This is a trip report from a trip over 3 years ago?!

The truth is that the places I'm talking about here are still there today and I don't think they gonna disappear too soon.

Moreover, people who are interested can draw on my experience, as this has not happened before our age.

And I thought that this is the purpose of the report.

Day 9

In the morning we came down in the dining room and had breakfast. Of course, toast, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, fried eggs, etc., the yummy breakfast that we came to look forward to having every morning.

Our hosts were very attentive and both were cheerful, radiating joy and good spirits around them. At 9.30 am a minibus came to pick us up for the day trip that we had booked. We wanted to go on a trip to Yorkshire Dales.

We were taken through hills going down south for a little while, where we stopped in an old village, Sedbergh. Then we went up towards north, going only on country roads, permanently surrounded by dales and hills with free grazing sheep.

The villages were pretty, as if forgotten by time, with houses made of stones and with lots of flowers at their windows. We stopped many times on the way, the landscapes and villages were too beautiful and we took many pictures.

We stopped for lunch in the village of Reeth, in a superb landscape, surrounded by green hills. There was a hotel there as well, a two floors building, built probably at least 100 years before.

At the ground floor was a pub with the sign upside down, on purpose of course, but it was charming. We entered a tea house belonging to a family in the village.

The tea room was set up at the ground floor, and the furniture and interior decorations gave us the impression that we were indeed on a visit to someone’s house and not in a restaurant.

The atmosphere was intimate, nice, and serving was carried out by the owners themselves. We had already got used with the excellent soups in Great Britain, many of them with potatoes and leek, tomatoes and basil, carrots and other vegetables (we are vegetarians).

So we had such a soup and something else from their menu. We ended our meal with a very good hot chocolate. In the afternoon our guide took us further through the dales and hills in the area, passing through picturesque villages and streets so narrow that our minibus could hardly pass through.

We reached a rich forest area, where Aysgarth waterfall is hidden, on the river Ure. This waterfall is a smooth descent on a few dozen metres. At first the river falls a few steps, after which the water keeps flowing on a small distance and forms other three smaller falls.

This was a trip where we explored a big part of the Yorkshire Dales, a beautiful and quiet area, with a lot of vegetation, a small natural paradise in the north of England.

At about 5.30 pm we returned to Windermere and had enough time to explore the town. We went out for a walk and in less than half an hour we were done. There were just a few streets and the town very clean.

The houses were made of stones and almost all of them had flowers at their windows. If not at the windows, then for sure there were flowers at the entrance or in the small garden near the house.

This is a nice town, but except a few shops and restaurants, nothing much happens there. For more diversity one has to go to Bowness, a few kilometers away.

To be continued...

An interesting account and nice to see familiar things through another's eyes.

I do hope you got a bit more than you said in your full English breakfasts though! (no bacon? no sausages? unless you are veggie of course)

Also I was intrigued by your description of Tavistock as 'purely English'. What does this mean to you?

Gabriel, it's interesting that you liked the beans and toast so much. I kept asking my English friends why they eat it, and while there recently, one finally made me eat some for breakfast. I can't say it was bad, but I just couldn't justify using up the room in my stomach that could be better used for sausage and eggs.

What is it about them that you like? The ones I had were right out of the can, no special spices, on regular toast. But they do love it!

Thanks for the report on Scotland. Trying to plan a trip there next Spring.

sorry just seen the bit that says you are vegetarians...

Nona,

We did get soya sausages sometimes (which are very nice, indeed!) and that was quite a treat, since we didn't expect our hosts to go such a long way as to look and find them specially for us.

Our breakfasts were quite filling, as besides the much adored toast and beans, we had mushrooms, eggs, fries, tomatoes, yoghurts, butter, jams, etc.

To me, as a foreigner, a purely English town relates to the novels written by (and the places where they lived) Jane Austen, Bronte sisters and Charles Dickens, to the poems by Wordsworth, the classical BBC movies.

It relates to the not very colourful stone houses with gardens and many flowers at the windows or doors, to the English very green countryside, to the local pub serving "warm beer", to the typical English pub and store signs, with their so recognizable as English-type-of-writing characters (just look at how the pub's or store's name is written and the sign or arms beside it). It relates to the different-than-London accent, to the inner feeling that I get when I'm in an English small town environment...

And that day in Tavistock, even though we didn't see much of it, but only a few streets and we hit a pub for the local ale, where we had as company only a few locals scattered at a few tables, the feeling grew more on us.

There were no tourists there, therefore the town was unspoiled by intruders, so that very short time that we spent there gave us this impression.

It is what we, some foreigners, saw then and there.

Irishiningo,

I just love beans, be they right out of the can or not.

I don't know what it is... personal taste, I believe.

But as they say... 50 million people can't be wrong!

I had never had a breakfast like this before visiting UK. The very first time I had it I fell in love with it. I was looking forward to the next breakfast just to have those beans on toast, with all those tomatoes, mushrooms, sunny-side-ups, fries and the rest (we are vegetarians).

Mmmm, yummy!

Day 10

Next morning we had another day trip scheduled, this time in the Lake District. The minibus came to pick us up just before 10 o’clock. We passed through a few villages among valleys and hills and we had our first stop at Lake Ullswater, also known as the Queen of the Lakes.

The landscape was very beautiful and the lake hidden among hills. We left the minibus in a parking and went down a steep valley in a forest. There was the Aira Force waterfall.

After some time we continued our journey, all of us with eyes stuck to the windows, admiring the views. At a certain moment the road was climbing a hill and gradually some standing stones appeared on a wide meadow along the road, arranged in a large circle.

The minibus stopped in a parking lot and we got off. We were at the Castlerigg standing stones, 4000 years old, 37 stones.
They say that no visit to Britain is complete without visiting one of the stone circles.

