Today our adventure started at the museum of Winston Churchill’s underground war rooms.

51.5018° N, 0.1292° W

These rooms were located in the deep basement of a government office building not far from the House of Parliament. It was interesting to learn that these rooms were actually prepared prior to Britain entering into war with Germany. The government felt that war was inevitable so they began preparing for the worst. The floors in the building above the war rooms were reinforced with steel & several feet of concrete to help create a “bomb-proof” shelter for Churchill & key staff.

The museum is exceptionally well done.

After our tour of the war rooms we walked up to Trafalgar Square & then went in search of a pub to have some lunch. We also stopped briefly at Canada House which was very close to the Square.

Surprisingly there was no Tim’s at this location so we continued our search for a nice pub.

Once we had recharged we walked through St James’s Park to Buckingham Palace. Lots of people around the palace gates but no sign of the Queen. I was going to ask one of the Palace Guards if Her Majesty would consider having us in for afternoon tea but thought better of it. 🙂

Next we walked again through St James’s Park to Westminster Abbey to attend the Evensong Service. The park is beautiful.

Prior going to the church service we walked around the outside of the House of Parliament.

This was a very full day. We were ready for a good rest & a hot soak in the tub after we got back to our hotel room.

Cheers!

51°30′19″ N 0°11′13″ W
Kensington Palace

Today we toured parts of Kensington Palace. There was an exhibit of a large number of Princess Diana’s dresses that Catherine wanted to see. It was very well done. After seeing that exhibit we toured part of the palace where Queen Victoria grew up and where she began her reign.

After we left the palace we walked through Kensington Park, past the memorial statue to Prince Albert & then toured the Victoria & Albert Museum.

This museum is exceptionally well done. It would be easy to spend 2 or 3 days touring it.

I especially liked the displays of wrought iron, while Catherine liked the period costumes & tapestries.

Cheers!

Land Position: 51°45′16″ N 1°15′14″ W. (Bridge of Sighs)

The Bridge of Sighs (below) is a covered walkway between two buildings on the university campus. It easily must be one of the most photographed buildings in Oxford.

Our motivation for coming to Oxford was twofold: 1) to see the city & the university & 2) to take an “Inspector Morse” walking tour.

Catherine & I have been big fans of British murder mystery shows & Morse is at the top of the list. So, when we were planning our trip to England we knew we had to make a journey to Oxford.

By coincidence we stayed at a hotel where scenes from several episodes of the show were shot & we had a drink in the hotel bar that Morse & his partner Lewis patronized.

Our tour guide was an enthusiastic fellow who conveyed a huge amount of information to us – not only about Morse but also about Oxford, the university & several of the university’s most famous alumni & professors.

The architecture throughout the university grounds is fantastic & photogenic. Times like this make me wish that I was a better photographer.

Our timing was also fortunate because many spring flowers were still in full bloom.

After putting many miles under our feet we stopped at the Eagle & Child, a famous pub close to the university that was frequented by J R R Tolkien & C S Lewis who formed a writer’s group they called the Inklings.This pub was their base & meeting place. It was really special to have a pint in the same place that these men enjoyed so much time together in.

So, our trip to Oxford to learn more about Morse gave us much more than we had hoped for.

Cheers everyone!

Our Land Location: 51°22′53″ N 2°21′34″ W

I met up with Catherine at Heathrow Airport on Saturday morning & then we took a highway bus to the City of Bath – about 2 hours away. We hadn’t seen each other for two weeks so I wanted to make it easy for her to find me in the arrivals area at the airport.

We spent the past few days in the City of Bath. This city was founded by the Romans around the year 60 AD. Roman style baths were built to take advantage of the area’s natural hot springs. The historical preservation and presentation of the Roman ruins is very impressive.

Over the centuries Bath has developed into an amazing place & the entire city is now designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

During our visit Catherine took advantage of opportunities to mix with the locals. The lady below – stationed outside a chocolate shoppe was very sweet.

On Sunday we took a free two hour walking tour of the city. Our guide was excellent & he shared a wealth of information with the group we were in.

Bath is a very easy place to get around. Most of the major things you want to see are within a 30 minute walk of the city center plus there are plenty of hop on – hop off busses.

One of the most impressive places for me was the Royal Crescent houses. The Crescent, built 250 years ago is comprised of 30 terraced row houses.

At the time this was built Bath was attracting a lot of wealthy people so there was lots of money available for architects & builders to showcase their talents.

Just a short distance away from the Royal Crescent is another very unique development called “The Circus”. There are 3 sets of row houses built in a circle around a central park.

There is also a huge abbey built adjacent to the Roman Baths. Our tour guide told us that there has been a church on this site since the 7th century (1,000 years!). This abbey is the 3rd building on the site & it is actually considerably smaller than its predecessor. We went to an Evensong service there on Sunday afternoon. That was very special.

It was a lot of fun & very interesting to spend the past two days in Bath. We could easily spend two weeks here & still not have been able to see everything the city has to offer.

Next stop – the City of Oxford.

Cheers!