London in the Sun

Our second trip to London was much more pleasant that the first.  Although it began with a field trip with the Study in England group, for the next three days we were on our own.

The field trip included a visit to Parliament, hosted by Lord Falkner who is the Lord who represents Worcester in Parliament as well as a trip to Kensal Green cemetery.  Of the two, Parliament was the most interesting and had the most gold.  The buildings themselves are most spectacular in the perpendicular Gothic style with many windows, spires and gargoyles.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the  legislative body in the UK, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories.  Parliament alone possesses ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, whose official title is "Elizabeth the second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". 


The people who work in this building are members of an upper house, House of Lords and a lower house, the House of Commons.  The Queen is the third component of the legislature but she is only allowed to go there once a year. The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords Spiritual, who are bishops of the  Church of England and the Lords Temporal who are appointed by the Sovereign on advice of the Prime Minister.  The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber with elections to it held at least every five years.


Our tour allowed us to see the striking difference between the two houses.  The House of Lords  is quite opulent with red velvet and lot's of gold. It also has the throne where the Sovereign sits for her annual "state of the empire" visit and a special bench where the bishops sit.  The House of Commons, where the Sovereign is not allowed to enter, is much more austere, decked out in green and oak - no gold.  These Brits sure love their class system and pomp!

After our tour, Anne and I jumped on the Metro to find our hotel. No time to take a nap or eat a proper dinner, just hopped back on the Metro to the Thames where we walked across the bridge to the Southbank Centre.  We  had learned that there was a Women of the World Festival going on to celebrate International Women's Day and that the Friday night event was hosted by Annie Lennox and featured Katy B, Jess Mills and Emeli Sande (rising young female artists in Britain).  The whole theme of the evening event was an affirmation of feminist political power and equality.  One word: Fantastic. Watch the highlight:
 

Our hotel was right across the street from Hyde Park which was so much more lovely than the last time we visited.  The snow had melted, the flowers were in bloom and the ducks were having babies. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the weather. We spent time there on two days, even had breakfast one morning beside the lake. Lovely.
The roller skater below was amazing also!

We took the Metro over to Leicester square and got some tickets to see Tyne Daly in Master Class that evening and headed out to spend the afternoon at the Tower of London and meet a few Beefeaters.  There is so much British history at the Tower, it is mind boggling.It was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1078.  It was white washed by Henry III and has since been called the White Tower.

Persons beheaded inside the Tower include William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (1483), Anne Boleyn (1536), Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1541), Catherine Howard (1542), Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (1542), Lady Jane Grey (1554) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1601) and Thomas More, 1535. Lovely people, the British.

We especially liked the ravens who live on the castle grounds.  Legend has it that if the ravens ever leave, the tower will fall and the empire will fail. I was discouraged that the empire keeps the bird's wings clipped and keep them in cages at night. It seems that the decision to clip their wings is just a bit manipulative and puts little faith in the legend and the monarchy. If they were to just hang the ribcage of a stag on a nearby stump (like we did at home this fall), those ravens would never leave.

We went on a really interesting tour, led by a member of the Yeoman Warders a.k.a. Beefeater.  After that we went to the jewel tower and saw the Crown Jewels. Wow, such opulence.

The next day, we again walked through Hyde Park to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. On the way there we saw the horse procession above. This was very impressive (again, pomp rules!) and very crowded.  It seems to be a scheduled event but no one really knew what the schedule was.  Finally, the guard showed up - in grey uniforms because it is winter - and with a band and an Irish Wolfhound because they were the First Battalion Irish Guards.

It was all much fun but we wanted to see a few more horses and guards so we found the Horse Guards Parade Building where the Horse Guards work.  This is where the soldiers sit on their big horses and guard the Horse Guard Parade Building. This will also be the site of the Beach Volleyball competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Just as we were leaving this area we saw a little green sports car go by surrounded by police motorcycles - we are sure it was Kate going off for Sunday tea and we were right there! Really!


Our evening was spent at a delightful dinner with old friends at a great Mid-Eastern restaurant in the Mayfair district. Great food and great fun to catch up on the past 30 years.


