Winter Solstice-A Celebration to Remember

Today was the solstice celebration, we had the hotel reserve a taxi for us when we’d first arrived so we had a taxi that would arrive at 7am. Since the hotel served breakfast until 10am we asked if we could get breakfast at 10 and they said yes. The tour company, who we’d done the day tour with Nicholas said that after the solstice celebration we could hop on one of their coaches and they’d drop us off across from our hotel as they would stop at the Salisbury Cathedral as part of their tour.

We went out slightly before 7 and on the dot, the taxi arrived. There was frost everywhere, it looked like it had snowed. We hoped in the cab and turned up the heat in the back.

We were at Stonehenge by about 7:20 along with lots of other people driving in. We’d heard that only people who needed help could ride on the bus up to the stones, but that was not the case. Anyone who wanted to ride the bus could, so we got on.

The morning was beautiful! The skies were red and orange as the sun came up. We found that there were people packed into the circle to see the sun come up between the stones. People were standing on fallen stones, sitting on the stones, climbing on the stones. All of the things that cause damage to the stones, by the way.

We worked our way around and finally found a place where we’d see the sun rise between stones. We tried to light our sage but the lighter went out. Then we saw a woman with a candle, she helped us with her candlelight and we got our sage lit.

There were several people, we saw about 6, with drums, beating a beat, people were chanting, a guy was blowing in a horn of some sort. People were dancing. The drums became louder and beats more frequent as the sun was coming. Finally, the sun came above the horizon and there was much cheering, drumming and dancing.

The sun rising on Winter Solstice

We waved our sage, allowing the smoke to rise and along with our thoughts to our own who have passed. We walked 1^st around the entire outside of the stones, then inside the stones. One woman stopped us and directed smoke to herself and several commented on our sage.

Finally, we had to catch our ride back to the hotel as we had to keep moving. We had seen 2 women sitting by one of the stones, they had what looked like offerings to the gods/goddesses so we offered to give them what was left of our sage. They had a piece of wood burning, I forget what it is but is important in the American Indian religion as well. They were thrilled when we said we wanted them to have our sage, so it stayed at the stones, the ashes from it will become part of the landscape.

Burning Sage

We caught the coach we were to ride to our hotel and we were back just a few minutes after 10. We had great Full English Breakfast, this includes bacon (not like ours) sausage, broiled tomato, broiled mushroom and baked beans. We needed a big hardy breakfast as we’d likely not have any time to stop until late in the afternoon so we stuffed ourselves.

As we had left our larger bags at the hotel in London, we only had 2 small carryon’s but still needed to finish packing those. We missed the 11:30 train to London but walked quickly up to the station in order to make sure we got on the 12:20 pm train.

We got to the station when I couldn’t find my phone at all. We searched all of our pockets and tried to look thru our shoulder bags. Finally, Dale ran back to the hotel, about 10 min away. The train was due to leave in about 30 min so we were cutting it short. With about 5 min to spare Dale came back, oh was I glad to see him, otherwise we would have had to wait yet another hour. But no phone.

We got on the train and once we had seats we emptied our pockets, no phone. I emptied the smaller shoulder bag, no phone. I went to started searching thru the larger shoulder bag and there it was. My phone is one of the new flip phones so it was opened and the screen dark between 2 dark things in the bag. What a relief. This phone is our hotspot, google maps, our lifeline.

Once in London we had to get to the place where we’d get our “fit to fly” Covid test. About a week before our scheduled departure, we learned that we had to have a Covid test the day before departure. We had to schedule an appointment but most places were full by the time I was set to schedule.

We had an appointment set for 2:45 for both of us. We got to London, googled the testing place and although we’d been there before for our 2-day test, we couldn’t be sure of how to get there.

Our train from Salisbury went into London Waterloo and there is the underground tube right there, so we were able to just go from one to the other. We got to the testing site right at 2:45. As luck would have it there was no line, we just got right in and got the “Same Day” test done right away. The results were to be emailed sometime after 6pm.

From the testing site we got back to our London hotel, retrieved our bags and got ready to go to Royal Albert Hall for 1 last concert, Christmas Carols.

We had arranged with a taxi driver, Liam Ford, that we’d met in back July, to meet at 5pm. We were getting tired, needed to pack one last time, eat dinner, and then leave in the morning.