These are such mysterious places. We went to the middle of the circle and took a few photos. We saw a few sheep wandering around. It was beautiful and quiet there in that stone circle in the hills. It was drizzling, but it didn’t matter.

We had our raincoats, hoods on top of our heads and enjoyed those moments. Finally, our guide signaled the departure and we continued our way through winding and quite crowded streets in the Lake District.

It was obvious that this region is a preferred tourist destination both for British and for foreigners, arrived there by the big buses or with their campervans.

We passed by many lakes, all with smooth shiny water in the sun light partially hidden in the clouds. The landscape was impressive. Sometimes the hills and lakes were in full glow from the sun light, and only a few minutes later they were engulfed by mist, changing completely their colours and looks.

We were absorbing this spectacle of nature with all our might. At lunch we stopped in Keswick, near Lake Derwentwater, in a splendid landscape. We walked for a while on the streets and found a crowded bakery.

We had already got used to the fact that the pastry products in UK are excellent, and the crowd in that bakery confirmed to us that they were selling something good.

Even at the door we were struck by the inviting smell of the various pies and we bought a few with vegetables and cheese. One of the best was the one with cheese and leek.

Keswick is a pretty market town, clean, quiet, with stone buildings with one or two floors and lots of flowers. After lunch the guide took us to Derwentwater, where a big boat was waiting for us to go on a lake cruise.

The wind was blowing, the sky was covered and every now and then drops were falling from the sky. We were again enthralled by the landscape.

The lake was surrounded by low mountains, and all around were small forests. After about half an hour we reached the other side of the lake, where the guide was waiting for us with the minibus.

We continued through hills, far from the main and crowded roads, stopping for photos a few times, last time at Moss Force waterfall, a slim winding thread of water that cut itself way through the rock on a not too steep slope.

We were again in an area with nobody else than our small group, of about 10 persons. It was just us and the nature, which was offering us a very beautiful view. After another stretch on a deserted road, an itinerary seemingly known only by our guide, we climbed a hill on a winding road through a forest and we reached a plateau with a parking lot.

We stopped there and the guide told us that he had a surprise view for us. We walked on a path through trees and reached the edge of a very steep slope.

The vegetation there was moving aside as if especially for us to be able to admire the landscape. It was indeed a surprise view. From where we had finished the cruise on Derwentwater, the guide took us on a side road where we had the opportunity to admire more beautiful nature, and we reached this place at the edge of a forest on a hill near the same lake.

From the spot where we were, we had in front of us the panorama of the entire area, we could see the entire lake with its small islands and hills surrounding it, the forests stretching all around the lake.

The views were superb, we could not stop taking pictures, we were charmed. We wanted to take all this landscape with us somehow, not to lose anything.

At a certain moment I noticed that we could climb a little higher on some rocks and I thought that maybe the views would be even wider, more beautiful from there, as there were no trees and branches to block the views.

I made the few steps there and yes... everything was wide open in front, the lake, the forests, I could see far, far in the distance. It was so beautiful there. We returned to the minibus and continued our trip.

We made another stop at Lake Thirlmere and took more pictures. The same beautiful landscape, with forests and hills surrounding the lake. On the way back we reached Grasmere and stopped briefly at Dove Cottage, where William Wordsworth lived between 1799-1808.

The house was right under a hill at the edge of a forest, surrounded by vegetation and almost covered by tree branches. Due to the short time we couldn't visit the house, but we had enough time to look around and buy a book about the life and works of the great poet.

We enjoyed this trip in the Lake District, where we saw many lakes, passed through mountain passes, stopped at two waterfalls and went on a lake cruise in a beautiful landscape.

It was a cure of natural splendors, hills and mountains (be they so low), waterfalls, lakes and forests.

To be continued...

Day 11

The clock rang loudly at about 6.30 am and with eyes half closed, we went to the railway station. We left for York and on the way we dozed a bit in the train, until about 10 am when we reached York and got off.

It was hot outside and the weather was beautiful, despite a few white scattered clouds passing above us every now and then. We left our luggage at the station and went to town.

York is full of history, one of the most fascinating cities that I have ever seen. At the beginning it was just a fortress built in 71AD by the 9th Roman Legion. Gradually, the fortress became an important city.

This is where Constantine the Great, who later founded Constantinople, became Roman Emperor in 306. The name of York comes from the Vikings, who named it Jorvik. The Norman rule lasted longer and the Normans transformed the city in a vital centre for ruling, commerce and religion in the northern area.

We first went to visit the National Railways Museum, the biggest railway museum in the world. We saw so many engines and railway equipment, all of them showing the history of the railways starting from Stephenson's Rocket, until the Eurostar.

Among other exhibits, we could see Mallard, the fastest steam engine in the world, and the Palaces on Wheels, royal saloon cars from the Victorian era. Inside those cars we noticed the bedrooms, dining rooms and sitting rooms, all sumptuous, palaces on wheels indeed.

The museum is huge, inside it we saw railways with trains on them from various periods. All of them were shining clean. In some places were coffee shops set up on like terraces on station pavements.

We were always among trains in a station. At one of the tracks, the museum organized a small theatre show, played only by a lady. The subject was the work at the railways during the war when men were on the front and women had to do this kind of work.

Before we left the museum we saw the famous Japanese train Shikansen, The Bullet Train. We went inside and were amazed at the way it looks inside. In a corner there was a TV set and the seating was so comfortable.

From there we went to the Art Gallery, an interesting museum with European and British works, among which Parmigianino, Sir Joshua Reynolds si Barbara Hepworth. From there we could see the Minster towers, the biggest Catholic cathedral in the north of Europe.

