's Church is massive also.

During the World War II Battle of Britain, Hitler bombed England relentlessly. History or rumor tells that Churchill knew that Coventry was going to be next, but couldn't give warning, because it would disclose that they had broken the German encryption codes - using the Enigma machine. To demoralize the population, the ancient Coventry Cathedral was destroyed by the fire bombs. Tourists can walk through the ruins of the old church, maintained as a memorial, adjacent to the new Cathedral.

The tower at the church entrance, opposite the high altar survived with far less damage. Click here for more pictures of Coventry, including the window in the new Cathedral that gives a view of the old Cathedral ruins while you are sitting in the church. There are also other pictures of the Midlands and Cotswolds (the pretty area of England where Madonna and other stars live).

After Coventry we turned South to Warwick. The old city gate is still in use, with a school occupying the "inside" of the gate. Look at how the architecture evolves, in this one building, from old to recent.

We had lunch at the very nice Bell Inn in Warwick. Note that it has rooms available in addition to the Pub.

We continued our drive through the Cotswold countryside. There were occasional manor houses, but not where we could stop for photos. We stopped at occasional towns, like Warwick, Moreton In Marsh, and Cirencester.

Thatch roof houses are making a come-back in this area, with young people learning the trade.

We spent the weekend with Andrea Pool. Andrea has been a friend of Jenny since high school pen-pal days. Jenny went to England to be in Andrea's wedding. They have kept in touch for over 40 years. This is Andrea with her two sons. Kelvin, on the left, who is a Fitness Trainer, and Elton, who is in computing with a bank.

Andrea's home has a neat address - Bay Tree House (the name of the house - no street names or numbers), The Green (A community of perhaps 50 people outside of East Knoyle, near Shaftsbury, which is near Salisbury, in Wiltshire.

Andrea is an avid gardener. It looked great even though it was winter. In the summer it really bursts forth with flowers.

On Saturday Andrea took us to the southern coast at Lulworth, Dorset. We climbed the a hiking trail over the hills to reach Durdle Door, this dramatic coastline and beach, made of various size pebbles, not sea shells and sand.

The bright white chalk-rock cliffs were dramatic with embedded pieces of jet-black flint. It isn't the "white cliffs of Dover" (wrong area) but similar rocks.

Click here for more pictures of the coast.

The weather was sunny and comfortable, great for a hike. The scenery was unbelievable.