Liam picked up us right at 5 pm and dropped us off at Royal Albert Hall. As we looked back, we saw a group getting into his cab from the concert that occurred just before ours. We were happy that he didn’t have to drive around for his next passenger.

The concert was a hoot. People sang along. The 12 Days of Christmas had everyone on their feet singing their lungs out. We all sang Five Golden Rings. One balcony had to sing 4 calling birds, the next balcony had to sing 3 French hens, then the area behind us sang 2 turtle doves and we, in the arena sang “and a partridge and a pear tree. There was a huge competition between the groups but I do believe the arena won!

The last song was an encore; “All I Want for Christmas is You”. Many of us were up and dancing in the aisles! Sorry for the sideways video.

Like the last concert, it was raining when we got out, but this time we knew the drill to get a taxi. Then it was packing everything last minute for the long flight home

Until the next trip!

Sunset on Winter Solstice

 So now it was time to go back to Salisbury, the reason for this trip, Winter Solstice!

We got to Salisbury on Monday afternoon and went back to the Chapter House where we had reservations. We were tired and knew that the following 2 days would be busy, like super busy, so we just had soup brought up to our room and blobbed.

Tuesday, the 21st was actually solstice, but it occurred late morning so the morning sunrise would not be celebrated until Wed a.m. This was a change as, originally, I’d found that it would be celebrated on the 21^st. We were going to spend the night of the 21^st anyway so the only way it changed anything was to make the 22^nd very busy.

I had reserved a walking tour for us to walk a portion of the avenue that the pagans, druids, celts and other Neolithic people would have walked down and then up to the stones. Well, that tour was canceled on Monday because tour guides were self-isolating with covid.

I had thought about doing this on our own but then when Dale suggested that we attempt it I texted our prior tour guide, Nicholas. Nick said that it was something we could do on our own, so there we were.

I bought tickets to enter Stonehenge for Tues afternoon at 1pm. We could walk down the boulevard, over to the stones and be there in time for sunset. As I believe, I wrote earlier, the sunset was the most important time for the early people as it marked the time when the days would be getting longer and warmer. They’d survived the winter.

Now the boulevard, or avenue, was constructed about 5,000 years ago. We read that there are still areas marking the borders and there is a dip in the earth where the boulevard is. This is visible up on the hill across from Stonehenge. This boulevard was made using deer antlers and wood. I can’t imagine how much work this must have been.

On Tuesday Dale and I went to catch the Stonehenge bus, this is a bus that runs from Salisbury to Stonehenge every hour. We wanted to get on the 12 pm bus and then walk the boulevard being at the Heel Stone at 3:30pm to catch the sunset.

We got on the bus but then found that the credit card machine did not have a card reader as it was only a tap reader so could not read our card. About 1 week earlier our card went from contactless to wanting a signature. I couldn’t find the card that I’d been using that was clearly contactless and completely forgot that Dale’s wallet was in the bag that we were carrying. He had a card in it. We had to get off the bus and get cash, but my debit card was in my wallet at the hotel. Again, we forgot that Dale’s debit card was in his wallet in our bag.

We went back to the hotel and got my wallet, found an ATM, got cash and went back to the bus stop. This time we got on the bus and got to Stonehenge at 2 pm instead of 1pm. We hopped on the bus in Stonehenge and got up to the stones as quick as possible.

Once off the bus we asked the guide about walking from the boulevard and she pointed us to the gates we needed to go thru. Again, we had been in a hurry and didn’t download the app for this walk, but we went on our way.

The area between the trees at the top of the hill is where the Pagans walked down

The stones are located on a hill and the boulevard comes across a hill and down a valley then up the hill to the stones. The pagans would walk along the boulevard up to the stones. The gate into the avenue is actually off to the side so you can’t access the boulevard as walked by the pagans. We walked down and across the hill to where we saw the boulevard. There we were able to see the phenomenon that we’d heard about. You can be walking and the stones disappear, then you start up the hill and they reappear.

