30th Anniversary Trip to England

Michael and I celebrated our anniversary in March by him going camping with the Varsity Scouts and me going to the movies with Anna and Karen. However we had planned to go to England to visit Alyson and James so that was really our celebration. We arrived on Wednesday, April 2 and went directly to Cambridge. We didn't have any problems with the subway or trains. I love mass transit. We stayed in Alyson's TINY place for two nights and spent Thursday going around Cambridge by bicycle. One of our favorite things. The flowers were so beautiful. The daffodils looked like they were coming up wild all over the fields and little spaces. There were so many bulb flowers that I haven't seen for years that were so pretty. Cambridge (and all of England) have this big thing about not walking or being on the grass. The grass was so green and plush; so inviting for a picnic, but the students can't even sit on it to study and enjoy the warmth of the sun. (The flower bed was in Bath, England, that we went to on our way back from Wales).

We went "punting" on the river in Cambridge. It is a fun thing for families and friends to do together. Michael and James found out that it wasn't as easy as it looks.Friday, Apr 4 we all went to London. We saw, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace through the gates, Kennsington Palace, the Tower of London, cathedrals and so many old buildings. We attended two choral programs in the cathedrals. (That was going to have to do us for church.) At the Tower of London, we went to the "Ceremony of the Keys" at 10:00 at night. It is the ceremony of locking the tower up and passing the keys to the next guards. We saw original manuscripts and music, i.e. the Messiah, also the Magna Carte at the British Library. At the British museum famous paintings and also the special exhibit of the Xian Terra Cotta Soldiers from China. Alyson and I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to wait in line for the last 1000 tickets since it was the last day of the exhibit. We were 33rd in line. It was cold and raining. I went and scrounged some boxes that had been put out for the rubbish and we wrapped ourselves up in them to shield us from the rain and wind. The ticket office opened at 8:00. A homeless man had the audacity to come and ask those of us in line for money. I felt like we were homeless sitting in a box for 4 hours. What a fun adventure.Sunday morning we awoke to snow on the ground in Swindon, on our way to Cardiff, Wales.

A little side trip that morning was to stop at the Gadfield Elm Chapel, the oldest LDS chapel in the world. It was given to the church by the United Brethren congregations that joined the church during Wilfred Woodruff's mission in 1840 I believe. The church just reaquired it in 1994 at auction. The missionary couple were evidently at church on Sunday morning, but that doesn't stop astute LDS from visiting inside. The photo shows the code for getting into the building. Pretty funny!

Wales had beautiful country side, sheep grazing, strange signs that were in English as well, and just a pleasant place different from the bustle of London. We went for a cold, windy walk along the coast to see a place, Three Cliffs Bay, that was recommended by a sister in Alyson's ward.

We went to Cardiff Castle and a few other spots. On our way back to London on Monday we went to Bath which is mentioned often in the Jane Austin novels and then stopped by the impressive Wells Cathedral for the express purpose of getting a "mangled (smashed) penny" for Karen. It was an enormous complex that was very interesting that probably not many people see because it is in a very small town and out of the way. We went to Stonehenge, but it was closed. It didn't matter, you could see it through the chain link fence out in the field just as well. Pondering the "why's and what for's" lasts longer than seeing the stones themselves.

We stayed at our 2nd B&B in Windsor on Monday evening before flying home. Tuesday morning we stopped in to visit the Queen, who was home at the time, at Windor Castle. There we saw the changing of the guards and I particularly liked the way they displayed all of the old guns, swords and armor. We didn't have near enough time there to see the whole thing because we needed to get to the airport to fly home.

Luckily, we were not caught up in the Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 canceled flights and 45,000 pieces of lost luggage fiasco. Between that and the Princess Diana inquest results, you would think nothing else was happening in the world. However, we were not in London at the time of the Olympic Torch protesters which was something as well. We had a wonderful time on our trip. Alyson was marvelous in getting us around on the tube in London and James was an excellent driver in the rental car. We hardly scratched the surface of what there is to see, but hopefully it won't be the last time we are there. Sarah was an excellent baby sitter for us and Natalie was a constant distraction for the kids to get their home work done. It was a load off from our mind to have Sarah there to hold the fort down. No anxiety on this trip at all.