A Glorius Two Days!

I was too tired to post last night so now I have two days worth of activities to tell you about.

We left for Bath Spa on the train Friday morning. It took us just a little under two hours to get there. It was a smooth and wonderful ride traveling through the country side of England. It was just what I have always imagined ... rolling, green hills, grazing sheep and cattle, lucious green grass and trees everywhere. It reminded us a lot of Oregon, except for the cottage homes with the thatched roofs. Yes ... we saw a few of them.

Here are the Roman baths that have been excavated ... very interesting. Look at the green mineral water which is unsafe for consumption or even placing your hands into it. (I did! It was nice and warm.)

The Bath Abbey is behind us. We were allowed to tour the abbey which was built in the 900's. I still can't believe there are building still standing that are that old!

We were just in time to see a wonderful procession marching from the abbey. This was a memoriam to the soldiers who gave their lives on "D" Day, which was yesterday!

For all of you Jane Austin fans, this is the building she lived in while living in Bath. She mentions Bath in a couple of her novels. She loved living in the country more than in Bath. She lived in number 4. The bus was going too fast for me to be able to get a picture of her door, but it looks just like this and is in the same building ... close enough!

A view of the River Avon in Bath. Isn't this gorgeous?




This is where we're staying ... right across the street from the Queen's Royal Mews ...where her horses, carriages, and cars are kept. We toured this this morning. We really enjoyed it! We tried to figure out how to get to a chapel for our church services in Hyde Park, but the web said all of the meetings started at 9:00 a.m. and we were too late, so we toured the Queen's stables, instead. :)
This is for you, Sarah. There were only four horses that we saw. Most of the Queen's horses are kept at Windsor Castle where there is land for them to run and play. The horses were beautiful and were kept in gorgeous, titled stables. The queen loves her horses and dogs and has quite a few.

The glass carriage ... the one that carried Princess Diana and Prince Charles when they got married! The queen has several state carriages and we were able to view all of them. She even had air conditioning installed in one of them and lights. They're very elegant, but look quite small and uncomfortable to ride in.


The gold carriage which was made for Queen Victoria .... amazing!

This is for you ... D.J. ... a 1951 Bentley. It was absolutely beautiful which white leather interior. The Queen still uses it. It's painted the royal color, purple.

After the Royal Mews we rode the underground tube all over the 'flippin' place. We had a blast, but if I have to walk down or up one more flight of stairs, I'm going to be crawling on my hands and knees. By the way ... what's with no benches anywhere ... at least hardly any. And trash cans are few and far between. I can say though ... that the subways are much cleaner here than in New York City!

We ate at the first Hard Rock cafe, which is here in London. They even have a vault in the downstairs of their store where we saw scads of memorabilia ... guitars, records, costumes, and etc. of famous rock stars. Sorry, Jaron ... I never saw a bear to buy in their store!

This is for you, Nat ...John Bonham's drum set ... drummer for Led Zepplin.

O.K. another thing ... bathrooms are few and far between and there's no signage pointing to them. At least we couldn't figure it out. The guys would make me ask where the restrooms were because you don't say bathroom or restrooms. It's toilet or W.C., or lavatories. Of course they told me to say 'toilet' and didn't tell me that I could use those other two words. I was so embarrased to ask where the 'toilet' was. I HATE saying that word. I would almost whisper the word 'toilet' when asking where it was and always the person I was asking would say, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" I would have to repeat the word 'toilet' again. However, the last time I had to ask where they were, the cutest artist said that he would show me the way, and he did! Isn't that the sweetest thing?

While viewing the Royal Mews, which is part of Buckingham Palace, we had the opportunity of sitting on the Royal Throne. Here we are ... in all our glory! Here's our friend Elayne pointing the way.

Aaahh ... sweet mystery of life!


Well, it was a long wonderful two days. We're planning on going to visit Windsor Castle out in the country tomorrow. We'll ride the train out there. I wanted to go to Bosham to visit my ancestor's home, but it wouldn't be very fun for the rest of the group, and nothing to do when we got there. Oh well... maybe next time. I can't wait to come back. This is an amazing place. However, London city has tons and tons of people, lots of traffic, and lots of tourists like me!

See you tomorrow!