As we walked up the hill to the stones, I noticed a small border to our left. I thought that it might mark the boulevard. We walked over to that border and then saw that there was another border even more to our left. I knew that the avenue came out at the heel stone so we just walked in the center of this area. Dale looked back down the hill and said, look we are right in the middle of what was the avenue. I looked and yes, we could see the indentation in the earth and the borders on both sides. It was such an incredible moment to walk what people walked 5,000 years ago.

We walked up as close to the stones as we could. As this area is fenced off, we had to walk back to the gates to get out and go back to the stones. By now it was closing in on sunset so we had to find a spot among all of the other people hoping to catch the sunset.

We found a place where if I held my camera just right, I could take a photo of the sun setting between the 2 stones set in place for this event. We were able to get to the front quickly when the people in front of us left, kids were tired of being there.

There was a bank of clouds on the horizon but until the sun went behind the clouds, we were able to shoot some great photos.

We went back to the café, got coffee and carrot cake to hold us until we’d get back to the hotel for dinner.

Wow! This was exactly what I’d wanted to do and see, the most important time of the year.

Phantom and The Gold Experience

We had one night left in London before leaving again for Salisbury. The treat for this day, Sunday, was to see the Phantom of the Opera at the matinee. I signed us up for, and paid for the “Gold Experience”.

I spent part of the morning packing as we were to leave on Monday for Salisbury, so we would leave our large bags at the Holiday Inn and only take what we needed for Stonehenge stuff.

We left and stopped to buy some tea for one son and a grandson. We were quite disappointed in the fact that many shops appear to have closed.

After buying our tea we hurried on to “Her Majesty’s Theater. We didn’t know what the “Gold Experience” would be, except that we were to tell the staff we had arrived.

Her Majesty's Theater

There was a line outside of the theater but there were staff at the line who asked us about our Covid status. I told them that we were to tell them we had arrived and that we had the Gold Experience.

Well, Laurance was called over immediately. He had a small book and found our names in it. He took us inside the theater so we wouldn’t have to stand in the cold looking for our digital tickets.

Our personal attendant

Laurance then led us to the area that was set up with a bottle of champagne and snacks. When I said I was gluten free he immediately went and got gluten free chips for me. With champagne poured he went off to procure programs and better seats.

Just before the performance

Lawrence came back in time to pour more champagne and told us that he’d back to escort us to our new
seats. Fortunately, we didn’t need to drink the entire bottle of champagne as we’d come back during the break.

We enjoyed sipping our champagne and then it was time to experience “The Phantom”. Dale and I first took our kids to see The Phantom in LA after we left the farm back in 1990. It was so great then. Since that time, I’ve seen it in N.Y. with my granddaughter, Christabel, after working there. Then I took my granddaughter, Zaya to see it in San Francisco when we were going to miss her birthday a couple of years ago. We had tickets to see it in New York last year but it was canceled. Then we had tickets to see this in London this past July but then it was canceled.

The production was so good, and being only a few rows from the front was even better. We thought that we should go back to see it again with grandkids but then realized that it would be feasible. Alas.

From Phantom we were hungry and only a short way from the Café at St Martins in the Fields Crypt. We stopped in there for a glass of wine and inexpensive church food. The menu hadn’t changed but we were fine.

More Church food

We walked to another tea shop to see if they had anything different but there wasn’t much. Too bad, we walked back to our hotel.

Off to London for Another 3 Days

We took the train back to London and this was an adventure in itself. Dale and I have routine; we get all of our bags at the door before it opens at the station. One of us passes the bags to the other, we work quickly so that we get everything off and don’t hold up the other passengers.

This time, 1^st, I wasn’t finding the tickets I needed in the machine. The train to Victoria came and we figured we’d wait for the next train, like 1 hour. But the conductor yelled across the tracks asking if we were wanting that train and we said yes. He came across the bridge (a bridge with lots of steps) and helped us get our bags over the bridge and onto the train. “We’d sort it out later” he told us.

We were on the train and the conductor came and sat down. He figured out which trains we needed to get back to our hotel and told us where we’d need to change trains. We bought our tickets then settled in. The conductor then came back, he’d emailed ahead to get us help for our bags at the next station and where we’d get off, at Blackfriars.

We got to a station where they were to leave some of the cars and we sat, then an announcement came, there was no driver to move the cars. Then another announcement that we had to change trains, no engineer. The conductor came over and told us that we were lucky as the train we were changing to right then went to Blackfriars, so we didn’t have to make any other changes.

