Second Visits to Old Haunts; A New Fantastic Site

This past week, we returned to some places we went to last term: Canterbury and Beachy Head. Rather than show additional images of Canterbury Cathedral, we walked across town and took some pictures of St. Augustine’s Abbey, which is older than the Cathedral. It is also the oldest Anglo-Saxon Abbey in England (dating from about 598 AD) and has a right to claim the title of birthplace of English Christianity.

We then traveled to Beachy Head on the English Channel. It is just up the coast from the marvelous beach town of Eastbourne. Here is a shot of Brandon, Curtis, and our new friend James in a location about a half mile farther to the west than we traveled on our previous visit.

Our new site is Kew Gardens, in the town of Kew near the tony London suburb of Richmond. The gardens offer a vast variety of plant species from all over the world. There are greenhouses devoted to palms, bonsai plants, and water lilies. We were also lucky enough to visit the Princess of Wales Conservatory on a day when the world’s largest flower - the Titan Arum - was in bloom (we learned that it blooms only twice a year).

We also enjoyed the many colorful flowers that make the grounds so pleasurable for an afternoon stroll.

John and his mother, Grandma Joy (as everyone in the London Centre has come to call her), were impressed by the pinks and greens of one flowering bush.

Brandon wanted to know if the giant waterlilies would support him. We discouraged any experimentation.

Birthday, Baptism & Brighton

We recently had two birthdays, one baptism, and a trip to Brighton on the southern coast of England. John and Curtis celebrated their birthdays on May 2. John no longer wishes to even acknowledge his birthdays, so we focused on Curtis. The London Centre kids joined us for a pirate party in our flat (if was raining outside).

The next day we had Curtis’s baptism at the Wandsworth Stake Centre. It was quite an event, with members of the ward, the London Centre faculty, and a couple dozen students showing up. Brian performed his first baptism, with John doing the confirmation.

A couple of days later, Lynn, Grandma Joy, Brandon and Curtis went to Brighton for a sunny day at the beach. They went on a Bank Holiday, so the beach was crowded. They enjoyed the Brighton Pier and the famous Brighton Royal Pavilion, which was built by order of George IV and designed by John Nash. It was clearly influenced by Indian and Islamic architectural styles.

A Vacation within a Vacation: Nerja, Spain

Although we’ve loved our trips in London and around England, it had been too long since we’d been to the beach. Therefore, we decided to take a trip during the semester break to Nerja, Spain (known as Balcón de Europa). John’s cousin, Karl Hoffmann, moved there almost 20 years ago. Nerja is a beautiful small resort town on the southern coast of Spain. We enjoyed seeing the various species of palm trees, the hilly landscape, the tan beaches, and, of course, the Mediterranean Sea.

We stayed at the El Capistrano Sur, which is about a mile from the sea and combines retirement apartments and rented villas. Brian, Christopher, and Brandon shared one villa and the rest of us shared another. Going to the beach was wonderful, but we also had a great time at the pool.

The boys also enjoyed a skateboard park that was just down the road from the El Capistrano. They went back three times, once at night.

Up in the hills above Nerja are the famous caves that include the world’s largest stalactite. Wandering through the caves was a refreshing break from the hot spring weather that we experienced during our stay.

Thanks to Karl, we feasted on some delicious food in Nerja. He took us to a seaside restaurant for paella and a couple of downtown restaurants for seafood (shrimp, octopus, and bacarones), tapas, and Spanish ham.

Two of our favorite adventures during the trip were Brandon’s ride on a kayak in the sea and recording some music in Karl’s home music studio. We came home with a CD of Brandon’s and Curtis’s brief piano compositions with Karl accompanying on the guitar.

More London Sites & Some New Friends

Our winter semester trips are over; the students leave on Thursday and Friday. However, we’ll be here for another eight weeks, with another group of students arriving in late April for the spring semester. We thought we’d finish off this semester’s posts with some London sites we visited recently.

We went to two military museums in the last couple of weeks: The Imperial War Museum and the Royal Air Force Museum. The Imperial War Museum has exhibits on World War I and World War II, including a recreation of a smelly trench from the first “Great War.” There were also tanks, submarines, bombs, and jeeps. We plan to return when the Ian Fleming/James Bond exhibit opens later this month.

The Royal Air Force Museum in north London includes many hands-on activities for children and various airplanes from several periods of the last 100 years.

We also visited the London Temple last week with most of the students. It is located south of London in the town of Newchapel. Brian took this nice postcard shot.