We cut our way through the crowds on the streets. At times we could see the towers among the roofs of the houses. We took a few pictures and beyond a corner of a house it came suddenly in front of us, in all its grandeur.

We were taken by surprise, even though we knew we were getting closer. A superb example of gothic architecture, the cathedral has been dominating the city for almost 800 years. We went inside.

We were in awe with admiration, looking all around us, the painted windows, the columns, the sculptures, the paintings... The cathedral is famous for its biggest collection of mediaeval painted windows.

The sculptures and bas-reliefs were impressive. How much time it must have taken, how much work and what kind of skills the artists of the time must have had, in order to create such works of art.

Photographing inside was not allowed, but you could get a permit against a tax. I bought a permit and took pictures: painted windows, lots of them, paintings, architecture, sculptures, painted ceilings with decorations in wood or gypsum.

We had pains in our necks from looking up for so long. The windows didn't draw our attention only because of the paintings, but also because of their shape, size and especially the ornaments sculpted in their stone structure.

At many of them the glass was very small, but still painted each window being like a jewel. We walked through the naves, passed by the choir, saw the altar, and everything was a splendour.

We especially liked the choir, with beautiful wooden panels and the superb 5300 tubes organ. We went down into the crypt and found ourselves in the middle of the ruins of the Roman fortress Eboracum, the sculpted columns of the former 11th century Norman cathedral and sculpted 7th century Anglo-Saxon tomb stones.

The Treasury was there as well, with both religious and laic objects, from the 11th century until today. We went out of the cathedral and admired it from the outside. We liked it so much that we couldn't help looking at it.

This is one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I visited.
Close to the Minster is the Shambles, the oldest intact mediaeval street and one of the best preserved in Europe, over 900 years old.

Once on this street we had the feeling of going back in time to Elizabethan times. The houses were crammed with the storeys jutting outside above the street, as if trying to join the neighbouring ones, on the other side of the street.

Many houses were even bent somehow, inclined, as if ready to collapse. In some places the street was so narrow that I thought that if I stretched my arms I could touch the houses on both sides.

I didn't try it, as it was very crowded. The name of Shambles comes from Saxon, "Fleshammels", the Butcher's Street. Here was the meat market and the meat was placed on the window sills.

The butchers shops have been replaced now by tourist shops, including jewels and antiques. Now Shambles has become one of the most important commercial areas of York. Walking through this area was a pleasant experience.

It was funny how the houses looked like in a children game, but we also appreciated their historic value and their unusual, unique aspect, indeed. We continued our walk through the town and reached the Viking Jorvik Museum, which is just in the same place where the archeological site was.

During the digging they discovered houses and workshops, tools and clothes of a civilization that lay buried for 1000 years. The visit to this museum was another travel back in time, but of an entirely different nature.

We went with a small wagon on rails that took us on a route inside the museum, where everything was set up so as to present the life in the Viking city of Jorvik as it was during those times.

As we were going further inside, the scenes kept changing. There were scenes from the house yard, animals, people doing various chores, and thus, depending on what was displayed, we heard noises and smelled odours: a market, a few dark houses, a lady cook was preparing food, the blacksmith, a stable with animals.

In the archeological section of the museum, besides hundreds of objects that were discovered, we saw streets re-made as they were during the Vikings times, with 10th century buildings in the same place where they were discovered.

For enhancing the experience and especially for children, here and there were people dressed in Viking clothes, each being part of a scene either in front of a house, or in a workshop.

After we finished the visit to Jorvik Museum, an interesting and nice experience, we went for a walk in town, as we still had enough time till we had our train to London at 7.30 pm.

While walking we reached a hill on top of which there was a tower. This was Clifford's Tower, built by William the Conqueror. In 1190 here took place one of the most terrible events in the history of York.

The Jews in York took shelter in the tower, after an attack against them by a local organization. They were made to choose between being baptized and being killed. They preferred mass suicide and put themselves to fire.

The original wooden tower burned down and the present construction was made by Henry III in the 13th century. The name of Clifford comes from Roger of Clifford, who was hanged there in 1322.

We went through other areas of the city as well, took more photos and went to the station. At 7.30 pm we took the train to London and after two hours we got off at King's Cross. From there we took the underground to our hotel.

Our room was reserved at Queensway Hotel, close to Paddington Station, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. We got off the subway at Paddington Station and after 5 minutes walking we were at our hotel. We got our room and dead tired we dropped down in bed.

To be continued...

Day 12

Next morning, a Sunday, we had our breakfast and went for a walk in Hyde Park. It was very hot, even though it was around 9 o'clock. We walked in the shade of the big leafy trees along the boulevard, by the Kensington Gardens.

Several artists displayed their works on the park's fences. In Hyde Park there is a place where every Sunday morning at 9 o'clock, lots of people gather to listen to speakers. The place is called Speakers Corner.

There are several persons coming out there with portable ladders, stools, etc., climb on them and start talking. Some have posters or boards with them, with some mottoes, sayings or personal beliefs written, some are dressed in a funny way, with a clown cap for example.

Some bring their speeches ready from home, some speak whatever comes to their minds, and if nobody interrupts them with a question, they keep talking. We reached that place shortly after 9 and it was already crowded.

We took our precautions not to be pickpocketed, and mingled with the crowds. At every 20-25 metres there was a speaker and in front of him or her a few dozens persons were listening.

Some were interrupting for a question or to contradict the speaker, and if the man in the crowd was not satisfied with the answer, hot arguments arose.

Some speakers even allow some persons in the crowd to come in front and climb their ladder or stool, but only for a short period of time and only if the respective person has the same views as the speaker.

Generally, however, the speakers are well enough informed about the topics, opinions, beliefs or view points that they bring up in their speeches, and it is very difficult to argue successfully with someone.

