UK Part Uno

Hello everyone!

After a brief stop in Iceland and three hours sitting behind a screaming four-year old, we arrived in London last Tuesday safe and sound, and headed straight to the Glover’s home in Oxfordshire, where we enjoyed four days of great company and unbelievable food.

Wednesday we took the train in to London for the afternoon and somewhat aimlessly wandered through the city, although still managing to stop by at most of the city’s attractions: Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, The London Eye, and Waterloo Station.

Kevin joined Will, Jan, and I for a little trip down memory lane, visiting the small village of Adderbury where Will and I lived as small children. As you can imagine everything was much smaller than I remembered, especially our old house (now inhabited by the grumpiest woman I’ve ever met) and the park (they finally took down our favourite slide, but I’m pretty sure the swings are the same). After some lunch at the local pub, we all headed to Warwick Castle, a proper English medieval castle north of Adderbury. We climbed all 500 steps up the towers and across the castle walls and watched a flaming boulder being hurled across the castle grounds from a trebuchet (we all felt sorry for the audience volunteers who had to wind it up like a hamster in a wheel).

Richard Glover took Kevin and I on our own private guided tour of Oxford University on Friday. Most impressive was Christ’s Church (some scenes in Harry Potter and Chariot’s of Fire were filmed there). We also climbed the church tower to look out over the city, visited New College (also from Harry Potter), and Richard’s old college Exeter. We had a lunch at one of the university pubs, The Turf, where groups of students had just finished summer exams, as evident by the black robes they were required to wear. After lunch and a few pints of beer, Kevin and I took our turn at punting, an Oxford and Cambridge tradition.

Basically four or five people pile into a flat-bottomed boat, similar to a gondola, and one person propels and steers the boat by pushing off the bottom of the river with a very long metal pole. I was better than Kevin (must be my English blood), but we both showed up the other groups of tourists who spent more time going across the river than down it.

Saturday morning we set off on the train for Hale (suburb of Manchester) to visit The Webbs. Ian, Diane, Jessica, Hanna, Kevin, and I went out for dinner at this great pizza joint in Manchester and caught up with everyone, as we hadn’t seen each other for about 3 years. Sunday we paid an outrageous amount of money for Kevin to tour through Old Trafford (for all you non-soccer fans where Manchester United plays), although it was quite an impressive stadium. After three hours touring the stadium, the dressing rooms, and going through a re-enactment of the walk on to the pitch through the tunnel (complete with a recording of fans cheering), we took the tram into Manchester and walked through the various shops and buildings.

Monday we packed up the car and headed to Conwy in North Wales with Ian, Diane, Hanna, and dog Bertie. Conwy is home to Conwy Castle, built in the 1280s right on the coastline and Britain’s smallest house (1 x 3 meters). We spent the first half of the day touring through Conwy Castle, which was very cool as it has been untouched since it was built. After some fish and chips on the beach, we found our way onto a pathway along the top of the old city walls, built around the same time as the castle, although interestingly the city walls serve the same purpose as they did then, most of the modern town still lies within its boundaries. That evening we had an epic three-set tennis match at the Hale Tennis Club on pseudo-grass courts, a first for both of us.

Tuesday we tagged along with Hanna to work in Leeds, starting our day at The Royal Armouries Museum (lots of guns). They had a really amazing display on Islamic, Chinese, and Japanese medieval warfare, with complete sets of armour and weapons from all the different areas, even Mughal Indian elephant armour (the only one in any public museum). There was a presentation on the history of firearms, starting in the 1700s, exhibits on knights and tournaments, big-game hunting, and the new exhibit on the Tower of London and its victims. We walked through the downtown of Leeds, such a beautiful city, with historic covered shopping centres, and large pedestrian only shopping areas. Wednesday Hanna, Kevin, and I walked through Hale and Altrincham, trying to find a barber for Kev, and a café for Hanna and I to sit out in the sun. Back at home, Ian had set out a tennis court in the backyard with twine and spikes for paddle tennis, and we played nearly all afternoon in the sun. Jessica and Hanna made an amazing meal and we all sat down for dinner, followed by videos and recordings of Hanna, Jessica, Andrew, and I as little kids, definitely entertaining.

We have just arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland, so far everything we’ve seen is beautiful, we will post photos before heading to Italy on Monday.

Love to everyone!

Korinne