I have read through some of the posts I did while I was traveling, and it brought back memories of the trip that was, for me, the trip of a lifetime. I am so glad that I took advantage of the opportunity. And although it would have been a lot easier to just stay in London, it was great that it was Gloria's BritRail week. The experience was far richer because we got the opportunity to see many places. I came away with some sense of the island of Britain and the variety that exists within the boundaries of what is really not geographically that large.

I am not able to chose one experience or place as a 'favorite', there were so many that compete for that honor. London was exhilarating, filled with history, diverse and lovely. But Bath houses the site where King Edgar was crowned the first king of all England, the Roman Baths from 420 AD and the Jane Austen center; oh, and Johnny Depp has a house there. Bath was an amazing mix of past and present. The small villages that we visited were pristine and unspoiled despite being the site of numerous movie filmings. Swansea had one of the best museums I have visited, with fresh, interactive exhibits. But it also had a lovely beach, the Dylan Thomas Center, the ruins of a lovely castle, the largest market in Wales and much to recommend it. Edinburgh was looming, dark and gothic and was worthy of a far longer visit than what we made.

My head is filled with images of places that we visited, much like a slide show, except that they come unbidden into my mind at random times and places. I only hope that with the blog, my journal and the approximately 500 pictures, I will be able to hold onto these images and spend the winter polishing them.

I have really enjoyed sorting through my pictures and writing captions, more for me than for anybody else. It is amazing how quickly it is possible to forget why I took a picture of that particular door, or tree or even a church. After all, we did see more than a few interesting churches along the way. I have written captions for most of my pictures, and couldn't resist gathering more information by using Google to find good sources, then cutting and pasting information into the captions. I am sure it is way more information than most casual viewers would want to be bothered with. But I will be able to go back and use the captions to trigger my memory.

It took me about a week to get over the combination of jet lag and just plain being tired from the busy pace. Gloria keeps pointing out to me that every week in London is like that for her. It is a mixed blessing, after all. For me, I wanted to be totally sure that I didn't waste a minute of my precious 11 days. I think that Gloria's program is planned with the same kind of thinking. They have 12 weeks, and by the end of that she will have been on many day and weekend trips, visited most of the major sites in London, seen several dozen plays, dance shows and concerts.

I was able to see enough to have a good overview of London and the other places I visited, but that is really just the beginning. Now I could go back for many more visits to begin more indepth exploration of so many places that I just saw in passing as the tour bus went by. It would be fun to live there for months at at time, as the director of Gloria's program does. Every few years she spends several months sharing what she knows and loves of London with different groups of students.

So after the week of recovering from jet lag, I had one day of feeling back to a more normal energy level, then had the bad fortune to develop a dreadful cold. This has been a particularly bad fall, so many people at work and in the local schools are sick. Some schools have actually had to close. I am part of a team of three, and we all got similar symptoms at the same time. My boss was hit harder, and was actually in the hospital with pneumonia, hopefully now on the mend and on his way home.

It worked out well that this Thanksgiving will be a smaller, quieter affair, just a few people at our house. It is just right, had it been a big celebration, it would have been hard to get ready. I am beginning to feel better, I did go to work yesterday. But I am glad to have this long weekend, even though there are quite a few activities.

Looking back.......

I have been gradually loading pictures to Facebook, and as I look at them and add captions it allows me to reflect on the trip and the places we saw. It was truly the trip of a lifetime for me. I got to see and do far more than I might have expected. It was non-stop and tiring, but I loved every minute of the trip.

My family background is very much mixed, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 German, 1/4 is a 50/50 mix of Welsh and English. The last 1/4 was in Virginia by the late 1600's, and as a result is a complete mix of English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, Dutch....... So if there is a predominant strain, it would be some Celtic combination. Because of that, I looked forward greatly to seeing England, Wales and Scotland so that I could get some sense of where I came from. What I didn't anticipate was how strongly drawn I would feel to these places, and that there would be a feeling of 'homecoming'.

Unlike most travelers, I found that the food was familiar and enjoyable. I could eat fish and chips every day or two forever I think. Mushy vegetables bother me not at all. And London in particular has every ethnic choice imaginable. In Swansea, we found one of the best Thai restaurants I have encountered. The shortbread cookies in Scotland were great, especially the ones from the Elephant Cafe (in elephant shape of course). I almost stopped drinking coffee while I was there, I loved every cup of tea. I had a cold for a few days, and found the tea to be an incredibly comforting, reviving drink. I looked forward to my morning tea and toast, especially the days at the Pickwick in London. I found the people of London to be remarkably friendly and welcoming. Perhaps there was an element of reflecting back the joy that I was feeling, but everywhere I went I found people helpful and friendly.

As I watched some of the videos in the Cabinet War Rooms, I was particularly struck by the faces of the women who were speaking - they looked so like me and my Grandmother and my Aunt Shirlee...

