John Knox House and Princess Gardens

 

John Knox House

The group left this morning for York. We stayed to catch our flight home tomorrow. I went to the John Knox House where he stayed late in his life. It was also the home of Mary Queen of Scots goldsmith. The founder of the Presbyterian Church, he was a great speaker who had convincing arguments against the Catholic church and for the people reading the Bible.

Ceiling in the Oak Room of the House

In the afternoon, I revisited the Princess gardens, but they were difficult to navigate with the preparations for the arts festival closing some of the walking paths. But the National Art Gallery had lots of lots of treasures. 

The Monarch of the Glen
by Sir Edwin Landseer

How was the trip? We went to all sorts of British islands and found out how their lives are changing with the decline of agriculture and oil, while wind power is rising. Seeing the diversification required to make it as a farmer was especially interesting. The stories of the troubles in Belfast and the Edinburgh Tattoo were the highlights of the trip. As usual we also enjoyed our fellow passengers and Rosie, our guide. Of course, it was a disappointment to catch Covid-19 in Edinburgh, but that is how life goes. We made it safely home and Mary was feeling much better several days later.

A video of this trip is available on youtube. 

Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Military Tattoo

 

Holyrood Palace

I toured Holyrood Palace, the home of Scottish Royalty since in 1503.  Next to the old section of the Palace is its ruined abbey. This is the Scottish home of Queen Elizabeth II and there were special exhibits celebrating her platinum Jubilee, 70 years. She is also the Colonel in Chief for four Scottish Regiments and was crowned as the Scottish Queen in 1953. Charles II completed the Palace plan in 1671. The tour takes you through the public rooms, each meant to impress visitors until you reach the monarch’s bedroom. Along the way, are important portraits of the Stuart Kings and Queens. The Great Hall is where most of the state occasions are held, it is filled with portraits of ancient kings all with the nose of Charles II to convince the people that he was of royal blood. We continued to Mary, Queen of Scots bedchamber where she had discussions with John Knox about Catholicism versus the Reformation. Here her private secretary was murdered by her husband. Eventually, Mary fled to Elizabeth in London where she was jailed for 20 years before execution. Her son, James VI also became James II of England.

Portraits of the Kings in the Great Hall

After touring the Palace, I climbed Calton Hill home of the Nelson Monument, the unfinished War Memorial, and the city observatory. From here you can see from the bridge over the Forth to the North Sea and most of the central city. From the hill, I dropped into Princess Street in New Town filled with people. The Sir Walter Scott Memorial is here as well as the Princess Street Gardens which are far below the Castle.

Queen's Platinum Anniversary in the Gardens

That night I attended the Edinburgh Tattoo. We had timed this entire trip so that we would be able to attend the tattoo. Unfortunately Mary was too weak to walk to the show. Wow! I heard it was spectacular and so it was. It started with a simple beat on a tub and grew to all the pipe bands blowing us away. Then we had 5 to 10 minute performances from various countries: the US Army band, the US Air Force drill team, Scottish highland dancers, the Top Secret Drum Corp, New Zealand Army Corp, the Highland Divas, and Banda Monumental de Mexico. The final performance was with everyone in a grand spectacular with fireworks. Throughout they used light effects on the castle to create different atmospheres. What a show!

Edinburg Castle

Edinburgh Castle from Princess Street Gardens

Our hotel, the Jury’s Inn, Edinburgh is just off the Royal Mile, the road following the ridgeline of this old volcano from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle. This is the traditional processional route of monarchs. Around the castle are steep cliffs leaving only this road to be defended. This led to crowded housing along the mile, almost all the buildings are 3 to 14 stories high. The rich would live on the top floors with the poor below them. Five water wells provided clean water. Along the mile are small closes, pedestrian passageways, from the lower areas to the mile. Down anchor close was the print shop for the Britannica Encyclopedia. Across a former loch (lake) from the Old Town is New Town built in the 1760s. The loch was a sewer pit and was drained even before the bridges from old to new town were completed.