In order to not waste any quality tourist time, and since our train didn't leave London until mid-afternoon we spent Monday morning at the National Gallery.  They have paintings on display from the thirteenth to the twentieth century.  We tried to guess which of the paintings in each gallery were the 'featured' ones in the brochure.  Sometimes we guessed right, sometimes not.  We did see paintings by Van Eyck,  Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Monet and Van Gogh and many others.  It was a great time. 


Be sure and check the photos.

Araf (slow) we're going to Cymru (Wales) by car

Are we going to Llanycefn, Llandissillia, Liawhaden, Lampeter, Llanddowror or Llanboidy? Where ever, we have traveled to Wales by car; and back again. Wow!

Wales is a beautiful country and when we told people that we were driving there, we were warned that the roads were narrow and twisty. I thought nothing of it because I learned to drive in Bootjack, California where the roads were narrow and twisty. Let me say, it it really different when driving on the left side of the road and sitting in the right side of the car and having stone walls and/or hedge rows on both sides of a one lane roads with no shoulders. The first day, I only hit the curb 3 times and improved after that. I hit no cars, horses, farm machinery or anything else that I met on the 1.2 lane roads and only got one parking ticket which I believe is given to anyone with a Enterprise Rental sticker on their car.

One of the most interesting thing about Wales is that it is a dual language country in everything that is printed - directional signs, menus, city limit signs, warning signs, etc. Sometimes the Welsh language will be first on a road sign and sometimes not. To add a bit more of a challenge for us single language folks, even the English is difficult to grasp since many of the English words are bastardized versions of the Welsh word and contain many double L's and y's and w's . For instance the English name, Llanddowror is Maes-y-lan in Welsh. As you can see from the list of neighboring towns at the top of this post, it might be easy to get a little lost and confused which we did more than once.

The countryside is strikingly beautiful, quite hilly and has an abundance of cute little lambs, cute little villages and miles and miles of hedgerows and stone walls. I half expected hobbits, unicorns or fairies to jump out of the woods at any time.

Shortly after we entered Wales, we drove through the Brecon Beacon National Park. Much different than National Parks in the USA, most of the land is privately owned but managed and supported by a park authority which includes land owners, communities and visitors. Some is set aside as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserves and Local Nature Reserves. We didn't see any of the native Welsh ponies that live in the area but saw plenty of sheep and hedgerows (they boast 5,300 kilometers of hedge).

Our first night was in Neath (Welsh: Castell -nedd) which is a town located on the Neath River. Now a port for recreational boating, it was once a busy shipping port. In fact, Lord Nelson (see the 1st London post) is said to have stayed here on his way to join his fleet prior to the Battle of Trafalgar.

Dinner was delightful as we ate giant scallops and they boned the sea bass at the table, which always feels like 'special treatment,' until the entertainment appeared. Suddenly, without warning a man picked up a microphone, turned on his electronic band and back up singers and proceeded to sing an extremely strange combinations of songs. No intro, no hello, no nothing. The selections were as orderly as Karaoke night at any bar in Superior and the voice was just a little bit worse. Oh well, we couldn't hear him in our room and he was gone by morning.

In the morning we had a proper Welsh breakfast consisting of a basic English breakfast (Eggs, sausage, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms,potatoes and toast) PLUS cockles and laverbread (seaweed). Linda ate the cockles; Anne did not. They are quite salty and a bit chewy as they are a small bivalve, sort of like an oyster but quite small and prepared differently. They are sometimes served with winkles and whelks but the ones served at the hotel were only cockles.

We spent the second day closer to the coast and circumventing big cities and their terrifying round-a-bouts. We wandered around Tenby (Dinbych-y-pysgod) which boasts a sand beach and lovely little harbor with pastel buildings. Of course, there is a 13th century stone wall, a castle and a cathedral.

We then wound along the coast and came upon Manorbier Castle which we did not tour (you can only go to so many castles) and a group of surfers in the Irish Sea. It was a blustery day on the sea but clearly enjoyed by many people and dogs. We did find the Pembroke Castle in the town of Pembrock (Penfro) and toured it quite extensively. It has been partially restored but maintains the flavor and grandeur of an ancient castle. Henry the VII was born here and began the long line of Tudor rulers.

