England #8 (London #5) 5-13

June 15, 2013

It was our last day in London. How much could we cram in? Perhaps there was a better way to see more without walking 10 miles. Historically, London was a very busy port and the center of commerce. The River Thames winds its way through the heart of the city, bordering the most important districts […]

England #7 (London #4) 5-13

June 13, 2013

Our time to see London was running short so we hit the pavement. Turns out walking is perhaps the best way to see many of London’s most famous attractions. Of the hundreds of monuments scattered around the city, the obelisk presented to the British Nation in 1819 by Mohammed Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, is the […]

England #6 (Godalming) 5-13

June 11, 2013

The historic town of Godalming in Surrey lays on the banks of the River Wey in a hilly, heavily wooded part southwest of London. First mentioned in the will of King Alfred the Great (849 – 899) it probably existed 200 years before that during Saxon times. In the year 1300, Godalming was granted the […]

England #5 London #3 5-13

June 9, 2013

So many museums. So little time. We hopped on the Hop-On-Hop-Off tour bus to save some walking and while we did get a passing glance of some of the thousands of attractions, it was still a challenge to negotiate the masses of tourists doing the same thing. Riding over the famous Tower Bridge, often mistaken […]

England #4 (London #2) 5-13

June 6, 2013

High on our list of things to see in London was the famous Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Recommendations were to get there early. It looked like others had the same idea, like a couple of thousand people. Supposedly, the best location to watch the proceedings is the upper-level of the huge statue […]

England #3 (London #1) 5-13

June 4, 2013

Of course we had to see in London. The problem is there is so much history and so many statues and so many buildings and monuments and fountains and museums and beautiful parks; it would take months to see everything. We really had to pick and choose. We did take a tour on one of […]

England #2 (Portsmouth) 5-13

June 2, 2013

There has been no lack of things to do and places to see. We did take a short trip to the historic Naval town of Portsmouth where we stayed with Monika’s distant aunt and toured two of the most important restored British warships. The HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate battle ship of the Royal […]

England #1 (Arrival) 5-13

May 31, 2013

We have crossed the big water and we are now in this strange country called Great Britain. Strange indeed. They do speak English — sort of. The steering wheels on cars are on the wrong side, and if that wasn’t enough to make you nervous, they insist on driving on the bloody wrong side of […]