St. Giles Cathedral

Our first stop was St. Giles Cathedral with its crown steeple modeled after the Scottish crown. Outside is a Mercat Cross where the market used to be. Originally a Catholic church, after the Reformation it was separated into five churches. Inside is the grave of John Knox, founder of the Presbyterian Church and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle was originally built by Robert Bruce, who united Scotland and later improved by William Wallace. As we walked to the castle we passed through the venue where the Edinburgh Tattoo will occur beginning tomorrow. We climbed within the castle to reach the top. Here are several structures: the Royal Apartments which hold the Scottish Crown Jewels, where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI, the Banquet Hall, the church which is now a war memorial, and St Margaret’s Chapel, Edinburg’s oldest building. You can see most of the town from here.

In the afternoon I visited the Scottish Museum focusing on the Scottish history portion. Here were some more of the Lewis chessmen and the ceremonial bowl used during the coronation of Robert the Bruce. The museum features sections on natural history, new technology, and Scottish Industry as well.

Bowl from Robert the Bruce's Coronation

Nearby is Greyfriars Kirk and Graveyard. Here are numerous graves from the 17^th century to present times, including Greyfriars Bobby, a dog who guarded the grave of his owner for 14 years. Here too is the grave of Tom Riddle, which inspired J.K. Rawlings to write Harry Potter as well as graves with names of several other characters.

Grave of Greyfriar's Bobby

Mary had struggled through the morning on the climb to the castle. She tested positive for covid, so we began to make plans to return home. It wasn’t until the next afternoon that we had confirmed seats home.

St. Andrew's Scotland

 

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club

We left Aberdeen and followed the North Sea. We passed lots of fields of potatoes and turnips as well as wheat, barley, and oats. Most of Scotland is owned by 20 families with farmers renting the land. Just before reaching St Andrews, we started seeing soft fruits of strawberries and raspberries. St. Andrew is a town of 17,000 about half of them students at St. Andrews University. We started at the old course, where they were just taking down the stands from the 150^th British Open. The old course is not the oldest golf course, but the Royal and Ancient Golf Club
is where the rule making body meets.

St. Andrew's Cathedral

St. Andrews Cathedral was built beginning in 1159 to hold the relics of the Saint. It was the largest cathedral in Scotland with six spires, but the cathedral was abandoned during the protestant revolution and began the path to ruin. Many of the stones were used in other buildings. It still makes for an impressive sight. St. Andrews is known for the most murders for reason of faith in the UK.

St. Andrews Cathedral

We visited Salvator Court, one of the colleges of the University. The University is the third oldest founded in 1413. It was founded here because this was the seat of the largest bishopric Scotland. We went on to see St. Andrew’s Castle, which changed hands between the Scots and English numerous times until blown up by the Scots.

After lunch, we continued to Edinburgh.

Aberdeen, Scotland

King's Chapel with Crown Tower

 

Sadly, we left the Corinthian this morning and had a brief tour of the city. It was our guides first tour ever. She had obviously studied her history and walked the tour, but her delivery was haphazard. She was a student at the University of Aberdeen and that’s where we started. Fifth oldest of the UK university, it started as Kings college founded in 1495. We visited the Kings Chapel with the Crown Tower above.  Inscribed on the wooden walls are the 524 graduates who died in the World Wars. Outside is a memorial to Bishop Alphanson founder of the College.

House in Fittie 

We walked through the fishing village of Fittie, built in the 19^th century. The history of Aberdeen is one of fishing, whaling, ship building and now oil platforms. What was once houses for the fishermen or large ship building yards, are now filled with oil tanks. The most famous ship built here was the clipper ship Thermopylae, which set speed records 63 days sailing between London and Australia, the Cutty Sark was her primary rival. In the center of the city are many granite buildings like Marischal College which joined Kings College to create the University.

Oil Platform being serviced

We finished our tour at 11, but rooms would not be available until 3. Some of us went to a local pub in a former bank for lunch. There were also pubs in former churches nearby. I went on to the Maritime Museum, it told the story of the town. Others visited the modern art museum. Tonight is the farewell dinner of the trip.

Model of Thermopylae in Maritime Museum

Day in the Life in the Orkneys

 

We visited the seventh-generation farm of Robby and Eileen. Our guide was Margaret who has lived most of her life on Sandy Island which has a population of 500. She had to attend boarding school for high school, returning home for weekends. She quickly learned to manage her money and wash clothes. She learned to drive at 12 and was teaching others at 14. Covid has had a lot of folks return to the island. There is almost no crime and now it is easier to work remotely.

