Scotland Day 8

We went to sleep in London and woke up in Edinburgh. It was a bit overcast and the air was a bit moist but still no rain for our vacation. Mike and I picked up our next vehicle and we headed up north.
This vehicle had six seats in the back that faced each other. It might have been our favorite car but Mike did get in a slight fender bender and rear ended someone. Very little damage, mostly on the license plate, but it did put a temporary damper in the mood. But we carried on in our quest for. . . The Holy Grail. Besides, what would a quest be without a trial or two?
Actually our quest was to Doune Castle, the castle where they filmed Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Now this was a fun visit.

I just can't get over how green it was there. I love the look and smell of Spring grass.

Can you picture a flying cow or a flying Trojan Bunny coming from this castle?

The interior courtyard of the castle is where the wedding scene massacre took place. We decided not to recreate this bloody scene. Although the girls did a fair amount of mock sword fighting while we here. Reagan desperately wanted to buy the costume set with sword, armour, helmet, the works. Here's how the conversation went.

"Mom, I have to have this."

"We just don't have room in the suitcases for it."

"That's okay, I'll carry it."

"No, you can't carry this on the plane."

"Okay, then I'll wear it."

Hard to win an argument with Reagan. We ended it by my just saying, no. I know, I'm a dream crusher.

The Lord's Hall

Here is where they shot the scene with the prince and the balcony. Rachael and Reagan recreated the scene.

"But I don't want any of that--I'd rather--"

"Rather what?!"

"I'd rather. . . just. . . sing!"

Father: "Make sure 'e doesn't leave."

Guard: Oh, yes, of course. I thought you meant him. Y'know, it seemed a bit daft, me havin' to guard him when he's a guard."

"We're knights of the round table. We dance when e'er we're able. We do routines and parlour scenes With footwork impecc-Able. . . . (and Reagan's favorite part, which she does in a very low voice). . I have to push the pram a lot."

I asked Geoffrey to do the coconut/horse seen for me. He may have been a little less than enthusiastic--at least for the camera.
The view from the top of the castle was certainly impressive.

We'll end this quest with a word from the girls.



Next we headed to nearby Stirling Castle. This castle seemed to often switch hands between the English and the Scottish. It was also where Mary Queen of Scots was crowned Queen of Scotland at 9 months. She lived the first part of her life here.

Another magnificent view, this time from the top of Stirling Castle.

This building was restored to its original color--King's Gold. This was likely the color of all of the buildings at Stirling Castle.

They also had nice tapestries here. In one of the buildings weavers were busy making a new tapestry in the same way they were originally created. It was fascinating to see them work. Reagan may have wanted a knight set but I wanted a Tapestry to bring home. I decided to tell myself no, especially when I saw the price.

Tonight we finally found a birthday cake for Rachael and celebrated her turning 14.

England Day 7

The town of Marlborough was just so cute I desperately wanted to take a walk around. So I got up early, left instructions with the kids and took a very enjoyable walk through the town with Mike. There are two churches in the town, one on either end. One of the churches there was first built in the 1100s and then rebuilt in 1450. The main street has many cute shops and alleyways with more shops. I loved how the shops were not just geared towards tourists, but residents. Here is the town hall. I love the wood in the front. Reminds me a little bit of our town hall.

When we got back to our hotel I found all three girls asleep in our big bed. I was frustrated that they couldn't get ready by themselves. But then they all opened their eyes said "surprise" and pulled the covers back to reveal three cute clothed girls all ready for the day. I love my kids.

After a fabulous breakfast of pastries (croissants au chocolat, my favorite) and our choice of several breakfast items (Eggs Benedict for me) we headed south for a quick trip to Salisbury Cathedral. We drove by Stonehenge on the way down. What amazed me the most was not only how massive these stones are but how they are really out in the middle of nowhere.

When I was in high school, my family visited Stonehenge. At the time, we could still get pretty close to these stones but my understanding is that they have pushed the viewing area back ever further so we opted to just view these from the road.

It was really rotten of that truck to park in front of the cathedral and ruin my picture. It just doesn't fit with the decor.

Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest spire in the United Kingdom. I love everything about this spire. I love how you can see this spire from a distance, I love the stone work on the central spire and I love the smaller spires that reach up towards the main central spire.

