Bud and Karen England Trip

This is the start of our trip to England - This section covers London - Other pages are for York, Cotswolds, and Bath.

Taking off and arriving

Here we are starting out and checking into our Bed and Breakfast in London

Wimbledon

The highlight and driving force for the trip was Wimbledon

Arriving in Wimbledon (cute town)

The Williams Sisters -- Playing on the same side in doubles

Of course it would not be Wimbledon without Strawberries and Cream

London Sites

Near Buckingham palace

Tower of Big Ben (actually Ben is the name for the bells)

London Eye Ferris Wheel

An outdoor Opera in the Trafalgar Square

Note the Jameson name on the awnings (likely named after the notorious Tyler Jameson Little)

Outside LDS church in London near Hyde Park

Looking out the Hop on Hop Off Bus - (St. Paul's Cathedral)

Of course the platform from the Harry Potter movie - (Kings Cross Station)

Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard

Across from Buckingham Palace

Statue of the Queen in the square in front of Buckingham Palace

Area where the mounted Guard get ready for the changing of duties

The old guard that have been working all day come out of their barracks and go down the road to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the new guards

The new and refreshed guards come from the area and march down with a marching band to the Buckingham Palace to relieve the old guard. (Guards come from Welsh, Scottish, and other guard units from around England.

They both converge on Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard that happen every day in the summer months around 12:00 noon - (pending rain)

London Sites

Westminster Abbey -

Tower of London - (pretty interesting - they keep the Crown Jewels (crown for queen) there.)

The tower was notorious for toucher.

The old days of an 'out house' inside.

The Beefeaters still keep track of the Tower and give tours.

The British Museum was pretty impressive.

Great Egyptian area.

Rosetta Stone - (always heard about this, kind of fun to see it.)

London Theaters

London has an incredible amount of theaters.

We enjoyed a 'who done it' - Agatha Christie murder mystery at the Mouse Trap. (London's longest running play ever.)

The Shakespere Globe has fantastic plays. (Fortunately or unfortunately - we could not get tickets except for the 'peasant standing only tickets) - Kind of fun right down in front.

We got to see Wicked. Lot's of fun!!

York and Cambridge

After London we picked up a care and drove up to York - visiting Cambridge on the way up.

Whoohoo!!! Driving on the wrong side of the road, sitting on the wrong side of the car, and shifting with the left hand. What an adventure!!! (Especially around the many round-abouts or going down VERY small coutry roads at at Break-Neck speeds almost jousting with the upcoming cars using the rear view mirrors as swords.

Cambridge

Cambridge is an interesting city. The university is made up of many colleges (Trinity, Christ's Church, and etc.) The students live in the college areas and can take classes at any of the colleges and graduate from Cambridge.

The Students live in these areas and have a central grassy area.

Museum.

York

York is a walled city. It was inhabited by the Romans around 300 AD. The foundation of the current Minster was built on the old Roman foundation. When Henry the 8th pulled away from the Catholic Church he formed the Church of England. (He basically threw out the Catholic monks and nuns and trashed out the churches. Below is the left overs from that.