After a long overnight flight, Diane, Trish and Louie arrived at Heathrow. We all got a car and immediately drove 130 miles north to Beeley in Derbyshire
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After a long overnight flight, Diane, Trish and Louie arrived at Heathrow. We all got a car and immediately drove 130 miles north to Beeley in Derbyshire |
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"The Nook" is Diane's favorite cottage and location while visiting England. It's in a small village owned by the Duke of Devonshire and was exclusively for his workers until recently when he began selling off some of the cottages. |
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After settling in and tasting our first fish and chips with mushy peas we went for a walk on nearby Stanton Moor which had just begun to get blooms on the heather. |
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The "Cork Rock" is one of its features, looking like the cork out of a champagne bottle |
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The side has metal hand-holds in the side, so Peter had to have a go at climbing it, of course. |
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The main attraction on the moor is the "Nine Ladies'" stone circle. Legend has it that a strict parson came to the village in the middle ages, discovered a group of ladies were dancing at midnight on the moor. He told them that it was sinful and that they would turn to stone if they continued. Guess what they did. |
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Another custom is Well Dressing. Wells were an important resource from time immemorial and the pagans worshiped at the well. When the Christians took over they merely transformed the worship into a custom - creating religious pictures at the well by using individual petals, leaves, cones and other natural items embedded in wet clay. Each village with a well does this at some time from March to October. |
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We visited Bolton Abbey about 50 miles to the North. Trish is demonstrating what to wear in the mid-July English summer as she stands in front of a pub and a store that sells ancient books |
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The abbey, incidentally owned by the same Duke who owns Beeley, dates back to 1120. It was ruined in 1540 when Henry VIII fell out with the pope and formed the Church of England - he destroyed most Catholic possessions. The falling out was over marriages. Henry wanted to divorce his wife. The Pope said no. The result was beheaded wives and a Church of England headed by the King instead of a Catholic Church headed by the Pope |
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The church is still in use and the local people are buried here… |
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… including a Schofield who is not related as far as we know |
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Trish found a real genuine English phone booth. Yes, it's real. Yes it works. But, yes, it is becoming gradually extinct |
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Another trip was to Nottingham to see the castle. You remember Robin Hood and his Merry Men? |
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The view from the top was great… |
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…and perhaps a little dizzying. |
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The legend of Robin Hood is carried out in statuary beneath the walls. When Peter was at University in Nottingham this particular statue frequently lost its arrow. Eventually they figured out a way to secure it. |
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Here is Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale with Maid Marion |
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The castle is built on very soft rock and lots of caves are cut into it, including a pub which was founded when the third crusade was launched in 1189. |
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The inside has multiple rooms cut into the rock… |
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.. And a few antiques including this chair which is supposed to cause anyone who sits in it to become pregnant. We're still waiting Trish…… |
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Just outside Nottingham we visited Wollaton Hall on the way home. |
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Another day, another village. This is a saxon cross (800 A.D.) in Eyam. Eyam is famous because the black plague visited in 1665 and the village voluntarily cut off all communications with the surrounding villages to try to prevent the disease from spreading. It worked but over half the village died. |
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Above Beeley is another very pleasant, if chilly, moor… |
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…and sunsets to wish us a speedy return as we leave to go South. |
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We visited the Cotswolds - beatiful stone cottages everywhere, many of them thatched |
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Along with water mills (this is in Lower Slaughter) |
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Kids are kids across the world. Obviously the weather is slightly warmer as we go South. |
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Trish found another phone booth! Unfortunately she had a heart attack at that moment (just kidding). The day was saved because this was one of the telphone kiosks that has been re-purposed - see the top of the picture |
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The next town was Broadway. One of the prettiest in the Cotswolds. Overlooking the town on a chalk ridge is a "folly". There are many more or less purposeless, but interesting, constructions. The guy who built them wanted some sort of recognition, or to give recognition to someone. Put it down to the weird English. |
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Alongside the tower is an old barn - now a coffee shop. Did I say re-purposed? |
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All through Britain there are efforts to make things look pretty |
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Finally, we did the obligatory tourist things such as Stonehenge (you've seen the pictures, right?), and Picadilly Circus - centre of the world. With Eros, the God of love above My Love's head |
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We also checked in to verify that the Queen was being properly protected. CHECK! |
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A short flight to Schipholl airport and we were in Amsterdam. This was a major economic force in the middle ages and has a massive, historic city centre. Concentric canals enclose the main portion. |
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There are 4- or 5-storey buildings wherever you look. All in a similar unique style |
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We visited Saint Nicholas' church. Perhaps not THE Saint Nick,…. |
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…but a beautiful place |
