Wordless Wednesday: no words

 

Wordless Wednesday: is it Nessie?

Heathrow: farewell to the UK

I knew Heathrow is a ginormous airport, but I still was blown away when I looked at this Terminal 5 departure board. Yikes! Where can't you go from here?! You can get to Austin, for sure (see our flight in the red box). But apparently not Reykjavík, since the kids' Iceland Air flight left from Terminal 4. That meant we couldn't hang out with them. But since we had to check out of the hotel long before our flight, we still had plenty of time to enjoy Terminal 5's amenities. Including...

Henry was able to pound out his usual six or seven notes of Rachmaninoff; fortunately the area wasn't too crowded so only a few travelers were disturbed by this  .

All too soon we were leaving the land of bangers and mash. Hope we can come back someday!

A short Oxford [re]visit

When I was in England in 2008, I visited Oxford three times (links to my blog posts from that era, as well as lots of pictures, are available here). But it's much too wonderful a city not to come back to.

Plus, we actually found that our last days in the UK were overlapping with the first days some cousins would be here, and Oxford was the preferred meet-up spot. Although I was skeptical that these two busy families could possibly actually meet up, it happened! And we were able to spend a fine afternoon together.

Here is the group of second cousins, trying to hold up the Bridge of Sighs...

other cameras looking straight on might have gotten the effect they were after

Since our time was limited, we stayed within a small area around our carpark, but it offered plenty to see. Including All Souls College, one that Hal and I remembered as being free to tour in 2008...and it still is! When we visited then, the term was just beginning, however, while now it was exam time, so we were cautioned not to disturb the studying students. But admiring the late medieval architecture (it was built in the 1430's) just elicits oohs and aahs.

All Souls quad

All Souls chapel

Then it was time for lunch, and what better venue could we choose than the Vaults and Garden cafe, right next to St. Mary's church and the Radcliffe Camera! (There's a great photo on the church's website showing the Camera and All Souls.) 

The scones were tasty, and served up with a good dose of history, as this plaque inside explains (it was pretty crowded so I couldn't get a shot without an Oxford-don-looking gentleman in the frame):

follow the cafe link to learn about a threat to this charming eateries' existence

We opted to eat outside, and several of us wandered into the church after eating. Since Hal and I had climbed the tower in September, 2008, we skipped that, but I'm sure the views from there are still gorgeous. Here's the steeple from the cafe:

Next on our agenda was the History of Science Museum. (This is one of my favorite museum subjects! how on earth did I miss it in 2008!)

In a 17th century building that housed the original Ashmolean Museum, it was a treat in its architecture and exhibits.

stairway, window, and...sextant?

beautiful old instruments

I'm not sure I got all of the relevant bits of this exhibit in the frame, but, Lawrence of Arabia! How cool!

It wasn't quite dinnertime when we exited the museum, but it was time to start talking about it. Making dinner decisions with this large and diverse a group takes a while! 

We ended up at a nice Italian place and had yummy pizzas—almost always a hit with almost all of any party. Here are the cousins again, this time enjoying each other's photos:

Getting these kiddos together isn't easy, either. Since we all live on the same side of the Atlantic, it shouldn't be so hard, but we had to travel a few thousand miles to make this happen!

Sad to say, this was our last full day in the UK. From Oxford we drove to Heathrow, where we had reservations at a convenient airport hotel. Our trusty van was turned in without incident and all we could do was rest up for our flights the next day.

Wales/Cymru: Mt. Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa

And now, for something completely different...

Our travel-agent-extraordinaire made sure that our British vacation would never be boring. After

museums, castles, and ferris wheels, our final day in Wales was spent hiking a rugged (although not too rugged) trail in Snowdonia National Park/Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri. Specifically, we walked (and some of us clambered) up part of the way to Mt. Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa's peak. It was glorious!