The subjects brought up by the speakers are quite varied: religion, politics, sex, social themes, workers oppression, benefits of Marxism, etc. We walked from an open-mouthed group to another and then we were in front of a woman who spoke... to nobody.

She had her own little white portable ladder with three steps, and she stood on the first step and kept talking, even though there was nobody there to listen. And she was talking heartily, with a lot of soul, trying to convince the listeners present only in her mind.

Later I found out that this woman's name was Diana. She spoke about the belief in God.

These speakers gave us the impression of some frustrated people coming to Hyde Park on a Sunday morning to tell about their sorrows, in a civilized way, however. This experience was interesting and even amusing, seeing so many people gathered there to listen what one or another has to say.

At a first glance, that would seem like a place where crack-minded people gather, but I think that it is rather a place where the democratic right to personal opinion is freely exercised.

We spent about half an hour listening to some of the speakers, then we left to visit Sherlock Holmes House Museum. On Baker Street we stopped for a photo with the street sign.

We reached no. 221B, this address so famous around the world, and took a few pictures in front of the house. We discovered the rooms the way we knew them from Dr. Watson's descriptions.

At the entrance was the souvenir shop, then we reached a dark hallway. In a hanger by the door were a cloak and a hat. The great detective must be home, we thought. We climbed to the first floor and we saw the study room shared by Holmes and Watson.

Then we saw Holmes's bedroom. At the second floor was doctor Watson's bedroom, and next to it was Mrs. Hudson's room, the owner of the house.

In every room were objects and decorations as mentioned in Conan Doyle's stories, as well as wax characters representing various scenes. On tables we saw scattered newspapers, magazines, photos and books of the time.

We saw Sherlock Holmes's detective kit, took his pipe and puffed it looking through the magnifying glass at some evidence on the table in front of me. We took a picture with the maid, dressed in a period costume.

At a window was a small table ready for dinner for two persons. In one of the rooms we saw Holmes's violin, lying on a velvet stool. Before we went out we also met Professor Moriarty, Holmes's great enemy.

Near to Sherlock Holmes House we saw an Elvis and a Beatles shop. In the Elvis shop we didn't find something of interest, we were even disappointed by the poor range they had on offer.

In the Beatles shop, however, we found a wider range of products and my wife bought herself a T-shirt with the cover of the Abbey Road record in front, when the Fab Four were crossing the street.

Then we walked till we reached Abbey Road, not far from there.

To be continued...

The Abbey Road Experience

We walked on Park Road and then we were at the most famous pedestrian crossing in the world, the place where the Beatles crossed the street themselves on the cover of their album.

My wife put on her new T-shirt with the Abbey Road crossing in front, and we got ready for a crossing-the-street photo session. We knew from home what was the spot and angle to take the exact photo on the album cover.

There were other tourists there as well, crossing feverishly the street and taking their pictures on the crossing, to the desperation of the drivers who had to wait and look at every tourist how they took their famous photo.

This crossing is quite crowded with traffic, cars were passing by continuously and it was difficult to find a moment when no cars were around.

We had to dare, though, otherwise we would have spent the whole day there, and moreover, tourists kept coming at an alarming rate and there were already more who came after us, waiting impatiently on the pavement for their turn.

I took my position in the middle of the street and my wife started to cross. I saw cars stopped for her to cross. Behind me I felt other cars stopping to wait for me to take the picture.

My wife at least was on the crossing, but I was in the middle of the junction, on the street, in full traffic. I thanked the drivers with a hand salute. But I wasn't the only one.

The others had to take the same position. This show could look like a madness, something utterly funny to the unaware. There were so many people waiting to cross the street through that place, but nobody did it for any other purpose than to take the picture in the middle of the street.

I tried to imagine the terror through which the drivers were going, having to wait for every tourist to cross the street, one by one, simply to take the photo on that crossing.

We took photos also on the stairs at the entrance in the Abbey Road Studios, then we returned to Hyde Park.

To be continued...

We looked for a place for lunch and found an Italian restaurant. We took a table by the window and ordered some pasta. At a certain moment we saw someone passing by our window with a small portable ladder and a bag.

We were sure that he was going to Hyde Park, Speakers Corner. After the meal we went there once more, in our way to Kensington Gardens and Palace. It was even more crowded now. We looked for the woman who in the morning was talking without an audience.

Diana was now surrounded by many people and still talking. It was around 2 pm and we had passed by that place in the morning at about 9.30. We walked on the alleys of Hyde Park heading towards Kensington Gardens.

These two parks are practically stuck to one another, being separated by an alley. Shortly after reaching Kensington Gardens, we found a place with several gardens, flower arrangements and kinetic fountains: the Italian Gardens.

It was a very beautiful place, the gardens being decorated with sculptures and stone pots, and we didn't miss the chance of taking more pictures.

We continued our walk and reached a lake with swans and wild ducks. On the grass were a lot of people, most of them basking in the sun. Several children were at the lake shore feeding the swans and wild ducks, who were coming fearlessly to the shore.

We took several beautiful pictures with the gracious and elegant swans. From there we could already see Kensington Palace, the next place that we wanted to visit that day.

This palace has been for over 300 years the residence of some of the most famous kings and queens of Great Britain. In the 19th century, Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace.

A part of it is still a residence of the Royal Family.
We visited the State Apartments, climbing on the Great King's Stair, made of marble in a grandiose style. The walls were covered with painted panels at the top and decorated with trophies, masks and gilded sea horses.

The ceiling was designed to give the impression of a dome with balconies from where the people look down towards the stair. We visited about 15 rooms till we finished the State Apartments, and each room was sumptuously decorated but different from one another, each had a distinct style.

The walls were covered with painted panels or paintings, the ceilings were painted or superbly decorated. We could admire tapestries, embroideries, furniture, sculptures, objects of art.

