Glasgow, Scottish Highlands - Day 6

Ugh. Today it rained all day, which means the two optional excursions that I purchased (one a boat ride on Lach Lomond and cable car ride to the top of Ben Nevis mountain) were canceled.
:(
So we drove around and the bus would drop us off in shopping areas. I didn't come here to shop! I really didn't like that at all. That's right, no back-up plan, nothing. It's not like this is the first time it's rained in Scotland.
We drove to a couple of little towns, and one of them was rather picturesque, Oban. We also make a half-hour stop in Fort William.
Our hotel was in Aviemore which is a cute little town, which happens to be a ski resort.

Lake District, Glasgow - Day 5

I was a little disappointed today with the trip. The Lake District is supposedly some of the most gorgeous land in England and it looked like Door County in Wisconsin.

Maybe it was just me, but I saw nothing special in the little train ride on a coal engine, nor did I see anything special in a boat ride from the train to where the bus picked us up (which was about halfway up the lake). The train was dirty with worn out seats and the coal produced an unpleasant scent. Had I known, I wouldn't have purchased this optional excursion.

We were on Lake Windemere (or Lach Windemere) and it has some beautiful houses along the shore, just like we do back home. Granted, we don't have sheep grazing on the slopes. We also have people kayaking and sail-boating. The weather was nice though, and I sat to a really pleasant Scottish couple on the boat. They were on a little holiday after a friend's 50th wedding anniversary.

I guess the highlight of the day was when we got to see the gravestone for William Wordsworth (the one on the left, the others are the graves of his kids). And a smithy where people used to elope to in order to get married if their parents didn't approve. This too was another shopping stop, by the way. Ugh.

Today we also arrived in Glasgow. I didn't have any specific expectations about the city, but our only stop in the city was for about 15 minutes around the main city square to take photos of statues that are anointed with bird droppings. That particular square houses numerous statues to famous people and is the meeting place for the local population. But the thing that really struck me was how dirty and dingy it was. Perhaps it's the remnants of the industrial revolution, but it looked rather depressing and decidedly working class. The city has some old buildings but many of the buildings we saw I'd place as having been built within the last 80 years with most having the feel of being built in the 60s.

Oh, and our hotel was "cozy", as the tour guide put it. That means the room was only as long as the bed plus the door. The bathroom was decent though, very well light. But there was very little water pressure and the water was luke-warm. But it was enough to shower.

Bristol, Chester, Llangollen - Day 4

This morning it rained and was pretty chilly. But the main attraction we saw today was the suspension bridge. And it was a nice bridge. But this is all we saw in Bristol. Don't get me wrong, I love bridges, it's when my "inner-geek" feasts. I so wish we could have seen more of the city though.


After seeing the bridge we were off to see a ruin of an abbey. This Cistercian Abbey was really pretty but it was really raining so I only took a couple of pictures because I didn’t want my camera ruined. But that’s all I can tell you about the abbey ‘cause I fell asleep on the bus and missed any information that might have been explained about it. [Though, having been through the whole trip now and realizing that the tour guide didn't explain anything, I am fairly certain that I didn't miss any explanation about this chappel.]
Yes, I fall asleep on moving vehicles, especially a comfy bus that moves very softly.

But upon our arrival in Chester, I was quite refreshed from my nap. The city is a marvel of ancient and modern, but not the same as Jerusalem. This city has architecture that's rather distinct and some buildings that date to the 1600's. They have obviously been re-purposed and are now shops. Even the Roman Wall still serves a function other than holding up the clock. People can walk on it and it's a delineation of some of the older parts of town.

The thing that struck me as absolutely funny was to see two men in what they considered to be Latin American Indian dress (feathers on the head, cape, etc.) playing pan flutes and trying to sell CDs. The juxtaposition of this image against the 1600s buildings, the market cross, and the church just made me chuckle.

One of the optional excursions (not so optional, really) was to Llangollen. Llangollen is a Welsh word that's pronounced something close to "Langothlen". It's a picturesque town/village.

This town is post-card perfect, but so was just about everything in Scotland and Wales (we didn't see much of Wales). But the Welsh language is quite melodic and completely confusing to someone who is not familiar with it. The word on this sign is the longest word in the world. So I've been told. I wonder it says. Maybe it says "stamps here".


But more later as it's well past midnight here and I have a 6AM wake-up call.

Stonehenge, Salisbury, Bath - Day 3

This is the first day where I met the rest of the group and the tour guide.Her name is Pamela and she is very nice. The bus driver is Collin and he has a bit of a thicker accent, but still very understandable.

