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: 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

Wordless Wednesday: I guess the tide is out

Wales/Cymru: Castell Conwy

We had two sight-seeing objectives that brought us to northern Wales: castles and mountains. So our ever-efficient travel "agent" saw to it that we had two full days here: one devoted to castles and one to the mountains. My first plan was to write two blogs, one for each, but when I started going through my castle pictures (we visited two), I seemed to have a lot. Besides, I'm not in a hurry to finish the re-living of this wonderful trip that I get to do by writing these posts. So there will be one per castle!

First up is Rick Steves' favorite: Conwy Castle/Castell Conwy. Right in the middle of the charming town of Conwy, it is a beautiful behemoth that £13.10 lets you explore to your heart's content.

Built in the 1280's (and it just took them four years! almost unbelievable!) to help Edward I (of England) hold on to the Welsh territory he'd recently "liberated," it's in remarkably good condition and so fun to ramble around. (This Wikipedia article gives you a lot more of its fascinating history.)

Please note the fabulous weather in most of these photos. Our Airbnb host said her previous guests we plagued with rain and cold, but we were so fortunate!

Much of this structure, and its magnificent stonework, reminded me of our similar exploration of Machu Picchu, in 2006. I wasn't blogging then, but you can see a lot of our photos from that excursion here, and make your own comparisons.

how did they build this in four years without modern construction equipment?

You know I'm nuts for arches...

...and here's another one:

One of the coolest architectural features of the place are the round chambers, whether seen from the bottom...

...or the top:

Another drawing card is the battlements that you can walk around. This shot looking down onto some individual rooms really made me think of Machu Picchu:

Of course there's a chapel:

a better look at one of these fine windows—
not original, but still lovely

Needless to say, the kids had a great time exploring all the stairs, towers, walkways, nooks, and crannies of the castle. As well as some of the cute additions...

...fun for kids of all ages...

The Welsh can be justifiably proud of this and the other castles. We saw another fantastic one after crossing over to Anglesey. Stay tuned!

love the dragon on the Welsh flag!

Heading west

There she is, our trusty steed! Getting close to the end of its journeys, but still just humming along. It's our 9-passenger (fortunately only 7 seats needed) Renault diesel van, parked while we hiked on the way to our last major destination: Wales/Cymru. Still in the UK, but not in England (it's complicated: google "UK" and "devolution"). And like in Canada, all the highway signs are bilingual, so I'm doing that here when I can.

The hike we were on was to the top of a hill where stand the ruins of what must have been a very impressive fortification: Dinas Brân. The wikipedia article I've linked to here will tell you everything you ever need to know about the "castle," including its destruction to keep it out of marauding English hands. Yep, it's that old, probably built in the 1200's, on the site of much earlier hill forts.

Here's what the ruins look like from the base of the trail; you can see why I was doubtful I'd make it all the way up...

...but I did! And was rewarded with some great views of the lovely Dee Valley/Dyffryn Dyfrdwy...

click to enlarge and see the impressive bridges in the distance

...as well as the impressive ruins themselves:

And of course there was plenty of room for grandkids to stretch their legs, including climbing opportunities that couldn't be missed:

After this great stopover (found by our diligent tour guide), it was on to our last, and probably most amazing, Airbnb. I have to show you some photos of our lodging—it was so cool!

Here are couple of children of Wales/Cymru (from my paternal grandparents) happy to be overnighting in such a charming cottage:

Our lovely hosts (who also live on the property, which is a working farm and sheep ranch) provided a wealth of historical information about the cottage. It was built—wait for it!—in the 15th or 16th centuries! Long before my forebears struck out for the New World. I wonder if they ever lived in such a cottage. Although I suspect if they'd been that well off they wouldn't have felt the need to start over in America.  

The building was allowed to fall into disrepair for some time before conservation efforts were able to restore it. And then it was outfitted with all the modern conveniences, while leaving in place many of the distinctly un-modern features. On the left you can see the clever way they found a place for the refrigerator (although this one looks like an antique, anyway! there was a big modern one in the laundry room, but we didn't need it).

Here's the rest of the kitchen, including an antique stove like none I've ever seen...

I doubt it's from Henry VIII's time, but it's definitely older than the early 20th-century-model my Mom inherited from her grandmother.

The low ceilings are definitely an original "feature": our hostess said when they were living in the cottage (before they built the modern structure they now occupy) her tall boys hated the ceilings, and I can see why. Fortunately, they were tall enough for all of us:

note those incredible, thick beams

Here's a good view of the rest of the kitchen and the dining area, with supporting posts between:

In addition to the charming interior, there was a great yard that the kids loved playing in, even after our vigorous daily activities. The lateness of the sunset at this latitude gave them plenty of after-dinner playtime. And, as I mentioned, the farm is a working one. Here's the sheep field as viewed from the nice back patio:

The yard was lovingly tended, with flowers all over...

It's rather a showcase for the advantages of renting a house instead of two or three hotel rooms: yay for Airbnb! and for Hal's expertise in finding these gems. The cottage was a great base for our varied Welsh operations, which I'll start telling you about next time.