http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ridgydidge46/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ridgydidge46 en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:30:05 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:30:05 +0000 This was our last official full day of sightseeing in London as tomorrow we leave London for home. Today we went to the Globe Theatre which was reconstructed by an American called Sam Wanamaker. Ironically our tour was conducted by a Yank. It was interesting to see the replica that was built as true to the original as possible down to constructing Elizabethan tools for the job. We then w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-416184.html Today we went to visit the Queen at Windsor Castle and she was at home the flag was flying. While we were there the Changing of the Guard occurred. We visited the State Apartments and St George's Chapel. The guide was able to tell us about the extent of the damage caused by the fire in 1992 which took out the roof of the Great Hall and some other areas of the castle and then explained what http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Berkshire/Windsor/blog-415858.html This morning we went to mass at Great St Barts a church built in 1125 as an Augustinian abbey. The interesting part about it is that the nave no longer exists. There is only the quire and the chancel plus an extension for the Lady Chapel that make up this church. Still a beautiful building and great liturgy with the sung parts in Latin loads of smoke aka incense. Following mass we head http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-415512.html Today we spent most of our time on water. We made our way up to a place called Little Venice and took a canal boat along the canal to Camden Lock. There we spent the remainder of the morning wandering the gigantic markets that cover most of the centre of Camden. We returned to Westminster and took a cruise along the Thames to Greenwich Village. Our first places of interest were the meridian l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-415174.html Today we set of to go to Hampton Court Palace. The palace was built by Cardinal Wolsey and taken off him by Henry VIII when Wosley fell out of favour. There were several additions to the palace first by Henry and then by William III and his wife Mary II. We explored the apartment and kitchens of Henry VIII and the baroque additions of William and Mary that included their apartments. We did no http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-414885.html Today was another busy day. We started with the Tower of London then Tower Bridge on to St Paul's Cathedral followed by a disappointing trip to the Temple Church of 'Da Vinci Code' fame. The Tower of London was a fascinating place. It was great to be able to see places that had such fame or infamy in English history. Many things were not how I Anthony imagained. The main one was thin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-414558.html We arrived in London today at lunchtime. We settled into the apartment. Nearby is St Katherinersquos Dock and Tower Bridge. This afternoon we visited Westminster Abbey and had the opportunity to go to the shrine of Edward the Confessor. It is a beautiful church particularly the Herny VII Chapel also known as the Lady Chapel with its fanvaulting ceiling. We also saw the tomb for the two T http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-414551.html Today was our day to explore the university city of Oxford. We started the morning with a selfguided tour of Trinity College. From there we sought out the Oxford version of the Bridge of Sighs. We walked by the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian Library. Unfortunately the Library was closed. Next was the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. We continued on to the famous Christ Church Col http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-414528.html This morning we left Thetford to make our way to Oxford. On the way we stopped off at Ely to visit its cathedral which has a marvellous lantern that is unique in all of England. We then headed off to Cambridge. We visited Kingrsquos College Chapel and walked around the many of the other colleges. Due to limited time we were not able to visit all of the colleges but we did manage to have http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-414510.html We drove from York to Lincoln and attended mass at Lincoln Cathedral. After this we had a look around the cathedral and its environs. Lincoln Cathedral had a very interesting faade which had been added to the front of the old Norman church. We then moved to our prime destination for the day the Anglican shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Little Walsingham the village where the shrine is loca http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-414506.html Yesterday we left Durham and made our way to York via Whitby. We stopped off at Whitby Abbey the site of an AngloSaxon abbey. When we left Durham there were a few clouds in the sky. By the time we arrived in Whitby it was wet and misty. Our first taste of true English weather We were fortunate enough to be at the abbey at the right time because when we had finished our exploration mo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/North-Yorkshire/York/blog-412916.html Today we visited the Norman cathedral and castle in Durham. Both building are perched above the town on a bend of the River Wear. The Cathedral contains the tobms of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede. A very moving experience to visit both these tombs. The Norman architecture was very different to that of the Gothic cathedrals that we have visited so far. The castle is now owned by the Unive http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Durham-County/Durham/blog-412318.html Today was another big driving day with very little action in between. We called into Coventry on our way to Durham to see the tapestry of 'Christ in Glory' that hang in the Cathedral. The present Cathedral was built in the 1950s after the original Cathedral was destroyed by incendary bombs during WWII. The new Cathedral still has a modern look and feel given the date that it was built. We th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Durham-County/Durham/blog-411949.html We headed off for our Shakespeare experience in StratforduponAvon. One the way we visited several beautiful villages in the Cotswolds Lower Slaughter Upper Slaughter BourtonontheWater Chipping Camden and Snowshill. All had their individual charm. We particularly liked Lower Slaughter and Snowshill. We arrived at StratforduponAvon in the early afternoon and visited Shakespearersqu http://www.travelblog.org//blog-411605.html We started the morning visiting Glastonbury Abbey. Although it is just ruins you can really imagine what it might have been like in its time. It was a serene place. We then travelled to Wells. We saw the Cathedral there with its beautiful faade and its amazingly famous scissor arches. The Bishoprsquos Palace was equally impressive and the wells that the city is named after which apparent http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Bath/blog-411582.html We left Canterbury and made our way to Winchester. When we set the sat nav for the new route to Winchester we realised the reason we were having trouble yesterday was because it was set for walking routes and not for driving. We encountered some difficulty on our way as there were road closures along the motorways which set us back by about an hour limiting our time in Winchester if we wanted http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Glastonbury/blog-411574.html Today we made our way from Spain to England. We arrived at the airport to find that our flight had been cancelled by AirComet but that they had not provided us with seats on another flight. Fortunately we were able to come to an arrangement which allowed us to leave at our scheduled time. We arrived at Gatwick and picked up our hire car to drive to Canterbury. Despite having a sat nav we cir http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Kent/Canterbury/blog-411571.html Today we went to Avila. It was a 90 minute trip hoping to not only see the town and Cathedral but also to visit the tomb of St Teresa. The fact that it is an UNESCO World Heritage listed site because it has the best preserved city wall also attracted us to the town. We only discovered once we got there that her tomb is in Salamanca. Nevertheless we still made the most of the medieval city a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile-Leon/-vila/blog-411567.html Today we made our way to Toledo in air conditioned comfort which was short lived as the temperature reached 36C today. Despite the heat it was a most enjoyable and interesting day touring this medieval town that is a UNESCO heritage site. As we approached the city walking from the station we saw the remains of the town's walls and gates. We made our way to Tolede Cathedral and spent the ne http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile-La-Mancha/Toledo/blog-409919.html Started the day off travelling to Atocha railway station the main station to go to Toledo. We arrived 30 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave. We discovered that we needed to take a number and queue to buy a ticket. Our number was 752 and they were only up to 698. As a result we missed the train that was to leave at 10.20 am and the next wasn't leaving for another 2 hours. We end http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-409908.html