We took the Miner's Trail, which is the easiest of the routes to the summit. What worked for us is that the first part is really easy, and there's a clear demarcation for when the more difficult section begins. So the wimps in the group (mainly me, the almost-three-year-old, and his attendant parent—definitely not a wimp but needed to carry the little one when little legs needed a break) could turn back before things got real. Here's an early portion of the trail and attendant fabulous scenery:

More great scenery:

I believe that's the peak in question on the far right. At over 3500', it's the tallest point in the UK south of Scotland. Here it is, more at center stage...

...and here's a closer look, from further up the trail, on the section Henry took, but I didn't:

None of us climbed up to the top, but some people sure did! Here's another of Henry's shots:

click to enlarge and see the tiny hikers on the peak

Not summitting definitely didn't mean not having a wonderfully enjoyable hike. For one thing, there were so many things to climb, near the trail...

...and off of it:

child in the red box is an intrepid granddaughter

As well as lakes to throw rocks in: endless entertainment!

And those rocks weren't just fun for climbing and tossing. I loved seeing the veins of quartz that paralleled the trail for long stretches:

such a brilliant white in the sunshine!

Here's a closeup of a specimen closer to the trail:

 I've been a rockhound since I was a kid, and I never tire of the beauty of exposed geological features.

A picturesque plot of ruins made a nice place to stop for our lunch, especially since it marked the end of the easy stretch of trail:

And then the non-wimps started off:

Just looking at that unevenly paved section reinforced my plan to stop here, even though I had my trusty hiking poles. Just looks like an ankle-twisting waiting to happen!

None of our party suffered any injuries, though, and we eventually met up with them at a convenient pub/snack bar back at the trailhead. But before that, Henry got some spectacular photos, like this dramatic shot:

And here are the ruins where we lunched, from 'way, 'way up the trail:

More fun was on offer for those in the climbing group with energy to spare...

...but it did get chillier the higher they went; notice the coats here:

What a wonderful way to spend our last day in Wales! Please notice again, in these photos, what fantastic weather we had for the hike!

Our UK adventure was coming to an end, but we had one more special stop to make before returning to the land of E Pluribus Unum. Stay tuned!

Wales/Cymru: Beaumaris Castle and Llandudno

Next up on our castle-day itinerary was Beaumaris Castle, on the island of Anglesey, just off the coast. This one is famous as the unfinished masterpiece of a medieval castle. Edward I ran out of money (plus he had to head north to deal with some troublesome Scots) and it was never completed. However, what was erected is pretty dang impressive.

For one thing, as you see here and above, there's an actual moat!

And of course, arches...

...and a chapel:

The castle was designed to be concentric, giving the defenders, in case of an attack, two layers of protection:

So there was more than usual to explore...

(Check out the Wikipedia article linked above for an overhead view of the castle that shows off its beautiful design perfectly.)

Although the towers weren't finished off, and not as tall as originally planned, the views from the battlements were still impressive. Here's one, which included the carpark where we left our trusty van:

You can also see part of a playground in this shot, which of course we took full advantage of. But there were other activities for kids, too, like this room with percussive instruments that could be "played"...

...and lots of nooks and crannies to explore:

I was more of a fan of the ramparts you could walk along...

...and enjoy the views:

cows! not sheep, but cows!

We opted to stop at two castles, skipping the most famous one, Caernarfon: it was a bit more out of our way, plus we knew it would be crowded. And, well, you can get castled-out just as you can get museumed-out, no matter how wonderful these places are.

So we picked Llandudno to finish out our day, moving forward in British history about 500 years. This town was popular in Victorian times with well-to-do English wanting to enjoy the seaside (although, as the Wikipedia article I linked here indicates, there were Stone Age settlements on the site long before the railroads came).

This photo was taken from out on the pier, full of the kind of amusements you'd expect at a seaside resort, including an arcade that completely over-stimulated our almost-three-year-old.

But the Llandudno shore is really quite lovely, and has this handsome war memorial lending a little more dignity to the space:

We chose not to dip our toes in the Irish Sea, as it was a little chilly and the tide was partially out. But we found a nice Victorian pub for dinner...

...and left for home well-fed and ready to rest up for our next day's adventure: mountains!

coastline view from Llandudno