We kept rotating our eyes around us, what we were seeing was splendid. Also in the State Apartments at the ground floor is the Royal Collection of Ceremonial Dresses, including garments worn by the members of the Royal Family, officials and dignitaries with ceremonial roles, members of the chivalric orders and courtiers.

There are also dresses worn by Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales. The most impressive pieces in the collection were the coronation dresses, each of them representing a beautiful combination of splendid decorations, formality and fashion.

We also saw dresses worn by princesses at weddings. We came out of the palace and entered the gardens. They were not too big, but we liked the floral arrangements, water basins and fountains.

Next to the gardens was the Orangery, built specially for Queen Anne in 1704-1705. On the alley in the orangery the squirrels wandered around joyfully. From the trees they went down on the alley, ran around a bench then disappeared again into the trees.

From Kensington Palace we went for a walk through town. We passed by the big Royal Albert Hall, then saw the Albert Monument in Hyde Park, a beautiful statue of Prince Albert in a huge gothic altar, lots of sculpted angels and virtues, separate groups representing the continents, industrial arts ad sciences.

By the time we reached Harrod's it was past 6pm and it was closed. We looked at the timings and decided to pay a visit one of the following days. We ended our evening with a beer at Hard Rock Café, the first one that opened in the world, in 1971.

To be continued...

Day 13

In the morning we left for Leeds Castle. From Victoria Station we took a train to Maidstone, a small place lost in the beautiful green landscape of Kent.

A minibus was waiting for the tourists going to the castle and in about 15 minutes we were there. From the main entrance we walked on an alley that led us to a clearing on the shores of a lake, a quiet place where many wild ducks, geese and other water birds dwelled.

Nearby was an old cedar, from where the castle appeared in front of us like a gem. The alley took us further through a forest along a river and we reached a house with a garden full of flowers.

From there we had another superb view of the castle. We thought that that castle looked beautiful. We got nearer to the medieval gate and stopped at the ruins of the fortress, on a piece of land crossing the moat.

We looked along the canal and saw several white and black swans, a symbol of this castle. We passed the gate and finally we had the castle a few meters in front of our eyes.

Inside we traveled back in time, starting with the 12th century cellars to the rooms of a medieval queen and Henry VIII's Banquet Hall with the beautiful ebony floor. Among the rooms that we liked best was the one of Queen Catherina de Valois (1401-1437), the last queen who owned the castle.

Leeds Castle was one of the palaces of King Henry VIII, whose portrait hangs on one of the walls in the Banquet Room, which at 22 metres long is the biggest room in the castle. Henry VIII used the castle only as a stopping point on his travels to France.

He invested big amounts of money to transform it in a castle to rival the beauty of the French ones. A special contrast were Lady de Baillie rooms. The bedroom was completely blue, the walls covered with blue panels with a few hidden doors.

The furniture was 18th century and one of the items that drew our attention was an elegant Louis XV table dating from 1760, with gilded bronze decorations, painted with black and red lacquer.

The bathroom was sumptuous, with onyx decorated walls, and towels embroidered with two black swans. We went through a corridor connecting the old with the new castles. In the Yellow Drawing Room, we noticed a big Tiepolo painting, "Punchinello's Kitchen", in which the characters were three masked men.

Then the Thorpe Hall followed, a beautiful room with English and French 18th century furniture. Wooden panels covered the walls and on these were four gilded bronze chandeliers, decorated with two-legged, winged dragons.

Passing another corridor, we reached the Library, a big room with shelves as tall as the ceiling and full of books. This room was plainly decorated, with just a few small tables and armchairs, some Chinese and Japanese 18th century vases, a few fresh flowers vases and a nice fire place in beige and brown patterns, matching perfectly the rest of the room.

Across the Library we saw the Dining Room, where a William IV mahogany table made a beautiful contrast with the white Louis XIV chairs. The carpet was decorated with ivory colour floral patterns.

After we finished the visit inside the castle, we went to see the gardens, outside the moat. We were again at the castle gate to cross the canal and to follow the path towards the gardens.

At the gate we stopped to see an exhibition with the biggest dog collar collection in the world, of which the oldest was 400 years. We then stopped on the canal bank and fed a few swans, who began to fight among themselves over the pieces of scones that my wife gave them.

After a little while, a majestic elegant black swan also came by. The gardens were beautiful with so many colourful flowers. Then we visited the exotic birds garden, with hundreds of beautifully coloured birds, many of them rare.

We stopped for a coffee at one of the terraces next to the gardens. At a certain moment a group of little wild ducks was passing through the crowds of tourists there. Mother duck was the first, followed by about 10 ducklings.

They were so cute and my wife couldn't help taking one in her hand. She held it lovingly and wanted to kiss it. At that moment, mother duck started to pick and hit at my wife's foot to release her little baby.

It must have thought that my wife wanted to eat her duckling! When she let it down, mother duck stopped. It was such a nice and touching moment.

Then we descended towards the canal bank, where the beautiful terrace garden of Lady de Baillie was. We sat on a bench and admired the green fields over the garden.

Later we hurried and even ran to catch the minibus at the entrance at the fixed time. We had about 1 km to go, but on return, pressed by time as well, the way seemed longer. We reached the parking lot just when the minibus was leaving and waved my hand desperately.

I still had about 50 metres when the driver stopped. He reprimanded us for the delay, but in the end it was good we caught him, otherwise we would have waited one more hour.

From Maidstone we took a train to Canterbury to visit the cathedral. From the station we walked through town.

We saw many houses with one floor, some painted in white with black timbers crossing their facades, making triangular and square patterns. The town was nice and unexpectedly crowded.

