Downton Abbey 04/30/2016

We are approaching the culmination of our trip.  Planning commenced for our journey over a year ago.  We are all fans of the British TV series, Downton Abbey.  We felt it only fitting to end this trip with a visit to locations where the series was filmed.
Today we walked in the footsteps of Downton Abbey.  The location  is a small Cotswold village named Bampton.  A good part of the series was filmed here.  It was like a step back in time.  We visited the church where Lady Edith was jilted at the altar, where Lady Edith was married, where Lady Mary married Matthew, where Lady Mary married the race car driver at the end of the show.  Also, the graveyard where Lady Sybil was buried and Matthew was buried.  We saw the Downton Hospital, the school,  the Grantham Arms Hotel, Mrs. Crawley's house, and the local pub.  After leaving Bampton we drove 3 miles to Cogges farm.  This location served as the home of Mr. Drewe, the tenant farmer of Lord Grantham.  We also saw the pig sty where Lady Mary wrestled with the pigs.  Very unladylike.
Needless to say today was an interesting day.  Afterwards, we went to Stowe on the Wold and Bourton on the Water.
No trip to England would be complete with out partaking in High Tea, an old British tradition, one that we thoroughly enjoyed.  Harry and I felt we had earned extra points for joining the ladies for High Tea.
Back to Downton Abbey.  Our experience has not ended.  Tomorrow we travel to Highclere Castle.  I will let you know if we cross paths with Lord Grantham  and Lady Grantham.  I especially want to meet the Dowager Countess Violet, the matriarch of the Crawley family..  I will let you know tomorrow.
    I asked Jerry Hankins if he would drive to the Atlanta airport and pick us up so we would not have to fly on to Montgomery. He said that he and Mary Ann would be glad to pick us up in Atlanta, but we said no. That is the kind of guy that he is. (smiley face)

Harry is in reverse.  This is a two lane road

Downton Abbey Church

Church where so much happened

Ladies Sybil,Edith, & Mary

Altar where it all happened

Carson and Doctor Clarkson

Mr. Drewe's kitchen

Canola field

enjoying High Tea

Mr Drewe's  farm

the wall where so many scenes were filmed

the Cotswolds 04/29/2016

Can you say "quaint"?  You should come to the Cotswolds.  If you live here and your house is not at least 300 years old, then you are living in new construction.  We have traveled from one medieval village to another.  The Cotswolds are in the Cotswold Mountains.  Their sheep are called Cotswolds.  I don't know if the name comes from the sheep or the mountains.
The Cotswolds had their heyday back in the 16th and 17th century.  The wool from their sheep was considered the finest wool available.  Unfortunately, the industrial age changed all of this.  Cotton was king, and the bottom dropped out of the wool market.  The Cotswolds went into a time warp.  The economy was depressed and never fully recovered.  The villages were trapped in time.  They never changed and many of these villages have not changed very much since the 18th century.  They do have electricity, cable TV, and indoor plumbing.  The restaurant we are eating in was built in the 1600's.  Our B&B is from that period.  Before it was a luxurious B&B, it was a stable.  A nice stable, though.
We also went back in time today when we went to Stratford on Avon.  We learned quite a bit about William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway.  Anne was 26 and Shakespeare was 18 when they were married.  Ann was 3 months pregnant when the nuptials were performed.  We were told  during the courtship period during that period of time, it was held in the presence of their family.  I don't believe they told us the whole story.
It is exciting to be here, to walk where Shakespeare walked, see where he lived.  It is a great trip.

when you want maid service

Plaque at the Hicks Market in Chipping Camden

Hicks Market. Linda's maiden name is Hicks.  Draw your own conclusion

Harry makes friends with Hugo

Not the King

Linda and Amanda

Linda and Amanda at the market

Anne Hathaway lived here

Anne's flowers

William lived here

Shakespeare 's jester

Mike, the bartender

When in Rome...04/28/2016

A new day, a new adventure.  We left Bristol and drove to Bath.  We joined the Mayors' volunteer tour leaders and had a very enjoyable 2 hour walking tour of Bath.  Linda and Amanda  saw this tour was available through "Rick Steves".  This is a service offered through the Mayor's office...no reservations...no tour charge...no tipping...a 5 star rating...everywhere look for in a tour.  Our guide's name was Brenda.  Brenda was a "Bathonian", a native of Bath.  She swam in the Roman Baths as a young girl.  She was very knowledgeable and we came away from her tour with a lot more information than we started.

