England and Wales, 2004

Allen & Sarah at Stonehenge, Sarah at Leeds Castle

October, 2004

It was dreary when we left New York and the weather seems to have followed us across the Atlantic Ocean. We breezed through British customs (nobody was checking anything), picked up our rental car, and headed for Windsor Castle just outside of London.

We got to Windsor Castle just as they were locking the doors for the night, so we were the last visitors and had to hustle through the buildings ahead of the guy with the keys. Windsor is the largest inhabited castle in the world and is the Queen's personal favourite. It appears that the Queen is partial to antiques as almost the entire residence is filled with rather old furniture. I suspect that the furniture wasn't old when it was delivered to the castle over the past 900 years. There is a lot of old armor hanging about, too.

Within the walls of the castle is the St. George Chapel with a goodly number of famous dead people buried inside. One of the biggest is Henry VIII. He is under the floor with Jane Seymour, the wife who bore him his heir. I stood on the large slab that covers what must have been a large hole.

From Windsor we headed to Salisbury and our B&B. We had a lot of trouble finding the home where we had our reservations. Although we didn't have an adequate map (a situation which I remedied within a few days), we got to Salisbury without a problem. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the street off of the main road. As it turned out, the map wouldn't have helped: several street names had been changed recently and our host, who drove out to meet us and guide us to her home, didn't even realize that some of the streets had new names. If one drives through a familiar area for decades, one usually doesn't look at signs.

The obligatory 'telephone booth' shot.

In Salisbury, we visited the Salisbury Cathedral, which has the tallest spire in England. The cathedral also houses one of the four known surviving copies of the Magna Carta. This one is said to be in the best condition and is displayed in a adjoining building and is protected from changes in temperature and humidity. The cathedral also has the oldest working clock in the world.

Old Sarum

Just outside of Salisbury is 'Old Sarum,' a Norman ghost town. It is in ruins and reminded us of the decaying puebloes of the American southwest. The difference is that the mud bricks of the puebloes, after the buildings were abandoned, melted. At Old Sarum, the good stones of the castle were hauled away by local villagers to use in their own buildings.

After two nights in Salisbury we headed north and then west into Wales. On the way we visited Stonehenge and the stone circle at Avebury, two of our particular destinations. Stonehenge is more dramatic. The huge stones were dressed and had been brought from more than two hundred miles away. The 50 ton stones were only dragged for about 20 miles. The lighter (only four tons) stones were the ones that were brought 250 miles; but they look nicer, so it was probabily worth the extra effort. Starting 5,000 years ago, it took about 1,500 years to build Stonehenge. That's dedication!

The Avebury Stones cover a large area and can be seen up close by walking through fields. They are guarded by 'Watch Sheep.' Mind where you step!

The Avebury Stones were put up earlier than those of Stonehenge, but the stones are rough and unshaped. Because they cover such a large area, one must walk through sheep meadows (watch your step) to see the widely spaced stones. One of the reasons that Stonehenge is more famous may be that it is compact and easier to discern as something special. Also, the highway goes right past Stonehenge. Because rubber-necking on the road as it passes Stonehenge slows traffic, plans are underway to construct a bypass to block the view of Stonehenge from the road. This will also have the effect of making people pay the admission in order to see the stones.

Cheerio,
A&S

October, 2004
Hi!

We've been touring south west England and popped into Wales for a few days.
It was raining the day we flew out of JFK and hasn't stopped. That makes
six straight days of rain, but not all day. We've already seen more than a
castle a day and numerous churches and cathedrals and some museums (as if
everything isn't a museum).

Driving has been a hair-raising experience,
which is good as I could use some more hair. The right-hand drive was not
too bad to get use to, but the roads here in the south west are narrow, with
no shoulders and have hedgerows that are ten feet high as well as stone fences and ancient buildings right up to the road bed. Did I say that the roads were extremely tortuous and 50-60 MPH.

At many intersections, crossroads have been replaced by 'round-abouts.' We know them a 'traffic circle' or 'rotary.' In discussions with Britains, we guess that many tourists have problem negotiating them. As we are from the northeast where rotaries are not uncommon, we didn't have any problem with them. They do, however, go in the opposite direction: clock-wise rather than anti-clock-wise.

Round-abouts turned out to be a good thing for us as tourists. Since we often did not have the time to read all of the signs; instead of stopping at intersections and trying to decide which was the route that we wanted while motorists behind us were blaring their horns, I could continue to drive in a circle while Sarah read the signs and consulted the map.

Sarah relaxes at our B&B in Wales.

After leaving the Stonehenge-Avebury area, we headed into Wales. In Cardiff, we toured Cardiff Castle. Although the keep in center was built by William the Conqueror, almost 1,000 years ago, the palace was built in the late 1800s. We took a guided tour of the palace and saw what a talented architect and a lot of money could do. The Marquess of Butte, who funded the reconstruction was also involved in civic activities; he provided funds for the construction of Cardiff's first synagogue.