I liked seeing all of the places I have read about for so many years. And I was amazed to find that most of them looked like I had imagined. So often when we visit a place we have read about and seen pictures of for years, we find that it looks different from what we expect. It is smaller, dirtier, the view is blocked by something that was cleverly concealed by the camera work. That just didn't happen in this case. And places that I did not have a preconceived vision of, like Covent Garden for example, turned out to be delightful in so many ways. I am now listening to a book called 'Her Fearful Symmetry' which is set in London, and am experiencing extreme pleasure for the London details that are embedded in the book.

I am so grateful to Gloria for creating this opportunity for me, to her and Krista for their patience in traveling with me as I took hundreds of pictures and dragged my too-big bag around train and tube stations, and to my husband for encouraging me to make the trip.

Return to real life

I arrived safely back in Chicago Wednesday afternoon after an uneventful, nearly 9 hours flying time, trip. The weather was good and the flight was smooth, unlike the trip to the UK, which had some white-knuckle spells. Yesterday, we flew over the southern tip of Greenland. As we approached Greenland, we were able to see the ice floes in the ocean, it was a pretty spectacular sight. The movie selection was pretty poor. I watched The Time Traveler's Wife and after that decided it was more entertaining to watch the map than the other choices.

Today we had to get up early for Jovito's annual visit to the UIC medical center where he is participating in a research study. We were there until around 2PM. After we got home, I decided it was a good day to take it easy and do little to nothing. Tomorrow I hope to begin sorting through and labeling pictures from the trip and finish up my trip journal.

In looking back over the 11 days, I would say that I saw and experienced far more than I could have anticipated. We plunged in immediately after getting off the plane and really didn't stop at all. We were able to do a mix, that included lots of historical sites, a mix of museums, some interesting contemporary sites, train travel that gave us the chance to really see a good part of England, Wales and the southern part of Scotland, some literary sites, the beach along Swansea Bay, a lot of street performers, a mix of religious sites ranging from medieval to Georgian and a play. We experienced a variety of cuisines and spent lots of time walking. I would estimate that the least distance we covered on foot in one day was around 3 miles, the most was probably 7 - 8 miles. I learned an unbelievable amount about the history, culture, industry and people of all three countries.

There was time to get a real feel for what the city of London is like since we spent the most time there. I expected to love the history, but I was surprised at how beautiful a city it is, and how large and how densely populated it is. I was not there long enough to get over my sense of awe at how the contemporary exists surrounded by history. I am sure that with enough time, one gets used to walking by places that have been in existence for hundreds of years or more. I wasn't there for enough time for that to happen to me. I found myself still constantly surprised as I took in views that included a 1,000 year old abbey, skyscrapers, double decker busses and the London Eye, or an abbey from 1,400 AD, Roman Baths from 400 AD, a street performer on a unicycle juggling flaming torches and Ben and Jerry's. Living in Chicago where 150 years old constitutes a hugely historic building prepared me very poorly for walking among this kind of history.

I also got a real sense, especially from the Cabinet War Rooms, of how much more World War II (and World War I for that matter) touched England than it did the US. The bombing was a fact of life in London and other towns and the war touched so many people. The geographic proximity made it so very real.

Every place that we visited is worthy of longer visits, there is so much to see that we were unable to get to. But still, we got at least a taste of each place, and I am so very glad that we made the effort to cram it all in. I wouldn't have missed minute of the trip.

I intend to start to post some pictures over the weekend.

Last Post from London

The boiler in the hotel is out, and it has turned chillier outside, so it is pretty cold in here. In fact, my room is only a little warmer than outside. I am down in the common room where it is a little warmer, but I need to head up to bed soon. I have a comforter and three extra blankets, I slept under all of them last night and I was toasty warm. Hope tonight is the same.

I have packed and gotten my boarding pass, my car is ordered for the morning. I will be sorry to say goodbye to Gloria and to London, but look forward to seeing Jovito and being in my comfy house.

It was a nice last day, I used the morning to pack and relax a little, then we went to the Museum of Natural History in the afternoon. It is a good museum, hard to believe it is free. It is in an incredibly lovely old building, and the exhibits are a bit different from the Field Museum. They are both good museums, but with somewhat different points of view. We spent most of the time in the dinosaur exhibit and learned some new things from it.

I will try to post more about it later, but now it is time to go get ready for bed in my frosty room.

Spending the day in London

I had today to do whatever I chose in London on my own with just the aid of Gloria's map book and tube guide. I got up early, although not intentionally. It turned out to be another lovely London day, very sunny, although somewhat more chilly than the last few days. We have seen little of the rainy weather that London is famous for, although there may be some tonight we hear. After tea and toast, I found my way to Westminster Abbey, arriving just a few minutes after they opened. I don't think I can even begin to describe the feeling of visiting this place, some of which has been in existence for 1,000 years. It is large and lovely and ancient; but the words don't touch the experience of being in the place where so many heads of state have been crowned, where Winston Churchill, Princess Diana and so very many others have been buried. I saw the tombs of Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Richard II, Lady Margaret Beaufort and many other royalty. Also the graves of Handel, Lord Byron, Dylan Thomas, Gerald Manley Hopkins and many other writers. I was in the Chapter House which if I remember correctly was built in 1039, and walked around the cloisters.