We reached the cathedral, the cradle of the English Christianity and also the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England.

The first church on this place was built in 597 by St. Augustin, who was sent by Pope Grigorius the Great to convert the English pagans.

The cathedral became famous on the death of Archbishop Thomas Becket, a critic of King Henry's judicial reforms, even though the king was the one who helped him become archbishop.

Henry was against the priests privilege to be judged by church tribunals. Thomas Becket fled to France and then returned to his diocese, where he was welcomed with acclamations by the crowds.

They say that the king exclaimed furiously: "Who's gonna rid me of this rebel priest?" Then, four knights interpreted Henry's words by the letter and left immediately for Canterbury.

Thomas retrieved inside the cathedral, was chased by the knights and killed. One of the sword strikes was so violent, that it split the archbishop crown in two and broke the tip of the sword.

The murder took place on 29 December 1170, while the monks were singing during the evening service. Thomas Becket was canonized in 1173, and after Henry II wept publicly at his grave in 1174, the cathedral became one of the most important altars of Christendom.

The cathedral was immense and impressive. We liked the architecture, the beautiful archs and windows with their sculptures.

On the outside it was full of bass-reliefs, complicated and diverse decorations sculpted to the smallest detail, like calligraphy.

We were impressed even more by the interior, where besides the statues, decorations and paintings, the painted windows drew our attention more.

We took a few pictures of the superb works of art. Most of the windows were painted with biblical characters and scenes. One of the most famous tombs in Canterbury Cathedral is Edward's, the Black Prince, the elder son of King Edward III. His tomb is next to Thomas Becket's.

We walked around the cathedral, then on the streets, stopping in a few shops. We discovered a few superb gardens, full of flowers. At around 7pm we took a train back to London.

We were too tired to go anywhere else and went straight to bed.

To be continued...

Day 14

Next morning we woke up very early, at around 5am. We had to reach Bath in time for a day trip scheduled to leave from there. The train was leaving from Paddington station, 3 minutes walking from our hotel, which was very good.

The meeting in Bath was at 8.45 and we got off the train at around 7.40am. We had one hour to make it to the meeting place and we walked around town.

At that early morning hour passers-by were rare and hurried. We reached the town centre, at the beautiful Bath Abbey. At around 8am a bakery opened nearby and we bought a few puffs and pies filled with cheese and vegetables, for our breakfast.

We found a bench and savoured these pastries that the Brits proved to be very good at preparing. At 8.45 a MadMax minibus came, with whom we were going on the trip. The driver-guide got off and did the roll call.

We were about 14 tourists there, and the first one to be called was me, for them to make sure I made it in time from London. We got on the minibus, took our seats and after a short presentation we left on our trip.

The first destination of the day was Stonehenge, the most important pre-historic monument in Britain. We were still in the minibus on the road when we saw the standing stones somewhere far on the right.

A strange feeling got on us. We were at Stonehenge, this unique and so mysterious monument. We took an audio-guide from the visitors centre, on the other side of the road.

We crossed through an underground tunnel and reached the entrance inside the monument space. The road was so near, that for a moment we thought that it is not fair for this pre-historic temple to be disturbed by the modern world technology.

The cars speeding by at only 30-40 meters away created a discordant note. However, with our headphones on our ears, we could easily ignore this fact.

The history and significance of the standing stones positioning captivated us immediately. We were following the arrows on a path, stepping slowly around the monument, stopping here and there, as we were guided in our headphones.

What we saw at Stonehenge are the ruins of the final stage of construction. When it was finished, the temple was formed of a stone circle with a stone beam over them, that surrounded a standing stones arrangement in the shape of a horse shoe.

In building this monument, some amazing feats were achieved. At around 2600 BC, they brought from Preseli Mountains in Wales, at 385 km distance, some stones weighing 4 tonnes each.

About 300 years later they began to transport the Sarsen Blocks, huge sandstone blocks, each weighing between 25-45 tonnes, from a distance of 30km. This is one of the greatest human achievements in pre-history.

Given the sizes and weights of the stone blocks, and the primitive means of transportation and lifting, Stonehenge represents one of the most remarkable achievements of the pre-historic peoples in Europe.

From Stonehenge we went on country roads, passing through villages and military zones, where on the side of the road we saw signs like "Beware of tanks!"... OK, OK... "Attention! Tanks passing!"

To be continued...

Our next stop was at the stone circle of Avebury. This is a less known megalithic monument, but is 14 times larger than Stonehenge and about 500 years older. The lack of advertisement contributed to maintaining its status as hidden jewel.

Inside this stone circle the village of Avebury was formed. The circle has a 1.5 km circumference and the stone blocks here weigh between 10 – 60 tonnes.

We entered one of the sections of the circle, which was divided in four by the junction between the main road and the village street. Many of the stones had been buried in the Middle Ages to hide them from the Church.

One of the stones in this circle is called the Barber's Stone, where a tragedy took place in those times. While this block was pushed down in a hole (Church reason), one man was caught under it.

Much too heavy to be lifted, the huge stone block was left there and buried. After about 600 years the stone was lifted again and the skeleton was discovered. Next to it there was an iron rod, scissors and 3 silver coins.

These objects show that probably the man was a barber-surgeon and since then the stone has had this name.

We explored the rest of the section and crossed the quite busy main road to see the other sections of the circle. After that we walked a little through the village and admired a few nice thatched roof houses.

At about 1.5 km away is Silbury Hill, 4800 years old, the biggest construction made in the pre-historic Europe. Its construction took longer than Stonehenge and its purpose is one of the great unsolved mysteries.

We continued our journey through Wiltshire and noticed several white horses sketched on hills in the distance. These figures are typical to this county. Scratched in the chalky soil of the hillside, the horses are very visible and contrast strongly with the rich green of the landscape.