Our first stop this morning was Stonehenge. When we drove up, we saw a wire fence around it and it turns you have to pay about 10 pounds to not have the fence in your field of vision. But even if you pay, you still can’t go up to the stones really close, you’re still about ¼ mile off. So, our tour guide told us that we’d get essentially the same view if we just walk up to it and just stand by the fence. So I did that. And found a hole in the fence and took pictures that way, as well as over the fence.

Then, across the street, I noticed a few mounds. They turned out to be burial mounds and people can walk right and I saw people walking their dogs there. Further to the right in that filed (not pictured) there were lots of sheep grazing right there too.

After Stonehenge we were on our merry way to Salisbury. We went through St. Anne’s gate into the grounds of the cathedral. The cathedral was gorgeous, but the odd part was that there were no permanent pews. You can see the lack of the pews and the stack-able chairs in the photo. The vaulted ribbed ceiling gently perched atop the elegant columns just has a lightness and beauty that I have not seen in cathedrals before or since. The large greenish thing in the middle of the photos is the font and it's a really deep green.

That day there was a wedding and we heard the organist and the choir practicing. Oh the sounds that organ makes and the voices of the choir. I think Cathedral acoustics are just perfect for that kind of music. Though, they spell choir as “quire”.


It also happened to be market day in Salisbury, and I got a chance to see it. Though it was getting late and the market was wrapping up, I still saw enough to wish we'd have gotten here sooner and had more time to explore.

Then, I thought it was time for lunch but I also realized that I had very little time and that I got turned around and didn’t know where the bus was. So, with my lunch in hand, I started walking all around trying to find the bus. If you’re using an old timber building with warped beams, like the one in the picture, as an orienting structure, don’t. There were at least three building that looked the same to me and I was using that as a guide. This is part of the reason I got lost. But not to worry, I found a local and he told me that I was almost there, just “walk to the corner and turn right”.

I ate the lunch on the bus. [Unfortunately, all other lunches were eaten in such manner, that's if I had enough time to even run into a shop and purchase something I could eat.]

This was my introduction to Cornish Pasties. Basically, it’s a meat filling in puff pastry, with carrots and potatoes. YUMMY! But I plan on having a food-only posting and will feature it there.

Then, onto Bath! The city was actually considerably larger and more beautiful than I had expected. I didn't expect it to feel so big and have such beautiful surroundings. As you can see, the clouds looked rather pregnant and were about to birth a storm. But the overcast skies were like a natural filter and a good thing for photography.

The garden in the photo is actually a paid garden. I didn't realize they have those in city centers and that they only exist in movies like Notting Hill or on episodes of Law and Order. But this is a garden of amazing beauty. Just look at the cascading, overflowing flowerpots on the wall with the stairs, and the lion topiary, and the flower designs. Beautiful.


When I was looking at this scene, for some reason I also kept picturing "Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte". Maybe it was just the overall feeling of the place, that impressionist feeling where if you look too closly it doesn't make sense anymore and you don't see the actual picture, just some of its components. The band was playing in the gazebo and the locals were enjoying the music. I just love how the little boy in blue was just making circles around the gazebo.

Here too, Pam told us a free way to take a peak at the Roman Bath. If you go into the building and go like you're going to the restaurant or the bathrooms, you can see this view through a window. Please ignore all the reflections in the window. Yup, this is it. I think. I don't know if there is more to it than this, but had I paid to take the tour (yeah, it wasn't included!) I would have missed all I saw outside, all you can't see if you go inside, all you can't see if you pick just one thing to see.

After the Roman Bath, I walked around to the Cathedral. I really liked the ribbed vaulted ceiling. It didn't look as oppressive and as scary as others I had seen. It looked elegant and delicate. Yes, stonework in a medieval-looking cathedral looked delicate, which I found to be unique. Here I mainly walked about and took pictures of the scenery.

Part of that scenery were a gold John and Yoko mimes, street musicians, and the locals. It felt almost like a college town with all the street performers, people in costumes, people out for what looked like a bachelor/bachelorette parties, etc. The mimes in the picture might not look like John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but they looked more like them in person.

Our night was in Bristol and we didn’t really see a whole lot of it. What we did see was a lot of construction since the bus driver couldn’t find the hotel. Oh, I have to tell you about the hotel. It was very odd. The furniture was from Ikea (or something very much like that), the beds were very narrow, like cots, and the bathroom was a pod. No, really, it was. See how the wall is curved? That was the shower. It felt like a bathroom you’d find a cruise ship, or so I’ve been told. But the room was spacious and clean.