Straw and String Basket

Orkney is known for its straw chairs, made from oat straw dried in large piles. With few trees, anything of wood is made from driftwood. We were shown numerous items that are handcrafted from string and straw.

Robby explain farming in Orkney

We toured the farm with about 100 sheep and 60 cows. The Texel sheep lamb in March are sheered the next Spring and sold for lamb chops in October at about 18 months.

The beef cows only graze outside between May and October. We visited their barns with slots in the floor for collecting the manure, the sludge is used to fertilize the fields.

Texel Sheep and Windmills

The farm has a 5 kwh windmill which cost 30k pounds to install, but they sold enough electricity from it to pay it off in 5 years besides providing the farm’s electricity. We could see larger windmills on the horizon which cost 850K to install, but pay back at 1K per day. The cost of electricity has risen sharply on the islands in the past few years. Just like us, there seems to be a lot of politicking about the fixed versus variable costs of electricity.

We walked to the bird blind above the farm, hoping to see Hen Harriet’s who eat the Orkney voles, no such luck.

There was quite a discussion of whether Scotland should secede from Great Britain. In Orkney they are worried about what will happen without the EU farm subsidies which may disappear in 2024. I heard a lot of distrust with politicians whether from Windsor (Great Britain) or Edinburgh (Scotland), no one considers the needs of the outlying Islands. The North Sea oil jobs are declining, but jobs for wind power are increasing with a future possible in tidal power. Since Covid more software development companies are coming to the island. With the low crime rates and country living, people are moving here from urban Scotland.

Stromness, Orkney Islands, Scotland

 

Italian Chapel

The Orkney Islands have 22000 inhabitants. The primary industry is agriculture, beef and sheep fed with lots of grass and barley. 400 million years ago the Orkneys were below sea level near the equator surrounded by mountains, resulting in an island of sandstone. We drove along the shore of Skapa Flow, one of the world’s largest national harbors. During World War I, the German fleet was captured here, while the armistice was negotiated. The day before the treaty was signed, the German fleet was scuttled rather than becoming a prize of war. The metal from these ships was salvaged well into the 1950s. The remaining wrecks make for a scuba divers paradise. In fact, one of our guides has dived here. Skapa Flow has one entrance. The British stationed 120 ships here and sunk old ships to close many of the entrances to discourage German U-boats from entering the harbor, but on October 14, 1939, a U-Boat entered and sank the HMS Royal Oak, a training vessel killing 834. Churchill came the next day and suggested that the Eastern channels should be barricaded, the Church Barriers. The work was slow, so Italian POWs were sent here to create 4 concrete barriers. While here the commandant of the camp, let some of the men build a chapel out of two Quonset huts. The Italian Chapel has a mural behind the altar which reads, “Mary, Queen of Peace, Pray for us”. We went on to Kirkwell and St Magnus Cathedral, built in 1100. Next door is the Bishop’s Palace from the same time and the Earl’s Palace from 1500. It is a Renaissance building, the finest example in Scotland. The Earl Patrick Stewart was considered Orkney’s worst leader, he was arrested for treason in 1610. Our visit is on a Sunday, so only a few businesses were open, but they opened the Orkney Museum for us. The first floor had many artifacts from the Neolithic age, introducing us to our afternoon’s sights.

Ring of Brodgar

In the afternoon, we visited the Standing Stones of Stenness from 3100 BC. Down the road is the Ring of Brodgar, 27 of an original 60 stones. Thought to be 4500 years old. Both of these suggest a place of ritual and community gathering. Then the highlight of the day the Neolithic village of Skara Brae an interconnected village of ten structures with rooftops made from sod and whale bone. 

Village of Skara Brae

Since the structures were built of stone, we can see their stone shelf, bedding areas with a fire pit in the center. This village was unique. It was occupied from 3180 BC to 2500 BC and is Europe’s most complete Neolithic village. It was discovered by the local landowner in 1850 by a local landowner after a severe storm who lived in nearby Skaill House.