John just completed teaching a class on the criminal justice system in England. A few weeks ago, the class hosted a police constable from the Metropolitan Police Service (the Met or Scotland Yard) who works in the Notting Hill area. He told us all about what it’s like to be a policeman in London. Here’s a picture of Brandon with our new friend, Constable Kenrick.

We’ve made some good friends at church. Here’s a group photo with our dear new friends the Ossigournings.

Blenheim Palace & the Cotswolds

This week we spent a day at Blenheim Palace followed by an afternoon walking around two villages in the English countryside. Blenheim Palace is reported to be one of the largest homes in England; it is home to the 11th Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. The Duke wasn’t at home, though; one of the workers says he has homes in Florida and Switzerland, so he was probably either sunning or skiing.

The grounds at Blenheim are impressive, all 2,100 acres. We enjoyed the garden and a huge room that houses the library.

From the palace we journeyed to the Cotswolds, perhaps the most classic and picturesque representation of the English countryside. We arrived in Bourton-on-the-Water and then hiked to Lower Slaughter. As we began our hike, Christopher came across an acquaintance from his school in Orem, UT. The world grows smaller all the time.

The hike to Lower Slaughter took us across a pasture, through some woods, and along a small river. The village includes a couple of small shops, a manor house, and an old mill. The River Eye runs down the middle of the village. Lower Slaughter, despite its name, is, no doubt by definition, quaint. Here’s the winter 2008 semester-in-London faculty enjoying the stroll.

The kids threatened to dive into the river, although Christopher looks unconvinced.

Here’s the mill with its old waterwheel.

Have you got an extra $1,000,000 or so for a cottage in the Cotswolds?

West Country: Our Visit to Clovelly, Tintagel & Penzance

We spent a few days visiting interesting sites on the southwest coast of England. We stopped first in Clovelly, an old fishing village that was built into the side of a cliff. The cobblestone streets are too steep for cars and the rock-filled beach is accessible only during low tide.

From there it was on to Tintagel, an area of old castle ruins on the edge of Cornwall. The castle is said to be the birthplace of King Arthur. We looked for evidence of Merlin in the caves, but couldn’t find any. The castle site includes some very steep stairs that we climbed, as well as steep cliffs to avoid. It was windy, but gorgeous.

At the end of the first day we arrived in Penzance. The following morning was spent on a fabulous four-mile walk along the coast that began at Porthcurno and ended at, where else, Land’s End. The beaches and caves were beautiful. It was cool, windy, and rugged. Around every corner was another vista to behold. We’ve never seen water so clear and so blue-green. At some place along the way we stood at the southwestern most point in England.

The next day, Brian and John visited the Eden Project with the students. It consists of several biomes that represent a variety of ecosystems. A favorite was the Mediterranean biome; the flowers were indescribably colorful.

Lynn, Chris, Curtis and Brandon took a bus to St. Ives instead of going to the Eden Project. St. Ives is a beach town with an artist colony and well-known Cornish pasties. We sampled the fudge and jam doughnuts. Brandon and Curtis decided they didn’t care if the air and water temperatures were 10 degrees C., they wanted to swim in the ocean. They ran in and out until they started to turn blue; it was a blast.

On the morning of the last day, we went to St. Michael’s Mount. It is an old castle only accessible at low tide from Penzance. When we arrived, the wind was so strong that the castle had to be closed. We were allowed to walk along the causeway and onto the island. The wind almost blew us over (it was probably at least 40-50 mph) and we had to hold on to each other and stay close to the walls to stay upright. On the way back, we fought the sand blowing in our faces and clothes. It was quite an interaction with nature the whole trip.

Bathing at the Moors, Stonehenge & Salisbury

We spent two misty days in southwestern England. After a day at Bath and in Dartmoor National Park, we spent the night in Exeter and then had a rainy day visiting Stourhead, Stonehenge, and Salisbury.

Bath is the site of the famous Roman hot springs. The waters retain their warmth and mineral content. We tried a sip of the water but weren’t taken with it. A few years ago the city was digging a new sewer line and found the head of a statue of Minerva (the Romans combined their goddess Minerva with a local Celtic goddess, Sulis, when naming the springs Sulis Minerva).

From Bath, we drove to Dartmoor National Park and climbed Hayton Rocks. At the instruction of one of the students, a group that included Christopher and Curtis let out some sort of yell after reaching the summit. These moors are known for their wild ponies and for inspiring the Sherlock Holmes story Hound of the Baskervilles.

After a night at a youth hostel in Exeter (quite nice; we were the only ones there and were treated to a real English breakfast by the accommodating staff), we visited Stourhead, which was developed by the Hoare family (famous British bankers); Stonehenge, which needs no introduction; and Salisbury, home to England’s tallest cathedral.

