Most of the credit for the 58 photos in this entry goes to Greg who’s fancy camera and artistic eye led to much greater shots than I could ever capture – to the point that I quit carrying my camera by excursion day 3. Yes, there are 58 photos to come, but that is edited down from the 439 I nicked from his camera all taken over the 10 days we were together.
Mom, Dad & Greg arrived on Saturday, a week & a day before Christmas. We met them at Paddington Station about 10am and headed down to the hotel where we were staying so they could drop off luggage. Mom & Dad are building a new house in Texas, well two really, but that’s a longer story than I have time for at the moment. They sold their old house in May, just before we left the country and moved in to the Marriott Hotel for a month or so until the house they were building was complete. Building delays transpired and a couple of months in a hotel became just over 7. Needless to say, the Powells now have about 15 less Marriott points than J. Willard Marriott himself. So when we walked into the London Marriott Hotel County Hall, the red carpet started rolling out. This was definitely the nicest hotel Adam & I have stayed at in a very long time. And, oh yeah, the hotel was just outside the London Eye & across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
We decided to go on the London Eye. The Eye is basically a giant Ferris wheel (with enclosed capsules that you can walk around inside of). It’s amazing how smooth the ride is -- you hardly realize that it’s moving or that you’re going up ... until you look down & remember how high you are.
We had lunch and walked around Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.
Then we headed over to Harrods. Mom was amazed by the variety of items spread out over the 5 acres footprint spread over 6 floors to occupy nearly one million square feet. Some of our favorite things were the 30+ cafes within the store and the pet department (even Link would be jealous of some of the items in there!). The boys, Adam, Greg & Dad, were slightly less thrilled but played along nicely as the girls oooed & ahhhed. They even let us walk along the outside windows in the near 30 degree weather.
We had dinner and headed back to the hotel where jetlag took over.
The next day we had a leisurely morning with breakfast then headed for the train station to go to Bristol. After successfully conquering the ticket machine, the smooth ride of the train was too much for Mom & Dad. For those keeping score at home; it’s jetlag – 2, Powells – 0.
Monday we headed out to Croft Castle and Berrington Hall. Adam & I had been to Croft Castle before & knew we wanted to take Mom there. As an added touch, there was some remaining snow on the grounds and the houses were decorated for Christmas. Berrington Hall is very different than Croft in that it was purpose built as a large mansion rather than being built and added to through its history. The room layout was more organized and cohesive. I am, however, a bit worried for Dad now because I have a feeling the decoration plans for the new townhouse just became English Manor house style.
Tuesday & Wednesday, we stayed near home with just short trips to the grocery store where Mom & Greg confirmed that the store was laid out in the most confusing, disorganized way possible. I’ve had to make a map of the store that lists what is on every aisle so I can find what I need. All except for the baked beans. There is literally an entire aisle devoted to baked beans.
We also went to the Bristol Pantomime. A panto, as they refer to the show as, is musical-comedy theatre around Christmas. Each city will put on a panto and almost all are based on traditional children's stories or nursery rhymes. The Bristol Panto this year was Peter Pan with special guest star David Hasselhoff as Captain Hook. (Hoff the Hook, hahaha) Audience participation is highly encouraged and every child in the audience with us knew to yell ‘He's behind you!’ or ‘boooo!’ when Captain Hook appeared. At the end was the traditional panto sing-a-long. I wish I could have recorded Dad standing up to sing "Pasties my favorite food; yo ho ho, yum yum yum." Maybe you can get him to sing it for you sometime.
Thursday we drove up to Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare. Since the last time I visited, nearly 10 years ago, they’ve added a large welcome center & interactive exhibits, but the house is largely the same. For millions of Shakespeare enthusiasts worldwide, the house is a shrine. It’s also been a tourist attraction for several hundred years. Well-known visitors have included Charles Dickens, John Keats, Walter Scott, Thomas Hardy and the Powell family.
From there we drove down to Oxford. I spent a semester in college studying there, so it was nice to go back to my old house & see the neighbourhood. It looked mostly the same as 10 years ago. We then walked down to Christ Church College and walked through the grounds. And we managed to do so without breaking any 200+ year old trees...Amber.
Friday we drove southeast to Stonehenge and Salisbury (no, we didn’t eat any steak). We had been having pretty mild and dry weather (for England...it was only raining in 20 minute bursts 2-3 times a day), but Friday, the day we were to be outside alot, it turned cold & rained nearly solid. We braved Stonehenge. It never ceases to amaze. Nobody can say for certain why it’s there. Calendar, maybe. Religious alter, probably at some point. Burial grounds, yes – however recent carbon dating has put the age of the people much later in history than the stones being raised. All in all, still really cool.
I love the picture of Greg & Adam in their coordinating hats. Such a special bond of brothers.
