5 February 2011
Bath and Salisbury
Saturday morning dawned breezy and cold, but we none the less bundled up and headed out on some sightseeing to the north in the county of Wiltshire and east in the county of Dorset. I thought that a Saturday morning in January was good time to go and see the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge, to my mind that although cold, there would at least be no crowds. Of course I underestimated the timeless (and seasonless) appeal of one of the most widely visited sites in Europe. Thankfully, some tour buses were already pulling away when we arrived and the cold weather allowed no one, even the most dedicated tourist, to linger.
We had studied it with the girls the day before, but to see it in the flesh really was very impressive. Having seen it before and also feeling some what reluctant to visit such a "touristy" site made it all the more wonderful that we could be moved by it. Standing on the hill with the wind whipping all around and the sun shining through the clouds gave me a vision of what it must have been like to approach the great hill of stones from the valley below. The girls loved seeing something that they had only seen in books, but after about thirty minutes of mommy and daddy's lecturing and pointing, they were ready to get into our warm car.
Then on to Bath, again a place that I thought would be nice but uninspiring. However, from the first sight of the uniform Georgian facade of the old city I fell in love with it. We went first to the fashion museum where we got to see fashions from the mid 18th century up until the present day. The girls all got to try on a corset, except for Margaret who said that she wanted to be able to breathe. Above the fashion museum were the Assembly Rooms which were the places to see and be seen at concerts and balls as retold in the books of Jane Austen. The girls and I danced in the beautiful ballroom.
Sunday we made our way to Salisbury made famous by their lovely cathedral. It ranks as the tallest cathedral in England with a spire of over 400 feet. We were just in time for evensong and the choir of girls and men was one of the most beautiful that we have heard yet. Some of the little girls looked no bigger than Margaret. Frances and Charlotte were practically green with envy and so was I. They sing so effortlessly such complicated music.
The highlight of the trip to Salisbury was being able to see one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta. Frances was especially excited to see it; she had studied Medieval History last year (and with a little prompting) was able to remember the historic importance of the document. There it was very quietly tucked away in the Chapter House, no flashing lights necessary. It always amazes me that here that the English have the most priceless treasures and they keep them with such a quiet dignity and so little fanfare.
8 February 2011
Two Days in London
We finally chose to leave the ease and comfort of the small towns in the West and visit London. We had already seen the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Trafalgar Square so it was nice that we did not have to visit those icons just to say we were there. Instead, we planned on parks and museums for our two days... some a disappointment but others an absolute delight.
Our first visit was to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Here, we spent about 3 hours looking over everything from historic time-pieces to jewelry (including sever coronation crowns worn by queens of old) to theatre props to clothing. We were most excited about the textile display of fabrics and period wallpapers but this section was unfortunately closed.
Our next distination was to attend evensong at St Paul's. We hopped off the tube and went left rather than right. Once we got turned back around, we ended up jogging down the sidewalk to make it on time (the conspicuous Americans). The service was beautiful and I was struck by the richness of the tradition... at a small parish church in a tiny village they were having the same order of worship as in St Paul's. It's also been consistent whether small parish church or large famous Cathedral that our girls have been welcomed and appreciated. We usually here things like, "It's so good to see children here!" The reading this evening was about Simeon, one of my favorite characters so that was a nice treat as well.
Following the service, we looked for somewhere to grab dinner before going to the National Portrait gallery. We found a somewhat obscure restaurant that was almost empty but which had very good food. It was nice to sit at a large table together and relax. This is where we discovered that Margaret lost our camera case with Frances' ipod in it. We had some tears and thought we might check in the V&A that evening.
That evening after dinner, we attended the National Portrait Gallery. This was perhaps our favorite thing we saw in London. The gallery included the only sketch of Jane Austen along with some well known paintings of Elizabeth I, Henry VIII and many of the romantic poets. It was quite breathtaking to see the original works that were so familiar becuase we grew up seeing these images in our books.
During our second day, we first visited the British History Museum. This is much like the Smithsonian in DC and would take over 1 week just to see most of it. Since the girls are studying ancient Greece and Rome in history we opted to visit the Greece/Rome/Egypt floors. We saw a number of items dating from 1000BC. It is so hard to believe that these artifacts have survived for 3000 years. There is so much in the museum, I would hate to know how many things I walked right past with only a glance while a historian would say, "Do you realize the significance this chalice?" We saw an old mosaic of Christ that is thought to be the oldest known image of Christ which was found in Hinton St Mary (about 30 minutes from our house in Somerton).
Kensington Gardens was our next stop where we fed swans, strolled through the park, and saw the Peter Pan statue. Kensignton Palace was a bit of a disappointment although we did not go inside. Our next stop was the Science Museum... we had planned this as a reward for the girls enduring our interests. This museum was large but was not as hands on or interactive as we had thought. The girls were perhaps most struck by technology; they could not believe how ugly the Apple IIe was and how large things used to be... computers, phones, televisions. We saw the Apollo 11 Capsule which was especially nice after having watched Apollo 13 the week before.
As our final stop, we visited Buckinham Palace and, no, we did not have tea with the Queen. The girls loved seeing the guards march. I think the significance of the monarchy was heightened because we've now been here for 4 months and they've heard much talk of William and Kate.
London... check. Back to our quite, quaint town in the West Country.
10 February 2011
Brownies
It's not often that a young girl is able to join Brownies and earn badges while on vacation abroad. Frances and Charlotte have both had this opportunity and have been attending every Tuesday evening. They recently had their promise ceremony in which they pledged "To honor my Queen and my country." One of the leaders said to us, "I'm sure you like that Queen bit." A very sweet young lady in our church is one of the leaders and offered to take the girls each Tuesday night. Our girls really needed some time with other children (and away from us) so it's been a most welcome opportunity. Now, the girls spend afternoons reading their guides and thinking about that next... elusive... badge.
14 February 2011
Valentines Day
Rachel and I had planned for a day out together (it would have been our first time since October) hoping to see The King's Speech and have dinner. The plans fell through and we were left with a quite ordinary Monday staring us in the face on February 14. Rachel decided to have a tea party with scones (and "confectionary") for the girls. She created the most delightful and beautiful tea party and they called it "the best Valentine's Day I've every had."
20 February 2011
Farm
We met a very sweet couple who live near us. They have 2 children, Joe and Betsy, who the girls have enjoyed playing with. We spent a Friday and Saturday at their farm, riding the 4 wheeler, walking through a few of the 40acres, making pizza, and eating Shephard's Pie. The children all found a barn in which the played for hours. Good fun.
