Our trip to England started off on February 22nd with an immediate change in our travel plans. After checking in at the American Airlines ticket counter in the West Terminal we were routed to Los Angeles instead of Chicago for a direct flight through to London Heathrow. So we gathered up all that carryon luggage (fortunately we hadn't checked anything) and proceeded to the commuter terminal to take the small puddle jumper to LA where we collected our direct flight to London. The seats in many of the planes have been redesigned to accommodate small movie screens in the headrest of the seat in front of you .. great you'd think! However.... the drawback is that when they put the seats back into the plane, they reduced the amount of leg room between the rows .... and lessened the amount of recline to the seats. It was a very long and crowded and cramped flight! Did manage a few hours sleep however which helped somewhat.

We landed in London around 12:30pm on Sunday afternoon and after clearing customs found a taxi cab who took us a short hop up the road to the Melrose House in Windsor. After checking into this small bed and breakfast in a residential neighborhood, we collapsed for a couple of hours and tried to regain some equilibrium. As night time approached we bundled up amidst a very slight drizzle and ventured into town for a light supper. Once there, we wandered around the small cobblestone streets barely wide enough for a single small vehicle. Peering into shop windows we settled on a small tea room called Nell Gwynn's where we enjoyed tea, hot chocolate and scones with jam and cream.

After window shopping some more and eventually finding a place for supper, we hastened back to Melrose House through the heavier drizzle and settled in for the nightOn Monday morning, we idled in bed for a bit before joining a few other guests for breakfast in the dining room and then ventured out to explore Windsor during the light of day and the blustery winds.

Of course, the principal attraction in Windsor is Windsor Castle which rises on a bluff above the Thames and is visible for miles around. The city itself, with its narrow streets brimming with shops and ancient buildings was a delight. Windsor Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world.. The present castle was begun by William the Conqueror in the 11th century and modified and extended by Edward III in the mid 1300s. Finally between 1824 and 1837, George IV transformed what was essentially still a medieval castle into the fortified royal palace you see today. Mike and I joined the other tourists braving the blustery winds and took a tour of Windsor Castle. The high points of the tour included the Throne Room and the Waterloo Chamber along with Queen Mary's Doll House. A terrible fire in November 1992 which started in the Queen's private chapel totally gutted some of the State Apartments and there were obvious signs of reconstruction underway. The Doll House is a perfect palace within a palace with functioning lights, running water, and even a miniature library. The Doll House took three years to construct. As we left the Castle itself, we stopped at St. George's Chapel - the resting place of ten sovereigns. The Chapel bears the name of the patron saint of the "Most Noble Order of the Garter", Britain's highest Order of Chivalry.

After enjoying our tour of the castle we headed back to Nell Gwynn's for a bite of lunch and a place to warm up from the chill winds. We then wandered up hill and down dale exploring the shops and cobbled streets of Windsor. Our wanderings took us across the Thames into the small school town of Eton. Along the main street we found tea rooms, pubs and plenty of clothing shops specializing in clothes for the school. We stopped at one of the small tea rooms and enjoyed a lite snack (lite in size not in calories) with our tea and hot chocolate.

Tuesday morning found us up at what felt like dawn so that we can grab a cab into London for the seminar Mike would be attending. After a dash through rush hour traffic we arrived at the Kennilworth Hotel not far from the British Museum. We checked in, left our baggage with the concierge and Mike headed for his day indoors and I started off at a brisk walk heading for Big Ben and Westminster Abbey - only I read the map upside down so to speak and ended up three miles in the wrong direction. I finally hailed a cab and headed for Big Ben.

I took a fast walk around the Parliament Building catching shots of the clock tower known as Big Ben. The 1858 clock tower contains the bell that chimes the hour and quarter hour and the bell itself, weighing a tremendous 13 tons takes its name from Sir Benjamin Hall, the first Commissioner of Works (The bell is actually Big Ben - not the clock tower). The walk around the Parliament Building included crossing the Thames to the opposite shore and back again acrossed Westminster Bridge. From there, afterall, it was only a relatively short walk to Buckingham Palace - occupied as a royal residence since Queen Victoria moved there from Kensington Palace in 1837. Tours are only allowed during August and September when the royal family is not in residence. As I walked toward the palace along the edge of St. James' Park, I enjoyed the beginnings of spring with flowers beginning to bloom in the park. After a stop at the Guard's Museum to watch an inspection, I continued on to the Palace.

However, once there I was treated to a bit of Pomp and Circumstances that day when the Queen was hosting lunch for the Prime Minster of Israel. With the walkways lined with people and the streets lined with Bobbies and the Queen's Guards we awaited the arrival of the dignitaries. We were treated to the various Guard's bands and the positioning of the Queen's guards during the waiting period. Each guard was stationed at exactly so many paces from the next one. Finally the Queen appeared in her royal car and was driven a short way down Horse Guards Road. Once at the end of the Road, she transferred into the Royal Coach and along with other dignitaries in various additional coaches, made their ceremonial way back to Buckingham Palace. While Mike and I usually walk the other way when visiting dignitaries are in evidence, it was good luck to be able to see the ceremonies and watch the Royal Coaches go by. During the wait, I enjoyed chatting with British citizens as well as a newly married couple from Morocco so it made the wait seem less. This was the day where the wind gusts hit 90 miles per hour and the Royal Guards were struggling to maintain their rigid and upright stance. Once the ceremony was over, I made my way back to the Hotel (about 3 miles back) by way of Trafalgar Square

Tuesday evening we had a wonderful dinner in the dining room of the hotel and then headed to the Adelphi Theater where we saw the Andrew Lloyd Webber play Sunset Blvd. It was very well done and although a bit on the "dark" side as all of his stuff tends to be, we did enjoy the play. The lead part of Norma Desmond was played by Petula Clark (anybody remember the 1960s hit song "Downtown"?)

