As the end of the extended vacation was coming to an end, we started to realize that there were too many things left on our "to do" list to actually do. It took some paring of the list, some abreviated visits to must-dos, and some very long days to finish up and consequently, blog time was one of the things pared off the list!
When we got close to London, we finally lit in a hotel room for more than one night! This alone was reason to celebrate. We decided to base all the rest of our travel out of a little town near Heathrow which would allow us to stop schlepping bags in and out of hotel rooms. Thank goodness for priceline, as we got a great room for a good price in an area that is known for its exorbinant hotel rooms. While we really liked the idea of staying in a little pub/inn, at this point in the trip a few nights at the Crown Plaza sounded just perfect!
After nixing the southern part of Wales from our trip, we still had Stonehenge, Brighton Beach and Castle, Winsor Castle, Hampton Court and all of London proper left. That was quite a bit to fit into three days, but we decided to give it a go.
Stonehenge was something Cait really wanted to see. I'm awfully glad she did. It is one of the mysteries of the history of man that will probably never be solved. I'd seen Stonehenge in photos and on tv, but until you actually stand near the giant stones (that actually come from more than 400 kilometers away) and realize that they were somehow not only moved there over 1500 years ago, but also stood erect.....well, its just mind boggling. The big stones weigh over 50 tons and yet somehow a civilization that the ability to dig them up, transport them and set them on end in exact pattern. Some of the stones have worn away from the elements, some where chipped away at by souvenir takers, but still, as you walk around them, you can't help but wonder how they got there....and possibly more importantly, why.
One of the funniest things we found at Stonehenge was a man from Alabama. He was hard to miss with his Bama hat and drawl, and after he heard us talk, he considered us kindred spirits! He followed Cait and I around Stonehenge chatting up a storm, telling us about his travels with his wife and her two sisters. Every year they go on a big vacation, and because he is the only husband around....it is him and these three ladies going all over the world. He talked about his sons, food, the "sisters", Scotland, Australia, the weather, the bus they were riding on, the hotel they were staying at, his recent trip to San Antonio, the newspaper in Tampa one of his sons works for, and OF COURSE, football! As a matter of fact, he talked so much, Cait and I couldn't get a word in edgewise.....which is quite a feat! Mom, on the other hand, had fallen back and she and the "Bama" wife were talking as if they were old friends...go figure! After so many days of people who spoke different languages or the same language with strange accents, it was nice to hear a y'all and a ma'am for a change. Last we saw him, he was off to find a couple who's baby had on a UT hat that we told him about.....I think he was going to probably try to convert the baby and teach him to "Roll Tide"!
After Stonehenge, we headed down to Brighton Beach. We had gotten up pretty early and were putting in a lot of mileage, even by our standards, and for the first time on the road trip....I was worried about driving. I got really tired in the afternoon sun and the drive seemed much longer than the 2 hours it actually took us to get there. After a quick look at Brighton Castle (which, incidentally looked like the Taj Mahal instead of a proper British castle), we drove to the beach where I dropped Cait and Mom off for a stroll on the beach and to collect some stones for Alexa and I took myself a little power nap. Thank goodness for the ability to power nap! The weather was cold and damp and not really beach weather anyway, so all I missed were the gorgeous stones that form the beach there. Because Alexa is such a rock collector, Mom and Cait filled their pockets will all sorts of stones from the beach to bring home to her and by the time they got back to the car I was revived enough to finish the day.
Cait's favorite time in British History is the Tudor period and the reign of Henry VIII. We new that a lot of the next few days were going to be filled with trips to the Castles where Henry and/or his wives lived, and luckily near Brighton Beach was the home of Ann of Cleves (one of Henry's wives who actually survived the marraige to him and got out of it with her head still in tact. We drove over to see it and there was a hand written sign on the entrance...."closed due to staff sickness". While that was a little odd, I guess we were glad that we weren't subjected to the germs and we spent a half hour peeking in the windows of a house built in the 1500s.
After a great dinner and good nights sleep, we were up early to head out to Hampton Court and Windsor Castle. This was one of the days that Cait had most been looking forward to in the UK.
Hampton Court was the main home of Henry VIII. It is remarkably well preserved, with original tapestries on the walls and many of the floors original as well. They happened to be filming a movie there at the time, which while making it sort of a pain to get around, did liven the place up, as there were people in costume and props around that made the castle look like an actual working castle. While I learned a lot from Cait about Henry and his wives, and the information that they give you at the castle is very informative.....maybe the most interesting part was a tour of the "privy". I'm not sure how civilization survived such terrible hygeine conditions....thank goodness for modern plumbing! The passages were dark and damp, and as they talked about the smells from the sewage and the rotting meat after the King had been there for several weeks, you really imagine how unbearable it could become. No wonder they migrated from castle to castle so often, giving each one a break and chance to air out. We spent all morning and into the afternoon at Hampton and it was actually more than we, well at least I, had anticipated it being.