Stone beds and storage area

Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

 

Dun Calloway Broch

The Isle of Lewis is mostly peat bogs and other swampy lands with many lochs. Most of the land is too wet for trees. Peat grows about 1 mm. per year, so when you cut the peat for fuel, you’re cutting 2000 years of growth. The peat is dried in the sun to be suitable for fuel. Our first stop was Dun Carloway broch which was built 1900 to 2300 years ago for a prestigious family. The building likely housed both the family and their animals.

Garenin Village

Nearby was Garenin Village consisting of restored Black houses, built of stone with thatched roofs and heated with peat fireplaces. This village died out in 1974 but has been restored to its look in 1950. They also demonstrated the making of Harris tweed and how peet was cut and dried. We could see the narrow strips of land, crofts, which are rented from the owner of the island. Here people would build a house and have a garden primarily raising potatoes. Even today most people rent their land, but if they pay their rent, they cannot be evicted and can even pass on the right to rent that land to their children. We finished our morning by visiting the 4000 year old Callanish Stones. These stones have been standing longer than Stonehenge.

Callanish Stones

The island has primarily been owned by clan leads or individuals. Opposite where our ship is anchored is Lewis Castle, built by James Matthienson in 1844. He made his fortune from the opium trade. While he owned the entire island, he is well regarded because he bequeathed the land to the parish and helped the tenants to emigrate to Canada and the US. The grounds include a garden and most of the trees that exist on the island. In the castle is a small museum, which features 6 of the 93 Lewis chessmen. These chess pieces were discovered in a sand dune on the island. They were carved out of walrus and whale teeth in Trondheim, Norway about 800 years ago.

We finished our day with some highland dancers.

Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland

 

We started our day at the Red Scar Farm which makes the Isle of Mull Cheese. The farm is only about 100 acres with 130 cows, 20 or so pigs, and a few goats. The present owner’s parents bought this derelict farm when he was 16. The original stone building was used as the milking parlor while they lived in a trailer. At the time, they couldn’t afford to sell milk at the price milk could fetch from imports, so they used most of their milk to make cheese. This was another example of an organic farm operation. Their electricity comes from the running water. They use the 32 degree Celsius temperature of fresh milk to heat a swimming pool, then cool it down to make whey. We saw their heat exchanger which was hand-designed. They get 3000 liters per day of milk. The cheese is made from whey by carefully controlling the temperature and Ph. We saw both old and new cheese presses. Normally they age their cheese from 6 to 8 months, but business is still slow, so some cheeses have aged for a year. The primarily sell to deli shops. A 25 kg wedge of cheese sells for 100 pounds.

Isle of Mull cheese aging on the shelf

The farm is experimenting with turning whey into a distilled liquor. The whey is fermented 36 to 72 hours, before distilling it twice, resulting in 80% alcohol. The next experiment is to flavor the alcohol into a gin with botanical flavors grown in their garden. They are trying to trademark the name wheysky. We also saw their pigs and goats as well as their woodchip powered boiler. The cheese itself was very tasty. Especially the blue cheese version.

In the afternoon, we toured the waterfront. Of course, the Tobermony distillery was right there, next to a stream. The buildings here are bright colors meant to attract attention as businesses. The island is the fourth largest in Great Britain with 300 miles of coastline. Because of the narrow roads and the lay of the land it can take 2 hours to travel between by car. Even though there are only 3000 people, they have medical stations in 4 different towns and 6 primary schools. We had a pleasant stroll through the woods to a lighthouse. In the evening we were serenaded by a Gaelic choir. This was their first concert under a new director. They also taught us a simple Gaelic dance.

Islay, Scotland

 

Carraig Fhada Lighthouse, Islay, Scotland

We are the first tourist ship to visit Islay (pronounced eye-la) in four years. We walked along the shoreline on a beautiful day, watching the children play on the beach and the adults out for a picnic. Our primary visit was to the Laphroaig distillery, one of 10 Whisky distilleries on this 18 by 24 mile island. The whiskies have a peaty smell to them because the grain is smoked in a peat fire. We sampled four different whiskies from a three year old to 10 year old to a selection of 7 to 21 year old, to a fourth aged in quarter casks adding more intense flavors.  A Scotch Whiskey has to have at least 40% alcohol by volume, be aged 3 years in oak caskets, and be made from barley grown in Scotland. What was most interesting to me was how adding one drop of water changed the taste significantly.