After Salisbury we headed back up to London to return the rental vehicle and spend the rest of the day in London. Battersea Park was right by the car rental office (as well as our London apartment) so we took our suitcases and our lunch and had a picnic in the park. This is also near the Battersea Park Powerstation. My pictures came out a little fuzzy but if you are Pink Floyd fan you would know this powerstation from their album, Animals. Below is the park.

We spent the rest of the day viewing the sites that we failed to see the first few days in London. We also revisited the museums to catch a few sections we weren't able to see due to tired kids and museum closing times.

We walked along The Strand and saw Somerset House. The kids desperately wanted to play in the fountains. We attempted to find The Temple Church but instead found the Courts of Justice. It took up much of the block.

The buildings sure are old here. I'm not sure what is holding this building up. HOW is it still standing?

We took a train over to Greenwich to see the Royal Observatory. It took us a while to find and we were pretty tired of walking even before we saw the hill we had to climb in order to get to the Observatory. It was quite a view at the top though.

The area where they've marked the prime meridian was closed so we found our own on our GPS. While we were busy finding it, Reagan decided to wander off. Thankfully we realized it pretty quickly and Reagan had found a nice couple to help her find us. Stinker!

Here we are straddling the two hemispheres. After this we headed back into London, grabbed our bags that we had left at Victoria Station, and headed to the London Euston station to catch the Caledonian Sleeper train that we took to Scotland. We had four berths and four seats reserved. When we had called months ago there were only four berths left. It did save us some money as the seats were much cheaper. The older kids and I headed to the cheap seats and Mike, Reagan and the grandparents slept in some very narrow berths. All of the kids slept great, the adults slept less well. We had a sick baby in our section that did a bit of crying. Thank goodness I had my Ipod and headphones.

England Day 5-6

After we visited Leeds castle we stayed in the town of Maidstone. The next morning was Sunday and we went to church in the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells. After church we went to dinner at a friend of Mike's dad, the Bleakleys. We had a wonderful salmon dinner and spent some time in their beautiful garden. It reminded me a little of our first house and our English style garden.

Next we took a trip down to Canterbury to see the town and the Cathedral. Here's the gates leading to the Cathedral.

We had a nice time wandering around the grounds and viewing this magnificent building and
ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey.

The trees on the grounds were massive.

We headed a little further south to see the White Cliffs of Dover. It wasn't clear enough to see France but it was quite a view. It was getting towards sundown so it was a little chilly.

We saw Dover castle as we were headed down the hill.

The next morning, we made a brief stop at the old section of Royal Tunbridge Wells. A spring was discovered here in 1606 so for a time it was a popular spa town.

The date today is the 18th of April, Rachael's birthday. Before we left on vacation we asked her what she would like to do for her birthday. Hampton Court was her first choice. Here is Henry the VIII's palace.

We arrived just in time to see Henry the VIII celebrating his upcoming proposal to Catherine Howard.

This time we found the center of the maze in 5 minutes. Maybe it was easier but maybe we are just awesome at mazes.

We picked an amazing time to go to England. The tulips were in bloom and the weather was beautiful everyday of our trip. It was overcast the first two days but we never even used our umbrellas.

I lost count of how many formal gardens there were at Hampton Court.

Here we are under a trellis. Nearby is the oldest and largest grapevine in the world. It's over 230 years old and 120 feet long.

The interior was impressive as well. I, of course, especially enjoyed the kitchens. The tapestries were also especially nice.

Of all the places we stayed, the Castle and Ball in the town of Marlborough was by far my favorite. Classic innkeeper that did everything in his power to make sure we were happy.

The rooms were old--the good kind of old. They were also quite spacious. We had a very tasty and actually inexpensive dinner at the inn after we returned from visiting the Avebury stone circle. Unlike Stonehenge, you can get up close and personal with these gigantic stones. Below is my mom and her husband, Charles in front of one of the stones.

And here's the rest of the family.

The really fun part about this visit was that there were sheep grazing all around the stones. Here's a video of some sheep having a little game of tag and a video showing a little more of the stone circle.

Well, we had to have at least one of these pictures.