Exciting England

Hadrian's Wall and the Roman Ruins

York
Warwick Castle
Stratford-upon-Avon
Oxford Dining Hall
Oxford University and the gardens

Trafalgar Square in London



"London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years." -----Oscar Wilde

I tried my best to be part of London society and act younger than thirty-five on this June trip to London! The young company of Molly and Natalie and my younger co-worker Amy made it very easy to feel young and free in London. Highlights of our visit June 21-23 included the tour of the Tower of London with the crown jewels and Beefeaters, Trafalgar Square with fountains, street performers, statues, plus the Olympic countdown clock, the National Gallery of Art to see Van Gogh, Degas, Michelangelo, Botticelli, da Vinci and El Greco masterpieces, the British Museum with the Elgin Marbles, Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummy exhibits, and an evening in the West End Theatre District to see The Phantom of the Opera in Her Majesty’s Theatre. We mastered the London Tube system, ate Shepherd’s Pie and Fish and Chips at the Sherlock Holmes Restaurant and were up close for the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Westminster Cathedral still had some Will and Kate souvenirs to purchase too. I know I felt like mini-royalty on this whirlwind visit.

June 24th we traveled to Oxford to visit the university campus. The gardens, chapel and the dining hall were spectacular. The dining hall was used in two Harry Potter films and is so full of history and portraits of great men. Our next stop was Stratford-upon-Avon to honor the Bard: William Shakespeare. We visited his childhood home and the Hathaway Cottage; so many beautiful English gardens in both places. We ate at a Baguette Barge on the River Avon and then Amy and I walked to Holy Trinity Church (1465AD) to visit the grave of Shakespeare. This visit was one more check on my to-do-list in life.

June 25th was spent at Warwick Castle (1356 AD) roaming Caesar’s Tower at 147 feet and Guy’s Tower at 128 feet tall plus the dungeons (that’s over 500 steps to climb). Madame Toussaud’s wax figures made the castle years of 1471 and 1898 come alive for us. The Terrible History Torture Tour was a great learning experience on the plague, torture, court system and early medical practice of medieval times and provided some comic relief: “No refunds for sniveling wimps!” One special event we experienced was the Ghost Tour of Warwick Castle- all the tales of the ghosts of the place and why they haunt the castle.

The tour of the north of England included York with The Shambles and a Cornish pasty of meat and cheese along with Clifford’s Tower and a tumble on the stones for me- ouch-the ankle is a black and blue mess! The time in historic Yorkminster Cathedral inspired awe especially when one realized the spot is associated with the Roman Emperor Constantine. The next stop was magnificent wind-swept Hadrian’s Wall and the moors and heather stretching into the distance. The Roman fortification ruins along the Wall were covered with frolicking sheep too!