Although the entire facility is crowded with tourists, it is still easy to see the centuries of worshipers, the pagaents and rituals that have been enacted there. It is far larger and more ornate than I imagined it, it simply goes on and on with many small chapels and hallways. Every area is lined with memorials and tombs and graves, truly this is a place that reminds us that we are surrounded by 'so great a cloud of witnesses'. In some ways it was almost too much to be surrounded by all of that history, I wonder if one ever gets accustomed to it.

After leaving Westminster Abbey, I took tube to the Moorgate stop, which is at London Wall and Moorgate Roads. I was later told that it was the site of the Moor Gate in the wall around the original city of London. From there I walked to the Wesley Chapel, which was built by John Wesley. The house in which he lived for about the last 10 years of his life is on the site. It is a lovely old church, far different from Westminster Abbey. It is a simpler and really quite lovely Georgian church. The picture is at the top of this blog, to the left of Westminster Abbey. There is quite a contrast in the buildings and in the sites in general.

When I first arrived, there was only one other visitor in the chapel, he followed me in, possibly a stalker since he had followed me up City Road, into and out of Eat and on up the road, then into the chapel. But he left after a few minutes so perhaps I misjudged him. Or possibly John Wesley scared him off. I visited the Museum of Methodism in the crypts under the chapel, and the docent asked me if I had time to watch a 20 minute video.... so I sat on a pew that was rescued from the original Foundry Chapel and watched an interesting video about John Wesley and the building of the Chapel, then looked around the museum. Another docent took me through John Wesley's house and gave me a lovely tour. I was the only guest on the tour, so it was very interactive. I then visited Wesley's grave, which is behind the chapel.

After that I walked around a bit, then took the tube back to the hotel. I had seen a stall with some nice scarves for sale near the Russell Square tube stop, so I stopped there and treated myself to three scarves.

Gloria will be back from class in a while and we will have dinner together then I am going to the theatre with her and her group. I am hoping that my cough will abate just long enough for the play. I did catch a cold and have periods of a nasty tickly cough. I am going to get a cup of tea, it seems to quell the cough for long periods. And any excuse for a cup of tea is fine with me.

Rainy Sunday in London

Today was a little quieter day. When we woke up it was pouring rain, which made it easy to sleep a little late, but we did have to get up to get Krista off to her flight back to the states. We took a car to Paddington Station and saw her safely on the Heathrow Express. She should be well on her way by now, her flight left around 3:20. Gloria and I took the tube to Westminster and went to the Cabinet War Rooms. This is the underground bunker where Churchill and his War Cabinet worked along with other key leaders, during World War II. It has been preserved as a very interesting and well done museum, and includes a great Churchill museum as well. I had just read several books on Churchill, as well as a biography of FDR that dealt heavily with the war years. I found this to be a really interesting museum.

Then we had lunch at The Red Lion, a traditional old London pub right across from Parliament. The history in the menu indicated that this pub goes back many years (to the 1400's, although not in the current building) and was an inspiration for Dickens.

We had fish and chips, which is about the 4th time this week. I have really enjoyed indulging my British taste in food, with fish and chips, steak pie and a sort of shephard's pie made with smoked salmon. On the whole though the food is probably not a reason to come here. The history, the interesting bustling city yes. The food, not so much.

Gloria has classes all day tomorrow so she is catching up on some homework and letting me use her computer while she does the reading part. I can see that she is close to the end of her play, so my computer time will shortly come to an end.

I am back at Pickwick Hall, where Gloria and her program are housed. It is a decent hostel with a very friendly staff. I have a small single room which overlooks Bedford Place. It is a little chilly and I am just thinking about turning on some heat, but afraid of getting it overheated.

Tomorrow I plan to visit Westminster Abbey and the Wesley Chapel, and to take my time about it. I will need to meet up with Gloria late afternoon for dinner, then we are going to a play in the evening. It will be good to hae a day with a little more relaxed pace as the last week has been a whirlwind of activity.

Last night's post ended rather abruptly because my internet time was running out. So I just stopped at the end of a sentence and hit publish. Good thing I did since my screen went to a login about 20 seconds later. The fun of shared internet in a lobby of a hostel. The first night, the music was a plus but last night it was really loud.

It is hard to believe but we are back in London now, our travel week has come to an end. We are in the common room at Gloria's hotel. Krista is getting ready to leave to come home tomorrow afternoon. I still have three more days, which I hope to take at a little slower pace. We have moved so rapidly through all the places that we have been that I don't feel I have quite realized that I am really here, traveling around the UK.

After the post last night, we went on a ghost tour of Edinburgh, which started at 9:30, making it suitably spooky. The guide told us a lot of interesting stories about suicides, murders, murder/suicides, the leper hospital, hangings and why the people were hung, one contemporary story of a murderer who thought he was a vampire. I will spare you the gory details, but feel free to ask if you are interested. We went into a graveyard and saw some interesting spots, then went high up on a peak above the city called Calton Hill. It afforded incredible views of the New Town and the Firth of Forth in one direction and the Old Town and Arthur's Saddle from a different vantage point. It was somewhat scary walking up the hill, as there were not lights on the path (hence the great night view of the city) and no guard rails. But at the top of the hill, the wind was strong and it began to rain. Then instead of following the path, our guide took a shortcut, coming down a significant part of the hill on slick uneven grass, terrifying me.