Taste Testing at the distillery

In the afternoon the church ladies fed us tea and cakes as they sold some of the local crafts. Unique was some flavored Sea salts. We then learned some of the local history including that the entire island once was owned by a Walter Campbell. Today’s population is 3000.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

 

Titanic museum from the deck of the Nomadic

We started our day at the Titanic Belfast Museum. While we waited for our time slot in the museum, we toured the oldest white star line ship, the Nomadic, which served as a tender to the Titanic in Cherbourg France. Just like in the Titanic, there were obvious class distinctions between 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd class.

Launching the Titanic

The Titanic museum started by telling the story of Belfast, an industrial city for linen, machinery, stoves and shipbuilding. Ships have been built here since 1600, and over 200 were built the year the Titanic sailed. The museum gives you a sense of the infrastructure needed to build this new class of ships. The museum is sited where the ship was built. After launching the ship, the innards were built and furnished with those clear distinctions of class. Relatively new to ships was the Merconi telegraph which had a range of 1000 miles, just enough range to maintain communication throughout the voyage. We all know the story of hitting an iceberg and quickly sinking. Two boards of inquiry were created one in the UK and one in the US. A key conclusion was the ship was traveling too fast for the conditions. The recommendations made from the inquiry are still in place today: Enough lifeboats for everyone aboard, a mandatory briefing on safety procedures, and radio communications constantly manned. This museum was very crowded and has none of the remains from the ship, but it provides a thorough background on the town, the ship, and even the rediscovery of the ship from the bottom of the ocean.

Mural on British side

In the afternoon, we did the black taxi tour of the Troubles between the Catholic Irish nationalists and the British Protestants. Even today, the city is quite segregated with many Peace Walls separating the neighborhoods. We visited the 2 ½ mile section of wall which has 4 gates that are opened each day and closed each night. Our cab driver was Catholic and pointed out that most children won’t meet a protestant until their first job or at university. The worst case was a playground with a wall between the two communities. The troubles began just after the Civil rights movement in the states. The Catholics felt discrimination in terms of housing and jobs, similar to blacks in the US. But the truth may be more subtle. Northern Ireland did not have one person – one vote, it was one household owner – one vote. If you rented, you couldn’t vote. Most of the working class couldn’t vote. This was changed in 1970s but too late to avoid the violence of the troubles. The troubles began with the burning of Catholic homes on Bombay Street. Each side of the wall has murals and memorials to the people who perished in the troubles. The British side had flags and pennants leaving no doubt that they were British. The Republican side was not as clear, but had memorials to the IRA. We paid a visit to Christ the Redeemer Church where the troubles were formally ended. Built just after the potato famine, the church is richly decorated with mosaics.

The "Peace Wall" today

In the evening we heard from two men who were on opposing sides, and still can’t agree on the end point for Northern Ireland, but often engage in front of audiences to encourage dialog.

Michael is a Catholic Republican. He spent 16 years in prison for murdering a British soldier. The US Civil rights movement started my thoughts. What would you do if the Russians invaded? That's how I felt about the British, especially when 13 were shot for asking for their rights.

Robert is British. He spent 17 years in prison for his actions with the Ulster Volunteer Force. I don't want people to use guns to settle differences, use debate. Be true to yourself, but don't use violence.

We're friends with different viewpoints and different end points. Though we both think Brexit was a mistake, but for different reasons mine was economics, Michael felt Brexit might lead to a united Ireland.

We’re trying to get young people to meet other people and understand their viewpoint. Over 90% still are educated separately from the other. Most don't meet the other until a job or university.  What were women’s role during the troubles? 24000 IRA prisoners about 2000 women. Very few British women prisoners.

Vote was based on owning a household, renters couldn't vote in the mid 70s. The laws at the time undermined the Catholics, but also any working-class person. Class had a lot to do with what happened.

The people who live near the wall remember what happened before, they still feel more secure, “the walls should be removed, but not now”.

We need to encourage the next generation to dialog, rather than violence.

