Our next country to explore was England, especially London and the surrounding area. Just a heads up that England will be split into three shorter, and by shorter I mean shorter then what I normally do which is still a lot, posts because we crammed so much in! It felt like Kaleen and I never stopped, we just kept on going and going!
Kaleen and I took the hour long train from Birmingham to Oxford the following morning. We made the hike up to my room me pointing out things along the way like the History Faculty building, the Bodleian library, the Museum of the History of Science and such that were on the way. After we dropped our stuff off I gave Kaleen the quick tour of Oxford which means we walked around and I tried to remember which college was which and give her little tidbits about them such as Brasenose College is called that because it used to have a brass nose as a door knocker on its front door. We thought we would go into Christ Church College because some scenes from Harry Potter were filmed there, but when we got there we decided it was such as nice day that we would rather spend it outside wandering through Christ Church Meadow which I have never been in. It was quite large and even had a place for people to go punting! I have to sadly admit, the Meadow had better internet connection then my room does. Earlier that day Kaleen had been trying to send her mom an email, but it wouldn't work from my room. As soon as we stepped into the field it worked! After I showed Kaleen Oxford we went and picked up some groceries and returned to my room to spend the night preparing to go to London and we watched movies. We had planned on going to Stratford-upon-Avon the next day, where Shakespeare came from, but we decided that we had so much to do in London that we would rather have an extra day there, so we changed our plans. Next stop London!
The following day we hopped on the train and headed to London! We braved the underground to get to the hotel we were going to be staying at that night. The rest of our nights in London were spent at a hostel, but more on that later. Once we got to the hotel we decided to cross one of the things off our list, Hever Castle. Hever Castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry the VIII, and King Henry spent time here trying to woo Anne. We had to take a train to a nearby station and then walk to the castle. There was a map on their website explaining how to get there using footpaths through fields, and there was a sign that said castle this way. We followed that path, but it ended at a field of sheep. There was a gate into the field, but we weren't sure if we were allowed to go into it or not. There were many sheep and lambs inside. There was one little lamb that saw us and then started to prance over in a every uncoordinated cute way. We decided not to go down that path and take another that went off to one side. That path led to a private driveway that seemed to lead to a very nice looking house. We snuck our way down the driveway and onto the road and followed that to the castle. Near the castle there was a small village, or you could say one pub called King Henry VIII's pub.
Walking towards the gates to the castle and its surrounding land was pretty cool. It was fun to also experience it with someone who never has been to a castle before and even though I'll never loose my excitement and joy at seeing castles it made me more excited. As we went through the gate we walked into an expansive green field and garden, something which all the castles and houses we visited on this trip seemed to still have. You got the feeling of what it must have been like to live here in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and even more recently. A family lived in this building up until the 1950's if I remember correctly when it became to expensive to maintain as a living residence and there was a flood which damaged a lot of the property. The outside of the castle was beautiful. You could see on the front were the vines grew up along the stone. There was a drawbridge with a moat and in the moat there were colourful koi fish which were huge! You definitely got the feeling that they were fed a lot. There were multiple mazes on the property although we only went into the yew maze. It wasn't too hard, either that or we're expert maze solvers! One thing that I found interesting about this place and many other Tudor buildings is that they don't mention the fact that Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were both executed. I know it's something you don't want to flaunt, but it just seemed to be skipped over. After exploring the castle and the gardens for a couple of hours we headed back. We decided to take the other footpath on the map which looked much more straight forward; however, as we started heading down it we encountered two huge mud puddles, or should I call them lakes! We got around the first one, but we had to walk on a fence to pass the second one. My shoes got covered in mud and the shoes laces are still stiff from the mud no matter how much I clean them. Kaleen got scratched by a tree. It wasn't a terrible injury, but we had forgotten bandaids, so we had nothing to stop the bleeding until we got back. We made it back to the train station all muddy and headed back into London where we explored what was along the river as we made it back to our hotel. We saw the Globe Theatre and a ship which I can't remember the name of! After we grabbed some supper we spent the evening cleaning our shoes and planning the following day.
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| Hever Castle |
Shoes before and after
The next day we got on a hop-on hop-off bus tour. When we got to the first stop to buy a ticket there were three bus companies there. The day before we had agreed on which one we wanted, but when we got there someone from another company cornered us and we're both not good at saying no, so we ended up with Golden Tours which had not so good tour recordings of the sights and wasn't reliable when it came to pick up times. It did do its job of getting us from point A to point B, but I wouldn't recommend that bus tour group. We still had fun and made the most of it. The first place we got off the bus was at the Tower of London which was one of our must see places. The Tower of London is much bigger then I thought it was! We decided to start by walking along the walls and through the guard towers, but it took over an hour just to do that. It was fun though seeing all the different areas and you could tell when things were built. Also, that is where they had most of the history relating to the tower. After we went into the White Tower in the centre which was full of armour. It was really busy inside, so it was hard to get to plaques to read, but the armour was still shiny and interesting. We saw some armour of King Henry VIII which was huge, but it said that at the point it was made that he was too big to fit into it. The crown jewels were also at the Tower, but the line was so long and neither of us had a great interest in it that we passed. We saw the ravens which have their wings clipped in order not to leave the premise because of an old tale about England will fall if there aren't ravens on the Tower's ground. It would have been interesting to learn about Anne Boleyn's time here as a prisoner, but they just had information about the changes she made as queen. Also, information about the princes in the tower would have added some interesting historical information, but I guess since not much is known about that it is understandable that it is not included. After the Tower we got back on the bus and went to Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was very impressive inside and out! No pictures were allowed to be taken inside, so sadly I don't have any. However, all of the tombs and people buried there is impressive. There seems to be no spaced left. All the walls, floors and spaces in between seemed to be full. You can be walking along and turn your head and notice that you're standing right next to the body of a medieval king! Along with kings and queens there were also scientists, writers, and other famous people. General Wolfe is buried there and on his grave there are two Canadian flags from the First World War all worn and in tatters. After the First World War had finished Canadian soldiers put these flags on his tomb as a mark and remembrance of their role in helping England. The Canadian government asked that the flags remain and they are still there. Here's a link to it:
General Wolfe Tomb. There was some particular things about Westminster Abbey like how Queen Mary, aka Bloody Mary, and Queen Elizabeth I are right next to each other even though they hated each other. Also King James I mother, Queen Mary of Scotland, is here, but that is because King James I moved her because in an attempt to make up for how he treated her. It would have been nice to have a map of all the tombs, or at least the royal ones. It was difficult to see who was missing and buried elsewhere with so many people! After Westminster Abbey we got back on the bus and finished the tour. By the time it was over it was already 7pm, so we found something to eat and headed back to the hostel for the night. At this hostel we shared a room with four other people and two of them snored! It got to the point that they would snore at different times so that the noise was constant. Needless to say we didn't sleep well that night and the next day we planned on getting up early.