Wednesday morning Mike was back in session and preparing for his turn at the podium. He had two presentations to make during the course of the day. For myself - I was off to Harrods. Quite a store to say the least. It is seven floors of clothing, food, appliances and electrical and even a pet shop. I wandered through the food market which takes up two floors - the produce area alone was bigger than some grocery stores. I headed for the top floor and began making my way down just really window shopping although I did pick up a few trinkets for the family. From there, I headed to a couple of other stores such as Harvey Nichols and Spencer and Marks and once again found myself in the vicinity of Buckingham Palace. By that time I was remembering that I had missed Westminster Abbey the previous day and that around the area of Big Ben I would probably be able to find a T-shirt for James. (I found the shirt in the Abbey bookstore - all black with Big Ben and the moon on a dark purple field).

Westminster Abbey is an 11th century church founded by Edward the Confessor and the present abbey is a largely 13th and 14th century rebuilding of the original church. It is here Britain's Tomb of the Unknown Warrior lies - an anonymous WW1 martyr who lies buried here in memory of the soldiers fallen in both world wars.

Thursday morning, we checked out, left our bags with the concierge and trekked just around the corner to the British Museum where we wandered through the Egyptian and Assyrian room and stopped to read and look at the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone was found in1799 and carved in 196 BC with a decree of Ptolemy V in Egyptian hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek. It was this multilingual inscription that the provided the key to deciphering hieroglyphics. We headed back to the hotel after wandering around the museum for a bit and found our way to Paddington Station were we picked up a train to Plymouth and enjoyed a leisurely trip.... after we got away from the cigarette smoke.

I must say there was more cigarette smoke around England as a whole than we have encountered lately in either Israel or Japan and people were much less considerate about their habit for those who didn't smoke. We were in a non-smoking car, but 4-5 people who couldn't find room in the smoking car certainly made themselves at home and the conductor was a WIMP who could really do nothing to stop them... so we moved to another car along with several others to get away from the smoke.

We arrived in Plymouth and made our way to the Avis Rental to pick up our car which we (Mike) would then be driving on the wrong side of the road. The straight aways were ok but when it came to making turns into and out of various streets it was a constant effort to remember which side of the road we belonged on. Of course, we also had to learn to navigate those narrow Cornish roads and I do mean NARROW. Barely wide enough in some places for one car with 6-10 ft. High hedgerows that blocked all views of oncoming traffic they became a navigational challenge. There was some reflection from headlights at night, but during daylight hours it was definitely stay alert at all times.

Our final destination for our stay in England was the small fishing village of Looe at the Panorama Hotel overlooking the fishing village and the harbor. Our room at the top of the building had double doors and a balcony from which we got a wonderful view of the village, ocean and harbor. After settling in and enjoying the view before dark, we headed for a walk through the village and found a 15th century place called the Golden Guinea to have supper.

On Friday morning, after a leisurely breakfast with our host discussing - whatelse but Internet & web pages - we made a mad dash for Stonehenge. Situated in lonely isolation on a wide, sweeping Salisbury Plain it is an impressive site. Begun about 2800 BC and enlarged between 2100 and 1900 BC and altered yet again by 150 it has been excavated and rearranged several times over the centuries. The medieval phrase "Stonehenge" means "hanging stones". The original 80 blue stones were transported from mountains in Wales presumably by raft on sea and river and then dragged on rollers across country - a journey totaling 130 miles as the crow flies. It has been probably determined that this was constructed as a religious site and that worship here involved the cycles of the sun; the alignment of the stores to point to sunrise at midsummer and sunset in midwinter makes that much clear.

After a snack of scones we ambled our way back to Looe where we enjoyed a leisurely supper before heading to our scenic view for the evening.

On Saturday morning, while Mike "consulted" with our host and a friend of his, I walked into the small town of Looe, window shopped, took lots of pictures and generally enjoyed this little fishing village that seemed so quiet at this time of year - although teaming with tourists during the summer of months of July and August. Late morning we then journeyed just down the road a piece to another small fishing village called Polpero where we found pasties for lunch. From there we made a dash from the south coast of Cornwall to the windy & blustery north coast for a view of Tintagel.

This ruined cliff top castle occupies a rocky spur off the Cornish coast and is said to have been the birthplace of King Arthur. The castle itself dates from 1150 when it was the stronghold of the earls of Cornwall. The earliest identified remains at the castle are of Celtic (5th Century) origin and these may have some connection with the Arthurian legend. The ruins of the castle are stunning and dramatically set on the wild, windswept Cornish coast - partly on the mainland and partly on an island connected by a narrow isthmus. After a long uphill walk back to the town of Tintagel we finally found a break from the ever present blustering wind in a small tea shop where hot chocolate and English pancakes were served (crepes with apple inside). From there we wandered all the way West toward the town of Penzance from the Gilbert and Sullivan play the Pirates of Penzance. There wasn't much to see as we arrived at dusk but we sat in the car on the beach and had the greasiest fish and chips we have ever experienced.

Unfortunately, this brought us to Sunday morning and a long drive back to Heathrow airport as we watched miles and miles of rolling hillsides covered with hedgerows and sheep and occasionally dotted with small country churches dating from 1100 AD. We arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time to spare and more time to wander through the duty free shops at the airport. The flight home was long with a change of planes in Chicago and we finally arrived in San Diego about 9:15pm on Sunday evening to be greeted by James to drive us home. We found our small corner of England an enjoyable place to visit and someday, if the fates are willing, may make a trip back there for a longer and more relaxing vacation.