On Saturday, we’d planned to go back to the British Museum but I really wanted to go to see the house/museum of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. I tried to find us a walking tour but there was nothing available until after we left the area. So, it made sense to just go to the museum and skip the tour. We made our way to the museum and took the tour. It was actually quite fun, however, I didn’t recognize many of the scenes, even though I’ve seen many of the shows. It has been many years so I’ll just say it is because we haven’t seen anything for some time.

Sherlock Holmes Living room

221 Baker

From the Sherlock Holmes Museum we decide to walk to the British Museum which was supposedly 40 min away. I ended up having to deal with an issue at home so it took longer. By the time we got to the museum it closed, it didn’t close until 5pm but people couldn’t enter after 4. I was starving and out of sorts by then.

I realized that we were fairly close to the St. Martin’s in the Fields Crypt café and that was on the way to the Shakespeare Globe where we were headed. The Crypt café has just plain church food, wine, beer, coffee all served down in the crypt. The food is plain but there is lots of it. So, there we ended up with dinner and a nice glass of red wine.

A real church meal

We went on to the Globe Theater for a performance of 12^th Night. This performance was put on by some American students from Rutgers University. The drama students come in their junior year for 6-months to study in London. We have seen several performances at the Globe over the past few years and they are really fun. This was no different except that we could understand everything! The Shakespeare actors have British accents so we don’t always catch everything.

Waiting for the performance

The performance was so great, actors didn’t miss their lines that we could tell. And they were hilarious. We laughed until we cried.

After the performance we were treated to mulled wine and Dale got some tarts. It was, though, great to see some American kids who were so good!

A 49th Wedding Anniversary to Remember

 Dale and I were set to celebrate our 49^th wedding anniversary! Last year we had reservations at Thornbury, the castle where King Henry and Anne Boleyn stayed. We ended up staying there this past summer after Covid nixed those plans.

This time we settled on Amberley Castle, a medieval castle in which building started in the 1100’s. It has been made into a hotel but there are still touches of the old.

The Castle and 900 year old walls

Our room, a little like the old, was very drafty and we had our gas fireplace lit in the morning and it ran all day. We sat on the small couch, in front of the fire, very close together with our feet on the table, reading the newspaper, drinking wine, looking at our laptops or just snoozing.

Dinner in front of our fire

The Castle is small but it seemed to have a nice garden. It was cold so we didn’t take much time in the garden, although I would like to see more, if we’d ever go back.

We walked into the town of Amberley, which is really small. We found a pottery shop where we found 2 women making pottery. Some of the pottery is a dark blue and quite beautiful, however, we are traveling light so we have no room for bulky things. I did find some handmade candles in both a dark green and pink/red and bought a box of each to burn both Christmas Eve and at Christmas dinner.

We found our way to the pub where we got a seat on a couch and ordered wine. There were 2 older men to the left of me and another couple, probably our age to the right of Dale. We sipped our wine and listened into the conversations of mostly the older men which were hysterical. Once I laughed right out loud, but fortunately, the men didn’t hear anything. They were both quite deaf. One conversation was about New Years Eve in Paris one year. Dinner started at 6 pm and they were still eating at 2am. One guy said in the morning they went croquet, other guy piped in but not many people were alive. This was our afternoons entertainment.

The town of Amberley, the pub is on the left

We walked back to the castle as it was getting dark and we didn’t have a flashlight for the footpath.

A really old cemetery.

We did have a formal dinner; 3-course for each of us. But, like we always do, we shared everything so ordered different dishes. I’m sure it looked really elegant passing the plates back and forth!

After breakfast the next morning we were off to London again. This time for 3 days.

Visiting Jane Austin in Bath

 

After 2-1/2 days in Salisbury I thought we should take a day in Bath before heading off to the castle for our anniversary.

Really, I love Jane Austen; her books, the movies, anything Jane Austen. We visited her home in Chawton a couple of years ago, ate lunch in the kitchen of her brother’s home across the way, walked the streets that she would have walked. So really, a trip to Bath would be all about Jane Austen.

We took the train to Bath and walked the ½ mile to our Bed and Breakfast. Uphill and over cobbled streets, like all of the streets we have been on. But it was good exercise.