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This is the main train station. It hardly shows the bicycles - millions and millions everywhere. Quite dangerous too - don't very from walking in a straight line - sidewalk or road - you WILL have a problem. |
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Then we began the Rhine River Cruise |
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We spent the first night on the boat as it wended its way along canals until it got to the Rhine river at Kinderdijk, Holland. This is famous as the World Heritage Site of original windmills |
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A day on the river took us to Cologne, Germany with its famous cathedral. We were fascinated by the masons' workshops - they have a large crew of masons working full time to gradually restore hundreds of years of decay. |
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We explored part of the town and discovered perfectly preserved Roman Mosaics… |
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…and a cute courtyard statue where, we are told, good luck visits those who rub the noses of the statues. They are now very well polished. |
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Next stop was Koblenz |
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Rhine has hundreds of bridges |
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We continued in the rain |
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This is a railway tunnel entrance |
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We are close to the Mosel valley and the vineyards cling to the sides of the hills |
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Castles…. |
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…Castles… |
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and respite from the rain… |
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…and another castle. |
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Don't get me wrong… |
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…they were very grand and decorative. |
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Next stop was Rudesheim. A delightful little town with lots of shops. They had a very cute cup for drinking Kirsch (strong brandy) |
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Castles………… |
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…………. |
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……………….. |
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Next was Heidelberg. By bus, of course. |
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The major attaction is the castle. It was partially ruined |
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with an imposing entrance |
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An interesting sun-dial - the curved lines compensate for the arc of the sun when it is at different heights during the year. |
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Their piece de resistance was the biggest wine cask in the world. |
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We walked the bridge over the river… |
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…and viewed the castle from below |
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Next was Strasbourg… |
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…with an impressive entrance. |
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We walked through the old quarter. The inhabitants made leather as their trade so they used to have to dry the hides. The windows in the roof open to provide ventailation. |
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The cathedral was impressive |
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with beautiful windows |
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There was a very old, very comprehensive clock with all sorts of celestial information as well as the time. |
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and its workings |
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Wonderful windows |
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and fabulous outside |
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Here we are waiting for the bus. Our Master of Ceremonies on the cruise, Nick, loved to wear weird hats. He was great. He came from Yorkshire so he was constantly ribbing Peter |
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The next stop was Breisach. |
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Its main feature was a large church on top of a hill with a wonderful walk all around it (without climbing the hill) |
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A visit to the Black Forest was a feature. By bus of course |
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We saw a church as we went by… |
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…and cottages… |
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We finally arrived at a cuckoo clock shop. In addition to the shops they had cooking class, cuckoo-clock making demo, and a major clock that was very amusing with life-sized figures dancing on the hour. |
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Last stop was disembarcation at Basel. This is in Switzerland right on the borders of France and Germany. It is VERY expensive! The town was delightful to wander around. We visited the town hall with a market in front of it. |
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and visited its frescos |
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and statues |
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The river gave us a delightful walk. One of the surprises is that apparently men swim down the river for considerable distances with a floating bag, presumably containing clothes. I later heard that some folk commuted to work this way |
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The cathedral had a goodly collection of sculptures |
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???? |
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After Basel we were facing options of a 28-hour flight home or an overnight stay in the Chicago waiting area (we were booked on BA). We opted to overnight in London. We stayed in Windsor, just west of Heathrow, at a wonderful hotel right on the river. This, incidentally, is the place where they filmed Rocky Horror Picture Show before it became a hotel. |
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The hotel has a collection of horse sculptures in the middle of their gardens |
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In Windsor we HAD to visit the castle of course. |
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We found a genuine pillar box with VR scripted on it - Victoria Regina - which means it was put there in the 1800s |
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The old railway station that used to be the terminus when the King entrained from London has been repurposed and is now a whole bunch of shops and restaurants, linked to the main street which is now a pedestrian precinct. Beautifully done. |
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Our final look was at the lovely flower gardens like the ones we had seen in most towns in England |