A Touch of England

London –
A spaghetti bowl of small, narrow, tightly woven streets, with major grid lock. It is very exciting to see the places that I have heard about my entire life. The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The River Thames,  Buckingham Palace, Saint Paul’s Cathedral along with many  turn -of the- century buildings, are truly magnificent.

For some reason, possibly becuase I have seen too many war movies, I did not expect so many of the older buildings to be standing. My first thought was that the Germans were bad shots. I took a City Tour on one of those London double-decker busses.

English Country Side
Cambridge is something to see, with its quaint colleges and village atmosphere. We visited an Angelsea Abbey with grounds which extend to 100 acres and Warwick Castle that dates back to the 11^th Century. As we travelled  Northeast we stopped at a village where the newest house was 200 years old and the church was 800 years old. The Cathedral at Lincoln was the biggest that I have seen but does not compare to the elegance of the Cathedral at York.

We stayed at a working sheep farm B&B on edge of the North York Moors National Parks with the traditional patchwork of stone-enclosed fields and a wonderful country B & B beside the Ure River. We have gotten lost several times on the narrow one lane backcountry roads and  have been through a number of small marvelous country villages.

We have seen wonderful historic Cathedrals, Minster’s and Abby ruins and a number of historic stately homes. However, on August 29^th I saw one to many Cathedrals.

Scotland –
Edinburgh is the most dynamic city yet. The visual impact of the castle and cathedral high on the cliff over looking the city is the most spectacular view I have seen in the UK. The river Firth of Fourth separates the 800-foot cliff that overlooks the city. The cliff runs about ¾ of a mile with the 15^th Century castle at one end and Holyrood Palace at the other. The buildings in between are government house, The Bank of Scotland and a couple of other large stately buildings. Hopefully the pictures will show this amazing view.

Driving south we went  through the beautiful Lake District and re-entered England. We stopped to see yet another stately mansion. On September 2nd I have now seen 1 too many mansions filled with dead people things, they are very old but still…