After dropping our bags off we went off to find Jane Austen. The first stop was the Jane Austen Center where, who else but that rascally Mr. Wickham was introducing Jane Austen. As we were just a minute late, Mr. Wickham introduced himself and I had to say, “Oh no, we know all about yo

The Jane Austen Center.

The center is just a couple doors down from where Jane Austen actually lived and all sorts of memorabilia has been set up.

With Jane Austen

After the introduction to Jane Austen the remainder of the exhibits are self-guided. There are paintings of how the area was during Jane Austen’s time and items from her time. Mr. Wickham came up to me several time and we would discuss whatever exhibit I was at. He was very knowledgeable and it was fun to discuss her home in Chawton as well. At the Center we also received a book with a tour of Bath laid out. Everything was close to our room.

From the center we went to a little tea shop, Bridge Coffee Shop, over the river Avon. This coffee/tea shop is built on the Pulteney Bridge and it reminds us of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

After some coffee we walked to the other side and down along the river for a bit. But the walk did not look so nice after a short way and it was getting dark and starting to rain.

I still wanted to see a couple of sights that were in some of the books and 2 movies; Laura Place and Great Pulteney St. This is the widest street in Bath and was the “it” place to live.

We walked down the street, peering in open windows when possible and it is quite the “it” place still.

From Pulteney St we turned on Sydney Place to find the house where Jane Austen first lived in Bath. There is a plaque on the door identifying it. By this time, it was totally dark and still raining but the lights were on inside and the window blinds open. I’m sure that the family saw us but I’m also sure that they are used to this! Anyway, it was great fun to see inside a bit where Jane Austen would have been sitting and dining.

The following day we had to check out and wanted to get on the 1pm train to Amberley, but we thought that we’d just do the rest of our walk that included the Circus and the Royal Crescent. These were only a few minutes from our room.

We walked up to the Circus; these are building that are built in a circle around a park in the center. The building was started in 1754.

From the circus the Royal Crescent is only a couple of blocks away. Jane Austen visited her aunt and uncle here at #12. Again, the blinds were open so that we could see inside from the street.

Royal Crescent

We walked down the gravel walk where the gentry were carried down in their sedan chairs to the baths. Why I wasn’t carried? Dale announced that I wasn’t gentry enough! Humph!

We went on down to Trim Street, the last place that Jane Austen lived in Bath. The apartment she lived in is gone but looking at the street gives one a really good idea of how low she and her mother went in their housing.

Trim St

Having seen all we had time for in Bath it was time to catch the train for the castle and our anniversary celebration.

Stonehenge and Salisbury

 

On Saturday we had to hop the train to Salisbury. Over one year ago we’d purchased tickets to spend sunrise inside the Stonehenge circle, and had arranged a private tour for all things Stonehenge for the day. This was rescheduled for Sunday. We had reservations to stay at the Chapter House, a 900-year-old building that we stayed in this past summer. Our tour guide would pick us up at the Chapter House and we’d just spend the day together.

We got to Salisbury and found a pub that served gluten free fish and chips. The batter on the fish was one of the best ever, light and crunchy. Not only was the food good pub food but it wasn’t very expensive either.

We woke up early as we had to be outside by 7:30 am when our tour driver would pick us up. The hotel kitchen wasn’t going so we had to forego breakfast, and we had to exit thru the small door in the wood wall.

Our driver was at the hotel when we went out and he was ready to get on the road. We’d purchased a ticket to the Stonehenge circle last year so that he could enter with us.

Stonehenge when the sun broke thru the clouds

Our guide, Nicolas, knew his stuff! He gave us history on the way to Stonehenge and then in Stonehenge showed me some good spots for photos. We were inside the circle last July just after solstice but sunrise was not as specular as it was this time. The skies were heavy with dark clouds when the clouds parted and the sun came thru. The rocks turned golden. The sun reflected off of the pools of water in the fallen rocks.

Stonehenge at dawn

Nicolas told us what we’d heard before, that the winter solstice sunset was actually most important, that is what is now believed. He verified what we’d heard in the summer, that the Neolithic people walked down the boulevard and up the hill to Stonehenge at the time of sunset. I told him that I’d signed us up for a walking tour to do just that but didn’t know which tour company it was with. Later, I looked and saw that it was his tour company.