Cotswalds - Day 2

The started off too early since I only got about 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep since Wednesday. But it was wonderful to see the English countryside all enveloped in fog with fields and livestock coming into view as if a curtain had be drawn to reveal the hidden gems. After that short drive in the countryside, it was time to catch my train (from Bristol Temple Meads to Cheltenham) where Bob, my private tour guide for the day was waiting. (Before I left home, I did some research and contacted several private and semi-private tour operators and selected Diamond Tours.) Once I arrived at the station, off we went on the tour.
The itinerary included the following stops:

• Bibury
• Bourton-on-the-Water
• Lower Slaughter
• Mill Dene garden
• Chipping Campden
• Broadway
• Stanton
• Winchcombe

Our first stop was in Bibury. The houses at Arlington Row are cottages from the 16th century. They're currently privately owned and are rather expensive, despite being one of the most popular photo stops in the Cotswalds, and hence full of tourists at your front door. They're also very close to the river, which has a lot of trout. But that's because there is a trout farm, which is connected to the river, and is about a 3 minute walk away from the cottages.

But the cottages are so cute! They seem quite my size, having been built when people were a lot closer to my height. LOL. They look quite charming with the slate roofs and beautiful greenery all around.

See what I mean by "greenery"? There are several homes in this one structure (see the bluish doors peaking out). I just love the little stone wall with the gate and the flowers everywhere. To me, this is very "English Countryside".

After a brief stop in Bibury, we were on our way to Bourton on the Water. This little town was just "perfect". The kind of perfect you see on a postcard or in a Hallmark movie or in a sweet dream. I saw folks out and about for a stroll along the river, or having lunch at a cafe, or a father spending time with his daughter as you can see in the picture. Just a little jewel set carefully into the enchantment.

I can totally understand if you’d be scared to visit a city that has “slaughter” as part of the name. But worry not my fellow traveler. As Bob explained, Slaughter actually means marsh. So, in this case, the village is “Lower Marsh”. That is certainly less gruesome than “slaughter”.

There is a charming old mill that has been turned into a shop and tea shop. On the other other side of the mill, on the lawn, there are sheep peacefully grazing. This too is another postcard-perfect town. I can clearly picture an old-fashioned postcard with snow and a Santa Clause and a sleigh. I know you can picture it too. In a place like this, where time stands still, it's hard to remember it's 2010. Until you see a car. Or a camera-wielding tourist. ;)

This is one of the quietest places I've ever been to. I almost felt like I had to whisper it was so quiet. A perfect place to decompress. One of the things I had a hard time finding were house numbers and sometimes street signs. But Bob assured me that the post delivery person would know this place simply as "Vine House", because it has a vine and that's what the black sign with gold lettering on the front gate says. Check out the boxes right by the gate, the ones shattering the illusion of perfection. It's proof that people really do live there. I'm not making it up. :)

Our route took us to Mill Dene garden next. It's a private garden, as in someone lives in the house on the grounds and it's their private garden. I can only imagine how much effort has gone into it. One of the things that surprised me was that it completely defied my expectations of an "English Garden". It was built into a hill so it's tiered and the tiers are wide and have mini-gardens themselves. The tower you see in the background of the photo is the tower of a church an other building is a pavilion with chairs and a table. Just a perfect spot to see the day give way to night while sipping some hot tea. Just magical. I half expected to see some woodland spirit to jump out and chastise the visitors for disturbing the peace.

As you can see, I like an active vacation. And in that spirit we were off to Chipping Campden. This ancient town is still active, and not a ghost town, as you might expect of a town that originated in the 1300's. The house in this photo was built in the late 1300s. And yes, it's still being used today. I have a hard time imagining the building I live in being here in another 50 years, let alone more than 600 years.

Here, we also saw some Alms Houses. These were houses owned by the church and given to the poor to live in, hence, Alms House. Today, people still live in them but I don't know if they're private homes as in other places I've seen or if they're still owned by the church and used as Alms Houses. Notice how narrow the door for each unit is. The door, which appears to be of standard size, is actually split into two, as an entry for both units.

There is also an ancient market in Chipping Campden. I'm not sure why, but I'm completely fascinated with this. It's a stone structure for a rather small market and isn't in use today. The structure doesn't have permanent stalls or doors or a stone floor. I think the roof was just all they wanted, so it's more like a permanent tent.

The next stop on my Cotswalds tour was Broadway. This is a larger town with many shops and tea shops and such. One shop had the most charming little tea cups and saucers and other tea necessities. But this was my second day in the country and I didn't want to start buying thing so soon. I didn't want to schlep it across England and Scotland for the next week.

By the time we got here I was pretty tired and decided to try the typical English Tea experience. I chose this particular shop because I spied my tour guide here while I was off exploring on m own. As you can see, I got a teapot which was full of Earl Grey tea, cream, a scone, jam, and clotted cream.

SOOOO GOOD!

The village of Stanton was our next stop. The houses are made of such a warm and glowing honey-colored stone. Since the day was getting as long as the shadows, the sun did impart that golden glow on everything, bathing everything in the evening glow.