After we left Calton Hill, we came to an interesting passageway called 'Jacob's Ladder'. This is one of several sets of steps leading from a street on one level to one on a dramatically different level. This particular set of steps has four or five flights of steps, quite narrow from side to side. The steps themselves are somewhat uneven. It was still raining and they were covered with leaves, making it a real adventure. I clung to the rail and held up the 20 people behind me, but I descended safely. We then hiked back up the Royal Mile to the Bank Bar where as part of the tour we got a much welcomed free pint. The bar had live music, far too loud and suffered from the overheating we have found to be common in most of the places we have been. Apparently the low 50's seems pretty cold to folks all around the UK.

I have loved every minute of the trip, even the parts where my feet hurt up to my hips. Edinburgh was the most challenging as it is incredibly hilly. I don't think there was any level ground. I couldn't properly enjoy going down hill or down steps because I knew that it was inevitable that we had to go back up. But all that aside, Edinburgh was my favorite of the places we visited. I think I would enjoy a longer visit there, with time to explore some of the places that we just touched on during this trip. And I would love to do more traveling in Scotland, there was a minibus tour that went from Edinburgh to Hadrian's Wall with various interesting sites along the way. So much to see there.... perhaps there will be another trip some time.

We got up this morning and caught a train around 9AM for London. We took one train to Warrington, then switched to what was supposed to be an express to London Euston. Unfortunately there were mechanical problems affecting the first four carriages (we were in one of them) and they stopped and all of us in those four cars had to de-train. We caught another express just a few minutes later and arrived uneventfully in London.

Soon after, we walked from our hotel to Covent Garden to shop in the market there. It is an interesting mix of upscale shops, market stalls, street performers, restaurants. While shopping at a jewelry stall we heard a string quartet, a while later we walked through an area where a tenor was singing opera, a bit later there was a man with a six foot tall dragon with about a twelve foot wingspan. I found it to be a pretty fun place, although by that point in the day we were all really tired.

We had dinner at Pizza Hut because Krista wanted to see if they were different in London. Conclusion - yes, quite different. I had a Tuscani pizza special with chicken and portobello mushrooms on a pesto base. Surprisingly good for Pizza Hut.

This morning when we left for the train station, it was absolutely beautiful. Probably mid-fifties and sunny. But in typical UK fashion, by the time we were 30 minutes outside Edinburgh, it was gray and foggy and just a little later it was raining. By the time we got back to London, it was sunny here and it seemed to be in the low sixties. It was an amazing fall London afternoon. And fun to see all the adults in some type of costume walking around, ready for Halloween.

Gloria is planning to take Krista out later tonight for a snake bite. I believe that this consists of cider, lager (which I think is American beer) and black current. I have been invited to join them since none of Gloria's friends were available to go along, so it wouldn't be too embarrassing to have Mom along. So, I guess I will take advantage of the opportunity to experience London night life (hopefully a tame example).

Tomorrow afternoon Gloria suggested that perhaps we should go to one of the places on her list that is required for her class, she has quite a few she still needs to see. I think this is quite enough.

Edinburgh may be the most impressive of all the places we have seen. Even by day is seems ancient and looming. The Edinburgh Castle sits high on a hill surrounded by a craggy rock wall, very wild looking. The Royal Mile had endless 'closes' which are narrow walkways that lead to courtyard areas. There seem to be many small pathways and stairways leading from one place to another. The city seems to have many secrets. There are quite a few ghost tours, they seem to be all over. There is an underground city that we have not seen. There is so much to see, a day was not nearly enough.

We went on a walking tour that lasted nearly 4 hours today, it was a great introduction to the city, including a lot of history, a lot of fun facts and many trips up and down steps, hills, and closes.

The tour left me with the impression that Scotland is a very different place. The people, the history are very different from England and from Wales. The cultures of all three are very distinct one from another. It is somewhat surprising to me for three countries that occupy one island that geographically is not that large to have such distinct cultures. Scotland seems wilder, more independent, more 'in your face'.

We saw the church where Sean Connery was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. We saw the place where John Knox is buried. Interestingly, he seems to not be that popular here, his gravesite is in what was a kirkyard but is now a parking lot (the graves were moved because the top layer of graves were becoming exposed in rain - which is a common occurrence here in Scotland). Apparently there is a small marker noting the spot of Knox's grave, but it is in a parking spot and we couldn't see it since there was a red car parked in the spot. Thus, my thought that perhaps he is less than 'revered'.

I wanted Scottish Shortbread, so we walked back to the Elephant Cafe and got shortbread in an elephant shape, after eating at Deacon Brodie's Tavern.