The grounds at Stourhead include beautiful greenery, a variety of trees and flowers, a lake, several interesting buildings (including, so we were told by some students, the location where Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth shared a rainy kiss in the recent film version of Pride and Prejudice), and fascinating ancient Greek-inspired statues.

Even though it was raining at Stonehenge, there was still quite a crowd. But we managed to get some pictures of Brandon and Curtis in front of the famous stones.

Our last stop of the day was Salisbury. The Salisbury Cathedral is celebrating its 750th birthday. It contains one of only four original copies of the Magna Carta and the oldest working clock in Britain.

We’ll post more of our adventures after next week’s trip to the southwest coast of England.

Tower of London & Standing on Both Sides of the World

On March 6, we spent a morning at the Tower of London. One of the clever Beefeaters gave us a short tour and then we walked through the different towers on our own. There were excellent exhibits of armor, swords, and horses. We loved the Crown Jewels, but were not allowed to photograph them. The theme of the place was mostly about who was imprisoned there and how a beheading took place. It was a little gruesome. Here are some of the pictures we took.

This is the exterior of the Tower, near the visitors’ entrance.

Inside is the one of the oldest and most famous parts of the Tower of London, the White Tower, built by order of William the Conqueror in the 11th century. He didn’t live to see it completed. It used to house the royal family several centuries ago.

The boys enjoyed hanging around the Beefeater Bear, although we all found the real Beefeater tour guide to be one of the highlights of the visit (actually they are known as Yeoman Warders).

Next to the White Tower is the Jewel House, where the Crown Jewels are held.

The display of weaponry, armor, and replicas of knights inside the White Tower was impressive. The boys got to hold swords and other weapons of war.

During the afternoon of the same day, we took a train out to Greenwich, strolled through the lovely village, and climbed a hill to the Royal Observatory, location of the Prime Meridian. We stood in the western and eastern hemispheres at the same time and got a great view of London. Here are the boys straddling 0° longitude.

You can see the skyline of one of London’s business districts, Canary Wharf, behind us.

The Bard’s Hometown

We spent the day in Stratford-upon-Avon, best known as the birthplace and endplace of the incomparable William Shakespeare (1564-1616) (although our own local bard tells us that John Milton was a better poet, notwithstanding Shakespeare’s many unforgettable plays). Here’s the rundown of our visit.

We first went to the family cottage of Anne Hathaway, William’s wife. It is about a mile outside of Stratford in the village of Shottery. She was the daughter of a wealthy farmer, Richard Hathaway. Members of the Hathaway family lived there until 1892, when they moved to America and left a legacy of acting talent, such as the namesake and star of Princess Diaries, Anne Hathaway (just kidding!).

We then went to Shakespeare’s birth home in the middle of town. Here’s a picture of Curtis and Hannah between the garden and the house. It is followed by a picture of Lynn, Christopher, Brandon, and Curtis hanging out on a nearby bench.

After walking around Stratford for a short while, we found Trinity Church, which is on the banks of the Avon. Shakespeare was baptized here. It is also the resting place of Anne and William.

Here’s a photo of Shakespeare’s grave. We enjoyed the epitaph.

In the same area of the church is a first edition King James Version of the Bible, published in 1611. The KJV was the result of several year’s work by more than 50 translators and a number of church committees.

We finished the day with an matinée performance of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Courtyard Theatre. David Warner was wonderful as Falstaff.

Roman Holiday

Lynn, Brian, and Chris joined 5 of the BYU students on a weekend trip to Rome, Italy.  It was beautiful, warm, and fascinating.

We stayed at a Youth Hostel near the Termini Train Station.  We all bunked together, but shared a bathroom with the whole floor.  We met a girl, Rachel Bryson, from Canada; she was alone, so she joined the group. 

We saw the Colosseum, the ancient ruins of the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Capitoline Hill, and their tomb of the unknown soldier. 

 

 

 

We loved the Piazza Navona with the artists, musicians, and street performers.

 

We saw the Pantheon, the Piazza de Popolo, and many beautiful statues.  We visited Vatican City and saw the Pieta at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums that held the Sistine Chapel.  All the paintings were exquisite. 

 

 

 

 

The pizza was interesting. You could get French fries, potato chips, hot dogs, or Nutella on it. We’d take New York style anytime.  The boys and students loved the gelato and ate it at most meals. It was a much more foreign country than we had been to before. Few people spoke English, but we managed to get through it.  The contrast in religious and pagan history was still quite evident. We loved the cobble stone streets and alleyways filled with little shops and restaurants.