After a leisurly fairwell to Francesco’s Full English Breakfast
We said good by to our friends at the Alhambra and toddled off to the tube stop. An hour later we were deposited at Hethrow where we did the airport thing. We had allowed ourselves 3 1/2 hours for that process so when it took less than an hour we decided we owed ourselves a leisurly lunch and a bit of shopping. You know where this is going, right?
At 1:30 one of us pointed out to the others of us that “Our plane boards in 5 minutes – and it’s at a concourse that’s 15 minutes away.”
We hustled our backsides down the way and actually weren’t the last ones to board.
11 hours later we deplaned in Los Angeles, worked our way thru the passport/customs dance, and met Billie’s brother Rob (who works there). It was good to catch up with him and grab a bite to eat while we waited for our 9:00 flight – the last leg.
We were waiting for our luggage at BOI by 11:45 and it was a quick cab ride home – us to say Hi to Lindy and head for bed, Steve and Billie to drive another half hour. They made it safely and we are all in our appointed places, road-weary but filled with memories of a great trip.
Thanks for following along on this adventure. I’ve got another 500 or so photos if you want to see more.
Signing off,
TTFN
Welcome home!!! Can’t wait to see ALL the pictures
Final comments:
CORK – tour of the cathedral in Cork, the guide explained that Church of England still has cathedrals and bishops, but their priests can marry and can be women. (Both the Evensong service at St. Pancraz and the Eucharist service at Westminster Abbey were conducted by women – very few men are joining the priesthood now).
BATH – saw several buildings with bricked up windows. This was in reaction to a tax imposed on how much daylight you were getting (you’ve heard of “taxing or beating the daylights out of me”)
LONDON – London is trashier than Dublin, which has a large fine for littering. Also you see lots more homeless people in sleeping bags huddled in doorways and even begging (politely) on the “tube”.
BRITISH LIBRARY – saw small books with very tiny printing that the Bronte sisters used to keep their parents from reading what they were writing. Also so impressive to see the four copies of the Magna Carta still in existence (multiple copies were made to send around to all the cities and counties), Mozart’s hand written sheet music, a letter written by Queen Elizabeth 1 to her heir telling him to have nothing to do with the Spanish, etc.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY – Queen Elizabeth 1 is in a highly gilded tomb which also contains her half-sister, Bloody Mary. Steven Hawkin has the newest tomb in Westminster – it brought me to tears (see my comments on the actual day we visited Westminster). Just before you exit you see the wooden Throne where all the monarchs have been crowned and there is an empty spot just under the seat where the Stone of Scone used to be. This stone was captured from Scotland as it was the stone that all the Scottish kings were crowned on. The Stone of Scone has now been returned to the Scots with the proviso that England can still borrow it whenever they need to crown the next monarch. All England’s monarchs have been crowned at Westminster since William the Conquerer built the Abby back around 1066.
TOWER OF LONDON – William the Conquerer built this on the site of an old Roman garrison to be his castle. Additional walls, enclosures, houses and other buildings were added on over the centuries until now the actual Tower is in the center of the complex and mainly houses Henry VIII’s armor.
Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard (2 of Henry’s ex-wives) were beheaded here. Bloody Mary, when she was queen, accused Princess Elizabeth 1of being part of the Wyatt rebellion and kept her in the Tower for 2 months. (Queen Elizabeth 1kept Mary prisoner for 19 years a her castle in Scotland). People now get married in the Royal Chapel there, pledging lifelong love and commitment to each other (while standing over the graves of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard who were both convicted of adultery).
There are ravens on the grounds and there is a saying that England will never fall as long as there are ravens at the Tower – to assure this, the ravens wing feathers are cut and they are regularly provided food, water and nesting areas. A long time ago there used to be a zoo at the Tower so you see wire statues of monkeys, lions, a bear, and an elephant (he was given to one of the kings as a gift–the king ordered a brick enclosure 10 feet by 20 feet be made (rather like a barn with one barred gate for an opening) where the poor animal could hardly turn around. I bet he never made it through the first winter there.
The Beefeater tour of the grounds was HILARIOUS. They live in some of the houses in the complex and also guard the crown jewels.
CROWN JEWELS – this display has been moved and much updated since we were there 10 years ago. You now see videos explaining the history and seeing the actual coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2nd. There is a moving walkway in front of all the jeweled crowns. There is also a collection of “salt cellars” which are usually a gold dish on a pedestal that the monarch would spoon his salt out of – there is one shaped like a castle with drawers in the middle which would contain spices. There are huge golden wine caldrons, serving dishes, and communion service dishes. All these items are “new” (the original crown jewels, communion plates and coronation service were all confiscated when the people overthrew the monarchy in 1649, beheading King Charles 1. Cromwell took over until after his death the people decided they wanted the monarchy back. They brought Charles 2nd back from exile and he commissioned new crown jewels, communion & coronation services be made. Then he dug up Cromwell out of Westminster Abbey, tried him, found him guilty of regicide and beheaded the dead body and reburied it at Tyburn.