Winchcombe was the last village on my tour today. This village also has the typically-charming houses with beautiful flowers decorating the front of the house, where the road and cars seem anachronistic.

But then, I walk down the street and see an ancient building turned into a restaurant, right next to a more modern building, which in turns is right next door to a yet more modern building that's home to a gift shop.

Take a look at this building, snugly nestled in it's history, letting the world swirl about but not touching it.

All these villages are very charming and very different from each other. I’m really glad I was able to see some areas where a coach couldn’t get to, such as Lower Slaughter and Stanton. It was so peaceful and quiet and charming and pleasant. Absolutely delightful.

As we were driving, I saw very many sheep and quite a few cows. I asked Bob if there is a large wool industry still, since that’s what contributed to the growth of most of these villages and towns. But no, the sheep are just for meat. Seems a little wasteful.

Bob also pointed out a few things that I had never seen before, namely a thatched roof. When I think of a thatched roof, I think of the Shire in J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. And maybe Cotswolds and thatched roofs, especially the rounded ones, are what inspired the particular look and feel of the shire.Each little village was unique and picturesque.

Each little village was postcard perfect and I would certainly want to come back here.

Well, after Winchcombe, the tour was over and Bob dropped me off at a train station so I could catch the next train to London. But seeing as it was well past 5 P.M. when we set off to the train station and I'd only gotten about 5 hours of sleep in the previous two days or so, I was falling asleep on the way to the train. Sorry Bob.

I would have to say that this was a really wonderful day despite my sleep deprivation. The weather was great, the tour guide was knowledgeable, courteous, and considerate, the car was comfortable and clean, and I got to see exactly what I wanted to see. Perfect.

London - Day 1

The flight into London was actually not that bad. It was a direct flight and I think that helped make it not so bad. The food, of course, was abysmal. For dinner, there was a chicken and rice dish of questionable 'heritage' (was it Indian? was it Asian? was it Italian? couldn't really tell) and the breakfast was just gross. It really was. It was just a tub of yogurt (which was really sour to my taste) and a tiny mini-loaf of banana-scented "bread". The reason bread is in quotes is because I'm not sure how else to refer to it but it wasn't a pastry and it was the size of a deck of cards. I'm so glad I packed my own lunch and was able to eat my own food.
When I got to the ticket counter, they told me I couldn't get a seat assignment and that it would be assigned at the gate. I thought "no problem". It turns out the flight was really oversold and they had quite a few people who they needed to assign seats to. I finally got the seat assigned about 5 minutes before boarding. But it worked out well since I got an isle seat, which is what I wanted.

When I got into Heathrow, I fully expected the tour company representative to meet me there and transfer me to the hotel. After a half hour wait and trying to track down people with the information, it was determined that no such representative is going to show up because I hadn't purchased the transfer and had no voucher for it. In my mind, since I bought the tour, I figured I'd have the transfer too. I completely forgot that I declined that option because of how expensive it is. But it took about an hour and a half to determine that no, I'm not on any secret database for a transfer and no, they won't transfer me without the exorbitant (to me) fee.
That means that on a relatively empty stomach and with virtually no sleep, I had to figure out how to get from the airport to my hotel using the subway (they call it the underground here in England). And that means that I had to lug my luggage. On a train. During morning rush hour.

But eventually I got to my hotel, checked in, and spoke with the tour company representative about my questions. She was very helpful and got me oriented.

So, after a brief visit to the room, I set off on the sightseeing tour that I purchased ahead of time. I decided on the Original Sightseeing Tour for several reasons: one is that it was a good price, two is that I could hop on and off, and three is that I could take any of the tours.
I took the "Yellow" and the "Red" tours in part because they cover some of the same spots and I wanted to see those again and take particular pictures (which will be coming at some later date).

Tomorrow, I have Cotswolds on the agenda. But for now, I am off to sleep since I have to be up in something like 5 hours.

Little Norway, Mount Horeb, WI

If you're in Mount Horeb,WI, you have plenty of things to do. Cave of the Mounds is one attraction, and Little Norway is about a two-minute drive away. So it only makes sense to see both on the same day, or on the same trip. Don't think that Little Norway is second fiddle to any other attraction in the area, it's a treat in its own right. But as you might have guessed, I did visit Little Norway on the same day as Cave of the Mounds.

By the time I got here, it was a little later in the afternoon and the beautiful area provided plenty of shade.
There is a creek running through the property and a fairly extensive lawn (which hosts the Mid-Summer Celebration).

Little Norway is a collection of Norwegian-style log cabins which were in use not so long ago. One of them is still being used, the sod-roofed house, where the caretaker/groundskeeper lives.