Here we are in the resettlement station of the Cincinnati airport after our eight hour flight from London. As far as we know, the airport agents left our laptops alone. Not that there was anything new on them, except for the more than 3,000 photos we took while we were away.

There’s the Queen and Prince Philip!

This is Brandon. We think he trooped a bit too long.

Here’s a picture we forgot to post. Christopher and a few of the students went to Wembley Stadium to see a “friendly” football (soccer) match between England and the U.S. They had to sit in the England section and were told not to cheer for the Americans. That was easy to follow since it was a convincing 2-0 victory for the home team.

Here’s a shot of Notre Dame from the opposite side of the Seine (the famous Left Bank near the Latin Quarter).

John arrived at the Eiffel Tower just as the sun was breaking through the morning clouds.

Brian and a student went to the spooky Catacombs of Paris with its thousands of skulls and other skeletal parts.

The Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) includes many varieties of flowers, a palace built in the 17th century for Maria de Medicis, several fountains, and numerous statues.

This odd head sculpture faced the center of the gardens.

Lynn and the boys had a wonderful time seeing the heraldry and jousting exhibitions. They saw eagles, falcons, vultures, and peacocks.

Brandon and Curtis dressed up in period costumes. Brandon seems to have his friend James a bit frightened.

Brian and John spent a recent afternoon touring Samuel Johnson’s house in central London. Samuel Johnson created his famous English dictionary while residing in this house during the 18th century. Here are Brian and some of the students dressed up in period outfits.

An interesting piece of artwork we saw in the house was a portrait of Samuel Johnson and his biographer, James Boswell, visiting with our Macdonald ancestor, Flora Macdonald. Flora is famous for hiding Bonnie Prince Charlie when he was fleeing the English troops after his failed coup attempt in the mid-18th century. Johnson described Flora as having “soft features, elegant manners, and a gentle presence.” He also said she would “be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour.” Here’s a picture that Brian took of the portrait.

It was a nice day for punting on the Cam, regardless of the drizzle. Brian steered a boat along the river as some of the students relaxed.

Christopher took a turn at the helm as Brandon helped row. Lynn and Curtis navigated.

With apologies to any creationists who might be reading this, we were struck by the Darwin exhibit at the Cambridge Zoology Museum. It includes three of the famous finches in his collection, as well as a box with a few of the thousands of beetles he gathered during his research into the origin of species. Darwin attended Cambridge’s Christ’s College from 1827 to 1831.

The following day, we dressed the boys up for a trip to Abbey Road in north London. The actual address for Abbey Road Studios is 3 Abbey Road, but for some reason the graffiti appears next door.

We didn’t quite get the famous Beatles album cover photo, but our set-up wasn’t too far off (and yes, that it the same cross-walk!).

On Saturday, Lynn took Brandon and Curtis to Warwick Castle to see the jousting, sword fighting, and falconry exhibitions. We’ll show you some highlights during our next post.

Here are some photos from the visit.

We successfully made it through the oldest hedge maze in the world (well, at least in England). Unfortunately, the maze turned Curtis into a vampire.

Just after arriving and checking into the youth hostel, we hiked up Arthur’s Seat, the apex of the craggy cliffs that overlook Edinburgh. It was about a two kilometer hike but offers a tremendous view of the city, some of the surrounding area, and the Firth of Forth. Here’s a shot of Brian and some of his friends on Arthur’s Seat.

Edinburgh Castle was impressive; it dates back to 1130 when David I was on the Scottish throne. It has only been successfully stormed a couple of times, although for a fee any old tourist can now enter its gates. Here’s a view of the castle from a park far below.

Brian took this picture just as the castle guards fired the guns.

We also hiked up Calton Hill on the other side of the old city. There is an observatory, a monument to Lord Nelson, and a Grecian acropolis. Here are Lynn and the boys, with our friend James, at a point that overlooks the old city from the east.

Some of the young men in our group bought Scottish kilts. We couldn’t resist this picture of Brian trying one on.

After leaving Edinburgh, we headed south for the city of York. York has a history of Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman influences. Here’s a picture of a wall that was built by the Romans more than 1700 years ago. The top portion was added during the Medieval period and, as you can see, the wall is in surprisingly good shape.

In the middle of the city is the York Minster, the largest European Gothic cathedral north of Rome. It is the seat of the Archbishop of York, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the hierarchy of the Anglican Church.

Brandon, Curtis, and their friend Julie decided to pose on some old stones. We weren’t sure if they were Roman soldiers or pirates.

Brandon and Curtis found the longest street name in York. Interestingly, the longest name was given to the shortest street. We’re not sure why.

We also took a tour of York, walking along the ancient walls, strolling through the old city, and going on a ghost tour in the evening.

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.

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.

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.