We headed over to Salisbury to see the Cathedral and the Magna Carta. By this point it was pouring, so we pretty much ran from the car park to the Cathedral (about ½ mile). In the feeble attempt to stay dry we didn’t get any pictures of the outside of the Cathedral, so a few from the inside will have to suffice. The Cathedral is unique amongst medieval English cathedrals having been built in just 38 years (1220 - 1258) in a single architectural style. The tower and spire (Britain’s tallest at 404ft) were added about 50 years later. Dad bought a book on the architecture and building of the cathedral. If you start to see the structure of an early English Gothic church just outside of Lampasas, let me know.
The Cathedral is also home to the best preserved of only four surviving original Magna Carta from 1215 and the oldest working clock from 1386. The Magna Carta is 560 years older than the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives, but this copy is so much more readable – assuming you know Latin. What I mean is the pigments are much more intact than on the Declaration. We’re not sure if it’s from the surface it’s written on or the inks used or just the preservation techniques. I have no pictures to prove any of what I’m saying because of the no photography rules, so you’ll just have to imagine. Or come visit & I’ll take you.
We’d thought about going to the Roman Baths on the way home, but as it was still raining and getting colder, we decided to leave the city and the baths for the next day. Saturday morning we ate some scones complete with clotted cream and jam. We started our tour with the Abbey. Not as old as Salisbury Cathedral, not quite as big either, but equally impressive in architecture and history.
We went on the walking tour of the city that Adam & I had taken previously, but we had a different guide who pointed out different things and had different jokes. One thing new that I found fascinating was the cleaning of the building exteriors. The stone used to build most of the buildings is really soft so it absorbed all the chimney smoke and soot over the years. However, the buildings couldn’t be sand blasted because it would essentially deteriorate the facades of the buildings so they have had to literally wash each building by hand. Most of the work was undertaken in the 1980’s & 90’s. Here’s an example of a building that has been washed next to one that hasn’t yet. What a difference.
After the tour we went through the roman baths. The water really is warm and soothing – don’t worry, I only put my hand in, and I didn’t do it infront of the ‘Do not touch the water’ sign. Oopsie. There was something very strange about being in an ancient Roman Bath on Christmas Eve.
Fweew. We made it to Christmas Day. Think you’re tired reading about the adventure? Get a cookie & keep reading.
We decided to sleep in so that if Santa could visit all the houses with small children who wake up early first. We had breakfast and opened stockings and gifts. The girls got new bones. We let them go first & there wasn’t another peep out of them the rest of the morning. Also, though I’d like you to think that I stare lovingly into Adam’s eyes all the time, I was really just trying to convince him to give me the gift he was opening. It didn’t work.
Adam seasoned up Tobias and put him in the oven. Random side note on cooking. Most of my recipes are in US measurement standards (cups, tablespoons, etc) as are all the measuring cups that I brought from home. However, anything you buy over here (butter being the prime example) has to be converted back (butter comes in 250 gram packages which equates to about 2 sticks). Then everything has to be adjusted for baking temperatures (all my recipes are fahrenheit & the oven is celsius – plus one of the ovens has a fan in it, like a convection oven, so you have to reduce the temperature by 25* C and the cooking time by 10 minutes for every hour). It’s a good thing I have alot of calculators!
Another of my favorite British holiday traditions are Christmas Crackers. A cracker is a cardboard tube wrapped in decorated paper to resemble an oversized Tootsie Roll (ours had lots of glitter, which I hope was edible because I’m pretty sure we all ingested a bit). Before dinner, you pull the cracker with your neighbor so that the cracker ‘pops’ (they make a bang or snapping sound from the friction on the silver fulminate card strip) then splits. Inside crackers is always a crown and toy of some sort – some cheesier than others – and a joke – pretty much all cheesy.
For Jonathan:
Question: What should you do if you see a spaceman?
Answer: Park in it, man.
Still funny!
Monday, we went into Bristol since we figured everyone might want to see the city where we actually live. We took them up to the suspension bridge and Mom successfully answered the quiz questions. I’m not going to tell you what the questions are because you too will have to answer them when you come. It’s part of the cost of your room & board.
We walked along the locks that allowed ships to come into the Bristol harbour during high tide. Modern cargo ships are too large to fit through the locks, so the locks are mostly used now for small sail boats and to regulate the ‘old cut’ of the river through the city (thus eliminating the massive tidal swings we have here – it’s nearly 26 ft between high & low tides).
Finally, we located the much sought (by Mom) statue of Cary Grant. She’d told us all week that there was a statue of him in Bristol. Adam & I couldn’t think of where it could be. Finally we Googled it and discovered that it was in Millennium Square. Millennium Square where I have eaten lunch a couple dozen times. Millennium Square, a few blocks from some apartments we tried to rent. Hmm. We got there and sure enough, we had actually eaten lunch on a bench next to the statue. Guess we need to work on our observation skills. So, um, found it!
They headed back to London Tuesday morning, then flew home on Thursday. We stayed in Bristol. Adam finished writing his term papers for school and is working hard on watching a Doctor Who marathon. I’ve taken down all the Christmas decor, washed linens and remade the beds. We’re all set for your visit.
