Geo: 51.4984, -0.125356My plan for the day centered around my Card of Introduction to the House of Commons. Wednesday is when they have the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister%27s_Questions">Prime Minister's Questions</a> ("Yeah, yeah, yeah") and my goal was to get in. I headed straight to Parliament on the Tube, walked up to the security man and said that I was here to pick up my Card of Introduction. "Your what?" he said. "My card....the e-mail said I should pick it up..." (as I unfolded the e-mail printout I had) "...at the security entrance to the......." (oh, crap) "...Embassy. Um, I'll be right back." I didn't have time to muck with the Tube (would have been at least one line change), so I hailed a cab tot he Embassy. The queue was horrendous, but I got in line.... read more

Geo: 51.5014, -0.185201What was that phrase? "Beware the Ides of March"? Truer words were never spoken. We headed to the <a href="http://www.hrp.org.uk/">Tower of London</a>, only to find that Monday is the one day a week that they don't open until 10:00. So, with a little more than an hour to kill, we went to the Tower Bridge Experience - as much to get out of the wind as anything else. It was on our Heritage Pass, so we went in. I think we were all glad that we hadn't paid anything out-of-pocket for it.  We did finally make it into the Tower, and had a tour with a Beefeater (you gotta!). He was charming (as they all are), and gave a really good tour (although the crowd was large enough that it was hard to hear ... read more

Geo: 51.7523, -1.25582After a slight detour through the gardens at New Place, which happily took us through a parking lot where I could squeal over a Smart car, we walked to <a href="http://www.stratford-upon-avon.org/">Holy Trinity Church</a> to see Shakespeare's grave. The verger who was taking donations at the entrance was an adorable older man, who wanted to know where we were from, etc. He glanced this way and that, then told us that if we wanted to take a picture, we could ("Shh").  Beautiful little church -- with Bill and his family earning permanent front-row seats. As we left, Mr. Verger-man asked Sara if we'd gotten our photographs. "Yes, thank you so much." With a sly downward look, he proclaimed us "Naughty Americans." That just tickled us, and we used the phrase quite a few t... read more

Geo: 50.4713, -4.71761When I got up in the morning and went for a walk, I had to pass through the dining room to get outside. I just chuckled when I saw our table, complete with 5 chairs and an American flag. Really pretty little lane, with a ton of houses that I'd be happy to own. We took off for a drive through Dartmoor on our way to Land's End. Had to first get past the ponies. We had quite an adventure in some portions, with the tiny roads and all, but it was fun. Stopped at Buckland the town (hamlet), thinking it might be where Buckland Abbey was. Silly us. It wasn't, but we visited their little church as long as we were there. We did find Buckland Abbey, and Mom & Sara braved the ... read more

Geo: 51.3807, -2.35671We arrived in good shape (although a bit tired), got through customs, and found our way to the car rental counter. It took some very careful engineering by the ladies, but they got all our luggage in, and we were off to <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/stonehenge/">Stonehenge</a>. There really isn't much more to it than the big rocks you've all seen pictures of, but it's very cool to be there, looking out over the plains and wondering about the people who made this monument. Windy? Yeah, sure, a little. Cold? I should say so. But cool, nonetheless. The audio guide (which was including in the price of admission), really provided some good info, and a taste of the mystery behind the whole thing. Actually, the price of admission meant no cash out-of-pocket, because this was the first ... read more