Train Travel and some random thoughts

I had always wanted to travel by train, it seemed very romantic to me. So this week that is one item I can check off my bucket list. The trains we have taken have been generally very nice. After no real train trips, I have now traveled from London to Oxford and back (the first part of the trip within abut 60 minutes of landing in the UK), to Bath, from Bath to Swansea, Wales and today from Swansea to Edinburgh, which was about 8 hours on two different trains. The first part was the better one, we got two sets of seats facing each other with a nice large table in between and could spread out. But all the trains have been quite nice. They seem to run on time, are smooth and travel through a lot of pretty country. At one point I looked up and there was a castle disappearing in the distance. Once we got into Scotland it got quite hilly. Northern England and Scotland in particular are really scenic.

We are in Edinburgh this evening. We walked in a drizzle up the Royal Mile and down George IV Bridge Street to find the Elephant Cafe, where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. We were going to eat dinner there but it is kind of small and crowded, so we just looked around then went to another restaurant right on the Royal Mile to eat. Tomorrow we will take a free walking tour of Edinburgh. It is a three hour tour and the city is really hilly -- no, I mean REALLY hilly. So wish me luck, it sounds energetic.

We have walked miles each day, today was our slowest day due to the extended train travel. We probably only walked a couple of miles today, most days have been considerably more than that. I am looking forward to seeing the Edinburgh Castle and many of the other sights. Edinburgh so far seems much older than London. The architecture is Gothic, heavy large darkened stones, lots of stained glass. All very massive and looming. Partly that may have to do with our arriving at dark, and to the rain. But it is very impressive. I suspect that one day is going to give us a very limited look at a city that has a great deal to offer.

The choice on the trip was whether to do one or two things fairly deeply or whether to move around a lot and get a taste of many things. I am glad that we made the choice to at least sample Wales and Scotland, I would have felt somewhat cheated otherwise.

When we get back to London, Gloria plans to take Krista shopping in Covent Garden Saturday afternoon. Sunday Krista leaves for home. I have Monday to do whatever I want, it will be hard to decide. I am thinking about Westminster Abbey and the Wesley Chapel, possibly a quick look at Harrods..... maybe the British Museum which is only a couple of blocks from Gloria's hotel. Then Monday night we are seeing a play, War Horse. It is part of Gloria's program, and I get to go along. Tuesday afternoon Gloria and I plan to go to the Natural History Museum. And Wednesday I come home, hard to believe. It has gone so fast since we have been so very busy.

I have taken around 400 pictures, I will get them on Facebook after I get home, probably not before that. We are using various internet facilities. Tonight we are staying at the Smart City Hostel in the center of Edinburgh, and they have a bunch of computers available (for a fee of course, it is a hostel).

We have been happy with our lodgings, all economy, but really very nice. Our room tonight and tomorrow night has three sets of bunk beds, but just the three of us. I am looking forward to a hot shower and hopefully a good night's sleep. Although jet lag has not been bad, it is at bedtime that I notice it. I have had some trouble sleeping, I think my body is just confused.

More tomorrow if time allows.

Touring, traveling and more touring

We are in Swansea, Wales today, we arrived here last night around 9. Yesterday we took the Mad Max tour from Bath. It took us first to Castle Coombe, a Cotswold village built between the 13th and 17th centuries and, according to our guide Dave, virtually unchanged since the 17th century. It is just one street, with a stream and a lovely old church. It was the site of the movies Stardust and Dr. Doolittle (the original with Rex Harrison). After walking around there, we went on to Avebury, which is an ancient stone circle site. It is far larger than Stonehenge, and rather different in layout. There is an outer circle which is approximately 1 mile in circumference with inner designs as well. The stones are in more rough form than Stonehenge. It is a far less commercial site, in fact the stones lie in a sheep meadow, well populated by friendly fat sheep (and their residue which makes walking around somewhat interesting).

Then to Lacock Village, another Cotswold village which was the site of some scenes from several Harry Potter movies, including Harry's parents house (where they were killed by Voldemort) and Pride and Prejudice -- a number of others as well. We ate lunch in a pub there, then walked around the village. Along the way we saw a chalk horse, Sandy End which is a village of thatch roof cottages and a village called Tiddley Wink as well as Silbury Hill which is a large mound structure.

Our last stop of the day was Stonehenge, which far exceeded my expectations. Although I expected to be impressed, I found that it felt like a very holy site. I could easily envision priests from an ancient religion processing through the mist. We were told that it was built 4,500 years ago and faithfully maintained for 1,500 years then abandoned..... it is intriguing to think about what its purpose was, what caused all that care then why was it abandoned. Of course we will never know.

We took the train to Swansea last night, and spent today exploring. We spent the morning at the Waterfront Museum, which uses lots of technology to provide some really nice interactive exhibits and gave us a lot of information about Wales. I particularly enjoyed seeing the exhibits (bilingual by the way) and learning a lot more about Wales than I had known before. In addition, there was a lot of information on renewable energy sources, which was really interesting.

After that we went to the Dylan Thomas Center which had a good exhibit with many chances to learn about Dylan Thomas and to hear his work, much of it read by him. I found myself listening to 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' over and over, having it read by the author who wrote it as his father was dying really made it that much more meaningful, and it has been a favorite of mine. The exhibit gave a really balanced view of Thomas, who like so many artists was both hugely talented and flawed.