It was in this area that we discovered that the tourist season had not actually begun and that many of the Inns we had read about were not open. Fortunately, we found a McDonald's and used their wireless to find an Inn for the night. We lucked out and found Wolfcastle and although we got there a bit late, we could still have a relaxing dinner and discover the joy of getting up-graded. We ended up in a spacious room with furnished bathrobes and a view of the garden. After another hardy proper English breakfast (no cockles this time), we resumed our adventure.

We traveled from Wolfcastle to Llandovery (Llanymddyfri) and along the way enjoyed Fishguard (Abergwaun) on the river Guaun. This is a traditional herring fishing area and the river delta is at the Irish Sea. The tide was out while we were there which made for a very interesting harbor full of boats sitting on the silty river bottom. It was another windy day and so we opted out of a walk to the sea.

One of the most interesting sites of the trip was seeing the Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber. The 3,500 year old monument is about 8 feet high and about 16 feet long and located just off a narrow lane but about 8 miles from a two lane carriage way. There was no one else at the site when we visited although a few other visitors came as we were leaving. This site has a lot of pictures as well as a link to Google Earth where you can see the stones well off the road. It is near here that some of the stones for Stonehenge were originally quarried.

Our next night was spent in Llandovery (Llanymddyfri) at the Castle Hotel. This was truly an old inn with uneven floors and slightly tilted walls. We were the first guests of the season so they didn't even have their check-in counter set up. However, it was a really nice and friendly place with great food in a quiet little town. By this time, Linda passed on the proper English breakfast and settled for yogurt and fruit. They just don't have enough Tums in the UK.

On our last day, we drove through many miles of countryside and stopped to admire the River Usk and River Tarrell where they converge in Brecon. We watched a heron fishing for a while and then drove along the Northern Border of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It had snowed a bit the night before and so we could see a dusting on the mountain tops.

We lunched in Hay-on-Wye (Y Gelli Gandryll) which is well known for it's over 30 used book stores. While were unable to find any travel books for Spain, we did locate some above average flapjack bars. Mind you, these are not the pancakes that we sometimes call flapjacks in the USA. These are hard core British treats made with and extraordinarily large amount of butter; and made best in Wales.

Also in Hay-onWye, we walked a ways on Offa's Dyke Path (Llwybr ClawddOffa).  This is a hand-dug bank and ditch built in the 8th century by command of King Offa of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.  It was probably intended to divide Mercia from rival kingdoms in what is now Wales, and some sections still form the England/Wales border today.

Our drive through Wales was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a car for a change and enjoy the freedom and confusion that it brought. As you can tell, we had quite a few laughs about the names which we couldn't pronounce - they have different vowels but we don't know what they are. Sadly, we never once heard any one speaking it. If we go back, which we probably will, perhaps we can rectify this.

Magical Mystery Tour

Ok, not so magical or mysterious but, a tour for sure. On Friday, 24 February the Study in England program took a bus tour up to Liverpool to learn about the Beatles and Slavery. It was a 2 1/2 ride up to the Northeast area of the country but we had a lovely day to travel and saw a lot of countryside with sheep, cattle and horses. More cattle than we've seen on other rides.

Liverpool is an old shipping port as it is located on the Irish Sea and River Mersey. In addition to the slavery trade, it was also home port of the Titanic and during World War II, endured over 80 air raid which killed 2,500 people and damaged nearly half of the homes in the metropolitan area.


As the shipping vessels became larger, the depth of the Liverpool harbor rendered it outdated and like many port cities in the U.S., Liverpool has restructured their waterfront into shops, museums and performance spaces including the ECHO arena.

Our Beatles Experience museum at Albert Dock and a Liverpool Magical Mystery
Tour of the city were a lot of fun. While the museum was short on Beatles memorabelia, they did have a mock up of the Yellow Submarine and John Lennon's white piano where he composed Imagine. Of course, that was composed in 1971 and the band split up in 1970 - details, details. It covered a lot of the early Liverpool history and the influence of their manager Brian Epstein which was interesting and stuff that only a true Beatlemaniac would know.

The bus tour of the city was very interesting as we drove through a bit of the waterfront area but also the parts of the city where John, George, Ringo and Paul lived when they were growing up. We also got to through the neighborhood where John and Paul met and wrote many of their songs. We took a partial jaunt through "Penny Lane" and saw the shop where the "barber showing photographs; Of every head he's had the pleasure to have known" and "the shelter in the middle of a roundabout; A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray." Well, OK the nurse wasn't there and the barber shop had moved down the road but the roundabout was still wheeling cars around. And it was all under "blue suburban skys" which was quite nice.

