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Jolly OL' England!

What can I say about England? Don't go at Christmas time! Hahahahaaaaa....Not alot was open for shopping or dining at this time of year. We did get some sight seeing done and some shopping too. We had fun being together and that is what we really went there for anyway. That and a Ty Brittania Buddy!! I found mine in Bath!!! Very pretty place to find a pretty Buddy.

Leads Castle......The ladies castle!

The call this castle the ladies castle because everything about it seems more feminine than masculine as it should. After all, it is a castle and they were built for protection against invasion from ones enimies. We were not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the castle but I have plenty of the outside.

This picture is what used to be the mill. The water runs through and they processed all of the grain for the country side here.

My adoring husband is at the ladies castle with me!

Behind the castle there was an extensive aviary with lots of parrots, cockatoos and other exotic birds from around the world. Some I had never seen before like a black cockatoo. The pictures didn't turn out so I guess when you get to go you can bring them back for me to see. This maze was also behind the castle. The story was told that they were not allowed to the practice religion of their choice. They had to find a private place to worship where they would not get caught. In order to do this a maze was built around the grotto. We got lost and Chester is quite tall. We had to ask for assistance from the maze guard to find our way in.

Once you got through the maze you went down some stone steps and into the grotto.........On the walls there were these pictures all made out of shells. The water ran out of the mouth of the stone face and into a wishing pool.

There were little benches built into the wall or maybe carved out of the wall where the worshipers would sit to read or pray.

Down the hall and around the room were all of the pictures made of shells. It was hard see and you had to get close to actually see what they were made of. I was impressed when I looked. The detail was remarkable.

One day while the stores and shops and restaurants were closed we rented a car and drove out into country to see the sights. This was fun also. There were feilds of sheep everywhere as you could imagine. All the properties had hedges around them which made is hard to see.

Thatched roof cottages are found on the country side. The are very hard to insure because of the fire hazzard but they sure are pretty. This one in the picture above is Shakespears wife's cottage. You can take tours of the house but I think we were there on a bad day, it was closed.

We went one morning to see the changing of the guard. They played music and made did a lot of marching around. It was hard to see what they were doing behind the gates from where we were standing.

Buckingham Palace is HUGE too! The gates were very ornate with gold (paint?) on all the spikes. The gates had the coat of arms on them also. Very royal!!!

Then there is my favorite place to ........

There weren't too many animals out and about on the day we went. Seems like all the animals were on vacation while we were there! We did find these cute little penguins there. They have an outdoor arena for them there. Here in Detroit they have them inside a building! It was strange to see them out in the open air.

The lions were also out walking about. the male lion must have been snoozing some place near by.

We took another day and went to see Stonehenge. It was quite a treat. I must admit that I was a little curious about why people go out to see the stones in the field. it was neat to see it and hear the theories behind them.

It was rainy and cold this day. The wind was blowing and we were getting wet but we did get some great pictures. We didn't last long out by the rocks..................

On this same trip we also went to Dover to see the white cliffs. I took a picture but it was so overcast that it's hard to see the cliffs. They really are white!! I should have bought a post card and used that picture but then you wouldn't get to see what I did! I'll get a picture in later for you of how they actually look..........


The city of Bath.

This is the city where I found my Brittania Buddy!! It was so great to see one finally. I found him at a little teddy bear store in the town square area. I will never forget finding this bear.

When we pulled into town we came along the mountain ridge and we looked over the city. All of the buildings were made from the stone found in this region. They call it bath stone. It is a light yellow color and it is soft. Not very good for building so once again the buildings are not very high.

This picture was taken through the window of a coin shop. The shop was built on a bridge that goes over the river and the view from the window was breathtaking and I couldn't resist getting a picture while Chester shopped. It felt like you were right on the river.

We took a tour of the baths where the Roman soldiers actually bathed in the mineral waters but it was hard to see because of the steam. The water was warm that came out of the ground. They are doing studies on the water here to see if it will help people with arthritis. The only people who get to go in the water here now are the patients.

All around the top of this bath there are statues. They are life like in form and size. The baths have seats in them that are made of the same stone. The are still escavating the area here are still finding new things here.


Here in England the streets are marked for your safety! It's a good thing too because we are use to looking the other way for traffic. They drive on the right side of the road over there so the cars come in the opposite direction from what we are use to!!

We had to get a picture of this for you!!

LONDON!

Funny thing about Big Ben too. The tower doesn't have a name. It's the bell inside the tower who is called Big Ben. It looked like gold when the sunshine hit it!

The Tower bridge was very pretty but the picture is kinda dark. You can walk up the stairs inside each tower if you want to. We chose not to do that. Everything over here has spiral stair cases. We walked through the tower of London and climbed many of these stairs today. This picture of the bridge was taken from the Tower of London.

It is called the Tower of London but it should be Towers. There are more than one and it was used as a dungeon or a prison. There are carvings in the stone made by the people that were imprissoned there. The stairways were narrow and hard to climb. We also saw the family jewels here. They are kept in this huge vault with thick doors on it. All of the crowns and staffs and even a few jewel encrusted capes are kept here.

Spending New Years Eve here was quite fun. The fireworks were great!! Everyone seemed to be in good spirits but it was very crowed. We were on the Vauxhall bridge and the people were trying to move but there was no place for them to go.......

This picture above was taken just before the champagne hit me in the face!! I don't know why people have to do things like this. It kinda ruined my night because I couldn't see after that. I couldn't wash the champagne off my glasses and it made it hard to see anything. We laugh about it now but at the time it was disappointing. I did get a neat picture of it didn't I? My flash still sticks on my camera from it.

!!!!HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!