We stopped for a few minutes at Cherhill White Horse, 300 years old, a creation of an eccentric doctor in a village nearby.

Our next stop was the village of Lacock. Most of the houses here date from the 13-18th centuries. The village hasn’t changed much in the past 200 years. The movie Pride and Prejudice was shot here.

We bought something to eat from a grocery and even though it started to rain, we preferred to walk on the alleys in the village.

It was a striking contrast between the nice looking cars parked on the alleys and the so old houses (however looking well maintained). We liked very much this clean and beautiful village.

We were already on the way back to Bath when we stopped in the village of Castle Combe, in a valley covered by a forest. It was still raining, but again we didn’t hesitate to walk through the village. Castle Combe gave us the impression of a jewel village.

All around the hills were covered with forests and the houses looked like in fairy tales. We returned to Bath at around 4.30 pm and remained there for a little exploration of this beautiful city.

We walked on the streets and admired the elegant stone buildings from the Georgian period. Bath has remained almost the same as it was during the times when Jane Austen lived there, between 1801-1806.

We visited the Jane Austen Centre, an exhibition showing the 5 years spent by the writer in Bath. From there we walked to the Roman Baths, right next to the abbey. We entered the magnificent reception hall. We bought the tickets and took an audio guide.

We looked around and noticed the beautiful domed ceiling, painted with images showing the four seasons. We reached the Grand Bath, surrounded by statues of Roman governors in Britannia, emperors and military leaders.

It may seem incredible, but the Roman Baths were discovered only at the end of the 19th century. A big part of them stretch under the neighbouring streets and buildings and we were surprised to find out how wide is this place.

We passed by the Sacred Spring, from where the water flows at 46 degrees Celsius. Here were found rolled lead and tin leaves, with curses written on them and thrown in the spring, where the spirit of goddess Sulis Minerva dwelt.

This was a goddess with healing powers and her statue was there. We saw the water flow and drain equipment, a proof of the Roman engineers’ ingenuity. The Roman Baths were used for 400 years.

We enjoyed our visit there, a place definitely worth the time spent. Before we left for the station, we sat on a bench in front of the abbey, admiring its beautiful architecture and taking in some of the evening silence.

We returned late to London, at about 10.30 pm, and went straight to our hotel, tired after a long day. We fell asleep very fast that night, but next morning we didn’t have to wake up early.

To be continued...

Day 15

The day has welcomed us with a nice weather. The sky was partly covered with white clouds, but it was very hot. We left in the morning towards the Thames and bought tickets for a cruise to Greenwich.

Unfortunately, among the tourists who joined the same cruise was a big noisy group of Greek youngsters. They behave as if they were alone on the deck, pushing themselves in front for the best photographing positions, they didn't care about the other tourists around, disturbing everyone with their behaviour.

We moved farther away from them, but they kept shouting and talking loudly, they could be heard everywhere on that boat. We ignored them as much as we could and tried to enjoy the views.

We took several pictures when the boat passed by famous sites in London, such as Westminster and Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral, Globe Theatre, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

After about an hour we reached Greenwich. Next to the area where we got off was the Cutty Sark tea clipper, built in 1869 and used for the transport of tea from India and wool from Australia.

We didn't have time to visit the ship, as we had too many other things to do that day. We went to the Observatory, at the top of a hill. The air temperature had increased in the mean time, the heat was hard to bear.

It was the beginning of an unusual heat wave that was to affect London for the next few weeks. We entered the premises at the Observatory and walked towards the Meridian Line.

Above the line was an electronic clock. Inside the building we visited the Time Gallery, where we saw a collection of clocks, watches and other time measurement instruments, some of them hundreds of years old.

Then we entered Harrison Gallery, where we saw the first maritime device of time measurement, built in the 1700s. We climbed to the top of the observation tower and we could see all around us till far away.

We visited other rooms as well, with exhibits showing the history of the development of astronomy and time measurement. We saw telescopes, navigation instruments, images with stars and galaxies.

After more than two hours we took a train back to London. We changed with a subway and went to the Natural History Museum, one of the best in the world. We saw huge dinosaur skeletons and even a Tyranosaurus Rex.

In other halls and galleries we saw the effects that humans have over the planet and its evolution. Among other exhibits we saw minerals, precious stones, and we even tried an earthquake simulator.

When we entered the Life Galleries, we were welcomed by a huge dinosaur, the Diplodocus, 26 metres length. In these galleries we explored the human biology, we saw the stages of natural selection according to Darwin and a life size model of a blue whale.

There were rooms where you could experiment too. We passed by some big mirrors that deformed the image. Thus, a mirror made our legs very long and compressed our bodies, and next to it another mirror compressed our legs and extended our bodies.

Next to the Natural History Museum, after crossing a side street, is Victoria & Albert Museum, the biggest design and decorative arts museum in the world.

We entered a big hall, where a spectacular chandelier drew our attention. It was made of glass in various colours, in a shape like some ribbons hanging loosely from the ceiling.

In this hall were served some alcoholic drinks, by the glass, juice and water, and in a corner a quartet played a medley of classical music and jazz.

It wasn’t like in a bar, but more like a place where one could take a break from visiting the museum. All around were chairs, so people could sit down and listen to the music, share opinions and impressions.

We bought a glass of wine each and sat down for a few minutes to listen to the music and admire the interior decorations. The museum covers a period of 3000 years in a great variety of collections of objects and works of art from around the world.

We saw collections of ceramics, furniture, fashion, glass, gold and silver objects and jewels, photography, sculpture, textiles, Flemish tapestries and paintings.

In Raphael Gallery we saw 7 works by the great master, made for the tapestries at the Sistine Chapel. Then there was the National Collection of Paintings by Constable and the British Gallery displaying Britain's history in art and design.

