[SamIAm]

This is the outside of Harrod's. If you look to the right you can see one of the animal right's anti-fur trade signs. Story of SU's altercation with the protestor dressed as a fox follows later.

This is Stonehenge. Part of first day's tour.

The country was beautiful. Emerald fields dotted with fluffy white sheep, alternating with canary yellow fields of rape/which is used to make canola oil. I have better pics of these which I will find.

SU is fond of hot dogs. Here's one for 3 pounds, which is over $6.

This is the pub where we ate lunch on the first day's tour.

This is an OLD building. Guide says you can tell by the roof and the crooked wooden decorative timbers.

This is Salisbury Cathedral, also part of the first day's tour.

The front of Salisbury. Gothic style architecture from the medieval period. Can you imagine how LONG this took to build?

Inside Salisbury.

Stained glass inside Salisbury.

Frances

 

[Puebla]

Great pics!!!! That cathedral is beautiful!!!

 

[Trickster]

Awesome!

I loved Harrods...until I saw they sold puppies inside.

Stonehenge is beautiful...pictures don't do it justice. You must have done a fair bit of driving to get there?

Salisbury Cathedral is also stunning. Did you visit St. Paul's? now THAT took my breath away.

More please!

 

[AbbyandMolly]

cool!!

more please

 

[bibber]

Great pics. My SU is also a hot dog connoisseur, but $6 is pretty expensive. Was everything expensive there?

 

[BudGirl8]

Ohh...St. Pauls. That was cool.

Salisbury! What incredible stained glass!! The cathedrals all over Europe have the most incredible stained glass.

 

[SamIAm]

MANY more will be coming.
Here is basically what we did. We took four all day tours.
First day: Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and the Roman baths. We didn't get back until TEN that night due to a wreck on the motorway.

Day two: Tour to Leed's Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, White Cliffs of Dover pics to follow

Day three: Best of London tour. drove by the parliament buildings, Big Ben, Scotland Yard, #10 Downing Street on the way to Westminster Abbey. No pics allowed inside so I bought a ton of post cards. There really is no way to describe WA. Amazing is not sufficient. We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. I will have pics of that. Went to Covent Gardens, and on a river Thames boat tour, where the guide spoke Cockney slang, which I absolutely loved hearing but understood about two words of. Went to the Tower of London, saw the Crown Jewels etc. while there. Saw the Traitor's gate where the poor wretches were brought in, and the fence that used to lined with severed heads. Saw the Beefeaters in their uniforms. That day ended with a ride on the London Eye (the giant ferris wheel) I have pics of all that.

Day Four was The Best of the Cotswolds Tour. Also pics. Saw another stone circle used by witches for rites, and Blenheim Palace (Churchill's family home) and then three villages, which I can't remember the name of at the moment. Lots of beautiful scenery on that day. It was one of my favorites.

The last two days were "free" meaning no tours, and lucky because we had to deal with a package that I had mailed which never came and new clothes for SU had to be bought to go to the London Philharmonic on Friday night. Turned out to be unneccesary because I saw people in there in bluejeans so he would have been okay without the jacket he felt he needed. We also went to the aquarium.

Just general impressions: The houses were wall to wall. And not really what we think of as houses in America. Three or four stories high, stone or brick, with tiny little areas in front that they call “gardens’. Some of the gardens were fixed with plants etc. and very pretty. Many of the houses were old, some not. You could tell the old ones by the chimneys. They used to be allowed to burn coal, but no longer. The houses that are more like what we have here are VERY expensive in London. The streets were clean, there were hanging baskets all over the place, hanging from the signposts. I never figured out the street signs. They aren’t on the street, they are on the corners of the buildings. And traffic signs were different. There aren’t very many. Their “yield” sign doesn’t say yield, it says “Give Way”. The traffic consists mainly of buses and taxis and people. Massive amounts of people, who don’t walk on either one side or the other, but just walk, and pretty much expect you to move. LOTS of traffic. I don’t know why there aren’t constant accidents. Some bicycles, but nothing like in Amsterdam. I never got used to seeing cars on the "wrong" side of the road.

Frances

 

[Paddysmom]

Excellent pics, Frances. They sure are bringing back a lot of memories for me. Can't wait to see the rest.

 

[Trickster]

Sounds as though you had a great time. Was this a package tour?

The houses were wall to wall. And not really what we think of as houses in America. Three or four stories high, stone or brick, with tiny little areas in front that they call “gardens’.

Yeah, we call them terraces. Most of the three story ones you see in London are flats (apartments) and not just houses.

Many of the houses were old, some not.

Thats the thing with London...you could have a road of old, multi million Victorian/Edwardian/Georgian houses and then have icky council flats in the next road. This is due to the bombings during the war. London suffered badly so they built cheap housing in the bits that were destroyed.

 

[SamIAm]

No, not a package tour. I booked all the individual tours separately based on looking at stuff on the internet and trying to get a feel for what we would enjoy and what would let us see the most in the time we had.

Frances

 

[MidwestGirl]

OMG.. the church is breath taking

 

[Clanceycanuck]

Great pics - glad you had a good time

 

[Labmom2Sun]

I just got through looking at your other pics, too. They're all beautiful. Sounds like you covered a lot of territory in a short period of time.

Now I'm jealous. ;D

 

[CJs Mom]

Your pictures are fantastic. I love the first one with all the green awnings in a row. thanks for sharing. I never really thought of going to England before, but I am beginning to think I should add it to my 'list'!