Then we walked around Swansea, passing the ruins of the Swansea Castle which just sit in the middle of the City Centre, we stopped at the Swansea Market which is the largest market in Wales. Lots of baked goods, meat, purses, furniture .. all the things you expect to see at a market. We had an outstanding Thai dinner just a few doors from our B&B, surprising for Wales.

Tomorrow we will catch a train to Edinburgh, spending most of the day traveling. We are prepared with books, iPods, puzzles and other entertainments.

Bath

We are in Bath. I saw the Zurich office in Swindon from the train, it was a nice little touch of 'home'. We got to tour the Roman Baths and the Bath Abbey, then went to the Jane Austen Center which was really interesting. We walked to the Bath Circus and took pictures in the dark. Bath is so much more interesting than I had expected, we could definitely have used more time here.

I am in complete awe to have stood at the Roman Baths, which were built in around 42AD. It is beyond my comprehension that people 2000 years ago built this and worshiped there. And the Bath Abbey was equally awe inspiring. We were fortunate to be there for a short prayer service, then got to look around at everything in this 500 year old abbey. Interesting, it was the site of the coronation of King Edgar, the first king of all England, I don't remember the exact year, but around 970AD.

The most interesting thing to me is that all of this history is just there, right in the middle of a lively town. Standing in one spot, I was facing the Roman Baths with the Bath Abbey on my left and a Ben and Jerry's behind me. Just a short distance to the right was the shopping area, a charming pedestrian mall lined with contemporary shops, some local and some names we all know, like The Gap. There are many carts selling interesting things, flowers, scarves, hats and who knows what. There were street performers of all types. One man was riding a unicycle and juggling large lit torches. This was as the afternoon turned somewhat dark, making it extra charming. There was a Celtic one man band with the most interesting instrument, clearly of his own design. There was a violinist on a tight rope, and on it went. I could have walked around much longer.

The Jane Austen Center was very interesting, it focussed especially on her time in Bath, and on the two books of hers that were set in Bath, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. We learned that she never got to see her name in print, the books published while she was alive just said 'by a lady' or something similar. Her brother arranged to have Northanger Abbey published after her death, and to publish it under her name. It was never published while she was alive. Given that , it is especially good to see her recognized and people coming to the museum

Time to end this post as the internet time is running short. We purchased an hour and shared it among the three of us.

Tomorrow we tour Stonehenge, Avebury and many other places, then leave for Wales in the evening. We will visit the Dylan Thomas center in Swansea, and the annual Dylan Thomas Festival will be under way. I look forward to going to Glamorgan, which is my great-grandmother's home. I only wish I knew exactly where she was from, but I will just have to appreciate all Glamorgan.

Tour of London

It was a great day to tour London, blue sky and sunshine all day. We did an all day tour including a cruise on the Thames. I am still amazed that three days ago I was in Chicago and today I saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and all those sights that I have read about and imagined for all these years. I was most surprised that it really looked like the pictures and what I imagined -- nothing was disappointing.

We really got to see all of London, including some of the areas that a lot of tours don't go. I was very excited to see Marble Arch for the first time -- but then the tour kind of looped around and we got to see it again. As we passed it for the third time, I got a better picture. The 4th time I didn't need another picture, and then the fifth time......

Seriously the tour was a great orientation and now I can pick a few places I want to see more of for my last few days after we do our rail trip. The only down side was that we sat on top of a double decker tour bus (of course) and it was a bit chilly. In fact, by the time the tour ended around 4PM it was downright cold.

Tomorrow we leave for Bath, where we plan to see the Roman Baths, the Abbey and the Jane Austen Center. Beyond that, whatever time allows. I suspect that there is enough to do for a full day, but we decided to start a little later tomorrow to let our bodies catch up with the time. The fact that Krista and I are both in the common room using the computers at 2AM absolutely confirms that we made a wise decision.

Tuesday we will see Stonehenge, Avebury and various sights in that area on a tour called 'Mad Max' (not for the movies, for the owner's name, Maddie and her dog Max). Here is a link that includes detail about where the tour goes: Stonehenge Full Day Tour

We aren't planning to take a computer along, so there may be no posts during the next few days, although we will likely find internet cafes along the way.

In London at last!

In London! Our flight arrived yesterday morning, nearly 30 minutes early. We moved quickly through customs, and our bags were ready when we got to the luggage area. we took the Paddington Express (supposed to be the fastest way to central London from Heathrow) and in a quick 15 minutes, were were hailing a cab outside Paddington Station. We left our bags at the hotel, took off our sweaters as it was warmer than we expected, then found our way to the tube station and took the tube back to Paddington Station, so that we could catch a train to Oxford and catch up with Gloria and her group.

It was gray with off and on light rain until late afternoon when after a quick cloudburst the sky turned a bright blue with puffy white clouds and we thoroughly enjoyed the low 60's weather.

