England, Part 4
February 23 - March 20

These last few weeks in England included a viewing of the Severn Bore (not so boring) and 2 weeks with Jon and NiCole. Here's probably the last update to this diary and the last of the beer notes. Thanks for reading.

Random pictures:


Just a random church in Cirencester

The Severn Bore occurs for a few days monthly when the bay between Cornwall and Wales funnels the tide up the Severn river clear to Gloucester. Sometimes spectacular. People line up in the early morning to watch it and a dozen surfers tried their luck at the Severn Bore Inn.

The bore moves upstream at about 20 MPH. We had time to drive up to another spot to see it again.

After Jon and NiCole arrived we revisited Blenheim and saw the ruins of a Roman villa at nearby Chedworth.


A large piece of mosaic floor has survived.


It has an intact underfloor heating system in the spa area.

Also saw Windsor Castle.

Stopped in Beer to see the Lees for a couple of days. Thanks for the internet, phone, beds, etc! A race went by their house just as we were leaving.

On the way to a week in London we saw Stonehenge, Avebury, and a White Horse.


Avebury is a huge ancient stone ring that encompasses an entire city

.


The tasting room at Perry's Cider Mill in Somerset.

In London we all split up and between us in only 5 action-packed days we saw:

  • Belfast Battleship
  • British Museum
  • Design Museum
  • The Guild Hall
  • Hampton Court Palace
  • Imperial War Museum
  • Museum of London
  • Florence Nightingale Museum
  • Picadilly Circus
  • Soane Museum
  • The Tate
  • Tower of London
  • Trafalgar Square
  • Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Westminster Abbey
  • Westminster Cathedral

And lots of Underground and bus trips. Gobs of pubs (Jon achieved 50 different beers during his visit). Here's some random pictures. NiCole took more but took them home with her since Bob lacked the proper cable to connect to her camera.


Imperial War Museum


German WWII 1-man sub.
Found after the captain died of carbon monoxide poisoning.


Mayor of London's coach. Museum of London.


Potter's Field. Near Tower Bridge.
This area was settled by Dutch emigrés and several Delft-style potteries were in
the area before it was razed for a paupers' graveyard.


The stock photo at Westminster Abbey.


Guild Hall


15th century wall clock.


A half-sized model of H1 that took 12 years to build in 1962 - the model that is. The original took 18 years to 1735. Harrison's clock would stay accurate within a minute on round trip to Lisbon.


2-person WWII bomb shelter.


Soane Museum. He was an architect and a fanatic collector of pieces of buildings. This place puts the word "stuff" in "stuff".


The inside was crammed with priceless stuff so his son wouldn't inherit it. Hogarth's The Rake's Progress, for instance.


Westminster Cathedral.
Dark and dreary inside.