Windsor Castle was next...and since it was a working castle where the current Queen spends most of her time, we weren't sure how much of it was going to be open and we expected a sort of modern Castle. Wrong again. Windsor was built in the early 1000s....and while obviously has been updated, it still has the look of an old castle. If I were Queen, I would spend all of my time there as well, because you couldn't help but feel "royal" living there. The Queen was there the day we were there and they were setting up for a big banquet, which made our visit more interesting. All of the tables in the banquet hall were being set, with a ruler being used to measure the exact placement of all of the table settings. That's not exactly how I do it at home....but I just might have to get myself a table ruler!
The Chapel on the castle grounds was maybe the most intesting part, with generations of royals entombed in the chapel. Some had regular crypt like tombs, but some were buried in vaults that were topped with carvings of their bodies lying in state. Really weird and creepy. Henry VIII, historically one of the most egocentric rulers of that time, is buried under the floor in a pretty non-desript grave, despite his pre-death instructions for a big monument that included a marble horse......guess his kids didn't get the memo!
We spent as much time as possible in the castle and were some of the last few people to leave. Considering the security at museums, government buildings, and houses of government officials here in the states, it was surprising how accessible this castle, as well as all of the other's we had seen, are to the general public. The one thing we noticed at both of the stops on this day were the large number of school aged children who were touring the sights. They seemed to be really interested in the history and pretty well behaved..........that would change the next day!!!
Our last day in the UK was going to prove to be the most exhausting there. We had decided that rather than fight the London traffic, I would drive us to the train station and we would take the "tube" into the city, where we planned on seeing London Tower, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, the Houses of Parliament, and a show in the Theatre district. Unbelieveably, we managed to see all of that, threw in a great pub dinner and pre-show desert, and it made for a highly successful, though at times trying, day.
We started with the Tower of London, because Mom told us that they lines to see the Crowned Jewels become ridiculous late in the day. Aside from the jewels, Cait was interested in the history of the imprisonment and execution of two of Henry's wifes and many high ranking royals during the Tudor period. This might have been our first and only real disappointment of the trip. The information at the Tower was sparce, we couldn't get in to see the tombs of Ann Bolynn and Catherine Howard (Henry's wives who were beheaded), many of the Crown Jewels were not out for display and there were school kids everywhere. Unlike the day before, many of these kids were not so well behaved. As a matter of fact, one particurally bad class seemed to keep showing up where we were, and by the time we were in the "Bloody Tower" learning about the murder of two young princes by their uncle, I was on my last nerve. There were stations throughout the tower where you could cast your opinion on a topic by pressing a series of buttons. They are designed to be easy to use and to keep crowds moving. Well, while trying to read about this uncle to had his nephews smothered there was a loud, repetitive click click click click click click in the room. It was one of the students from the class. His teacher was just standing and watching him...click click click click click. Everyone else in the room, being polite Brits, were, while muttering to each other, not confronting the child as well. I looked his direction and sort of shook my head. He ignored me....click click click click click. I sort of waved my hand in a gesture for him to stop. He still ignored me....click click click click click....over and over, banging on the voting button. Finally, I had had it, stared right at the little bugger and loudly (okay, maybe screamingly) said "STOP THAT NOW"!!!! He froze, eyes got big, and he rushed out of the room to find his teacher who had slithered away. I thought I might be in a bit of a jam with the polite Britsh crowd, but when I turned back at them, they were actually smiling in approval!
The little brat child did come back in, armed with his friends, but not a teacher. He sort of smirked at me, while his friends began banging on the buttons. Funny how positioning myself between them and the buttons and staring them down discouraged any further bad behavior and pretty soon the whole gang of little hoodlums ran off to bug someone else. Not only could I not believe how badly this class behaved, I couldn't believe how oblivious their teacher was to their disruptive behavior. Thank goodness for most of the teachers I know here, who not only care more about their students than that, but also care more about people in general.
While we were disapointed in many of the things at the tower, there were still parts that we loved. You could actually go into the areas where the prisoners were held, walking through the small passages, read the carvings in the walls that the prisoners had made. After all the stories that Cait had told us about this period of time, about the people who were persecuted and held prisoner there, it all really came to life and you could imagine what it might be like being a 17 year old girl who fell from grace and went from being Queen to being executed in days time.
After the tower, we got back on the tube and then walked our way around the center of the city, seeing all the sights we wanted to see, getting great half priced seats to see Billy Elliott and hopping on a double decker bus to spend the extra hour or so we had before the show, just checking out the city. Definitely the highlight of the night was the show. The kids who starred in it were adorable and amazingly talented, the theatre was old and gorgeous and our seats were perfect. It was the perfect ending to a great trip. Even the sort of creepy Italian man on the tube on the way home, hitting on Cait and trying to charm mom couldn't spoil that ending!
After finally getting to bed at 2:30 in the morning, we woke up early to get Cait on her flight home and then Mom and I went to return the car. Incidentally....the car was returned no worse for the wear from this US driver, even though the learner permits that Cait has stuck in the back windows created a bit of a stir, as apparently you aren't supposed to have them unless you really don't have a license. Oh well, no harm no foul....and perhaps the fair warning made people be a little more cautious around me.
It will be interesting to see how my thoughts about this trip evolve over the next week or so, as I get home and rested and back into a more normal routine. But I feel pretty safe in saying that this was an experience that will never be forgotten......and I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world to have gotten to share it with Mom and Cait
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