The Tower of London

Made the first stop at the Tower of London, now home to Britain's Crown jewels, once home to Kings and Queen's, then prisoners and first built as a fortress and palace. Most famously the site of King Henry VIII's executions of two of his wives.

Traitors gate, where the prisoners were brought in by boat

Guarding the Tower

I decided to enjoy the day at the outside cafe (Me in middle of picture with white coat on). I enjoyed watching the boats and people go by while Rob and Melinda went through the Tower. However, when I decided to get a bite to eat, I was soon swarmed by several birds. They thought I should share my snack. One bird sat on the other chair watching me and jumping on the table close enough to make me guard my snack. When I shooed him away he decided to dive bomb me. I quickly ate my last bite and he decided to go away. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy my snack as much as I thought I would. Brazen birds....

Day 4 Tubing to London

On Tuesday we hit London. We drove to Loughton and got on the train to London.
Whew... made the train... we even "minded the gap"

The River Cam

Ah... punting on a lazy spring day.
This time we didn't see too many people lose their poles or fall in. It was during the week and not too many drinkers.

The Bridge of Sighs taken from the back view

The Bridge of Sighs is named after the Venetian bridge. (Both are covered) Venice's is called that due to prisioners being led over the bridge to state prison. Cambridge's bridge has bars to stop the undergraduates from coming back late at night and climbing in!

Cambrige colleges

A mixture of old and new

College doors

I think this was a door in St. John's college. Pretty small huh?

Rob just fits!

Colleges

One of the tour guides for King's College
View of St. John's college

Cambridge

In Front of King's College in Cambridge. Rob and Melinda decided that Cambridge might be a good place to pursue post graduate degrees. There is just that minor detail of the fees.....

Originality in making a buck (or a pound since we are in England) Note a student making extra cash by playing his guitar along the street. Can't find him? Check the Litter recepticle!

The Eagle in Cambridge

Okay, remember my blog about the pub in Cambridge that we went to prior to our dinner at the college? The speaker talked about the pub being a famous spot in WWII for the American d and British soldiers to hang out and they wrote their names on the ceiling. Also it was originally a coach stop and that the fellows who discovered DNA had a drink here immediately after to celebrate? Well, I took Rob and Melinda there and I had another look. Indeed the names were on the ceiling (Couldn't get a picture as I didn't want to feel too touristy) Below is the patio where all the horses were coraled with the numbers on the wall.

RAF - Royal Air Force

Day Three of Rob's visit

We picked up Rob's friend from Toledo U. Sunday night. So Monday morning they walked down to the Telephone booth on our street for the obligatory pictures. Rob pictured above and Melinda below.

Okay this was taken toward the end of the trip, but it follows the Telephone theme of this blog posting... so here we are on a very sunny day in England. While Rob was here, we did not have a lick of rain and it was sunny and in the 70's most days! He should come more often.

We were also trying to get Melinda to a British Pub by walking to our pub down the street. Unfortunately, the cook had off for the night. So we had to get in our car and go to another town. While in Fairford a few days earlier, we tried to go to a pub and after getting our drinks and reviewing the only menu they had, the wait staff tells us the chef went to the cinema for the evening. (A Friday night no less!) Guess they haven't gotten into the capitolism like we have....

We did get her to a pub and she had "Fish and Chips" finally!

Windsor

This is the Market Cross House built around 1687 It's in the town of Windsor and at one time had a tunnel connecting it to the castle. It's a bit "leany"
Right next to the Market Cross House is this Guildhall. Rumor has it that Charles and Camella got married here.
Cute little alley in Windsor

Road Scenes

Country road outside of Windsor. Flowers in bloom

Canal Houseboat in Windsor. Someday we are going to rent one of these and float along the canal

Bowling

In Windsor we saw the Brits "Bowling" Evidently they bowl outside. They also dress in all white. When they play Cricket they dress in all white too.

Windsor Castle

The second day Rob was here we went to Windsor and saw Windsor castle. Couldn't get in as it was late in the day. We'll have to go back. That night we picked up Melinda (Rob's friend from Toledo) at Heathrow airport.

Lavenham/Rob

Rob is here visiting for about 2 weeks. So we took him to Lavenham on Sat. (The half timbered house town that reminds us of Popeye's crooked village.)

Below is the guild hall where they use to make and trade wool.
A crooked little street...

In a crooked little town.

There were several houses that had basket weave fences. They were beautiful! Wonder if I could do that in Dayton???????

MIke's Hell's Kitchen

Last weekend, Mike participated in a "Hell's Kitchen" cook off at his work. It was the guys against the girls. Here's a picture of his team. Unfortunately, they lost by 2 points. I, however, felt that their food was the better....an objective view of course.

Mom's Birthday Party

Better late than never, here are some pictures of my Mother's surprise birthday party. My sisters and I were able to pull it off! She was definitely surprised.

Just after she came through the door.

Kathy, Jeanne, Mom and Eileen

Thanks to all who came, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Spring

Thought I'd show the neighbor's yard. It is full of daffodils and blooming flowers. For those of you who just got a foot of snow.... spring is just around the corner.

No pictures

Sorry, but no pictures today. We haven't been much of anywhere lately. Thought we would spend some time in London last weekend for the 3 day holiday, but I was still sick with coughing and cold symptoms so we stayed home.

Mike got to go to Germany this past week for an art program. 150 kids from all over Europe got together to learn about art, drama, etc. He had a great time and enjoyed hanging around all the talented left brainers! He did a charcoal self portrait that, for his first time, I thought was pretty good. If I get a chance, I'll scan it in and post it. (Our scanner is currently on the fritz)

I started a nursing job on base and have enjoyed working with the people. It's full time, so I hope it doesn't limit my traveling!

Anyway, hopefully we'll be traveling a bit more in the near future. So stay tuned