Each room of the palace had a different theme. The roof garden as been enclosed with a glass canopy to protect the painted tile walls from the elements. The the walls depict a story from Isaiah replete with the text in Hebrew in bright colors. Seeing us picking out words from the text and knowing that we from New York, our guide later asked us if we were Jewish. As it turned out; he was, too, with relatives in Westchester.

A short walk from Cardiff Castle is the National Museum and Gallery of Wales.
We ignored the 'Impressionists' but explored the new and very good exhibit
'Evolution of Wales' which was about the local geology, flora, and fauna. These is also an exhibit of the ancient Roman and Celtic cultures in Wales.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Cardiff''s city center. If was interesting to see the blend of cultures: Signs written Welsh with signs from Burger King and Subway. But, a mall is a mall is a mall.

Thatched-roof cottage at the Museum of Welsh Life.

We spent most of a day at the Museum of Welsh Life. Many of the building were reminiscent of small-town America but with the occasional thatched roof. We spend quite a bit of time discussing Welsh culture and politics with one of the docents as he fed peat into the smoky fire of the small farmhouse. We learned that unlike Scotland, which joined with England, Wales was conquered; that's why Wales has more castles per square mile than the rest of Great Britain: The English built them to keep the troublesome Welsh at bay. The docent was very knowledgable in Welch history and was also very interested in why we had chosen to visit Wales: Because it is there!

One of the huge castles, second in size only to Windsor, was Caerphilly. It sits in the middle of a man-made lake. Built so long ago, it took a lot of men a long time to dig the big hole for the water. It is currently being stabilized with plans for reconstruction. If was very impressive; it will be even more so when the work is finished.

Cheddar Gorge, in southeast England, is a popular area for outdoor activities. There are trails to hike, caves to explore, and rocks to climb. We didn't do any of that: We headed straight for the cheese factory to sample their wares. Having liked what we had tasted, we bought several pounds. (That's weight, not currency.)

Speaking of currency: Costs here are high by U.S. standards. Prices listed on restaurant menus are about the same as we expect in the U.S., but these prices are in British pounds, not U.S. dollars. With dollars having almost half the value of a pound, meals cost about twice as much as they do back home. Tips here are only 5-10% and tax is included in the posted price. Tipping is not expected in pubs. These price comparisons are not just for restaurants, but also apply to lodging, admissions, and most other purchases.

We looked at the postings in an employment office. Local jobs pay about the same as they do in the U.S.: $40,000 vs. 20,000 pounds. That makes it more expensive for the British as well. That's one reason why people from England, even with their fine stores, fly to New York to do their holiday shopping. The savings on the merchandise more that cover the costs of the flight and hotel (and they get a chance to visit NYC: the World's Capital).

Cheerio,

Allen and Sarah


November 3, 2004

Hi!

We got into London yesterday. The weather has been good and, thanks to the
Gulf Stream, about the same temperature as NYC. We're significantly further
north, so the sun sets earlier; about 4:30 right now, so it's getting dark
early. Shortly after we got to England, we changed our plans to go up to
Scotland. There was just too much to do here in southern England. If we
hadn't made reservations for two night in Wales, we most likely would have
saved Wales for another trip.

I'm pleased to be without the car. It drove well, but driving continued to
make me tense. Having stone walls and homes right up to the road bed was
not something I got used to. It is no wonder that many cars and trucks here
are much narrower than those in the U.S. There are few shoulders, and some
roads went for long stretches with only a single lane for two-way traffic;
they don't expect many cars to be driving on them at the same time.

Many culture stamped their impression on the British Isles and we have seen
and explored most of them. Iron Age and Stone Age peoples built giant
structures still standing today. Stonehenge and the
Avebury Stones are still standing and intriguing visitors after thousand of years.
It is amazing to me that these structures took so many generations to build and
were in use for thousands years.

The Romans conquered Britain almost two thousand years ago and built some
large cities. London was oneb but more about that later. In Bath, there is
a Roman city below the surface and some of it can be seen around the Roman
baths that were rebuilt by the Georgians in the 1700s. We also visited a Roman villa and,
in St. Albans, there is a newly redone museum which houses artifacts of the Roman
city that was there, one of the largest in Britain. Although one can see
Roman artifacts in the British Museum here in London or in the Brooklyn
Museum for that matter, there is a different feeling when one sees them
where they were actually discovered.



Sarah (red shirt) checks out the Roman Bath.