From Stonehenge we went on to Woodhenge, known to the locals as concretehenge. But it was interesting to see where the wood posts had been and the different diameters of wood posts.

Woodhenge-Concretehenge

We went on to Avebury, another site of stone circles. The circles are much larger here, some intersected by roads. The stones are much larger in some cases as well.

Nicolas had told us of these straight, intersecting lines throughout England and how the roads were built on these lines. He then told us how the Neolithic’s could have possibly found these straight lines to build roads, burial mounds etc. He first showed us then each of us take a turn to see for ourselves. This is called dowsing. Basically, one holds a wire loosely in each hand, the wires move towards each other or away from each other where the line is. Dale and I could swear that we were not moving the rods but science seems to disagree. No mater, it was strange.

When we got back to the hotel, we were hungry, having missed breakfast and lunch. Nicholas told us about a pub called The Haunch of Venison and as it was Sunday, we could probably get some good roast beef, the traditional Sunday dinner. We, of course, had to see the hand! You can read about the hand on the webpage below. It is worth noting that there is not a level place in the entire building. Floors, walls you name it.

The dining room we ate our dinner in

http://haunchpub.co.uk/site.aspx?IID=2844067&SECTIONID=2844056

The hand of an unfortunate gambler

Stairs up to the upstairs dining rooms

We slept as late as we could on Monday am and after a good breakfast we walked across the street to the cathedral. We were on a mission to see the Magna Carta.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Magna-Carta

The Magna Carta was set down in 1215 and we can find some of our rights that are come from it today. The Magna Carta was not signed by King James as he could not write but he put his seal on them. 4 are in existence today, one at the Salisbury Cathedral and 1 is in the British Museum. We could not take a photo of the original as the light could cause damage so I just took a photo of the photo. I was surprised at how large it is, but also, the tiny print. It is written in Latin so impossible for me to read.

Magna Carta

From the Cathedral we walked across the yard to the Salisbury Museum. I especially wanted to see the Stonehenge archer and the Amesbury Archer. We saw so many relics from even before Stonehenge time and several archers. The Stonehenge archer was found with a broken arrow in his rib, the arrow is quite small but did enough damage to kill the guy.

https://salisburymuseum.wordpress.com/2020/04/10/the-stonehenge-archer-by-volunteer-keith-rodger/

The Stonehenge archer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology/king_stonehenge_01.shtml

The broken arrow tip was in the Archer's rib

We stopped for some gf carrot cake and tea before going on upstairs to other displays. What a great museum!

Salisbury Cathedreal

Another Day at the British Museum and a Day at Hampton Court

 Today was a free day for us but we really wanted to get back to the British Museum. We only saw 2 rooms when we went on Day 1, and we had tickets for a concert at Royal Albert Hall in the evening.

Again, we dressed for the concert. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining so we were able to wear our normal shoes, not the rain gear.

Having been in Greece and Rome this summer, we were most anxious to see the antiquities taken from those countries and brought to the British Museum. Alas, that portion of the museum was closed. But as luck would have it, we did start at the Rosetta stone, much by accident!

The Rosetta Stone

We did want to see the Mesopotamia collection and early England. Yikes, those rooms took up so much time. We had to go thru the sculptures first and of course had to take a look. Then there was the Mesopotamia collection, well we finally saw enough funeral urns to just move on. But the jewelry and early tools were wonderful.

We wanted to leave the British Museum at about 3:30, as we had dinner reservations at 4:30 at Royal Albert Hall. I could only glance longingly at the Vikings exhibit and other early England exhibits and we passed by. Alas, but there is always next week.

We took the tube and walked the remainder to Royal Albert Hall and it was dark when we arrived. We noted several beautiful cars as we walked including a Ferrari near the Hall. We had to wonder what is going on with our lowly Ferrari these days.

Our dinner was in the Italian restaurant. There were gluten free options for nearly every dish so Dale and I did our usual, we ordered different dishes then shared.

The concert was the John Rutter’s Christmas Celebration. John Rutter is a composer and conductor so we were able to hear some of his original compositions as well as carols we have grown up with.

