London, Stonehenge, Dover and Bath

see all photos »

We have been staying with Mark and Judy Bowers, friends of ours from ExxonMobil. I have to say, that if anyone is planning a trip to London, prepare to spend a lot of money! Everything here is super expensive, especially since you have to multiply everything by 1.5 to convert dollars to the British pound. We are so happy to be able to stay with Mark and Judy, otherwise we wouldn't be able to spend much time in London. They have been a lot of fun to stay with. They have a 2 year old daughter named Megan. She is so full of energy and we have enjoyed watching her run around.

The first few days we spent roaming around London itself. We learned how to navigate the 'Tube', London's underground subway. We also splurged on the open air tour bus ride that took us to all the major sights and had a live narrorator to add to the fun. Our first major visit was the Tower of London. It was built in the 1100's and has been added to by subsequent Kings and Queens. There is a really nice exhibit of armory and weaponry and of course the highlight is the Crown Jewels. Wow- those diamonds are huge! I think every woman that sees the Crown Jewels looks dreamily at their husband and says..'Honey.. will you get me a diamond like that one...' And the husband just looks helplessly at the 550 carats glittering back at him and hangs his head low in defeat.

The two major religious sites in London are Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's cathedral. Westminster Abbey has been the place for all of the coronations since 1066 AD. It houses thousands of tombs, among the most famous here are Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Charles Darwin, and Sir Isaac Newton. It was kind of creepy, because there are tombstones all over the place, especially in the floors. We kept apologizing as we stepped all over them. Andy backed up to take a picture and I shrieked 'Andy, get off Charles Dickens!!' St. Paul's Cathedral is (I think) the second largest Christian church in the world. It was built as a Catholic cathedral, but like almost every church in England, it was converted to Anglican when King Henry VIII decided he wanted to get a divorce from his wife. This church was where Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married in 1981. I remember watching their wedding when I was a kid, it is neat to see it in person now.

We saw the famous Rosetta Stone and the mummy of Cleopatra in the British Museum. I think that the English have more Eqyptian artifacts than the Egyptians have! They stole everything while they were trying to acquire more colonies. We also spent a full day at the Imperial War Museum. There were some chilling exhibits about the horrors of Trench Warefare from WWI and the Holocaust.

We took day trips to Stonehenge, Dover, and Bath. Stonehenge is quite impressive, we spent a few hours just walking around it and staring at it. There are many theories about it's origin, but the most likely is that the Druids/Celtics created it to glorify the Sun and the seasons. It is kind of a giant calendar. Dover Castle was very large and impressive up on the famous chalky cliffs. It has a lot of recent history because it was a major WWII fortress. There are extensive underground tunnels which kept everyone safe from German Bombers. Lastly, Bath was very unique. It has the most extensive, and complete Roman baths found anywhere. There is a fault running right under the Baths which generate a continuous supply of hot mineral water. The Romans worshipped at this site because it was so amazing to have hot water bubbling up from the ground. It was a very interesting museum and we highly recommend a visit to anyone who is passing by.

Well, I have typed more than enough! On Thursday morning, Andy and I will be storming the beaches of Normandy. We will spend 4 days looking around the famous WWII site before heading to Paris.

Once again, thanks for reading our journal!

Jennifer and Andy