Memorial on Irish National side

The signs of hope are like our taxi driver's 23 year old Catholic daughter, who married a British protestant.

Lake District of England

 

Lake Windermere

We arrived about 11AM and immediately left to the Lake District. Barrow was a sleepy village of 400 before Henry Schneider came to mine copper and iron. After 10 years of searching, he finally hit a rich seam of iron. That led to the building of the Furness Railroad and the growth of the town to 40,000. He built a magnificent home on Lake Windermere and would commute to work with his steamship across the lake and then take his railroad to town. Today Burrow has a population of 60,000 and has both a nuclear submarine facility and British Aerospace Engineering.

Goats on John's Farm

The Lake District includes a 900 sq. mi. park, forests and grazing land. Everywhere we looked the fields were separated by drystone fences. We had our lunch of Bangers and Mash in Schneider’s mansion, now a hotel. Then we headed to a farm. John the owner is a 6^th generation farmer. We watched him quickly shear a goat. In today’s economy it is important to diversify beyond farming. Maria has helped him by adding campsites, selling wool yarn and products and milk soap. They advertise primarily by farm visits and interviews explaining to others how to diversify your farm.

That evening we had a dynamic speaker who teaches how to build drystone walls that will last 500 years without the use of mortar. There are five key points:

1 The width of the bottom should be ½ the height and the top ½ the width of the bottom.

2 Periodic flu stones, heavy stones that go through the width and stick out a little.

3 Fill the voids with small stones that are hand placed. Fill under each face stone, giving a slight tilt to 3ach stone so that water flows away from the center.

4 Big stones on top that are layer at a slant

5 Break any vertical lines as you the stones with the long side going deep in the wall.

Drystone Wall

Isle of Man

 

Gardens of St. Germain Cathedral

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Protectorate having a parliament which has governed since 979. The lower house is elected by the people and the upper house is elected by the lower house. The island is 35 by 13 miles with mountains in the center. We landed in Douglas the capital city and headed to Peel. Our first stop was the gardens of the St. Germain cathedral. The gardens are arranged to tell the story of Christianity through the centuries. Knockalor Internment camp was created in 1914 to hold the citizens of the Axis Powers living in the United Kingdom or rescued from ships during World War I. 30,000 people were interred here. They kept busy with crafts, plays and concerts. The good news about this camp is that its mortality rate was below that of the island itself. The bad news is that many German Jews were repatriated into Germany in 1919 and would face persecution under Hitler.

Peel Castle

We had time to walk the harbor and beach including Peel Castle on the cliffs before heading to Port Erin. Here we rode the Railroad line built in 1874 back to Douglas. We had a lunch of meat pies in our 1905 dining car on way back.

Our locomotive in Douglas

We were supposed to leave at 4 PM at high tide, but the winds are over 50 mph. So, we’re going to leave at 5AM tomorrow at the next high tide. But that let us hear a young harpist, Myrna Royal. She played an interesting mixture of local tunes and some jazz.

Fishguard, Wales

 

This morning we were greeted by the mayor of Fishguard and her welcoming committee. Fishguard is the site of the last invasion of Britain by the French on February 22^nd, 1797. The town created a 100-foot tapestry, like the Bayeux Tapestry to commemorate the story on its bicentennial anniversary. The French invaded with a newly conscripted army of 1400 soldiers (most former prisoners), led by Colonel William Tate. They had a poor start when the winds blew the ships north from their intended landing in Bristol. When the villagers spotted the ships, they fired their cannon to call up the local militia. Led by Jemima the women dressed up in their red traditional costumes with black hats in straightness down the hill. From a distance they looked like British soldiers. The French soldiers landed north of the town and attacked a nearby farmhouse which had an excellent liquor cellar. The French proceeded to get drunk. Jemima continued her heroics by capturing 14 soldiers with her pitchfork and locking them in the church. The drunk French soldiers believing that they had encountered a large British force surrendered three days later.

Jemima capturing 14 French soldiers

We had a lecture and photo showing of the history of Fishguard. The gulf current here makes for mild weather making an ideal location for Dairy farming. In the early 1900s they tore down the cliff face to create a harbor for transatlantic cruise ships and extended the railways to here. Eventually, the cruise ships went to other ports, but today the ferry to Ireland leaves here twice daily.