The first piece was Hark the Harold Angles Sing, this was one where everyone sang along and people joined in with gusto. This was a fun evening as there were songs where everyone sang along, some where we joined in a portion and others where it was only the choirs. A kid’s choir had parts and they were so good as well.

The following day, we had a fairly early morning as we had to be at Hampton Court and wanted to make the most of our day. We had a 1-hour train ride including a 20-min walk to the train station.

Hampton Court is a palace I’ve wanted to go to as it is another place that King Henry and Anne Boleyn and then Jane Seymore stayed at, had her child, a son for Henry, then she died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Court_Palace

Catherine Howard is reported to have run down the hall screaming for King Henry to save her life, and it is in the small room off the chapel that King Henry married Katherine Parr.

Anne Boleyn, once executed was erased, or at least there was an effort to erase her. However, there are places where her initials are still intertwined with Henry’s. There is the hall where King Henry would walk down to his council chambers, here they argued about events of the day, the same hall used by Catherine Howard, and he would walk to the chapel. Good thing King Henry could worship a god after all of the heads that rolled.

We had some coffee and cake in the kitchen where Elizabeth 1^st would take her meals. We thought that maybe it would be warmer in there but it wasn’t.

Cake and Coffee in Queen Elizabeth I kitchen

The castle was so cold, we could never warm up. But it was a great place to visit. Unfortunately, we had no time to visit the gardens, we could only see them from a window.

We went back to the train station, it’s just over a bridge, maybe a 10-minute walk. As we just missed the train, we had a cappuccino to warm our hands.

When we arrived back in London, we were hungry. We walked he wrong direction and had to turn around going the opposite way, this while using Google maps. We didn’t know what we’d do for food, but we knew there were several restaurants along the river. As it turned out we ran into a weekend food court, much like the Burroughs Market. There were lots of gluten free choices. So, we had Thai and some Venezuela dishes. After eating we got some mulled wine to help us walk home.

A Day at Kensington Palace and A Concert at Barbican

Day 3 in London; Today was a busy day, we had tickets to visit Kensington, 1 hour walk from the hotel, and a concert an hour the other direction. Fortunately, the tube was handy for both places otherwise we would have taken a cab. 

 We dressed for the concert in the morning and took off, we had to be at Kensington at 11am. We didn’t know what to expect at Kensington, but didn’t expect for it to take the entire day. 

Kensington Palace

We were wrong! First visitors go thru the part of the palace where Queen Victoria was born and raised until she was 18. There are some pieces that exist from her time there. The room where she learned she was queen is being repaired as the upstairs flooring was loose but you can still walk thru it. And the table where she met her ministers for the 1st time is still there. 

 The balcony that overlooks the door that Albert entered thru the 1st time Victoria saw him is small. I stood on the balcony and took a photo of Dale entering thru the door and he looked as handsome as ever! 

The room where Victoria received the news that she was queen then received her ministers at this table

The room Victoria was born in

There are many quotes from Victoria which brings the palace alive.

From Victoria’s rooms there are the apartments for King George II and Queen Caroline. These are very grand and fun to see. Here is a link to the palace where you can see some of what we looked at.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/#gs.jb6mvm

After all the gawking, we were hungry and wanted to sit for a bit. Where better than the café. A bit of cake and coffees were what we needed. But we were running out of time. 

We hurried back to the exhibit of clothing. We were lucky to see this as it closes soon. There was Diana’s wedding dress with the full train stretched out. It was quite amazing. 

Then there were dresses made for and worn by Diana, The Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth. Original sketches were on display as well as how the clothes were 1st put together using muslin. This was most interesting as I love to sew. 

Finally with only 30 min or so to spare we ran to the gardens. The garden is the one recently in the news where William and Harry both were there to unveil the sculpture of Diana with 3 children. The garden is so beautiful and as the sun was setting on the pool it was reflecting the fading light. 

We caught the tube and went to a venue we hadn’t been to before, the Barbican. We were to hear Mahler, Symphony #4, played by the London Symphony Orchestra. This symphony was so amazingly beautiful, one of the best versions we have ever heard. We wouldn’t mind going back for more music someday. 

We found a little Italian restaurant that has nearly all items in a gluten free version and the wine and dinner was so good. 

 What a day!!