When we finished the visit at this museum it was very late (long opening hours) and we returned to our hotel.

To be continued...

Day 16

This morning we didn’t wake up too early. At about 9 o’clock we went to Madame Tussaud wax museum. To our surprise, it was not crowded so we decided to go in.

Even though we saw many well known characters, music and movie stars, famous writers and artists, we thought that this museum was less attractive and spectacular compared to the one that we had visited in Amsterdam.

When we came out of the museum we noticed the statue of Sherlock Holmes and took a picture with it. From there we went to Baker Street subway station, the oldest in the world, dating from 1863.

The old entrance gate was still there with the same writing like 140 years before. We reached British Museum, so old and so famous all around the world.

We entered the Great Hall, a huge hall right in the middle of the museum. From there we could access all the galleries and exhibition halls, as they were positioned all around.

In the middle of the hall was a round and impressive room, with a huge dome and walls covered with tall shelves full of books. This was the Round Library, open for anyone who wanted to read there.

The museum houses collections from all over the world, beginning from pre-historic times till the present day. We saw antiquities from Egypt and the Near East, coins and medals, Greek and Roman antiquities, Japanese and other Oriental antiquities.

Other collections included gold objects from South America, folk art from the Maldives, drawings by Rembrandt, Hindu religious objects.

We were fascinated by the Egyptian mummies, we saw the Rosetta Stone, that helped decipher the hyerogliphs, we admired sculptures from Partenon and Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It was late afternoon when we left the museum. We had had our lunch at one of the restaurants inside. We went to Trafalgar Square, saw Nelson’s Column, lingered around and took pictures.

It was full of people there and we watched the crowds, the heavy traffic, and the famous red one-storey buses. From Trafalgar Square we walked towards Westminster, passed by the Whitehall and reached Downing Street no. 10, the British Prime Minister’s residence.

Forged iron gates blocked the access from the street and two policemen were guarding the place. We took two pictures with the gates and the street sign, right near the two policemen, who didn’t say a word.

We reached Westminster, the Houses of Parliament and took more pictures. Big Ben showed 7.30. We crossed the bridge over the Thames and went to London Eye, the big wheel taking you 135 metres above London. We were happy to find out it was not crowded.

We bought two tickets and climbed into one of the cabins. We were lifted slowly above London. In the same cabin with us were two Italian couples, who behaved as if the cabin was theirs only.

Besides the fact that they were noisy, talking and laughing loudly, as soon as a new sight appeared at a window, they were going all four of them together to take pictures, covering the view completely.

We managed to sneak through a few times and took our pictures as well. We saw London’s panorama in all its splendour. The Thames was winding below us, the bridges were there in the distance, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben looked superb a little farther on the other bank, we had a beautiful view of St. Paul’s Cathedral’s dome in the distance.

From London Eye we left for the Tower of London, where we had booked for a special show: Ceremony of the Keys. At 9.30 pm sharp we had to be at the gate.

Admission is free, but you have to send an envelope with your postal address and reply stamp included, with at least two months in advance, in which you request entrance tickets, the name of the persons and the date when you want to visit.

The ticket is then sent to the given address and no changes are accepted, or delays after 9.30 pm. We were at the gate at about 9.10pm. There weren’t many people there, but as the time came nearer it became more crowded.

Anyway, the group size every evening is limited. At about 9.20 we had a shock, as I forgot where I had kept the tickets. I checked my pockets and couldn’t find them.

I knew that I had them with me, that I took them that morning when we left the hotel, but now I simply couldn’t find them! In fact, I had placed them in my money belt.

This money belt is so secret, that I even forgot about the tickets. I even spoke to one of the guards and told him about the problem, suggesting to him that he could confirm that I had two tickets if he checked the list for that day.

He told me that it was OK and I should be patient till they opened the gate. Then an idea struck my mind and checked the money belt in another compartment and felt the tickets there. We breathed with great relief, especially my wife, who was the embodiment of fury and desperation.

The Ceremony of the Keys represents the traditional locking of the Tower of London for the night. It is one of the oldest and most colourful ceremonies of this kind, which has taken place continuously for 700 years, almost in the same way as today.

The population living nearby didn’t always agree with the activities inside the tower, and because enemies of the king could try to save the prisoners or steal the Crown Jewels, the need for security was great.

In 1826 the Duke of Wellington ordered that the time of the ceremony to be fixed at 10 every evening, to make sure that his soldiers were all inside before locking the gates.

Before it started, the Chief Guard informed us about the way it was going to be, what we were supposed to do, how to behave and what to expect. During the ritual, he waved his hands at us when we had to follow behind the guards, in order to be able to see and hear what was going on.

The ceremony was interesting, something unusual of course, and we liked it. After that we were escorted outside and returned to our hotel.

To be continued...

More fantastic descriptions Gabriel, thank you. You put us Brits to shame with the depth of your knowledge and your deep appreciation of everything. If I were ever to plan a tour of the UK, I think I would use your trip report as a guide !

Small point of information : York Minster is not a Catholic church, it's Church of England and the seat of the Archbishop of York (number 2 in the CoE after the Archbishop of Canterbury). Although of course all churches of that age were originally Catholic !

Thank you, Caroline, for your appreciation, and also for the clarification re York Minster. I never thought that it's CoE.

I like to put down details of how I see and how I feel about what I see. This is how I understand to tell about something I've seen, not just that I've seen it and gone to the next, but the impact it had on me.

Sometimes, when I see that I linger too long over a visited site, I think that many would just disregard that and skip reading.

But then I think again that there might be people who would like to know what it is like to visit the respective place, and they might be interested to know about it in details.

So I side with the latter.

Seven days left from my report...