This is a picture of me......driving a stick shift on the left side of the car, on the left side of the street, going 80 miles an hour, trying to comprehend what 1000 round abouts are like on the winding roads of England!
Sh-h-h-.....be still and take time to smell the roses in life!
And that is exactly what we did our first day in London as we visited the Windsor Castle.
We met our first friends in the parking lot. Not knowing how to pay for parking, Julie asked a gentleman & his wife from Ireland. He was so cute that he said, "You reach in your pocket & pull out your money. Then put your payment ticket on your dash board" Julie asked, "How much do we need & what does it look like?" He held out his hand full of change, put the exact coins into Julies hand & pointed her to the payment box. Already, we were loving England.
I sat down by this gentlman to ask some questions about Winsor Castle. He just happened to be a tour guide for 24 years. And told us some of his facinating stories about the maze of tunnels under the castle. He had to repair a broken water pipe & was only allowed to come up through the man hole in the room that needed the repair.
Can you tell how hugh the Castle is?
My favorite Rose!
I love these guards! If they are at attention, they don't move or smile or flinch!
Julie taking time to smell the roses. These smelled really beautiful.
Presenting ......Queen Julie Kaye Gardner
Queen Julie Kaye! We found out we weren't suppose to take pictures in here! And this crown is for a Christmast tree top! Looks better on Julie Kaye.
All these little window were stained glass. But they wouln't let me take pictures from the inside so you could see there beutiful colors.
Time to get something to eat! M-m-m-good! Julie's clients recommended the best places to go.
Then we headed over to Bath, England.
Stopping to buy a Gelato!
The Beautiful walk through the city of Bath.
Alot of corner buildings dividing the streets,
Visiting an very expensive dress designer collections.
My lady Julie Kaye tries on the feeling of a courset & skirt rings.
I enjoyed the hats,myself
I was really boared!
Julie Kaye was lion, when she said this collection was worth it! But we did appreciateds the black dress Queen Victoria wore after the death of her beloved husband.
Quick Julie, take the picture! It stinks in here!
Give me one of these, and I'll travel on either side of the road all day long!
Looking down the street at the cathedral. (If you have a catherdal in your town, you are a city. If not you remain a village, no matter the size & population.)
One beautiful flower attracks another!
Note the brick I have my hand on.
Cool, Huh?
We tried to find a road to take us up on the hillside to visit these homes. (If you don't have an address or a destination, Tom-Tom doesn't know how to help you!)
We did find a Pub with a bathroom though! Relief!!!!
99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer.....take one down & pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall! (We didn't take one down!)
We visited the cemetary across the street thought! I love old cemetaries!
This was Julie Kaye's favorite head stone.
And we had our first fish & chips! We didn't know you got to whole fish!
Words can't explain the beauty of the country sides.
One of many views.
I think this sign was a joke! They must have opened a new road to some hill top!
Visiting where my ancestors came from. A gentleman from a pub came out as we were parked, I asked, "Are there many Price families in the area?" He replied, "Mum, there's 100's of them around here. Infact my best mate is a Price." Oh that we had the time to search them out & see how we connect.
Tesco is like Walmart in England. Only the prices aren't as good. We stopped in Victoria (where my G-G-g-grandma Charlotte Crockett was born) to pick up some English snacks. Julie Kaye ate these kinds of ice creams in Ecuador.
Good bye to the home of Charlotte Crockett......a sleep over, a sleeping in.....missing our breakfast, but then we were off to St. Fagans Wales History Museum. (110 acres of natural old Wales living.)
Oh, I would have loved being a kid in Wales. All the green trees & follage to make cabins in.
One of the old houses with the thatched roof.
Hedges or these kinds of walls separated land plots.
Sheep & wool have long been a means of making a living.
Green follage tunnels & beautiful flowers.
Stopping at a garden plot to show Timmy back home.
And this is a preserved mansion & gardens.
Wales love spoons are a big tradition. The above spoon is carved out of one piece of wood.....even down to the tiny links.
Leaving Wales and heading back into England & the beautiful Cotzwalds.
This is the coolest of cool hand drying units. It works & it's warm.
Parking anywhere in England is tough. Julie Kaye had found an antique car collection in Boureton on the Water. She asked, "Mom, do you want to really stop & see this collection or should we move on." Making one more round about the city, I said, "If we find a parking place, we'll know we're suppose to see this one man collection of antiques, if not, we'll move on!" She agreed. As we pulled back into town, we went over a different bridge, pulled straight into a parking space and the car show was just kitty corner from where we were. Now ask me if we had a good time & it was good money spent?
The old signs on the walls were 1/2 of the experience.
This red ones for you Mary Ann.......you love Roho!
It proved to be a totally amazing collection. And much bigger than what the outside of the building let on.
This bench was for Shauna and her famous Cow Club!
Then to another Pub for something to eat! Yummy food! Pubs are the best! But they do look at you a bit oddly when you ask for tape water to drink!
Both Julie Kaye & I agreed that the Cotzwalds were our favorites!
Note the sign on the side of the building.
In honor of our beloved friend, Bill Croft.
This villages are perfectly preserved old English towns. Full of character & charm.
Note the decorative thatched roofs and sculloped hedges.
It's just too hard to describe and pictures have a hard time doing justice to the beauty.
The walk way from the back yard into our Bed & Breakfast.
The flower gardens were so breath taking.......and this was at 10 o'clock at night.
Inside our little cozy room.
A picture from our bedroom window.
And breakfast in the morning. This is just the first course. Then came the eggs, saugage, bacon, toast, and potatoes served with fresh squeezed orange juice or milk. And these were our friends from Australia in the next room. They had been in England for a month & had just one week to go. (Oh if we only had that much time!) What a delightful visit we had together.
Now this has only been the first two days of our trip. If I have the patience with blogging......there will be more to come & see.
Until the next sessions! Thanks for being interested.