The Saxons replaced the Romans, but we saw very little of Saxon culture.
The Normans, coming here under William the Conqueror, built about 1,000
castles in the first two hundred years of their domination of Britain. Some
of those keeps and castles are still standing. A keep built by William the
Conqueror is inside of the walls of Cardiff Castle in Wales

Some castles are still in use [Windsor, for example, the Queen's favorite] ,
some are used as museums, and some are in ruins. Some places are called
'castles' because they were built where castles once stood. Of the castles
that we visited, some stand out. Caerphilly, in Wales, is the largest in
the world after Windsor. Leeds Castle is said to be the 'most beautiful.

Warwick Castle is huge, decorated by Madame Toussaud, and has costumed actors; it is still owned by royalty. The castle was crowded the day we came here. It was the weekend before Halloween and there were performances for youngsters, competitions, and music. Sudeley Castle was purchased and rebuilt by two brothers that made it rich in the glove manufacturing business. We were virtually alone while touring this estate. In some rooms we only had the manaquins for company. After tour hours are over, the family comes out of their private quarters and has the run of the house. Both castles, being privately owned, need the tourist dollars/pounds/euros to be maintained.

Kenilworth Castle is large, but in ruins. This red sandstone giant was deliberaltly ruined in 1644 as result of the Civil War between the Royalty and Parliament. Parliament won and many castles were destroyed. Castles, such as Warwick, survived because the royal owners made pacts with Parliament. After the battle was over, a wall of Kenilworth's keep (the last refuge for defenders when the castle was over-run) was blown out with gun powder and rendered useless. Also, the walls of the castle were not built to withstand cannon. This made the entire structure useless as a fortress in a time of war. Elizabeth I visited here four times. She wasn't there the day we visited, and neither were too many others.

Hever Castle, a small, but elegant castle was the one in which Anne Boleyn,
Henry VIII's 2nd wife, was born. It has two moats, but was much different
than most of the other castles that we had seen. Castles were originally built as
fortresses to hold a claim in hostile territory. That's why the Normans built so
many of them. By the time Hever was built, things were generally peaceful in
Britain, so Hever was not built to withstand an army's assault the way most
other castles were built. It could, however, hold off marauders and the
peasants, if they were revolting. [We know that the peasants were
revolting: They stunk on ice (according to Mel Brooks in 'The History of the
World, Part I)].

Think of all of the pictures that come to mind about rural England in the
14th through 18th century. That's what the communities in the Cotswold look
like today; gently rolling hills with small villages dotting the
counrtyside. Houses, shops, and pubs are made of Cotswold stone; pale
yellow to light brown oolytic limestone. Rooves may be stone or thatch. We
stayed in a small cottage (circa 1700) with a fully modern loo in the
rafters; breakfast was served in the pub.

It is interesting to wander the narrow streets and even narrower alleys of
these villages and see traditional shops mixed with 'super stores.'
http://www.stow-on-the-wold.com
http://www.cotswold.gov.uk

What would a trip to England be without a trip to Shakespeare's home in
Stratford - upon - Avon. We toured his home and that of Anne Hathaway, his
wife.


Sarah at Shakespeare's home in Stratford-upon-Avon.


In addition to castles there are many palaces, we visited some. It was
interesting to note that after the 'Dissolution' of the abbeys after Henry
VIII made himself the head of the church and sold off the abbeys. Parts of
some of the dissolved abbeys were incorporated into homes {or palaces if you
were a rich man}. Some palaces were built on the site of former abbeys and
are just called abbeys. Woburn Abbey is not an abbey, it is the palace of
the present Duke of something or other. Beaulieu, another palace, has part of an
abbey as the main hall. It was interesting to tour the palaces and see
ancient rooms with clock radios sitting on antique furniture.


Sarah with Blenheim's minstrals.


The most elegant palace that we saw, other that those owned by the queen,
was Blenheim. Winston Churchill was born there; he's a cousin and his
parents were visiting when he came a little early. The Duke, later the
Earl, of Marlborough won a great victory in Germany three hundred years
ago (exactly) and was awarded thousands of acres and 250,000 pounds; a lot
of money then. At $1.80 to the pound, that's a lot of change today, too.
However, the family ran short of money in the early 1900s the Earl married
the social-climbing Vanderbilts. He had the title and they had the tin,
Consuela Vanderbilt (the new wife) said.
The Astors, the Whitneys, and probably others, brought an influx of capital
into the ailing British aristocracy. Many of the castles, palaces, and
manor houses are now museums because the families could not keep up with the
taxes, especially the inheritance taxes. One has to cough up a lot of bucks
when one inherits a big property.

Another way that some of the nobles keep up with expenses is to allow tours
while still living in the property.

We've been avoiding museums. We've seen paintings before and there is a lot
of artwork in the palaces. Woburn Abbey, for example, has hundreds of major
works of art, as does the Queen in her various palaces, and the Rothschild's
mansion, Waddesdon.


Cheers,

Allen and Sarah


To read about our experiences in London, click here.