George and Ringo were from the inner city in a much more working class neighborhood. We did get to see where George Harrison lived which is a small house now occupied by a couple and their cat.

Our other activity was a visit to the International Slavery Museum.
This was a very well done look at a major part of Liverpool's history, as it was a major place for the launching of ships carrying slaves across the Atlantic. Much of the wealth from this trade was the basis of Liverpool's growth as a major city. They have done a good job of looking at this issue from various historical points as well as reminders of current human trafficking that is still occurring around the world.

York and Whitby

Our trip to York began in Worcester at 8:A.M. Too early for a pensioner (retiree). However, after a 2-1/2 hour bus ride, our first stop was at Yorkshire Sculpture Garden. This a large outdoor area with huge and interesting sculptures would be very wonderful on a nice sunny day. We visited on perhaps the coldest day since we arrived in England with a strong, icy wind tearing through the land. Anne and I looked at the photographs of the sculptures in the tea room and cruised the gift shop. I would love to go back but the biting wind was just too much this time since I had left my down parka and hard core long undies back in Duluth. We did enjoy watching their sheep keep the park grass in good order, as much of the snow had melted.

After a short ride, we arrived at our Youth Hostel in York. Other than not having a toilet or shower in our room, it was quite nice. We were on the first floor (not the ground floor) (would be 2nd floor for you Yanks.) and so we could leave our window shades open at night and actually see the sky, moon and trees. So different than in our flat. There was also a very nice pub downstairs in the hostel which served fine Yorkshire Ale.

York is a very, very old city and is quite interesting in terms of political, religious and cultural history. It was originally founded as a city by the Romans in 71 A.D. on land occupied by others (of course). It became in turn the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior and of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jorvik. In the Middle Ages it became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England which it still is today.


After we were settled, we took a walk along the river where we again discovered how very cold it was. It had snowed recently and the sidewalks were very icy. We visited the Yorkshire Museum which exhibited a great overview of of the history of the past 2,000 years in York. Located next to the ruins of the medieval St. Mary's Abby, it even included some pre-Roman invasion artifacts as well as an almost intact 4th century statue of the Roman's God, Mars. The Viking exhibits were also interesting - combs and other tools made of deer antlers, and an 8th century helmet. We had to laugh at the mention they made of the helmet design improvements over the years. Apparently, the earlier helmets caused the soldiers to go blind and deaf. Glad they figured THAT out. After the museum we found a lovely little tea shop where we could warm up and shared a cream tea. That is tea, scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. De-lish!


The next day was awkwardly scheduled and so we did a lot of walking so we could see what we wanted and also what was required for the students/faculty. It was again quite cold but all of the walking helped keep us warmer. We went through the well known Shambles on our way to the York Castle Museum in the morning.


Most of the old towns we've visited have a section called City Center that is closed off to traffic and holds their 400 - 500 year old buildings which are still being used. They house many shops, tea rooms, pubs, and churches. This is where the Shambles are located as well. My further research about these streets revealed that the over hanging second floors and narrow streets provided shade for the meat, poultry and vegetables that were sold in the shops on the street level.


The York Castle Museum once housed the castle prison and so there is an intriguing exhibit of the small cells and some of the more notorious prisoners including, the last woman burned at the stake in Yorkshire, Elizabeth Bordingham, and highwayman Dick Turpin. We also enjoyed the Victorian Street but were unfortunately too rushed to see all of the wonderful toys they have on exhibit.


Our next stop, after some hot apple pie and custard and a cream tea was The Jorvik Viking Center. Upon approaching the building housing this exhibit, we were greeted by men dressed in furs and coarse clothing who were behaving as Vikings may have acted. That is, lunging around and grunting. (I know this is confusing but just for clarity, I'm talking about the Vikings from Scandinavia, not Minneapolis.) The center itself includes Disneyland type cars in which we rode through a re-constructed Viking village. The village is constructed on an actual site of a a Viking village called, Jorvik. The designers of this exhibit decided that the visitors not only needed to see the way the people lived in that time but also needed to smell it. Hence, they have depicted an interesting exhibit that stinks of garbage, human waste, rotting animal waste, cooking, burning wood, etc. It made me wonder if the wind ever blew in those times.