We spent the rest of the day in Oxford. One of the colleges was having a degree ceremony, so some buildings were closed off, but it was really interesting to see the students and professors walking around in gowns. We got to see a great deal of Oxford, and spent some time at Christ Church, the college founded by Henry VIII, and attended by John Wesley, many Prime Ministers, Lewis Carroll and others. Parts of the cathedral date back to the 12th century. I am awed to have walked on the same stones that all those historic figures walked. We toured the Great Hall where the students eat, it is an impressive room lined with paintings of the famous folks who attended and ate there. You could smell the scent of what had most likely been served for lunch, a pleasant apple/cinnamon smell. Overall, Oxford was far more impressive than I expected (and I expected a lot). I am so glad that we made the effort and didn't let jet lag keep us from enjoying it.

When we got back to London, Krista and I took a nap then a shower which helped us to feel a part of the human race again. We then went out for a dinner of the famous British fish and chips, at The North Sea Restaurant. The fish did not disappoint.

The UK and Europe changed from Daylight Savings time to 'Winter Time' overnight, giving us a welcome extra hour to catch up. I am in the common room at our hotel, looking out over Bedford place. The morning started out bright and sunny, but seems to have grayed a little. This block is lined with hotels, and there are people walking around. I can't decide what the weather is since people are wearing everything from short sleeved shirts to winter jackets.

After breakfast we will go and tour London!

Rain, Overweight Baggage, Foreign Currency Exchange

The first attempt at packing my bag and including the folded up rolling duffel that I want to use for the train part of the journey resulted in a bag with an ambiguous weight of about 48 pounds. It is too big to sit on the scale, so I wasn't sure if it was off balance. I made my husband stand on the scale, then pick up the bag. Again 'about' 48 pounds. But what if the scale was inaccurate... so I have made all the hard decisions. For example, will I really finish the book I haven't started in addition to reading the guidebook and reading my lesson materials? And I do have three books to listen to on my iPod in addition. So the extra book is now sitting on the dresser waiting for me to make the grand decision - is it making the trip, or keeping the home fires burning as it were. I decided that the small bottle of contact solution will be large enough. Indeed these are the challenges of the air traveler.

No wonder I love traveling by car. Need that extra book, toss it in. Need the Riverside Shakespeare, no problem, stuff it in a corner. It is possible that you are thinking 'is she perhaps just a bit obsessive'? Not really, it is the analytical mind at work.

I have checked in for my flight and to my surprise, the flight leaves from Terminal 1 instead of the International Terminal. Next issue to obsess over. Is there a foreign currency exchange in Terminal 1? Well, according to the O'Hare information page there is, on the lower level. And there are carts at the gates where international flights depart as well. And of course, worst case would be that I have to change money in London at Heathrow. So perhaps that is not something I need to worry about either. I will have to look for something else. There are a couple of things left on the to-do list, and they fall into the optional category. I have tomorrow morning to finish off last tasks, so I think I am ready.

I am glad that the last couple of days were totally busy at work, with all day workshops on an interesting project. It made the time go quickly. It was gray and rainy, on the chilly side. A lot what I expect to find in the UK... I have a waterproof jacket with a hood and a folding umbrella. I don't think I will mind if it is somewhat rainy, but I wouldn't mind if there was some sunny weather as well.

Most likely the next post will be a few days out and will come from London and will include travels other than within my convoluted mind . . . .

Dylan Thomas, John Wesley and more....

I packed my clothes in vacuum bags, and just have a few things to get ready. I am not sure about the weight yet, 50 pounds goes pretty fast I think. I moved the guide book to my backpack and may have to move some more things. But I do want to fit in the duffel bag for the rail trip. And it weighs 4 pounds. If that doesn't work, I may have to check it separately.

I have read a lot of the guidebook and will read more on the plane. In my reading and planning, I learned that we will be in Swansea, Wales, which is Dylan Thomas's hometown during the annual Dylan Thomas festival. In honor of that, I have just listened to 'Under Milkwood' and read 'A Child's Christmas in Wales'. I also learned that Richard Burton asked to be buried with an anthology of Thomas's work in his hands.

I looked up some more sites on the internet, and located a couple of Wesley sites, one is the Aldersgate Flame, at the site of John Wesley's 'warming of the heart' and Wesley's Chapel with a museum of Methodism. There is a lot to see, but if time permits these would be interesting places to see, especially the Wesley Chapel. I especially want to see Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral as well, along with the Cabinet War Rooms, which are highly recommended.

Here are a few interesting facts about Wesley's Chapel:

The site of Wesley's Chapel was purchased from the Corporation of London in 1776 and construction by a local preacher commenced in 1777. The Chapel was opened on 1st November 1778.

Wesley used the City Road Chapel (only later called "Wesley's Chapel") as his London base. Wesley's Chapel was the first Methodist church in London built for the celebration of communion and preaching. It is not the first Methodist church, however - that honor belongs to the New Room in Bristol.

In 1891, to mark the centenary of Wesley's death, the chapel was refurbished. The original oak masts that supported the gallery were replaced with marble pillars from around the world. As it was the Civil War era, the chapel received are two pillars from America: North and South. The stained glass windows were also added at this time.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher got married at Wesley's Chapel in 1951. A devout Methodist, she attended services here from time to time but the security arrangements eventually made it very difficult to do so.

