Dale & Alana Visit (Week 2)

Quick summary...

Canterbury Cathedral

Dover: Secret Wartime tunnels, Dover castle and the White Cliffs:

Dover Castle has been completely refurbished and had a lot of fun props to play with.

Variety is the spice of life.  We took a break from historic sites to visit the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. (Dale was ecstatic).

 

Matt took a day off work and joined us at the Burghley House and then the Stamford Market.  Then, on Saturday we all headed down to Windsor Castle for a tour.

Weekend in the Peak District

The weekend brought new adventures.  We all crammed into our very cozy "people carrier" and headed west - past Nottingham and Sherwood Forest - all the way to Stoke-on-Trent. (Famous for its pottery and china).  We toured the Wedgwood Factory and Museum.

The next day we explored the town of Matlock Bath and the "Heights of Abraham" - taking a cable car ride to the top of a hill with various underground caves.  Great views both inside and out!

Afterwards, we enjoyed some antique shops, picnic lunch and then Chatsworth House (famous for its appearance in Pride and Prejudice).

Dale & Alana Visit (Week 1)

My brother, Dale, and his lovely wife, Alana, are here for 2 weeks.  You may remember that almost 2 years ago, I attended their wedding in California.  Matt and the girls couldn't come because of the cost and interruption to school/work.  So, as compensation we gave them the gift of roundtrip airfare to London to come visit us.  And here they are!

Our adventures started out slowly as they adjusted to the time difference.  We spent a day in Peterborough - wandering shops and visiting the cathedral.  The next day we spent at Old Hunstanton Beach in Norfolk (North Sea).  It was a cloudy day, but warm enough to putter around the tide pools.

Cambridge is a must-see if you come to this part of England.  Riding at the top front of the double decker bus is always a fun experience.  Trinity College was closed so all we got was a brief tour of the courtyard but we got into Kings College with a discount (hooray for student ID's!) and spent quite a bit of time there.

Enough of the easy days, time for a L-O-N-G daytrip to London.  First stop: Buckingham Palace.

On our way to Westminster Abbey, we spotted the Today Show crew and bobbed into the background of Meredith Vieira's interview with the Dean of the abbey.  It was a preview of information regarding the upcoming Royal Wedding (Apr 29).

We even took time to marvel at the beautiful Parliament building and Big Ben before heading over to Tower Hill.

From here, we stopped by the British Museum just long enough to see the Rosetta Stone, the Easter Island statue, the Egyptian mummies and a few other interesting displays before heading to Covent Garden for a bite to eat and some shopping.

On Friday we went to another must-see for this region of the country: the homestead of Sir Isaac Newton, Woolsthorpe Manor:

Cornwall- North Coast

This day on the North Coast started at Padstow with the National Lobster Hatchery. In the past 10 years they have released tens of thousands of little lobsters into the sea. It was a really nice science lesson and neat to see them in different stages of maturity. The biggest surprise was learning that European Lobsters and blue. Everybody smile and say Lobster!

The babies grow very slowly. The 3 inch long ones are almost a year old already. A mature one is 7-10 years old which may be why they are so expensive.

It was a bit of a frosty morning to be out walking on the coast, but here are the Bedruthan steps. There is a staircase that takes you right to the sea but it is closed in winter.

We had Cornish Pasties in Newquay and ambled down to the aquarium. It was quite nice. Here are a starfish wanting to do Amy's hair, a really big octopus and a piranha.

After dealing with Emily's complaints that we hadn't played at any of the beaches so far, we stopped for an hour at Newquay beach. Lovely sand, beautiful rock formations, surfers, and just warm enough that the girls could play barefoot and not freeze to death. Lana and I picked up some shells and rocks while the girls played.