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  • April23rd

    England Trip: Days 5 & 6

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Travel

    Casey and the Yeoman WarderWe started day five of our trip by sleeping in, which was very nice, and then we caught a noon train to Windsor. I have always wanted to see an old castle, so I heard that Windsor was the place to go.

    The Windsor Castle was amazing and everything I had imagined a castle to look like. Supposedly, it is the Queen’s favorite place to stay. Windsor was great, except for the weather. It was cold and rainy almost the whole time we were there. Luckily, we had come prepared for British weather, so we had our raincoats and umbrellas handy. After exploring the castle, we stopped at a nearby restaurant and had tea and scones. Then we hopped back on the train and returned to London.

    For our last day in London, we decided to visit a few places close by: the Tower of London and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The Tower of London has some very interesting history and it also houses the crown jewels. The Tower has some interesting guards called Yeomen Warders, so I stopped and had my picture taken with one of them.

    After visiting the Tower, we decided to head across the River Thames and explore the Globe Theatre. The original theatre was destroyed in a fire, so the current theatre is a reproduction, but it is an accurate reflection of what the theatre would have been like in Shakespeare’s day. We would have loved to see a play performed there, but unfortunately their play season doesn’t start until the end of April.

    After our visit to the Globe, we headed over to Covent Garden for some shopping. They had a really neat open air market with all kinds of things for sale. It was a great way to end a wonderful trip.

    I will always remember how much fun we had on this trip and I hope to bring our entire family here someday.

    View our photos from Windsor

  • April17th

    Day 3: Bath

    Author: Mary Beth | Posted in: Literature, Travel

    Pultney BridgeOn the third day of our trip, we took a train from Paddington Station in London to the town of Bath. I was really excited about seeing Bath; I had read so much about it in Jane Austen’s novels, so I couldn’t wait to see it for myself.

    We started at the Roman Baths. It was really interesting to see the structures that the Romans built in the 1st century AD. We also saw the Pump Room, where many in Jane Austen’s day would go to “take the waters.” We decided not to partake of the waters. It didn’t smell too good, and I could only guess that it would taste even worse.

    After wandering around a bit to find lunch, we listened to an audio tour of Bath on our iPods that I downloaded from the Bath Tourism website. It was great fun to listen to the commentary while we followed a map through the streets of Bath, and, because of the tour, we were able to find many sites we would never have found on our own. Our favorite spots in Bath include Pultney Bridge, the Royal Crescent, and the Circus. The town has changed very little since the 18th century, and the surrounding countryside is so beautiful that it ended up being a wonderful way to spend the day.

    See Pictures of Bath

  • April16th

    Our England Trip: Days 1 & 2

    Author: Casey | Posted in: Travel

    The Pickers in LondonMary Beth and I just returned from a week-long trip to England! Having never been outside the U.S., I was extremely excited to see everything that England had to offer. After seeing so many amazing things we couldn’t possibly combine it all into one post, so we’re going to split up our trip into several different posts. I hope this helps you feel like you experienced England with us!

    Our flight from D.C. to London was about as bad as it gets. About midway through our flight, we had to turn around and fly back to Halifax, Canada in order to drop off a woman who had a medical emergency. So, our flight was about three hours longer than expected. Despite the long flight, we were very excited when we began to see the coast of Ireland through our window. Everything was green and beautiful!

    After landing at Heathrow we took a train into Paddington station, and from there rode the “tube” to our hotel. After checking in, we decided to go out and see the sights! Our first stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral. The exterior was amazing, but it was closed for a special service, so we didn’t get to see the inside. So, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and decided to head for Royal London.

    We took the tube to the Westminster station, and after coming up the stairs we could immediately see Parliament and Westminster Abbey. It was awesome! Big Ben was towering over head and I could see it sparkling in the sun. I was blown away. The weather was very mild and sunny, so our trip was off to a great start!

    After taking some pictures on Westminster bridge, we walked to Trafalgar square and then to Buckingham Palace. We saw some very beautiful parks along the way, St. James’s park being one of them. The Palace was very beautiful with all of the tulips and other flowers blooming all around. We got to see some of the famous Buckingham guards and took many pictures of them.

    After seeing the Palace, we went over to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. It was extremely interesting to see where all of the Allied plans were crafted during World War II, but towards the end we were extremely exhausted, so we headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

    Day 2

    We started our day with a wonderful English breakfast, courtesy of the Ridgemount Hotel. After breakfast, we headed to Westminster Abbey. I was once again amazed how beautiful this old church was. This time, we went inside and took a tour of the abbey. We spent almost two hours walking through the church and seeing all of the famous people who are buried within the walls of the abbey. We saw the tombs of Bloody Mary, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and many others. I was amazed to hear that a church had been on that site since around AD 200! It was almost overwhelming to think of all of the people who had worshiped and prayed in that place. This was one of my favorite places we visited on our entire trip.

    After a lunch of fish and chips, we went to the British Library. We saw manuscripts by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and many others. It was quite interesting. After our visit at the library, we headed over to the British Museum. We saw some of the highlights of the museum, including the Rosetta stone, and then headed back to our hotel for a little rest.

    That night, we went to Covent Garden and ate dinner at an Italian restaurant at the Piazza. After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

    » View the photos from our England Trip

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