As I write this post, Anne and I are in the middle of St. George's Channel/the Celtic Sea aboard the Irish Ferries' MS Isle of Inishmore. We watched dock workers load tractor trailers onboard for 35 minutes, then our bus and a couple campers and autos boarded and departed from Pembroke Dock Yards. The crossing should take about 4 hours. Let me tell you about the past week.
We boarded the Hovercraft last Wednesday from Isle of Wight, heading to Southsea Portsmouth. Along the sides of the craft, huge balloon-like bumpers inflate, lifting us up. And we zoom across the water, hovering above The Solent, powered by big-bladed fans at the back. Smooth, quiet ride. We spent one night along The Solent in the delightful port area. The next morning we took a train to Victoria Station in London to join our tour. Here we find people, traffic and noise in this big city.
On Friday we meet and join half of our group and tour around the city with author Warren Grynberg. We saw so much: Buckingham Palace with horses, a marching band, and changing of the guard; Kensington Palace where the young royals live; the Eye of London; Parliament; Big Ben's tower and lots of scaffolding; much more. Later Anne and I hopped on the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus and listened to the tour guide Tabea, a German-born woman who speaks 8 languages and is thinking of attending Harvard for her Master's. Geez, have we met impressive young women on this trip! As usual, it was a great view from atop the bus, and we learn more about the City and its' surrounds.
On Saturday we met our travel guide, Peter Lewis. Peter is a Welsh man and has a good sense of humor. He retired from the business 3 years ago, but they keep asking him to return for another trip. So he did. Our group consists of 48 tourists from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA (8 from Michigan). Big group. Our bus driver is Craig.
We drive to Stonehenge. So, just how did they move those stones from 20 miles or more away? Who told them to set the stones to allow for the alignment at the solstice? These are some old rocks. We drove on to New Sarum, which you know as Salisbury. The city may sound familiar if you've seen the news about a father and daughter poisoned by suspected Russian agents months ago. Peter promises us this won't be another ABC (Another Bloody Castle/Church/Cathedral) tour. Construction of the cathedral began around 1386. It houses one of the four remaining original copies of the Magna Carta here. Very small writing written with a small feather on animal skin. Outside the cathedral, Anne met an 80-year old female cleric who said it it was just awful in the village following the poisoning with constant police and military presence. Everyone was questioned. Funerals had to be postponed. The hospital was quarantined. Media everywhere. Lovely town.
Sunday morning we are at the Plymouth/Mayflower steps. Ships left here for America and Australia (filled with convicts). A bombed-out church stands as a memorial to those killed in WWII Luftwaffe attacks. Somehow a kiss is mentioned which leads Peter to the question of how is a kiss and a spider web similar? Well, they both lead to the undoing of the fly... We move on to Cornwall, pronounced 'kernel'. We see hedgerows everywhere in our travels. We visit the port town of St. Ives (about an hour from Port Isaac, which portrays Port Wen where the Doc Martin series is filmed). We lunch on fish and chips and a pasty and enjoy the scenery. We make a photo stop at St. Michael's Mount, a smaller, less attractive version of the site in France.
On Monday we are in the delightful, quirky town of Glastonbury where Christianity, magic, hippies and all types of alternatives exist. We even see several kolam on the sidewalks similar to those we saw in India. Here we visit the remains of the St. John's church, the Abbey of King Arthur and Lady Guinevere, continue on to the town of Bath, with all its buildings made of yellow Bath stone. The town is lovely and busy. We spent 2 hours touring the old Roman bath buildings along the River Avon, which must've been just incredible 2000 years ago. Peter tells us that Italian prisoners of war were held here during WWII. They were allowed to plant gardens, and the food was distributed to the city. The prisoners were grateful at the end of the war for their decent treatment by the townspeople, and they wanted to donate something to the town. I can think of better things to give, but they donated a tall statue of Romulus and Remis suckling at the teats of the shewolf. Look it up. They thought it appropriate because Romans had developed the area. Oh well. We cross the Severn River into Wales. Peter tells us the Welsh language is one of Europe's oldest. The alphabet has 29 characters with no J, K, Q, X or Z. Coal mining was huge here, but all deep mining has ended, I believe. We spend the night in the 3-university city of Cardiff. Anne and I walked along old attractive buildings and enjoyed seeing so many students on the streets.
Earlier today we toured Cardiff Castle, which was first established by the Romans, then abandoned, then improved and enlarged by the Normans. We climb, much to my dismay, up and down 3 flights of spiral staircases during our tour. Everywhere we travel there are opportunities for trips and falls. My photographer got some great pictures even though it was cloudy. We learn that there are an average 141 rain days each year. And now we have sun on the seas, welcoming us to the land of many greens, 4-leaf clovers, Guiness beer, Ireland. We'll report on our adventures in a couple days.
Photos from these visits appear in the next few posts.
Anne and Maddy
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy Tablet
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