Walking towards the gates to the castle and its surrounding land was pretty cool. It was fun to also experience it with someone who never has been to a castle before and even though I'll never loose my excitement and joy at seeing castles it made me more excited. As we went through the gate we walked into an expansive green field and garden, something which all the castles and houses we visited on this trip seemed to still have. You got the feeling of what it must have been like to live here in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and even more recently. A family lived in this building up until the 1950's if I remember correctly when it became to expensive to maintain as a living residence and there was a flood which damaged a lot of the property. The outside of the castle was beautiful. You could see on the front were the vines grew up along the stone. There was a drawbridge with a moat and in the moat there were colourful koi fish which were huge! You definitely got the feeling that they were fed a lot. There were multiple mazes on the property although we only went into the yew maze. It wasn't too hard, either that or we're expert maze solvers! One thing that I found interesting about this place and many other Tudor buildings is that they don't mention the fact that Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were both executed. I know it's something you don't want to flaunt, but it just seemed to be skipped over. After exploring the castle and the gardens for a couple of hours we headed back. We decided to take the other footpath on the map which looked much more straight forward; however, as we started heading down it we encountered two huge mud puddles, or should I call them lakes! We got around the first one, but we had to walk on a fence to pass the second one. My shoes got covered in mud and the shoes laces are still stiff from the mud no matter how much I clean them. Kaleen got scratched by a tree. It wasn't a terrible injury, but we had forgotten bandaids, so we had nothing to stop the bleeding until we got back. We made it back to the train station all muddy and headed back into London where we explored what was along the river as we made it back to our hotel. We saw the Globe Theatre and a ship which I can't remember the name of! After we grabbed some supper we spent the evening cleaning our shoes and planning the following day.
The next day we got on a hop-on hop-off bus tour. When we got to the first stop to buy a ticket there were three bus companies there. The day before we had agreed on which one we wanted, but when we got there someone from another company cornered us and we're both not good at saying no, so we ended up with Golden Tours which had not so good tour recordings of the sights and wasn't reliable when it came to pick up times. It did do its job of getting us from point A to point B, but I wouldn't recommend that bus tour group. We still had fun and made the most of it. The first place we got off the bus was at the Tower of London which was one of our must see places. The Tower of London is much bigger then I thought it was! We decided to start by walking along the walls and through the guard towers, but it took over an hour just to do that. It was fun though seeing all the different areas and you could tell when things were built. Also, that is where they had most of the history relating to the tower. After we went into the White Tower in the centre which was full of armour. It was really busy inside, so it was hard to get to plaques to read, but the armour was still shiny and interesting. We saw some armour of King Henry VIII which was huge, but it said that at the point it was made that he was too big to fit into it. The crown jewels were also at the Tower, but the line was so long and neither of us had a great interest in it that we passed. We saw the ravens which have their wings clipped in order not to leave the premise because of an old tale about England will fall if there aren't ravens on the Tower's ground. It would have been interesting to learn about Anne Boleyn's time here as a prisoner, but they just had information about the changes she made as queen. Also, information about the princes in the tower would have added some interesting historical information, but I guess since not much is known about that it is understandable that it is not included. After the Tower we got back on the bus and went to Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was very impressive inside and out! No pictures were allowed to be taken inside, so sadly I don't have any. However, all of the tombs and people buried there is impressive. There seems to be no spaced left. All the walls, floors and spaces in between seemed to be full. You can be walking along and turn your head and notice that you're standing right next to the body of a medieval king! Along with kings and queens there were also scientists, writers, and other famous people. General Wolfe is buried there and on his grave there are two Canadian flags from the First World War all worn and in tatters. After the First World War had finished Canadian soldiers put these flags on his tomb as a mark and remembrance of their role in helping England. The Canadian government asked that the flags remain and they are still there. Here's a link to it: General Wolfe Tomb. There was some particular things about Westminster Abbey like how Queen Mary, aka Bloody Mary, and Queen Elizabeth I are right next to each other even though they hated each other. Also King James I mother, Queen Mary of Scotland, is here, but that is because King James I moved her because in an attempt to make up for how he treated her. It would have been nice to have a map of all the tombs, or at least the royal ones. It was difficult to see who was missing and buried elsewhere with so many people! After Westminster Abbey we got back on the bus and finished the tour. By the time it was over it was already 7pm, so we found something to eat and headed back to the hostel for the night. At this hostel we shared a room with four other people and two of them snored! It got to the point that they would snore at different times so that the noise was constant. Needless to say we didn't sleep well that night and the next day we planned on getting up early. 
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