Parsonage House

We had a home hosted lunch with Adrian and Jean and their Italian exchange student. They retired here from Cambridge to escape the city life. Their home was a parsonage house built in 1901 and had been the home of seven ministers. The garden was beautiful.

In the afternoon we went to the smallest city in Britain, St. David, to see the cathedral there. It’s a city because it has a cathedral. On the way, we stopped to see a Celtics cross marking the pilgrimage route to the cathedral. In 1124 the Pope declared that doing a pilgrimage to St. David twice was equivalent to a pilgrimage to Rome. Originally a wooden church, the first stone was laid in 1130. Across from the cathedral are the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace where rich pilgrims would stay. As we entered the church, you immediately notice the sloped floor - 4 meters of slope from the front to the back. Built in a swamp, the back walls have fallen down several times. A window has obvious signs of being rebuilt at least three times. The arches within the church are asymmetric, each have a different design. St. David, a Celtic Saint is depicted with a dove on his shoulder and the ground rising beneath his feet. This miracle is said to have occurred while he was speaking at the Synod of Brefi. The church used to be quite colorful inside but was whitewashed under Henry VIIIth. Buried in the church is Henry VII, the Welchman who claimed the English thrown with the Dragon in his crest. Lady Maidstone Kent restored part of the Cathedral and has a chapel where she is buried. 

Lacock in the Cotswalds

 

University education

Having visited Oxford, people were curious about the costs to go. The British cap the cost of tuition at 9500 pounds per year regardless of the school. Students typically take out loans for other costs. Payback of these loans is differed until your salary passes a threshold. Students fill out one application which they can send to six universities. They are accepted to schools based on their exams and an interview. Some private high schools have strong ties to particular universities, giving their students an advantage at that school.

Lacock in the Cotswald

Tourist descend upon Lacock

Cotswolds comes from “cots”, a sheep enclosure and “wolds”,rolling hills. This is an area of England 30 by 90 miles from Stratford on Avon to Bath. Lacock is one of the preserved villages of 1000 people held by the National Trust.

Gardens

The town of Lacock is in the Doomsday Book, the tax collectors book written in the time of William the Conqueror, described as a village of 160. An abbey was built here in 1232.We spent an hour and a half walking this picturesque village. The tithe barn was interesting. It held the corn or fleece given to the abbey as the village tithe rather than rent.

Tithe Barn

From there we drove to Bristol to catch our ship, the Corinthian which carries about 100 passengers. The cabins are larger than we expected and decorated in dark wood. Unfortunately, the winds were up all night and many folks struggled with sea sickness or insomnia during our trip to Wales.

Oxford and it's University

 

Yesterday we arrived at Heathrow. We had been quite nervous. It’s been 2 ½ years since our last foreign trip, the news has been full of lost luggage at Heathrow, and London had an all time high of 104 , 2 days before. We arrived with luggage and 70 degrees. If you prefer watching a video of this trip, it is available on youtube. 

Radcliff Camera

Oxford was founded in the 8^th century at an ox ford across the Thames. Oxford University is the 3^rd oldest in Europe founded in the 12^th century. Priests had studied in France until Henry II started a war with France, so Oxford was founded to provide their education. By the 13^th century, there were 39 colleges, each consisting of a chapel, a library, a dining hall, and dorms. Right next to our hotel was Morton college. We started walking, passing college after college. Some notable buildings were Radcliff Camera (library), All Souls College with its sundial built by Christopher Wren, and Bodleian College (the school of divinity). The Bodleian library was destroyed by Henry VIII when he broke with the Catholic church. It has been Britain’s copyright library since  1610. After our tour Mary and I walked to the Christ Church gardens. We had missed our turn to the hotel and ended up wandering the wrong way until we realized our mistake. You can get a good view of the University from the University Church Tower

Christ Church Gardens

In the afternoon, I visited the Ashmolean museum, a smaller version of the British museum. It is the Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology It included Iron Age, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian, Assyrian artifacts, and art work up to 19 century paintings. More surprising were artifacts from India and Japan, as well as an historical exhibit on money.

Statue of Sobeck, Egyptian 12th Dynasty