Getting Ready

I spent most of today getting organized for the trip. I contacted credit card companies, notified the State Department of my trip, copied all my important papers, made a file to leave at home and one to bring. I uploaded all my old pictured and deleted them from the SD card so that I have plenty of space for the pictures to come. And I did some outstanding tasks for the Lay Academy and LSAC, nothing like an upcoming deadline to get myself in gear I guess. It all took more time than I expected, as usual.

The fun tasks were to decide what books to download onto my iPod (Palace Council, Her Fearful Symmetry and a collection of Dylan Thomas plays) and to make a playlist for the plane. My suitcase is partially packed and I think everything is going to fit. I know it is a little early, but experience tells me that during the work week I won't get much done. So mostly things that aren't done today will wait until Thursday night or Friday morning.

I also spent some time reading a guidebook. It is a few years old but it is the LG guide to Britain. I read the parts on Wales in general and Swansea in particular, I also read about Scotland and about Edinburgh. I have more to read, I may bring this guidebook along on the trip.

Even with all that preparation, I can't really imagine myself in the UK. Perhaps it is because it is somewhere I have never been. Even though I have seen hundreds of pictures recently of London, and have been reading the guidebooks, it seems so far away. I really never expected to be able to take a trip outside the US (with the exception of Canada which doesn't seem that exotic) so maybe that is part of the blocking too. Well, imagine it or not, it isn't far away. Pretty soon I will be there and won't need to imagine it.

Starting to Seem Real

Since it is now less than a week the trip is suddenly is beginning to seem very real. I sat down and made my to-do list and shopping list last night. I wonder what it says about my personality that my to-do list contains at least two entries that start with 'make list of...' I guess that is the side effect of being a project manager for years. We like things that we can break down and plan.

There are all the obvious things, packing, paying bills before I leave and the other mundane things one does before a trip. And of course the really important things, like downloading a couple of books onto my iPod and making playlists for the plane. But the fun part is finishing up the book on the children of Henry VIII and reading the guidebooks and thinking about the things I am going to see.

When I was a teenager I read a series of books by Elswyth Thane that took a family from pre-Revolutionary war time in Williamsburg, VA through post WWII. There are 7 or 8 books and they take place in Williamsburg, in England and Germany primarily. While they were novels and focussed on the lives and interactions of the characters, they also provided a lot of well researched history, including parts on the Revolutionary War, US Civil War, Spanish American War, WWI and WWII, including the bombing of London. I don't know if they were good or not, but I really liked them, and they were a big contributing factor to my interest in history. For many years I have wanted to go to the places those books describe. A visit to Williamsburg a few years ago satisfied part of that longing. This trip is the next step in that journey.

I haven't been able to find any real information on my great-grandmother from Wales, so all I really know is that she was born in Glamorganshire, Wales and that she had my grandmother, who was the 12th of her children, in 1900. So my father and I were speculating and thought that she might have been born around 1865. But we don't have enough information to pin down exactly where, and her name is fairly common. There are several women with her name born in Glamorgan within about a 20 year span, any of whom could be the one we are seeking. Or perhaps we are on the wrong track. So we will visit Swansea and vicinity and imagine that she might have been there, and as the train goes through the heart of Glamorgan I will try to envision a young woman growing up. I look forward to being able to describe Wales to my father.

I think that it is now time to start chipping away at the to-do list....

First Thoughts

I haven't thought that I would be someone who would blog, and I am not sure that I really have anything to say that would interest anyone. But I am getting ready for a trip to the UK and thought that this might be a good way to keep people up to date on the trip, and also a good way for me to put down thoughts while they are fresh in my mind and remember the trip later.

This is an exciting trip for me for several reasons. Of course first and foremost because I will be visiting my daughter who is studying in London, and I am looking forward to seeing her and the places where she is staying, studying and visiting.

But another reason it is exciting is that I have never actually been out of the USA. Well, technically that is not true, I spent a week in Toronto many years ago, and we took a family vacation that incorporated a stay in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. But that would be it.

I am looking forward to the history, having always lived in the US, where 'old' mostly means the late 1800's. Of course there are older places even here, but they are less common and I have not yet been to many of them.

And I am greatly looking forward to seeing the place where parts of my family came from. My heritage is quite a mix, with one grandfather born in Germany, one Grandmother born in the US of parents born in Ireland, another Grandmother born in the US of a mother from Glamorganshire in Wales and a father from England (place unknown to me). My other grandfather came from a family that has been in Virginia since the late 1600's and includes English, Welsh, Scotch-Irish and Dutch among others. On this trip we will be visiting Swansea, Wales which lies in Glamorgan. We will travel on the train through Glamorgan to get to Swansea, and will be able to at least imagine my great grandmother having lived there.

I will be leaving on 10/23, and I will be returning on 11/4. We plan to see London, Bath, Stonehenge and Avebury, Swansea and Edinburgh. It will be a lot of traveling and will give us a chance to see various parts of the UK while traveling on BritRail. There are so many things to see, I know there won't be time to see them all.