The story of the discoveries that are on exhibit is quite interesting. Archaeologists have dug nearly 30 feet into layers of moist and peaty soil and found an amazing trove of timbers, tools, cloth, jewelry, etc.; things that really showed where and how people lived there 1,000 years ago. Too bad about the odor.


Shortly after our visit to Jorvik, we all gathered at the York Minster for a tour of this largest Anglican Cathedral in the UK. It is a huge, old, cold building with much history, stained glass and statuary. The chapter house is quite fun because it has many carved figures of people and animals. I've posted photos of some of them. The stained glass windows were all quite beautiful but also held some oddities. One contains a scene with a monkey doctor taking care of another monkey. No one knows what that is all about but, we enjoyed the oddities. We were given a tour by a volunteer church member and so the tyranny and discrimination practiced by the Anglicans was omitted in her story of the Minster and the church's history.


As it was very, very cold we stopped at a pub for some beef and ale pie and a drought of beer before heading back for our last night at the hostel.


On Sunday, we were back on the bus for a long ride over the moors and down into the little seaside town of Whitby, North Yorkshire. Located on the North Sea, we were warned of more cold weather but, it was actually a bit warmer.


Whitby is known as a sea port where Captain Cook learned his seamanship in the 18th century and for the 199 step stairway to the parish church of St. Mary which inspired portions of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Our visit to Whitby also included viewing the ruins of a St. Hilda's Abby which was built in 657 by the Saxon King of Northumbria, Oswy. Over the centuries it has fallen into ruin but is now an English Heritage site.

When we arrived in Whitby, our coach driver, Marc dropped us off at the top of the bluff where the Abbey is located. There, we saw a few shaggy, blue eyed horses and since we, as well as some of the students are pet-deprived we went to say hello to them and rub their noses. When we turned around the rest of the group had vanished. We walked around the stone walls and couldn't find a way into the grounds of the Abbey so eventually we had to climb the walls. (Much to the entertainment of the students.) After we toured the ruins, the rest of the group showed up. I guess there was some sort of visitor center, gift shop and entrance that we missed entirely. Oh well.

Of course, we had to go down the 199 steps and explore the shops of the village. Whitby is also known for the Whitby Jet; the black stone that is the petrified wood of a Monkey Puzzle tree. Amber also comes from this tree but it is the petrified sap. The jet was highly regarded by Queen Victoria - who had it fashioned into mourning jewelry.


After a bit of village wandering, we found a small pub named the White Horse and Griffin that advertised a flaming hearth and good food. My oh my. We weren't disappointed. The cozy dim pub played wonderful soft jazz background music, was warmed by a fire in an open fireplace, excellent service and most of all, excellent food. Anne ordered some delicious leek and potato soup and, since it was my birthday, I had a plate of fresh steamed mussels poached in cream and served with shaved poached shallots. There couldn't have been a better way to top off the trip.


I just won't mention the details of our 6 hour bus ride back to Worcester. Suffice to say that for a couple of country dwelling introverts, we were happy to be back in our flat with just the two of us.

Don't forget to check out the photos of this northern weekend adventure.

Fast trip to London

We are back from a whirlwind trip to London which required more walking, hauling, climbing and thinking than either of us have done in a long time.

We started out on the late morning of Saturday, 4-February with our special travel tickets which took us to Euston Station in London. This station is not located close to where we were staying or where we wanted to see a play but, undaunted, we carried on. First, we needed to find the right Tube and figure out what an Oyster (not a bivalve) card is and how to use them. They are sort of like debit cards for the Tube. There are machines that allow you to "top up" your card or buy a new card. Since our friend Kim had left two of them behind, we had the cards but couldn't figure out the "top up" business. Sadly we went to a ticket window where the most unhelpful and unfriendly person we met all weekend was working his shift. Still, we persevered, found more helpful people and decided to go to Leicester Square and get our theater tickets before going to our hotel near Paddington Station.