Avon river in Bath

The tour not only included the Roman Baths, but also she provided us a look into the 17th and 18th century lifestyles of the gentry that visited and lived in Bath.  There were people who came here from all over the world to seek treatment in the baths.  There were many apartments built to provide lodging for the patients, their family, and their servants. One service  available was a sedan chair.  They offered door to door service for the patients.  It was basically was an enclosed box, carried by two servants.  Not a job I would want.  They had no interior bathrooms during this time in history.  So they were somewhat limited in performing their bathing and other duties.  They would wash their hands, feet, and arms and sometimes the rest of their body.  One thing they used was a chamber pot.  The chambermaid emptied it out every day.  At night the "Night Soil Man" went from apartment to apartment collecting what needed to be collected.  Another job I would not be suited for.
This trip I have ruled out a lot of jobs from way  back then.  I would not have fared well back then.
We learned a beauty tip for the ladies.  Do not use lead based face powder.  It will make your eyebrows fall out.  One way they addressed this problem was to have their servants catch rats, kill and skin them  They used the fur from the deceased rat and made eyebrows for the ladies.  This created another problem, especially in warm weather. The glue that was used to hold the "faux" eyebrows in place would melt and slide down their face. I will leave this to your imagination.
This was not published last night as we are afoot on the information highway.

On  the Bath tour

Museum entrance

Great restaurant

Dinner

Roman Bath

Bath Abbey

Old town

Old Town

Our guide

Chapter two begins...Across the Irish Sea 04/27/2016

We left Shannon with regret that this portion of the trip ended, but are looking forward with anticipation as we board Aer Lingus for our nonstop flight from Shannon to London.  Upon arrival we picked up our rental car and headed to Newbury.  Some of you may have heard of this village.  It was a backdrop for the British T.V. series Downton Abbey.  After lunch we headed to Bristol, checked in our hotel, off loaded our luggage, and headed for Stonehenge.  This is a prehistoric monument that is located in Wiltshire, England. The estimated time of construction was around 3,000 to 2,000 BC.
Yesterday we spent our time at the most popular tourist attraction in Ireland (the Cliffs of Moher) and today we are at the most famous site in England.  Tomorrow we will go back in history and tour the Roman baths in Bath, England and head into the Cotswold Mountains for the rest of our trip.  Join us then.

Stonehenge

Harry & Amanda in Newbury

Did I mention it was snowing in Newbury?

4 travelers

replicas of the homes around Stonehenge

The Queen at an early age

Newbury

Old stone at Stonehenge

another view

Cliffs of Moher 04/26/2016

No trip to Ireland would be complete without a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland.  Today is our last day in Ireland and we felt it was appropriate to end our trip with a visit here.  They take their name

Don't get too close to the edge

 from an ancient fort named Moher that was located on the Cliffs.  The old fort was demolished in 1808 to provide material that was used to build a lookout tower in the Napoleonic wars.  It still stands today.
We left Kenmare this morning and drove up the west coast of Ireland.  We stopped in Adare for lunch at the Wild Geese.  Very Irish.  We checked into a B&B in Shannon and drove to the Cliffs.  Cold, windy, and beautiful.  This ends chapter one of the this blog...chapter two starts tomorrow.

There are fences around the park viewing area now.  This was before fences.

Windy & cold

cold and windy

we had lunch here in Adare

thatched roof house in Adare

Carrygerry B&B in Shannon (our last night in Ireland)

Almost 1,000' above the Atlantic Ocean

Cliffs of Moher

Linda & Amanda

watch tower from the Napoleonic era