England, Scotland, and Wales
Mike and Judy Henderson
May 13-26, 2018
I'm going to leave the map of our trip a the beginning of each page so you have a reference as to where we are.
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5/18/2018 (Friday) We drive to Caernarfon to see the castle there -it's 26 miles from Deganwy. Here's a view of the exterior of the castle - the side facing the water.
The castle was only part of the walled city. Here's a diagram of the layout. The red arrow points to the castle itself.
Here's what the interior of the castle looks like. It's been modified over the years, including partially ruined at one time. Judy, Jean and I climbed the stairs to the top of the far tower in the middle of the picture.
We had a tour guide who took us through part of the castle and gave us some of the history of the castle. After she completed her tour, we went to the far tower and climbed the narrow stone circular stairway to the top.
We all made it, and here are Judy and Jean at the top.
A view back along the interior of the castle.
After we got back down the stone staircase, we went for a light lunch. Jen joined us.
As we left Caernarfon we drove through a valley. On one side of the valley were the remains of an open pit slate mine. Almost all of the slate mines in Wales have closed because of competition from lower cost slate from other countries and man made replacements for slate roofing.
As we headed up the valley, I shot this picture back to show the beauty of the valley.
And looking forward from the summit.
The bus dropped us off in Conwy, near the castle. It's undergoing renovation so the outside is mostly covered with scaffolding.
We were "castled out" so we went walking through the town of Conwy. Here are a couple of things I found interesting. The "Bank of Conwy" is actually a pub.
We walked back to the hotel. On the way back, we walked next to the Conwy Suspension Bridge, a very early suspension bridge, started in 1822 and completed about 1826. I couldn't get a picture of it but here's one from the web. It's very difficult to get a good picture because the suspension bridge is now between a modern automotive bridge and a railroad bridge.
Back at the hotel, we had dinner in the restaurant that evening.
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5/19/2018 (Saturday) We went to Stratford Upon Avon this morning. Our first stop was Anne Hathaway's house, the house she, her parents and siblings were living in when she married William Shakespeare. And when we arrived there, our first activity was a group photo. The picture was taken by professional photographer Dave Herdman, who has been taking group photos at Anne Hathaway's cottage for 33 years. Voted best group photographer in Europe. Very good picture, well lighted and sharp focused. If you'd like a full size copy of the digital photo, send me an email and I'll forward it to you. I shrink pictures to put them on this blog.
Then we went to visit Anne Hathaway's house.
Here are Judy and Jean at Anne's House.
When we left Anne's place, we headed to the house were William Shakespeare was born, on Henley Street in Stratford Upon Avon.
There are many pieces of original furniture in both houses but I'm not going to include a lot of pictures of them - you'd tune out really quickly:-)
When we exited the house, we came upon a young lady reciting the famous St Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V
It was lunchtime by then and we went to a place called "The Boston Tea party".
When we left Stratford-Upon-Avon, we headed to Oxford and the MacDonald Randolph Hotel. It's an older hotel but very nice and the staff is excellent. We had a walking tour of Oxford and learned a bit about the university there.
Here's a view of Trinity College, Oxford. There are a number of Trinity Colleges in the world, one in Cambridge, one in Dublin, this one, and more.
And a view of Radcliffe Camera.
Then it was back to the hotel to relax until dinner. Jen joined Judy, Jean and me for dinner in the hotel restaurant, an elegant room.
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5/20/2018 (Sunday) We visited Blenheim Palace today. It was built by John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, apparently, just because he had quite a bit of money given to him by Queen Anne as a reward for his performance in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Here's a panoramic view of the interior courtyard.
Here's a non-panoramic view of the entrance to the manor house.
We had a tour of the house - but I won't bore you with pictures of the furniture and paintings. However, there was a special exhibit of Winston Churchill and I found this quote, which I agree with.
This is reputed to be the bed Winston Churchill was born in.
Afterwards we went into the garden. This is a view of the manor from the water garden.
After our visit we returned to the hotel. Judy went to the Ashmolean Museum while I worked in the hotel room on this blog.
In the evening we went to Evensong at the Christ Church Cathedral. To gain entry to the church, you enter through an archway in the buildings and come upon a quadrangle with a fountain in the center. The entry to the cathedral is through those two arched doorways you can see in the picture below. The church goes directly back from those doors.
This is a view toward the altar.
And then toward the back of the church, where the organ is located.
We finished the day with a dinner at an Indian restaurant, "4500 Miles from Delhi". I wouldn't recommend it.
You can see more of our adventure here.