Oh, did I mention that London is in the midst of preparing for two huge celebrations. This summer will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the hosting of the Summer Olympics. Can you say Con-struc-tion? Leicester Square is one of the busiest areas in London and the heart of the West side theater district and they have closed off the entire square with big white plastic barriers which limited what we could see. Thankfully there were a few signs to direct us to the ticket booth that weren't obscured by people. We got the tickets we wanted and headed back to the Tube to "top-up" some more and find our hotel for a brief rest and a bite to eat before hitting the Tube again.

The theater was fantastic! We saw Jersey Boys; the story and music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. We had great seats; the music and production was fantastic and when we left the theater, it was snowing. Oh what a night! Elsie had a great time too. A couple of short Tube rides back to the hotel and we were ready for some serious sleep on a super comfortable bed. We were not disappointed.

On Sunday, we took advantage of a two day special on the Original Bus Tour. This allowed us several choices of sightseeing rides and transportation back to Euston Station on Monday for our train ride home. We could stay out of the Tube and save our Oyster Cards for another trip.

Since it had snowed the night before, walking was cold and treacherous on Sunday so we opted to view as much as we could from the bus. London is a super old city having been originally built by the Romans in AD43 but much of it burned in the Great Fire of London in 1666. There is a monument to the Fire Brigade and the Great Fire which is the tallest isolated stone column in the world. It stands 202 ft high and is positioned 202 ft from the spot in Pudding Lane on which the Great Fire is believed to have started. So you see, it it were to topple. It would land on that very spot. Weird, huh?

The narrated ride through the narrow, crowded and busy streets was really a whirlwind of views, facts and interesting tidbits about the British culture and history. We saw most of the hot spots from the bus, I took a gazillion snapshots. It was so much fun, we did more tours on Monday morning since we were carrying our travel bags. This company, Original Bus Tours were fantastic! We could not believe the excellent advise and service we received both days.

When we got back to Hyde Park on Monday about noon there were canons going off, horses, riders and a whole lot more. This was 6-February; the sixty year commemoration of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. Members of The Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired a 41 Gun Salute to mark the official start of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. It was a fantastic and incredibly memorable event to witness. I did take some pics but the "behind the scene" shots from MSNBC are interesting too. They are so all about pomp and this was certainly no exception.

Linda spotted an important looking chap with an impressive swan plumage hat and so she introduced herself. He was the head honcho Major General in charge of Royal ceremonies and is of course a very busy fellow. He made sure that the riders and band looked snappy for the ceremony.

When it was over, we toddled off to catch our bus back back to the train station and on to Worcester. It was quite a time. We are tired and happy and looking forward to returning to London for more theater, museums, sites and less snow.

There were many impressive buildings and statues in London that we saw but sped by them too fast to remember what they actually are. They Londoners do like their monuments. So, I posted the pics for your viewing enjoyment but don't expect any educational boost from them. However, this is pretty cool.

Be sure and check out the photos. I've also added a album for Butch fans so you can keep up with his "activities".

Mind the Gap

As you may know, Butch was unable to come with us on this adventure as he is helping Susie take care of our house. So, we have brought Elsie with us. She is able to leave the house more than Butch so I'm sure she will be all over the continent before this is all over.

Ah yes, after plane, train and taxi rides we have arrived at last in Worcester, United Kingdom. We have recovered from our jet lag troubles, found the grocery, the pound store and the University. Anne has begun her adventure as a professor in the British University and Linda is learning the British language.

Our ground floor flat (apartment) is near where the Birmingham-Worcester Canal joins the River Severn. Unfortunately our view is of neither but of a brick condo building, street and sidewalk. We get no sun in the flat but, if we lean far enough near the window, we can see a slice of sky. The delivery lorries (trucks) drive quite close and the lights from cars leaving the parking garage (gay-raj) across the way shine into our living room.

Worcester is a very historic city that was an instrumental battleground in the (1642-49) British Civil War between the Royalists and Parliamentarians, (Cavaliers and Roundheads); the Parliamentarians (Roundheads) won.

Neither of us are yet able to identify the British coins quickly but we discovered right away that the coins and notes given to us by Anne's mom have been decommissioned and are no longer in circulation. They no longer have one or two pound notes (bills) and have actually devised a way make one and two pound coins easily identifiable and not confused with other coins. It must save the government a ton of money on printing costs. We have had to get larger wallets for our notes since some of them are are much larger than U.S. bills.

Please check our photos links to see what we're seeing.